"But it's all right," Marcy hastened to add. "Beardsley set the
bone in less than three hours after it was broken, and the surgeon I
consulted in Newbern said he made a good job of it. I don't know what you
think about it, but I am not sorry it happened."
"Oh, Marcy! why do
you say that?"
"Because it gave me a chance to come home. To tell you the
truth, blockade running is getting to be a dangerous business. We had
four narrow escapes this trip. Beardsley's impudence and a Union
captain's simplicity brought us out of the first scrape, a storm came to our
aid in the second, sheer good luck and a favoring breeze saved us in
the third, and a shot from the second mate's revolver brought us out of
the fourth. We are liable to fall into the hands of the cruisers any
day; and suppose I had been captured and thrown into a Northern prison!
You might not have seen me again for a year or two; perhaps longer.
Bring those bundles in here and take the valise upstairs," he added to
the coachman, who just then passed along the hall with Marcy's luggage
in his hands. "Open that bundle, mother. You need not be ashamed to
wear those dresses, for they were bought in Nassau with honest
money--money that I earned by doing duty as a foremast hand. I didn't pay any
duty on them because no one asked me for it. And in fact I don't know
whether there is a custom-house in Newbern or not. The box in the other
bundle contains nothing but bottles of quinine."
"What induced you to
get so much?" asked Mrs. Gray, who had wiped away her tears and was trying to
look cheerful again.
"Captain Beardsley first called my attention to the
fact that medicine had gone up in price, and I saw by a paper I got in Nassau
that the rebels are already smuggling quinine across the Potomac,"
answered Marcy. "There's a good deal of ague about here, and we'd be in a
pretty fix if we should all get down with it, and no medicine in the house
to help us out." Here he got up and drew his chair closer to his
mother's side, adding in a whisper, "I've twenty-one hundred dollars in gold
in my valise, lacking what I paid for my railroad ticket, and nearly
four hundred dollars of it belongs to me. The rest belongs to the captain
of the _Hollins._"
"Do you still cling to the hope that you will some
day meet him again?" asked his mother.
"I know it will be like hunting
for a needle in a haystack, but if I don't find him I shall have the
satisfaction of knowing that I tried to, and that I haven't spent any of his
money. I'll keep it locked in my trunk until my arm gets so that I can handle
a spade, and then I'll hide it in one of the flower beds. Now, how is
everything about home? Has Kelsey shown his ugly face here since I went away,
or have you heard anything from those 'secret enemies' that Wat Gifford spoke
of? How has Hanson behaved himself?"
Mrs. Gray's report was so
satisfactory that Marcy was put quite at his ease. She had had nothing to
worry over, she told him, except, of course, his absence and Jack's, and if
she had not received so many warnings she would not have suspected that there
were such things as secret enemies around her. But she had relaxed none of
her vigilance, and was always on her guard when any of the neighbors came to
see her. It was a dreadful way to live, but there was no help for
it.
By the time Marcy had removed some of the stains of travel from his
face and clothing, supper was announced; and as he had to talk
about something during the meal, he entertained his mother with a
minute description of the exciting incidents that happened during
the _Hattie's_ homeward run. He could talk of these things in his
ordinary tone of voice, and he did not care who overheard him. More than
that, he was satisfied that every word he uttered in the presence of the girl
who waited at table would go straight to Hanson's ears, and he was
really talking for Hanson's benefit. He retired at an early hour, after his
arm had been bathed and bandaged again (his mother could not keep back
her tears when she saw how inflamed and angry it looked), and left his
lamp burning, as he had done every night since his friend Gifford
dropped that hint about a visit from an organized band of 'longshoremen.
Before he got into bed he unlocked his valise and took from it two things
that his mother knew nothing about,--a brace of heavy revolvers,--which
he placed where he could get his hands upon them at a moment's
warning. "Thank goodness the old flag is above me once more, and not
that secession rag that Beardsley seems to be so proud of," thought Marcy,
as he pounded his pillow into shape and drew the quilts over his
shoulders. "If Colonel Shelby and the rest knew that there are two Union
flags somewhere among these bedclothes, how long do you suppose this
house would stand? If those men are such good rebels, I can't for the life
of me understand why they don't go into the service, instead of staying
at home and making trouble for their neighbors. I should think they
would be ashamed of themselves."
There were plenty of such men all
over the South, and Marcy Gray was not the only one who wondered why they did
not hasten to the front, seeing that they were so very hostile to the Yankees
and their sympathizers, and professed so much zeal for the cause of Southern
independence. His cousin Rodney often asked himself the same question while
Dick Graham was staying at his father's house, waiting for a chance to get
across the Mississippi River. Tom Randolph, who could not forget that
Captain Hubbard's Rangers had refused to give him the office he wanted,
was Rodney's evil genius. Although Tom became in time commander of a
small company of Home Guards, he could be for the old flag or against it,
as circumstances seemed to require. When the Union forces took
possession of Baton Rouge and the gunboats anchored in front of the city,
Randolph sent more than one squad of Yankee cavalry to search Mr. Gray's
house for firearms, and took measures to keep Rodney, Dick Graham, and
the other discharged Confederates in constant trouble; but when
General Breckenridge and his army appeared, and it began to look as though
the rebels were about to drive the Union forces out and take possession
of Baton Rouge and the surrounding country, Tom Randolph gave his
scouts the names of all the Union men in Mooreville and vicinity, and of
course they did not escape persecution. But Tom, sly as he was, could not
play a double part forever. His sin found him out and his punishment
came close upon the heels of it. We shall tell all about it in its
proper place.
Having no watch to stand on this particular night, and
having no fear of capture by cruisers or a fight with armed steam launches,
Marcy soon fell asleep, to be awakened about midnight by a sound that sent
the cold chills all over him. He could not have told just what it was, but
all the same it frightened him. He sat up in bed and pulled one of
his revolvers from under his pillow. He listened intently, and in a
few seconds the sound was repeated. Then he knew that it was made by
a pebble which some one in the yard below had tossed against his
window. It was a signal of some sort, but who made it, and why should
the visitor, whoever he might be, seek to arouse him without disturbing
his mother?
"By gracious!" thought Marcy, resting his revolver on his
knee with the muzzle turned toward the window, as if he half expected to see
some one try to force an entrance there. "What can it mean! It may be a
dangerous piece of business to draw the curtain and open that window, for how
do I know but that there's somebody below waiting for a chance to pop
me over? How do I know but those 'longshoremen have come up----"
When
this thought passed through the boy's mind his fear gave place
to indignation; and hesitating no longer he threw off the bedclothes
and advanced toward the window, just as another pebble rattled against
it. He dashed the curtain aside, threw up the sash, and thrust his head
and his revolver out of the window. The night was so dark that he could
not see a thing except the dark sky and the darker shadows of the
trees against it.
"Who's there?" he demanded. "Speak
quick."
"The despot's heel is on thy shore; His torch is at
thy temple door. Avenge the patriotic gore That flecks the
streets of Baltimore And be the battle queen of
yore-- Maryland! my Maryland!"
That was the answer
he received to his challenge. It was given in a voice that he had never heard
before, and Marcy was so utterly amazed that he could not interrupt the
speaker, or say a word himself when the verse was concluded. It was part of a
rebel song that had recently become very popular in Baltimore, but it had not
yet reached North Carolina. For only an instant, however, did Marcy stand
motionless and speechless, and then he pointed his weapon in the direction
from which the voice sounded, saying in steady tones:
"If you don't
give me an answer that I can understand, I'll cut loose. Who are
you?"
"I am a homeless, friendless smuggler," replied the voice; and at
the same instant a familiar bark, followed by an impatient whine, told
the astonished Marcy that his faithful watchman, Bose, was under the
window with the stranger. The unexpected discovery made every nerve in his
body tingle with excitement, and his next words were uttered in a husky
and indistinct tone.
"Jack!" he exclaimed. "Oh, Jack! Is that
you?"
"It's I," answered the visitor, speaking in his natural voice this
time. "I'm here safe and sound, and none the worse for having been a
prisoner in the hands of that pirate, Captain Semmes."
"Go round to
the front door and I will be right down," said Marcy, in suppressed tones. He
could not imagine why his brother should make his presence known in this
guarded way instead of boldly demanding admittance at the door, but he knew
that there was some reason for it and conducted himself accordingly. He moved
about his room very quietly while he dressed himself as well as he could with
only one hand to work with, and then he caught up the lamp, hurried
downstairs and made his way to his mother's room. His low tap met with an
instant response.
"Oh, mother," exclaimed Marcy, "Jack's come home, and
he's Union."
"Of course he is for the Union," answered Mrs. Gray calmly,
although she was almost as highly excited as Marcy was. "I have never thought
of him as being a rebel."
"The rebels had him prisoner," added Marcy;
and with this bit of news to add to his mother's excitement, the boy ran to
the front door. The moment he opened it a stalwart young fellow sprang upon
the threshold with his arms spread out; but he stopped suddenly when his eyes
fell upon Marcy's white face and upon the sling in which he carried his
left hand.
"What's happened to you?" he demanded, as soon as he could
speak.
"I got that while helping Captain Beardsley run a cargo of
contraband goods through Crooked Inlet," replied Marcy, laughing at the
expression of surprise and disgust that came upon the young sailor's bronzed
face as he listened to the words. "First I was a privateer and now I am
a blockade-runner."
"There must be some good reason for it, because I
know as well as you do that you do not belong on that side of the house,"
said the returned wanderer, closing and locking the door after beckoning to
Bose, who was never permitted to enter the house except upon extraordinary
occasions. "I had a fine chance to become a rebel pirate. When the
prize-master who was put aboard of us after we were captured, found that I
was from a seceded State, he promised if I would ship on the _Sumter_ to
ask Captain Semmes----"
Just at this point the young sailor looked
over his brother's shoulder and saw his mother coming along the hall. A
second later he held her clasped in his arms. She looked very small and frail
while standing beside that tall, broad-shouldered son, who was as fine a
specimen of an American sailor as could be found anywhere outside of New
England. Although he was but three years older than Marcy, who was by no
means a puny fellow, he stood head and shoulders above him, and was built
like a young Hercules. It was little wonder that Mrs. Gray and Marcy
had awaited his coming with the greatest anxiety and impatience, or that
the former should say to himself: "From this time on I can sleep in
peace. Jack's got home and mother's property is safe."
"Now that you
have got through saying 'hallo,' I'd like to have you tell me why you came
home like a thief in the night instead of knocking at the door," said Marcy.
"I don't know when I have been so frightened."
"Aha! That shows that I
did not make a mistake in going to so much trouble to be on the safe side.
You are afraid of the neighbors, are you? I read the papers when I could get
them, and among other things I learned that the South is divided against
itself, and that few men know for certain who their friends are. Let's go
somewhere and sit down."
Jack led his mother into the sitting-room. Marcy
following with the lamp, and taking care to see that all the doors were
closed before he seated himself.
"I should judge from your actions,
Marcy, that this family is divided against itself, and that you are afraid to
trust the servants," said Jack. "If that's the case, the papers told the
truth. Now tell me how you got that bad arm. Were you shot?"
Marcy did
not spend much time on his story, for he was impatient to learn when and
where his brother had been captured, and how he had managed to escape after a
prize crew had been thrown aboard his vessel. He simply told of his
experience in the blockade-runner _Hattie_, leaving his exploits in the
_Osprey_ to be narrated at some future time.
"I am glad the _Hattie_
got through the blockade all right seeing that you were aboard of her," said
Jack, when Marcy brought his story to a close. "But if Uncle Sam doesn't do
something to break up blockade-running, he'll have a war on his hands that
will make him open his eyes. It will not take me five minutes to tell my
story. I was a prisoner not more than twelve hours, and during that time not
the first exciting thing happened. If it hadn't been for the fact that there
was a strange officer in command of the brig, and that our old man was
walking around with his hands in his pockets, saying nothing, we wouldn't
have known that we were prisoners at all."
With this introduction the
returned sailor settled into an easy position among the sofa pillows and
related his experience very nearly as follows, with this exception: He quite
forgot to say that he was the one who first conceived the idea of taking the
_Sabine_ out of the hands of the prize crew that Semmes had placed aboard of
her, and that, if it had not been for his courage and prompt action, the brig
would either have been sold for the benefit of the Confederate Government, or
burned in the Caribbean Sea after her neutral cargo had been put
ashore.
It happened on the morning of July 4, and the _Sabine_, in
company with the brig _Herndon_, was sailing along the southern coast of
Cuba, having recently left the port of Trinidad-de-Cuba with a cargo of sugar
and molasses, which was consigned to an English port in the Island
of Jamaica. Although there was some sea on and rain squalls were
frequent, there was but little breeze, and consequently the _Sabine_ could
not have run into neutral waters even if second mate Jack Gray, who
had charge of the deck, had known that the steamer that was bearing
down upon her was the freebooter, _Sumter_.
"What do you mean by
neutral waters?" Marcy wanted to know.
"Why, every country that owns a
strip of seacoast owns also the waters for three miles out," replied Jack.
"And inside of that marine league, as it is called, the cruisers of one
nation mustn't trouble the ships of another with which it happens to be at
war. For example, if two armed vessels belonging to two different nations who
are at loggerheads, happen to sail into the same neutral port, they can't
fight there, but must go outside; and if one of them runs out, the other must
wait twenty-four hours before following her."
The coast of Cuba was in
plain view when the _Sumter_ was sighted, but as there was little breeze
stirring, and the brigs could not escape, Captain Semmes was not obliged to
resort to the cowardly trick he usually practiced--that is, hoisting the
English ensign to quiet the fears of the crew of the unlucky vessels he
intended to destroy. He began business at once; and the first thing that drew
the attention of second mate Jack Gray, as he planked the quarter-deck
thinking of almost everything except Confederate war vessels, was the roar of
a thirty-two pounder. Jack looked up to see a thick cloud of white smoke
floating slowly away from the side of the steamer, and to take note of the
fact that a peculiar looking flag floated from her peak. Jack had never
seen it before, but he knew in a minute what it was. At the same time
he noticed that the _Herndon_ which was half a mile or so in advance of
the _Sabine_ had backed her main topsail and hoisted her own
colors--the Stars and Stripes.
"Tumble up here, Captain," exclaimed
Jack, rushing to the top of the companion-ladder. "There's a rebel steamer on
the lee bow, speaking to us."
"I wondered what that noise was," said
the captain, as he came up the ladder in two jumps, and saw that a boat had
already been lowered from the steamer and was putting off to take charge of
the _Herndon_.
The captain knew that there were rebel privateers afloat,
for in a foreign port he had read of the escape of the _Savannah_ from
Charleston on June 2, and of the inglorious ending of her short career as
a freebooter. The _Savannah_ captured one merchantman with a cargo
of sugar, and afterward gave chase to a brig, which turned out to be
the man of war _Perry_. The _Savannah_ was captured after a little race,
and her crew were sent to New York as prisoners. But the captain of
the _Sabine_ never knew until that moment that the rebels had let
loose steam vessels to prey upon the commerce of the Northern States.
He looked at the "pirate," which, having sent off a boat to complete
the capture of the _Herndon_ had put herself in motion again and was
drawing closer to the _Sabine_ glanced up at the sails, and then turned
his wistful eyes toward the Cuban coast line.
"There isn't the ghost
of a chance," said Jack, who easily read the thoughts that were passing in
the mind of his commander. "If we try to run and she doesn't feel like
chasing us, she'll shoot us into little bits."
"She's got five guns,"
remarked the first mate, who was making a close examination of the steamer
through the spyglass. "She's loading one of them, and it might be a good plan
for us to come to and show colors."
These words brought the captain to
his senses. He gave the necessary orders, and in a few minutes the brig's
maintopsail had been backed and the Union emblem was floating from her peak.
There were an astonished lot of men aboard of her, and they were so angry,
too, that they could not stand still. They clenched their hands and gritted
their teeth when they saw a boat filled with armed men put off from the
steamer, and when the boarding officer came over the side and informed the
captain of the _Sabine_ in courteous tones, that his vessel was a prize to
the Confederate cruiser _Sumter_ they could scarcely control
themselves.
"I suppose I shall have to give in," said the Yankee skipper.
"But I tell you plainly that if I had five guns and as many men as you've
got, one or the other of us would have been on his way to the bottom
before this time."
"Oh, I don't doubt that you would make us plenty of
trouble if you had the power," said the rebel officer, with a smile. "But,
fortunately, you haven't got it. I shall have to ask you to get your papers
and go off to the _Sumter_ with me. What's your cargo, where from, and
whither bound?" he added, turning to Jack, when the captain had disappeared
in the cabin.
The second mate did not waste any time or words in
giving the desired information.
"Ah! A neutral cargo bound from one
neutral port to another," said the officer. "I am sorry to hear
that."
"Why are you?" inquired Jack.
"Because under the
circumstances we cannot destroy your vessel."
"What's the use of being so
mean just because you happen to possess the power?" said Jack.
"Young
man," replied the officer sharply, "we are bound to harass you Yankees all we
can and in every way we can. That's what your people are doing to us. But
what else can we do? France and England have denied us the privilege of
taking our prizes into any of their ports, and there's but one course left
for us to pursue. But Spain hasn't spoken yet, and perhaps we shall test her
friendship for us by taking you into a Cuban port."
Things turned out
just as the boarding officer thought they would. The captain of the brig was
taken off to the _Sumter_, and after his papers had been examined he was sent
back, and a prize crew, consisting of a midshipman and four sailors, was
placed on board the brig. Both prizes were then taken in tow by the _Sumter_,
which steamed away for the harbor of Cienfuegos, Captain Semmes laboring
under the delusion that Spain would permit him to have his Yankee prizes
condemned and sold in a Spanish port. The Confederate midshipman commanded
the brig, the Yankee sailors sullenly performed the little work there was to
be done, and the four Confederate sailors stood around and kept watch of
them.
Only one thing that was worthy of note occurred during the day.
The _Sumter_ steamed slowly along the coast, making not more than five
knots an hour, and the Yankee sailors, enraged over the loss of their
vessel, and looking forward to nothing else but a long term of confinement in
a Southern prison, were very uneasy, and naturally enough they wanted
to exchange opinions on the situation; but that was something
the midshipman would not permit. He was vigilant, and would not allow
the brig's crew to get together for fear that they might hatch up a plan
for recapturing their property. If a couple of them got near enough
together to whisper a few words to each other, he would call out
roughly:
"What are you about, there? Get farther apart, you
two."
This state of affairs continued until night came and darkness
settled down over the Caribbean Sea, and then Captain Semmes himself
did something that caused the heart of every one of the _Sabine's_ crew
to beat high with
hope.
CHAPTER
IX.
THE "SUMTER" LOSES A PRIZE.
While the
majority of the _Sabine's_ crew chafed and fretted like captive birds which
beat their wings against the bars of their cage to no purpose, there were two
who stood aloof from every one and from each other; who never spoke a word,
but who nevertheless came to a perfect understanding through the interchange
of frequent and expressive glances. They were the captain and Jack Gray. Each
one knew as well as if the other had explained it to him, that both had
resolved upon the same thing--that before the sun rose again the _Sabine_
must be taken out of the hands of the prize crew, and her course shaped
toward a Northern port, no matter what the risk might be.
"I knew,
although I had no chance to speak to the old man about it, that our first
hard work must be to disarm those five rebels," said Jack, in telling his
story. "I knew it would be easy enough to do that if we all moved together,
for there was but one native American in the prize crew--the midshipman--and
he was a little whiffet to be strangled with a finger and thumb. Even the
fact that we were in the middle of the tow, the _Sumter_ ahead and the
_Herndon_ behind, wouldn't have made any difference to us if we had had
control of the brig, because a few lusty blows with an axe would have severed
the two hawsers and the darkness would have aided us in making our escape;
but the trouble was, the elements were against us. The wind would not come
up, and of course it would be of no use for us to take the brig unless we had
a breeze to help us draw off."
While the captain and his vigilant
second mate were waiting and watching in the hope that something might
unexpectedly turn up in their favor, Captain Semmes came to their aid. The
_Sumter_ with her heavy tow and little breeze to help her, was making headway
altogether too slowly to suit him; and besides, it had occurred to him that
it might be well to run ahead and find out what the authorities at Cienfuegos
thought of him and his government, and whether or not they would permit
Yankee prizes to be condemned and sold in that port. The first intimation the
brig's crew had that Captain Semmes was about to cast off his tow was a
warning whistle from the _Sumter_. This was followed by a sudden slackening
of the hawser, and a few minutes later the _Sumter's_ black hulk
showed itself on the starboard bow. She was backing water.
"_Sabine_
ahoy!" came the hail.
"On board the _Sumter!_ replied the
midshipman.
"Cast off the _Herndon's_ hawser and stand by to pass it
aboard of us."
The midshipman responded with an "Ay, ay, sir!" and
ordered the brig's crew to lay aft and hold themselves in readiness to cast
off when they received the word. It took half an hour to transfer the line
from one vessel to the other (it was accomplished by the aid of a small
boat), and then another order came to the prize-master of the
_Sabine_.
"Haul in your own hawser and make sail and follow us into
port," were the instructions he received, and which he at once proceeded to
act upon. He did not notice, however, that the first man to seize the
hawser and lay out his strength upon it with a "Heave yo! All together
now," was the surly second mate, who seemed to take the loss of his vessel
so much to heart that he hadn't said a word to anybody since the prize
crew was put aboard of her. But Jack Gray was there with an object. When
the end of the hawser had been wound around the capstan, and the bars
were shipped, he took pains to place himself next to a couple of
Green Mountain boys, whose courage had been proved in more than one
trying ordeal.
"Heave yo! 'Round she goes. Strike up a song,
somebody," shouted Jack; and then he leaned over and spoke so that not only
the two men who were heaving at the bar with him but also the three who were
on the bar in front could hear every word he said. "Listen, boys," said he
earnestly. "We're going to take the ship out of the hands of these pirates.
Put a handspike or an axe where you can get your hands on it, and be ready
to jump the instant the old man or I make a move."
Jack could say no
more just then, for in his progress around the capstan he came opposite the
place where the midshipman was standing. He breasted the bar manfully and
joined in the song, looking as innocent as though he had never thought of
knocking the midshipman overboard if the latter gave him even the shadow of a
chance to do it.
"I knew well enough that you cabin fellows would never
let these villains get away with the brig," said the man on his left, as soon
as it was safe for him to speak. "Jump as soon as you get ready and
we'll be there. What was it you read to us from that Mobile paper you
brought aboard at Rio--that one Southern gentleman is as good as five
Northern mudsills? We will give them a chance to prove it."
"Pass the
word among the boys and tell them to stand by to bear a hand when the time
comes," added the second mate. "But be sly about it, for we must not arouse
the suspicions of these rebels. They are armed and we are not."
In due
time the hawser was hauled aboard and stowed away, and then the midshipman
prepared to make sail and follow the _Sumter_ which was by this time so far
off that her lights could not be seen. It took a good while to do this, and
once, while working on the foreyard, Jack was delighted to find himself by
his captain's side.
"I hope that rebel officer didn't see you come up,"
said Jack. "If he did he will be on his guard, and then good-by to all our
chances of taking the ship."
"Do you take me for a dunce?" asked the
captain, in reply. "I came up when he wasn't looking, because I wanted a
chance to say a word to you."
"I know what you would say if you had
time," was Jack's answer. "So do the men. They have all been posted, and are
as eager to get the ship back as you can possibly be."
"Very good,"
said the captain, who was highly gratified. "Stand by the companion-ladder
and watch all that goes on in the cabin."
Having seen the last sail
sheeted home Jack obeyed the order to "lay down from aloft," and engaged the
midshipman in conversation to give the captain a chance to gain the deck
without being discovered. At the same time he noticed that the long wished
for breeze was springing up, and that everything was beginning to draw
beautifully. At this moment the steward came up from the cabin and approached
the place where they were standing.
"You haven't had any supper, sir,"
said he, saluting the midshipman. "Won't you come down and drink a cup of
coffee and eat an orange?"
Jack fairly trembled while he waited for the
officer's reply. He was afraid he would decline the invitation--Jack knew he
would have done so if he had been in the midshipman's place, and that nothing
short of an overpowering force would have taken him from the deck so long as
he was prize-master of the brig. But the young officer's fears had not
only been lulled to sleep by the orderly conduct of the _Sabine's_
crew, which led him to believe that they, like all the rest of
their countrymen, were too cowardly to show fight under any circumstances,
but he was tired and hungry, and he thought that a cup of coffee
and something good to eat would take the place of the night's sleep which
he knew he was going to lose. Accordingly he followed the steward
toward the cabin, and then Jack told himself that something was about
to happen--that this was a part of the captain's plan for seizing
the vessel. Jack had been instructed to stand at the top of
the companion-ladder and watch all that went on below, and in order that
he might carry out those instructions without attracting the
midshipman's attention, he quietly removed his shoes and stood in his
stocking feet. As he was about to start for the post that had been assigned
him, he saw an opportunity to aid the captain that was too good to be lost.
Standing within less than ten feet of him was one of the Confederate sailors.
He was leaning over the rail looking down into the water, evidently in
a brown study. He held his musket clasped in his arms in a
position something like "arms port," and Jack knew that he carried his
revolver on the right side, that the butt was entirely out of the holster,
and that there was no strap to hold the weapon in place. He had taken
note of these facts when the prize-crew first came aboard.
Before
attempting to carry out the desperate plan he had so suddenly conceived for
securing this particular rebel, Jack swept a hasty glance over the deck to
calculate his chances for success. They could not have been better. There was
not another one of the prize-crew in sight; but just across from him, on the
other side of the deck, stood Stebbins, one of the Green Mountain boys who
had worked at the capstan with him. Other members of the crew were making a
pretense of being busy at something in the waist, but they were one and all
keeping a close watch on the second mate, and there were hand-spikes, axes,
or belaying-pins within easy reach. Jack made a warning gesture to Stebbins,
and the sailor at once reached for his capstan-bar. With two quick, noiseless
steps Jack placed himself close behind the dreaming rebel, and thrusting his
left arm over his shoulder seized his musket with a firm grasp, while at the
same time, with his right hand, he deftly slipped the revolver from
its holster.
"Not a word--not a whisper!" said Jack, placing the
muzzle of the heavy Colt close to the rebel's head. "Let go that gun.
Stebbins, take off his cutlass and buckle it around your own
waist."
When the captive recovered himself sufficiently to look around,
he was astonished to find that he was confronted by four of the brig's
foremast hands, all of whom carried weapons of some sort, which they
held threateningly over his head. There was no help for it, and he was
prompt to obey both Jack's orders; that is to say, he gave up his gun and
kept his lips closed.
"Lead him aft, Stebbins, and stand guard over
him with your cutlass," commanded Jack. "If he tries to run or give warning
to his companions, cut him down. Smith, take this musket and keep a sharp eye
on me. The officer is in the cabin, and I don't think the old man means to
let him come out very soon."
Stebbins moved off with his prisoner.
Smith and the other two sailors stationed themselves where they could see
everything the second mate did, and the latter advanced close to the
companion-way so that he could look down and obtain a view of the interior of
the cabin. At the very first glance he saw something to discourage
him.
"The moment the old man told me to watch all that went on in the
cabin, that moment I understood his plan," said Jack. "And when I
afterward compared notes with him and the steward, I learned that I had made
no mistake. The captain was not denied the privilege of going in and out
of his cabin as often as he pleased, and that was one place where
the midshipman, who was really a sharp officer, did wrong. Another
wrong move he made was in scattering his men about the deck. If he had
kept them close together, so that they could have helped one another,
we never could have taken the brig."
It was during one of these visits
to the cabin that the captain took his revolver from the place in which he
had concealed it when he saw the prize-crew coming aboard, and put four pairs
of hand-cuffs into his pockets; for when the rebel boarding officer hauled
down his colors, he determined that at sunrise the next morning the Stars and
Stripes should again float at his peak if he had to sacrifice half his crew
to get them there. His next move was to order his steward to dish up supper,
and when it was ready he sent word to the midshipman to come down and have
a bite; but, although the brig was towing at the stern of the _Sumter_
and there was not the smallest chance for her to escape, the officer
would not trust himself within reach of the skipper and his mates. However,
he was not afraid to go into the cabin alone, and when the steward
asked him, in Jack's hearing, to come below and drink a cup of coffee and
eat an orange, he accepted the invitation; but his actions indicated that
he was very suspicious.
"Sit down here, sir," said the steward,
drawing back the chair he had placed for him.
"Well, hardly," replied
the officer, glancing at the door behind him, which, by the way, opened into
the captain's state-room. "Move that chair and plate to the other side of the
table."
"Certainly, sir," said the steward, in his politest tones; and
the command was promptly obeyed.
The first thing the midshipman did
after he had taken his seat, was to draw his revolver from its holster and
show it to the steward; and then he placed it on the chair under his left
leg.
"You will observe that I don't put it on the table and give you a
chance to snatch it while I am in the act of drinking my coffee," said
he blandly.
"Certainly, sir," said the steward again.
"You
Yankees have the reputation of being pretty sharp people," continued the
officer, "and I believe you are somewhat famous for the tricks you play upon
unsuspecting strangers; but you will find that there are smarter men south of
Mason and Dixon's line than there are north of it. Now, if we understand each
other, trot out your grub."
The steward ran up the ladder, at the top of
which he found the second mate, standing back out of the light so that the
midshipman could not see him if he chanced to look toward the
deck.
"Did you notice that he would not sit where I wanted him to?"
whispered the steward. "The old man is in his state-room, waiting for a
chance to rush out and grab him, but I am afraid that move on the
Confederate's part will knock the whole thing in the head."
"Not by a
long shot," replied Jack. "We've got firearms of our own now, and if the
worst is forced upon us, we'll engage them in a regular battle. But we don't
want to shoot if we can help it, for that might bring the _Sumter_ upon
us."
The steward vanished in the galley, and while he was gone Jack
thought seriously of giving him the revolver he had taken from the
captured rebel, and telling him to watch his chance to put it to the head of
the midshipman while he was eating his supper, and demand his surrender
on pain of death. That would have been just the thing to do, Jack
thought, if he were only sure that the steward's courage would not fail him
when the critical moment came; but unfortunately he was not quite positive
on that point. He had never had an opportunity to see how the steward
would act in an emergency, and after a little reflection he concluded that
he had better keep the weapon in his own possession.
In a few minutes
the steward came out of the galley, carrying a tray upon which he had placed
a tempting supper, and Jack saw him descend into the cabin and put it on the
table.
"Here, you fellow, that won't do," he heard the midshipman
exclaim. "Don't take quite so much pains to get behind me, if you please.
Stand around on the other side of the table, so that I can see everything
you do."
"Certainly, sir," answered the steward, as he hastened to
take the position pointed out to him.
If Jack Gray had been in the
cabin at that moment he would have seen that he did a wise thing when he
decided to hold fast to his revolver instead of handing it over to the
steward and depending upon him to capture the midshipman, for when the latter
emphasized his commands by pulling his six-shooter from under his leg and
raising and lowering the hammer with one hand, keeping the muzzle pointed
toward the steward's head all the while, the latter grew as white as a sheet
and trembled in every limb. After he thought he had inflicted sufficient
torture upon the timid fellow, the Confederate put up his weapon and
demanded:
"What State are you from?"
"Massachusetts,
sir."
"Are all Massachusetts men as great cowards as you
are?"
"Certainly, sir," answered the steward, who was afraid to say
anything else.
"Then we're going to have a walk-over, sure enough,"
said the rebel. "You Yankees are afraid to fight."
"Certainly,
sir."
Every word of this conversation was overheard by a man who, but for
a most unfortunate interruption, would have forced the Confederate
officer to swallow his words almost as soon as they had left his lips. It
was the skipper. He had come down from aloft and reached his cabin
without being seen, and it was in obedience to his instructions that
the prize-master had been asked below to get some supper. His plan was
to have the steward seat the officer with his back to a certain
state-room, so that he could be seized from behind and choked into submission
before he knew that there was a third party in the cabin; but that could not
be done now. The rebel's suspicions led him to change to the other side
of the table, and he now sat facing the state-room door, on whose
farther side stood the merchant captain with rage in his heart and a
cocked revolver in his hand. The captain knew that he was going to put
himself in danger when he attempted to make a prisoner of the midshipman,
but that did not deter him. When he heard that sweeping charge of
cowardice made against the men of his native State he could stand it no
longer, but jerked open the door and sprang into the cabin.
Now came
that unexpected interruption to the skipper's plan of which we have spoken.
The steward heard the door of the state room creak softly behind him, and,
knowing what was coming, he made a quick jump to one side to get out of the
skipper's way and leave him a clear field for his operations; but he was so
badly frightened that he hardly knew what he was about, and consequently he
did the very thing he tried to avoid. He sprang directly in front of his
commander, and the two came together with such force that they measured their
length on the cabin floor, the captain and his revolver being underneath. For
one single instant the prize-master sat as motionless in his chair as if he
had been turned into a block of wood; but it was for one instant only. He was
quick to comprehend the situation, and equally quick to act. He sprang to
his feet, and before either of the prostrate men could make a move he
ran around the end of the table and covered them with his
revolver.
"If you stir or utter a word I will shoot you as quickly as I
would shoot a couple of dogs which disputed my right to use the highway,"
said he, in tones that could not have been steadier if he had been
ordering the boatswain's mate of the _Sumter_ to pipe sweepers. "Captain,
drop that revolver on the floor without moving your hand a
hair's-breadth."
"Let go your own revolver," said a voice in his ear: and
to his infinite amazement the Confederate suddenly found himself in a grasp
so strong that it not only rendered him incapable of action, but brought him
to his knees in a second. One vise-like hand was fastened upon the back
of his neck and the other upon his wrist, turning the muzzle of
the revolver upward, so that it pointed toward the roof of the
cabin.
[Illustration: JACK GRAY RECAPTURES THE
BRIG.]
This is what we referred to when we stated that if it had not been
for Jack Gray's courage and prompt action, it is probable that the
brig would never have been recaptured. When the midshipman jumped from
his chair and ran around the table, he turned his back toward
the companion-way; and the moment he did so, Jack Gray, who saw that
the critical time had come and that the next few seconds would decide
who were to be masters of the brig, made a spring for the ladder. As he
was in his stocking feet his movements were noiseless, and so rapid,
too, that he had the Confederate prize-master in his grasp before the
latter was fairly done speaking. Then he was powerless, for the second mate
had a grip that few who knew him cared to contend against.
"Didn't you
have the revolver you took from the captured sailor in your pocket?" inquired
Marcy, when Jack reached this point in his story.
"I did, but I didn't
think it best to depend upon it, for this reason: Although the midshipman
wasn't much to look at, he had showed himself to be possessed of any amount
of pluck, and I was afraid that even if I succeeded in getting the drop on
him he might shoot any way, for the double purpose of disabling me and
calling his men to his assistance. So I made all haste to get a hold on
him."
"Now that I think of it," continued Marcy, who was deeply
interested in the narrative, "why did Captain Semmes keep the _Herndon_ in
tow when he cast off the _Sabine?_ Why didn't he let both vessels
go?"
"I have never been able to account for that except upon the
supposition that he had more confidence in our prize-master than he had in
the one he put aboard the _Herndon_," replied sailor Jack. "The _Herndon_ was
a heavy vessel, and had a much larger crew than we had; and perhaps
that had something to do with it. I think we taught Semmes a lesson he
will remember. I don't believe he will ever again trust a Yankee prize and
a Yankee crew out of reach of his big guns."
The master of the brig
and his frightened steward got upon their feet as soon as they could, and
found that the Confederate officer had been secured beyond all possibility of
escape. The second mate had twisted his revolver from his grasp; Smith, the
man to whom Jack had given the captured musket, was holding a bayonet close
to his nose, and another sailor was threatening him with a
handspike.
"Did you really think that nine Yankee sailors would permit
five traitors to work their sweet will on them?" demanded the skipper, as
he let down the hammer of the officer's revolver and dropped the
weapon into his own pocket. "I think you will learn to your cost that you
have been very much mistaken in the opinions you have formed of
Northern people. I shall have to ask you to go into my state-room and
remain there, leaving the door open. Smith, stay here and watch him, while
the rest of us go on deck, and attend to the other four."
"There are
but three left, Captain," observed Jack. "One is already a prisoner, and
Stebbins is keeping guard over him."
At that moment a body of men marched
aft from the forecastle, came to a halt at the top of the ladder, and a
hoarse voice hailed the cabin. It was the voice of the first
mate.
"Tumble up, Cap'n," said the officer. "We've got the rest of 'em
hard and fast. Tumble up and take command of your ship. She's your'n
once more."
That was the most gratifying piece of news Jack Gray had
ever heard.
CHAPTER
X.
A COOL PROPOSITION.
Although the
captain and Jack had not spoken to the first mate since the brig was
captured, except it was in the presence of some member of the prize-crew,
they had scowled and winked at him as often as the opportunity was presented,
and the mate knew well enough what they meant by it and what they intended to
do. He determined to do his part. He managed to exchange a few words with
some of the brig's crew, whom he instructed to stand by him and be ready to
lend a hand when the time came. He saw Jack make the first capture, with
Smith's aid and Stebbins's, and by adroitly engaging the other three members
of the prize-crew in conversation, it is probable that he kept them from
taking note of what was going on in the waist. When he saw Jack make a rush
for the companion-ladder, he seized the nearest Confederate, his men
quickly overpowered the other two, and then he marched aft to tell his
captain the good news. It was all done in less than two minutes, and
Captain Semmes was none the wiser for it. The surprise was complete. There
was not a shot fired, and the movements of the Yankee sailors were so
rapid that resistance was useless.
"You've got the brig all to
yourself again, Cap'n," said the mate. "What shall I do with these
varmints?"
"Send them down here," was the reply. "And tell Stebbins to
send his man down also."
As the four prisoners filed into the cabin,
Jack was rather surprised to see that they did not appear to be at all cast
down by the sudden and unexpected turn affairs had taken. Indeed, one of
them, who spoke with a rich Irish brogue, boldly declared:
"Sure it's
not mesilf that cares at all, at all. I've had enough of the bloody
hooker."
"Have a care," whispered Jack, nudging him in the ribs with his
elbow. "Your commanding officer is in that state-room. He can hear every
word you say."
"Sorry a wan of me cares whether he can or not,"
replied the sailor. "We were promised big wages and prize-money by the bushel
if we would help capture the Yankee ships on the high seas. We've took two
prizes besides this wan, and the _Herndon_ but we put the torch to thim, and
niver a cint of prize-money is there forninst the name of Paddy Scanlan on
the books."
"Well, Paddy," said the captain, with a laugh, "you may
abuse the rebels all you please, and no one aboard my vessel will say a thing
to you. Now, will you give your word of honor that you will behave yourselves
as long as you stay aboard of me?"
"Sure I will," replied the sailor
earnestly.
"I mean all of you rebels," said the captain. "You treated us
very civilly while we were your prisoners, and I want to treat you in
the same way if you will let me. Let's have your promise."
It was
given without a moment's hesitation, and was to the effect that as long as
they remained on the _Sabine_ they would make no disturbance, but would in
all respects conduct themselves with as much propriety as though they had
been regularly shipped as members of her crew.
"As long as you stand to
that agreement I will allow you the liberty of the deck, beginning to-morrow
morning," said the captain. "But I tell you plainly that if you go back from
your word, I will have you in irons before you know what is the matter with
you. Smith, stand at the foot of the ladder until you are relieved. On deck
the rest of us!"
Never had the _Sabine's_ crew worked harder than they
did on this particular night to bring their vessel about and get her on her
course again; but this time the skipper did not intend to make for the port
to which his cargo was consigned. He told his mates that as soon as
the brig rounded the western end of the island of Cuba, he would fill
away for Key West, which was the nearest Federal naval station.
"I
won't trust myself and my ship in these waters an hour longer than I am
obliged to," he declared. "How do I know but that there may be a dozen or
more vessels like the _Sumter_ cruising about here, watching their chance to
make bonfires of the defenseless merchant vessels? Now let this be a standing
order: While we are under way we'll not speak a single ship, no matter what
flag she floats. If you see a sail, run away from it."
"And strict
obedience to that order saved our bacon," said Jack, in conclusion. "We got
up to Key West without any mishap, turned our prisoners over to the
commandant of the station, and then filled away for Boston, taking with us a
cargo that ought to have gone another way. We were warned to look out for
little privateers--sailing vessels with one or two guns aboard--and the navy
fellows told us that the coasts of North and South Carolina were particularly
dangerous; but our brig was a grayhound, the captain had the fullest
confidence in her, and so he held his course. But we kept a bright lookout
night and day, and were almost worn out with watching by the time we reached
our home port."
"You didn't see anything of those privateers, did you?"
said Mrs. Gray.
"Yes; we sighted one somewhere in the latitude of Sandy
Point," answered Jack. "She fired a couple of shells at us, and tried to lay
herself across our course; but she couldn't make it. We ran away from her as
if she had been anchored."
"What sort of a looking craft was she?"
exclaimed Marcy, starting up in his chair.
"Well, she was a
fore-and-after and had figures painted on her sails to make us believe that
she was a pilot boat," answered Jack, somewhat surprised at his brother's
earnestness. "But she was about four times too big for a pilot boat. She
hoisted Union colors, and when she found that she could not decoy us within
range that way, she ran up the secession rag and cut loose with her
bow-chaser; but she might as well have saved her ammunition, for she didn't
come anywhere near us."
"And neither did the rifle-shots that you fired
in return come anywhere near us," added Marcy.
"Anywhere near you?"
exclaimed Jack, starting up in his turn. "What do you mean? What do you know
about it?"
"I know all about it, for I was there," replied Marcy. "It was
I who ran up those flags, and although I didn't dream that you were on the
brig, you can't imagine how delighted I was when I saw that she was bound
to give us the slip. That privateer was Captain Beardsley's schooner, and
I was aboard of her in the capacity of pilot."
Sailor Jack settled
back in his chair as if to say that that was the most astounding thing he had
ever heard in his life.
"_Pilot!_" he exclaimed, at length. "Lon
Beardsley doesn't need a pilot on this coast. He has smuggled more than one
cargo of cigars through these inlets."
"I know that. But you are aware
that Beardsley has been our enemy for years. He couldn't find any way to take
revenge until this war broke out, and then he began troubling us. He knew,
and he knows to-day, that I am Union all over, and down on secession and all
who favor it, and when he offered me the pilot's berth and promised to do the
fair thing by me, he was in hopes that mother would refuse to let me go;
then, don't you see, he would have had an excuse to set our rebel
neighbors against us on the ground that we were traitors to our
State."
"I always knew that Lon Beardsley was beneath contempt, but this
rather gets ahead of me," said Jack hotly.
"But it so happened that we
saw through his little game. Mother never said a word, and I shipped as pilot
aboard the privateer _Osprey_" continued Marcy. "And, Jack (here he got up,
moved his chair close to the sofa on which his brother was sitting and
lowered his voice to a whisper), I was on her when she made her first and
only capture, and upstairs in my valise I have seventeen hundred dollars in
gold, my share of the money the _Mary Hollins_ brought when she was condemned
and sold in the port of Newbern."
"That would be a nice little sum of
money if it had been earned in an honorable way," observed Jack.
"But
it wasn't," said Marcy, "and consequently I don't intend to keep it. I'm
going to give it back to the one to whom it belongs. Oh, you needn't laugh. I
mean it!"
"I know you do, and I hope that you will some day find the man;
but I am afraid you won't. Where is Beardsley now?"
"I left him at
Newbern. The presence of the cruisers on the coast frightened him so that he
gave up privateering--he didn't want to run the risk of being captured with
guns aboard of him for fear that he might be treated as a pirate--and took to
running the blockade. We made one successful trip, taking out cotton and
bringing back an assorted cargo worth somewhere in the neighborhood of a
hundred thousand dollars, and it was while we were trying to make Crooked
Inlet on our way home that we came the nearest to being captured. We ran foul
of a howitzer launch, which turned loose on us with shrapnel and canister,
and gave me this broken arm and Beardsley a black and blue
shoulder."
"I wish from the bottom of my heart that she had given him a
broken head," said Jack. "Were you much hurt?"
"I don't mind it in the
least," answered Marcy. "It has given me a chance to visit with mother and
you. But I don't quite understand why you came home as you did. What made you
so sly about it? Go more into particulars, but don't talk too
loud."
"Is it a fact that you are afraid to converse in ordinary tones in
your own house?" said Jack, looking inquiringly at his mother.
"Marcy
and I have been very cautious, for we don't know whom to trust," answered
Mrs. Gray. "One of our principal sources of anxiety is the money we have
hidden in the cellar wall."
"Thirty thousand dollars!" whispered Marcy in
his brother's ear. "Mother brought it home herself and spent three nights in
fixing a place for it."
"Holy Moses!" said Jack under his breath. "Do
the neighbors know it?"
"They suspect it, and that is what troubles
us."
"I don't wonder at it. Why, mother, there are plenty of white trash
about here who would rob you in a minute if they thought they could do
it without bringing harm to themselves. I declare, I am almost afraid
to leave home again."
"Oh, Jack!" said his mother, the tears starting
to her eyes; "you surely will not leave me again."
"Not if you bid me
stay, but I didn't think you would do it, knowing, as I did, that you are
strong for the Union. That was the reason I came home in the night and threw
stones at Marcy's window. I intended, after a short visit, to show my love
for the old flag by making my way out to the blockading fleet, and shipping
with the first commander who would take me. Consequently, I did not want to
let any of the neighbors know that I came home at all. I was sure that there
must be some Union people here, but of course I don't know who they are any
more than I know who the rebels are; so I thought it best to keep my
movements a secret. However, I might as well have saved myself the trouble,"
added Jack, while an expression of anxiety settled upon his bronzed features;
"of course I can't keep out of sight of the servants, and if there are
any treacherous ones among them, as you seem to think, they will blab on
me to the first rebel they can find."
"They will tell the overseer of
it," said Marcy. "He's a sneak and a spy as well as a rebel."
"Why do
you keep him, then?" demanded Jack. "Why didn't you kick him off the place as
soon as you found out that he could not be trusted?"
"I hired him for a
year," answered Mrs. Gray. "And if I should discharge him on account of his
political opinions, can you not see that I would give the rebels in the
settlement the very opportunity that I believe they are waiting for--the
opportunity to persecute me?"
"Perhaps there is something in that," said
Jack thoughtfully. "I must say that this is a nice way to live. But the
Confederates can't say a word against you now, because Marcy sails under
their flag."
"If anybody tells you that story don't you believe a word of
it," said Marcy. "They know why I went aboard that privateer as well as if I
had told them all about it. But, Jack, what did you mean when you told
me that you were a homeless, friendless smuggler?"
"I am not exactly
homeless and friendless," replied the sailor, with a hearty laugh, "but it is
a fact that I am a smuggler in a small way. When I found myself safe in
Boston, the first thing I thought of was getting home. I first decided I
would go to Washington and try to get a pass through the Union lines; but I
soon found that that wouldn't do, for I saw by the papers that the Federals
were straining every nerve to close the Potomac against smugglers and
mail-carriers, and that satisfied me that no passes were granted. My only
hope then was to get here by water. I met my captain every day or two, and he
helped me out by securing me a berth on the schooner, _West Wind_. He never
said a word to me about the character of the vessel, although he must
have known all about it and given me a good recommend besides, for the
day after I went aboard. Captain Frazier called me into his cabin, and
took me into his confidence.
"I thought the master of the _Sabine_ was
a strong Union man," said Marcy. "But this looks as though he was giving aid
and comfort to the rebels."
"Well, no; he didn't mean it that way. He
was giving aid and comfort to _me_, don't you see? He wanted to help me get
home, and I assure you I was glad of the chance he gave me. Captain Frazier
was an old friend of his. He happened to find out that Frazier was about to
turn an honest penny by selling the Confederates medicine and other little
things of which they stood in need, and instead of betraying him, he
recommended me as a suitable man for second mate, for I was a tolerable
sailor, and well acquainted with the coasts of the Carolinas. I accepted
the position when it was offered me, and brought the _West Wind_
through Oregon Inlet as slick as you please, although the channel doesn't
run within a hundred yards of where it did the last time I went
through there."
"Did you take out a venture?"
"Of course. I
risked about two-thirds of my hard-earned wages."
"What did you
buy?"
"Quinine, calomel, and about half a dozen different kinds of
quack medicines in the shape of pills and tonics. But there was where I made
a mistake. I ought to have put all the money in quinine. If I had, I
would have made two or three hundred dollars more than I did. As it was
I cleared about twelve hundred. And that reminds me that I left
my grip-sack on the gallery."
He and Marcy went out to bring it in,
and when they returned, Jack was slapping the side of the valise to make the
gold pieces jingle.
"My son, I am very sorry you did it," said Mrs. Gray
reproachfully. "Very sorry indeed."
"Why, mother, just listen to
this," replied Jack, hitting the valise another sounding whack.
"I
hear it," said his mother. "But when you brought those things down here and
piloted that vessel through the blockade, didn't you violate the laws of your
country? Did you not render yourself liable to arrest and
imprisonment?"
"Well, to be honest, I did; but you see I was looking into
the future. When I reached Newbern I wasn't home by a long shot. There's a
right smart stretch of country between that place and this. I walked
nearly every step of the way from Boydtown, and every man I met was the
hottest kind of a rebel, or professed to be. When questioned, as I often was,
I could tell a truthful story about being second mate of a schooner
that had slipped into Newbern with a lot of goods for the Confederacy,
and furthermore, I had the documents to prove it," said Jack, drawing
an official envelope from an inside pocket. "This is a strong letter
from the captain of the _West Wind_, recommending me to any
blockade-running shipmaster who may be in need of a coast pilot and second
mate; but I never expect to use it. Here are some documents of an entirely
different character," and as he said this, the sailor thrust his hand into
the leg of his boot and pulled forth another large envelope. "This contains
two letters, one from the master of the _Sabine_, and the other from
her owners; and they give a flattering history of the part I took
in recapturing the brig. These letters may be of use to me when the
time comes for me to ship on a blockader."
"I don't see how you got
out of Boston with your contraband cargo," said Marcy. "How did you clear at
the custom house?"
"Why, bless you, our cargo was all right," replied
Jack, "and so were our papers. The cargo was brought aboard in broad
daylight, and consigned to a well-known American firm in Havana; but the
little articles that were brought aboard after dark and scattered around
among the barrels and boxes in the hold, would have sent the last one of us
to jail if they had been discovered."
"Oh, Jack!" exclaimed Mrs. Gray,
"how could you do it? I can't see how you could bring yourself to take so
much risk."
"I did it to keep up appearances; and hasn't Marcy done the
same thing and with your consent? Didn't he join that privateer and run the
risk of being captured or killed by the Yankees because you and he thought
it policy for him to do so? I am not a policy man, but in times like
these one can't always do as he wants to."
There were so many things
to talk about, and such a multitude of questions to be asked and answered on
both sides, that the little clock on the mantel struck four different hours
before any one thought of going to bed; and then Jack did not go to his own
room, but passed the rest of the night with Marcy, for the latter hinted very
strongly that he had some things to say to him that he did not care to
mention in his mother's presence. |
|
댓글 없음:
댓글 쓰기