Marcy the Blockade Runner

uble what the Hollins was, dog-gone it all, and if we lose her we are just a hundred thousand dollars out of pocket. Pitch that shell into

sile struck the water far short of the mark, ricocheted along the surface a few hundred yards farther, and finally exploded, throwing up a cloud of spray, but doing no harm to the brig, which never loosened tack or sheet, but held gallantly on her way. A moment after the shrapnel exploded, her flag-the old flag-flut

d, jumping up and down on his lofty perch. "What are you standing ther

. "I can't give the gun any more elevation. The cascabel is down to the

ain. "Are you going to stand chinning there while a

ight as well have saved his ammunition, for this shrapnel, like the first, did no harm to the brig. It didn't fri

et my hands on that fe

him to insult a Confed

d-

ing in the horizon. Marcy looked, too, and was electrified to see a thick, black smoke floating up among the clouds. Could it be that there was a cruiser off there bearing down upon them? He looked at Captain Beardsley again, and came to t

e deck and ordered the schooner to be put about and headed toward Crooked Inlet.

the offing, or by the rage and disappointment he felt over the loss of the valuable prize he had so confidently expected to capture. He hauled down the schooner's flag, packed it away in

or the whole ship's company are scared out of their boots. We were so busy with the brig that we never saw her until she got so close on to us that she is liable to

risoner with the rest of the crew and sent to some Northern prison. Of course, Marcy could not make the captain of the war ship believe that he did not ship on the privateer of his own free will, and that he was strong for the Union; and indeed it would be dangerous for him to try, for the folks at home would be sure to hear of it sooner or later, and then what would happen t

mates. "When it comes up we'll haul our wind and run for Hatteras. The cruiser will hold strai

s when it was necessary. By hauling his wind (which in this case meant shaping the schooner's course as near as possible toward the point from which the wind was blowing), he would be compelled to pass within a few miles of the steamer, and if th

n the fore and main sails and give a strong pull

g more than a squall; that it was coming to stay, and that they would be lucky if they saw the end of it by sunrise the next mornin

ey thought it would be wise to shorten his canvas, but all he took in were the gaff-topsails and fore-topmast staysail. Shortly afterward it became necessary to reef the sails that were left, and when that had

e privateer's crew never saw the steamer after the rain and mist shut her out from view; and when the sun arose t

d Captain Beardsley, who had been aloft sweeping the horizon with hi

nd some of them about H

y somebody, what was the reason she began dodging the minute she saw us? I hope to slip in between them, or at least to get under the protection of the guns of the forts at the Inlet before an

isk of capture that you do

t deal. "Perhaps you don't know it, but I gave orders, in case that steamer sighted us again, to throw ev

would have laid you ope

rc

ers, all the same, and am going to get shet of them the minute we get to Newbern. I don't reckon I can give you a

any longer," said Marcy, wh

ot going to hug the coast, neither. I'll make Crooked Inlet my point of departure, like I always have done, and then I'll stand straight out to sea till I ge

ptured after all your

ad 'cause our President has issued letters of mark-we and reprisal, and their papers demand that every one of us who is taken shall be hung to

you will stil

iness. It ain't to be expected that men will run the risk of going to jail for regular foremast hands' wages. They want more money, and it's right that they sho

arcy. ["If the business was only safe

r thing by you. If you go home you will have to enlist-I've heard the folks say that everybody had got to show

here was no release for him as long as the Osprey remained in commission. It w

ne making the most desperate efforts to place herself under cover of the guns of the forts, and the other making equally desperate efforts to bring the schooner within range of her bow-chaser before she could get there. It was a close and exciting race, and the crews of both vessels watched it anxiously. The black smoke rolled in thick clouds from the steamer's funnels, and the privateer's topmasts snapped and bent like fishing-rods, while her white-faced captain paced his quarter-deck, dividing his attention betw

t," said he gleefully. "If this breeze holds

nswer from one of the h

er

is breeze may die away any minute, and we don't want to do anything to make them Yankees madder at us than they be now. Another thing, we mustn't give 'em anything to remembe

atter could not use her sails. He also took note of the fact that Beardsley hugged the shore pretty closely, and this made it evident that he intended to beach the schooner rather than permit her to fall into the hands of the Yankees. But he was not driven to such extremity. The breeze held out, and although the steamer continued to fire her bow-chaser at intervals,

sley. "The last time we sailed through here we had a prize following in our wake, and we woul

n account of himself. As soon as he was safe inside the bar he directed his course toward Newbern, which he reached without any more adventures; but there we

first words he uttered. "I didn't expe

he captain's reply. "But we can't always have luck

see any

e with two of them, and I ain

, it may interest you to know that while you were fooling around out there, d

your slurs at we uns who have been under the fire of a Yankee war ship, but you ain't got the pluck to go into the service yourself. We didn't see but one merchantman while we was gone and she was a brig; and as she carried three times t

" replied

e's t

es more than twice as many; but we threw them into a panic and run them

ees would fight," said t

is just as g

the Richmon

o use for me to go

y at something while you can. After all, I don't know that I blame you for com

have lost my own vessel if I hadn't had th

ure you would come back with a prize. I was disap

in. "That brig was worth a power of money, and I might have b

n some point, for shortly afterward they went into the cabin, and Marcy was commanded to station himself at the head of the companion ladder and pass the word for the crew as fast as their names were called. He could see that the schooner's

ptain say when h

lothes and bedding and went ashore. At last there were only six foremast hands left, including Marcy Gray, and these were summoned into the cabin in a body to listen to what Captain Beardsley had to propose to them. He began with the statement that privateering was played out along that coast, because numerous cruisers were making it their business to watch the inlets and warn passing vessels to look out for themselves. It

if you don't want to. I want you to understand that blockade running is a dangerous business, and that we may be captured as others have been; but if you will stand by me, I'

r's crew. He was the only native American among the foremast hands, and the only one who could sign his name to the shipping articles, the others being obliged to make their marks. When this had been done the men returned to the deck, and the agent went ashore to make arrangements for landing the guns, to hunt up a gang of ship carpenters, and find a cotton-factor who was willing

closed the sliding door and pointed to a chair. "It's in the bank ashore, and

time, for the thought occurred to him that perhaps this was another attempt on the part of Captain Beardsley to

h a few months ago, and invest the proceeds in quinine; why, you'll make five hundred percent. Of course I can't grant all the hands the

had better risk i

?" asked

I've got I'm su

you could have it any minute y

hands of one of those war ships outside. There'd be all my money gone to the dogs, or, what amounts t

e agent say that we ain

fore they could tak

retty well posted, and I heard some of them say that a war is surely com

ou that we've got 'em licked already? More'n that, I don't mean to fall into the hands of them cruisers outside. I tell you that you'll miss it if you don't take out a venture. And as for your

t under the searching gaze the captain fixed upon him. "Now, I would like to ask you

ied Beardsley, who was not sharp enough to keep out of

t you don't mean to do it. You would rather carry cotton belonging to somebody else, and that is all the proof I want that you are afraid of the Yanke

oner? Every nigger I've got was paid for with money she made for

to himself. "And you didn't pay a c

want somebody to make something besides myself, and if you don't want

ascended the ladder that led to the deck. "I think myself that there's a war coming, and if we get licked I mu

e day have it in his power to make thin