Marcy the Blockade Runner

about her son's neck, hid her face on his shoulder and sobbed violently. Marcy put his uninjured ar

g your tongue so freely," said Marcy angrily. "I've the

the frightened coachman

age and put them in my room; and when you have done that, go off somewhere and spend an hour or two every day telling the truth, so that you will get used

suffered-you are suffering now; and there isn't a particle of color in your

was trying to break the disagreeable news as gently as he co

," began h

ee hours after it was broken, and the surgeon I consulted in Newbern said he made a g

why do you

volver 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 hand

d Mrs. Gray, who had wiped away her tea

here'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, addi

pe that you will some day mee

f 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 h

nd 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 rel

n'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

efused 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;

. 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 tha

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, f

nced 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 re

he demanded.

's heel is

is at thy

he patri

the streets

battle qu

d! my M

r, 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

n answer that I can und

are

whine, told the astonished Marcy that his faithful watchman, Bose, was under the window with the stranger. The unexpected d

aimed. "Oh, Jac

his time. "I'm here safe and sound, and none the worse for havi

f 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

d Marcy, "Jack's come

lmly, although she was almost as highly excited as Mar

o the front door. The moment he opened it a stalwart young fellow sprang upon the threshold with his arms spread out;

ou?" he demanded, as

replied Marcy, laughing at the expression of surprise and disgust that came upon the young sailor'

ng 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

o 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 H

ll me why you came home like a thief in the night instead of knocking

f the neighbors, are you? I read the papers when I could get them, and among other things I learned that the South

llowing with the lamp, and taking care to see that

lf, and that you are afraid to trust the servants," said Jack. "If that's the case

tured, and how he had managed to escape after a prize crew had been thrown aboard his vessel. He simply told of h

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 h

o 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

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 consequentl

y neutral waters?"

ne 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,

stroy. 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 st

ng to the top of the companion-ladder. "There's

he ladder in two jumps, and saw that a boat had already been lowere

ward 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 t

ughts that were passing in the mind of his commander. "If we try to run

examination of the steamer through the spyglass. "She's loading one o

d 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,

you plainly that if I had five guns and as many men as you've got, one or

"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. Wha

te any time or words in giv

neutral port to another," said the

you?" inq

rcumstances we cannot

an just because you happen to

ing 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 bu

ailors, 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 prize

o 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, a

t, there? Get fart

over the Caribbean Sea, and then Captain Semmes himself did something tha