Marcy the Blockade Runner

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 determine

ng 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

f again, Cap'n," said the mate. "Wh

he reply. "And tell Stebbins

hey did not appear to be at all cast down by the sudden and unexpected turn affairs

res at all, at all. I've had

ribs with his elbow. "Your commanding officer is i

ushel if we would help capture the Yankee ships on the high seas. We've took two prizes besides this wan, and the Herndon

lease, and no one aboard my vessel will say a thing to you. Now, will you give you

replied the s

ery civilly while we were your prisoners, and I want to treat y

ined on the Sabine they would make no disturbance, but would in all respects conduct themse

d the captain. "But I tell you plainly that if you go back from your word, I will have you in irons before you know

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 a

n or more vessels like the Sumter cruising about here, watching their chance to make bonfires of the defenseless merchant vessels? Now let this

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 dang

g of those privateers,

"She fired a couple of shells at us, and tried to lay herself across our cour

ft was she?" exclaimed Marc

her'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

s that you fired in return come

starting up in his turn. "What do y

dream that you were on the brig, you can't imagine how delighted I was when I saw that she was bound to give

if to say that that was the most astoun

esn't need a pilot on this coast. He has smuggled m

, 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 i

as beneath contempt, but this rathe

e 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, a

of money if it had been earned in

intend to keep it. I'm going to give it back to the one

ll some day find the man; but I am afr

ate-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

that she had given him a broken he

t with mother and you. But I don't quite understand why you came home as you did.

se in ordinary tones in your own house?" sa

to trust," answered Mrs. Gray. "One of our principal source

s brother's ear. "Mother brought it home herself

under his breath. "Do

, and that is wh

re who would rob you in a minute if they thought they could do it without br

tears starting to her eyes; "yo

ng 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 secre

it," said Marcy. "He's a sneak

hy didn't you kick him off the place as soon a

f his political opinions, can you not see that I would give the rebels in the settlement

ust say that this is a nice way to live. But the Confederates can'

ow why I went aboard that privateer as well as if I had told them all about it. But, J

; 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 hel

Union man," said Marcy. "But this looks as thou

s 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 wi

take out

about two-thirds of m

did yo

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 doll

en they returned, Jack was slapping the side

ry you did it," said M

sorry

his," replied Jack, hitting th

nd piloted that vessel through the blockade, didn't you violate the laws of

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 document

out of Boston with your

you clear at t

ht, and consigned to a well-known American firm in Havana; but the little articles that were brought aboard after dark and sca

ould you do it? I can't see how you cou

n that privateer and run the risk of being captured or killed by the Yankees because you and he thought it

antel 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 ni

secrets from her, I don't like to speak to her on disagreeable subjects. I wish she could forget that money in the cell

s letters of recommendation and the canvas bag that contained his mo

us to find out whether or not there are any funds in the house. Beardsley tried his level best to pump me, and Colonel Shelby sent that trifling Kelse

wharf-rats at Plymouth; but if the Confederate authorities find out about it, and can scrape together evidence enough to satisfy them that mother is

ed Marcy.

oyal subjects to repudiate the debts they owe to Northern men and

? We don't owe an

wants evidence to pro

supplies we have been r

y instead of giving i

ce to prove all that h

xclaimed Marcy, who had n

nd that some one would tell them who and what he is, for I judge from what you have told me that he is at the bottom of all mother's troubles. Now,

leave is for only ninety days, and Beardsley looks fo

as a brick by swift steamers, and sailing vessels will stand no show of getting out or in. I know Lon Beardsley, and he will quit blockade running when he thinks it's ti

ght at Bull Run didn't fri

t understand the words. They've got their blood up at last, and now they mean business. Recruits are c

listing on one of t

d

oing to get to it?

d. Where's th

d Marcy "Do you expect m

tonished. He threw himself upon the bed, propped his head up with h