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.
"She has enough to bother her already," said he, as he closed and locked
the door of his room; "and although I have no secrets from her, I don't
like to speak to her on disagreeable subjects. I wish she could forget
that money in the cellar wall and the hints Wat Gifford gave her about
'longshoremen coming up here from Plymouth some dark night to steal
it."
Sailor Jack, who was standing in front of the bureau putting away his
letters of recommendation and the canvas bag that contained his money,
turned quickly about and looked at his brother without speaking.
"Of course I don't know that such a thing will ever happen," continued
Marcy, "but I do know for a fact that Beardsley and a few others are
very anxious 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 Kelsey up here for the same purpose. Now what
difference does it make to them whether mother has money or not, unless
they mean to try to take it from her?"
"Marcy," said Jack, who had backed into the nearest chair, "I wish that
money was a thousand miles from here. You haven't anything to fear from
those 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 Union, they'll come down on this house like a nighthawk
on a June bug. And, worse than that, Beardsley may contrive to have
mother put under arrest."
"No!" gasped Marcy. "What for?"
"Don't you know that the Richmond Government has instructed its loyal
subjects to repudiate the debts they owe to Northern men and to turn the
amount of those debts into the Confederate treasury?"
"Well, what of it? We don't owe anybody a red cent."
"No odds. If Beardsley wants evidence to prove that we _do_ owe some
Northern house for the supplies we have been receiving, and that we are
holding back the money instead of giving it to the Confederacy--if
Beardsley needs evidence to prove all that he can easily find it."
"Why, the--the villain!" exclaimed Marcy, who had never been more
astounded.
"He's worse than that, and he'll do worse than that if he sees half a
chance," said Jack, with a sigh. "I wish the Yankees might get hold of
him, and 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, let me tell you: you must stay at home and take care of
mother, and I will ship on a war vessel and do my share toward putting
down this rebellion."
"But how can I stay at home?" interrupted Marcy. "My leave is for only
ninety days, and Beardsley looks for me to join the schooner as soon as
my arm gets well."
"All right. No doubt you will have to do it; but you'll not make many
more trips on that blockade-runner. It'll not be long before all our
ports will be sealed up tight 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 time, the same as
he quit privateering. Why, Marcy, you can't imagine what an uproar there
is all over the North. They're getting ready to give the South
particular fits."
"Then the result of the fight at Bull Run didn't frighten or discourage
them?"
"Man alive, if you had had as much to do with Northern people as I have,
you would know that they don't understand the words. They've got their
blood up at last, and now they mean business. Recruits are coming in
faster than they can equip and send them off. And I can't stay behind.
Mother must let me go."
"Do you think of enlisting on one of the blockading fleet?"
"I do."
"But how are you going to get to it? It's off Hatteras."
"So I supposed. Where's the _Fairy Belle?_"
"Great Scott!" ejaculated Marcy "Do you expect me to take you out on
her?"
"Well, yes; I had rather calculated on it." Marcy was profoundly
astonished. He threw himself upon the bed, propped his head up with his
uninjured hand, and looked at his brother without saying a word.