Marcy the Blockade Runner

by Harry Castlemon

  CHAPTER V.

  A CAT WITHOUT CLAWS.

  "I really believe I've got a hold on the old rascal at last," said Marcyto himself, as he leaned against the rail and watched the men, who,under direction of the mates, were hard at work getting the howitzersashore. "From this time on he had better be careful how he treats mymother, for he may fall into the hands of the Yankees some day; and ifthat ever happens, I will take pains to see that he doesn't get back toNashville in a hurry. I'll go any lengths to get a letter to theSecretary of the Treasury, telling him just who and what Beardsley is,and then perhaps he will stand a chance of being tried for somethingbesides piracy and blockade-running."

  Marcy's first care was to write to his mother. While omitting no item ofnews, he took pains to word the letter so cautiously that it could notbe used against him in case some of his secret enemies in and aroundNashville, the postmaster and Colonel Shelby, for instance, took it intotheir heads to open and read it instead of sending it to its address.They had showed him that they were quite mean enough to do it. Then hewent ashore to mail the letter and take notes, and was not long inmaking up his mind that he was not the only one who thought there wasgoing to be a war. Although the Newbern people were very jubilant overthe great victory at Bull Run, they did not act as though they thoughtthat that was the last battle they would have to fight before theirindependence would be acknowledged, for Marcy saw infantry companiesmarching and drilling in almost every street through which he passed,and every other man and boy he met was dressed in uniform. As he drewnear to the post-office he ran against a couple of young soldiers abouthis own age, or, to be more exact, they ran against him; for they werecoming along with their arms locked, talking so loudly that they couldhave been heard on the opposite side of the street, and when the_Osprey's_ pilot turned out to let them pass, they tried to crowd himoff into the gutter. But Marcy, beside being a sturdy fellow, knew howto stand up for his rights. He braced his foot firmly against thecurbstone and met the shock of the collision so vigorously that thosewho would have sent him headlong into the street were sent backwardthemselves, and came very near going head first down the stairs that ledinto a basement restaurant.

  "Don't you think I ought to have a little of this sidewalk?" he askedgood-naturedly, as the two straightened up and faced him with clenchedhands and flashing eyes.

  "Then put on a uniform and you can have as much of it as you want," saidone, in reply.

  "How long have you had those good clothes of yours?" inquired Marcy."Were they in the fight at Bull Run?"

  "Of course not. We only enlisted a week ago, but we show our good willand you don't."

  "Then you have never smelled powder or heard the noise of the enemy'sguns?"

  "It isn't likely, for there's been no fighting around here," said thesame speaker, who began to wonder if he and his companions hadn't made amistake.

  "Then go and get some experience before you take it upon yourselves toshove a veteran into the ditch," said Marcy loftily. "I've been in theservice ever since President Davis issued his call for privateers.You've heard of the _Osprey_, haven't you? Well, I belong to her."

  "Is that so?" exclaimed the other, extending his hand, which the pilotwas prompt to accept. "I am sorry we insulted you and beg your pardonfor it. But you ought to wear something to show who you are, for thefolks around here don't think much of citizens unless they have declaredtheir intention of enlisting as soon as they can get their affairs inshape."

  "I knew why you bumped up against me, and that was the reason I didn'tget mad at it," answered Marcy. "You don't seem to have much to do; andif you will walk up to the post-office with me, I'll show you over the_Osprey_, if you would like to take a look at her. But we'll have to bein a hurry if we want to see her with the guns aboard, for she is beingchanged into a blockade-runner."

  "Ah! That's the money-making business," said one of the recruits withenthusiasm. "I wish I knew something about boats, so that I could gointo it myself. What wages do you get?"

  "Five hundred dollars for the run to Nassau and back."

  The eyes of Marcy's new friends grew to twice their usual size. Theylooked hard at him to see if he was really in earnest, and then whistledin concert.

  "It's worth it," continued Marcy, "and I don't believe you could get mento go into it for less. From the time we leave the protection of theforts at Hatteras to the time we get back, we shall be in constant fearof capture. We know something of the dangers of the business, for we hadtwo narrow escapes during our last cruise."

  Of course the recruits wanted to know all about it, and as they facedaround and walked with him, Marcy gave them a short history of what theschooner had done since she went into commission. When he told howneatly that Yankee brig had slipped through Captain Beardsley's fingers,his companions looked at him in surprise.

  "What a pity," said one. "And yet you talk as if you were glad of it."

  "I talk as if it was a brave and skilful act, and so it was," answeredMarcy. "You would say the same if you had been there and seen it done."

  "No, I wouldn't. The Yankees are not brave and skilful, and they can'tdo anything to make me think they are. How will they feel when they seeour President sitting in the White House, dictating terms of peace tothem? I hope our company will be there to witness the ceremony."

  This was a point Marcy did not care to discuss with the two recruits,for fear he might say something to arouse in their minds a suspicionthat he was not intensely loyal to the Confederacy, even if he did sailunder its flag; so he inquired if there were anything else but drillingand marching going on in Newbern.

  "Not much else in the city," replied one of the young soldiers. "Butthere's a heap going on about five miles below. There's a corps ofengineers down there laying out a system of fortifications which are tobe a mile long. It will take eight or nine thousand men to garrisonthem, and they will be defended by thirty-one guns."

  "But I don't see any sense in it," said the other, who seemed to thinkhe had learned considerable of the art of war since he put on his grayjacket. "A Yankee army will never come so far south as Newbern, andtheir gunboats can't get past the forts at Hatteras."

  But, all the same, the Confederate authorities thought the works oughtto be pushed to completion, and so they were; but they did not amount tomuch, for Burnside's troops captured them after a four hours' fight,with the loss of only ninety-one men killed, the garrison retreating toNewbern and taking the cars for Goldsborough. When Marcy heard of it afew months later, he wondered if his new acquaintances were in thefight, and if they still held to the opinion that the Yankees were notbrave.

  After leaving the post-office they spent an hour on board the _Osprey_and parted at last well pleased with the result of their meeting, andfully satisfied in their own minds that the Yankees had been so badlywhipped at Bull Run that they would never dare face the Confederatesoldiers again. At least the two recruits were satisfied of it; butMarcy thought he knew better.

  On the morning of the next day but one, a tug came alongside and towedthe schooner up to a warehouse, where there was a load of cotton waitingfor her; and for want of something better to do, Marcy hunted up acotton-hook and assisted in rolling the heavy bales on board. The littlevessel was so changed in appearance that a landsman would hardly haverecognized her. The treacherous figure "9," which Beardsley had causedto be painted on her sails, in the hope that merchant vessels would takeher for a harmless pilot-boat, was not to be seen; all the black paintabout her, from the heel of her bowsprit to the crosstrees, had givenplace to a bluish-white; and on both sides of her bow and over her cabindoor the name _Hattie_ appeared in large gilt letters.

  "Now, when them _Hollins_ men get home and try to give the war ships adescription of the privateer that captured them, they will be mighty aptto shoot wide of the mark, won't they?" said Captain Beardsley, who wasmuch pleased with the work the painters had done under his instructions."There ain't the first thing
aboard of us to show that we used to beengaged in the privateering business. Oh, I'm a sharp one, and it takessomething besides a Yankee to get the start of me."

  Beardsley was so impatient to get to sea, and so very anxious to handlethe fortune he was sure he was going to make by his first attempt atblockade running, that he employed all the men that could be worked toadvantage, and took on board every bale he could possibly find room for.The deck load was so large that it threatened to interfere with thehandling of the sails! and when a tug pulled the schooner's head aroundtill it pointed down the river, she set so low in the water that shecould not show her usual speed, even with the tide in her favor, andTierney said in Marcy's hearing that he believed he could hoist a sailin a washing-tub and reach Nassau before the schooner could leave thesand dunes of Hatteras out of sight. But the captain did not seem tothink he had made any mistake in loading his vessel, although he didshow some anxiety for her safety; for when she reached Crooked Inlet hewalked aft and took charge of the wheel himself, and without saying oneword to the young fellow whom he called his pilot, until he saw thelatter looking at him as if he wanted to know what Beardsley meant bysuch work.

  "There, now," said the captain, by way of explanation, "I thought youwas below; I did for a fact. And so I said to myself that I wouldn'tbother you, but would try and take her through without your help, justto see if I could do it, you know. Supposing you was the only one aboardwho knew the channel, and something should happen to you, and I shouldwant to come through here in a hurry to get out of the way of a war shipthat was close in my wake; wouldn't I be in a pretty fix? Now stand by,so't you can give me a word in case I don't hold her just right."

  "You old hypocrite," thought Marcy. "If that was the first lie you evertold it would choke you. So he thinks something is going to happen tome, does he? Now what does he mean by that?"

  Captain Beardsley had done nothing more than Marcy expected him to do,but he did not have a word of fault to find with it, as a regular pilotwould have done when he saw his business taken out of his hands in sounceremonious a fashion. If the skipper was willing to pay him fivehundred dollars for doing nothing, the boy didn't think he ought tocomplain. He took his stand close by the captain's side, but he did nottouch the wheel, nor did he so much as look at the black and red buoysthat marked the channel. He was turning these words over in his mind:"Suppose something should happen to you!" Was he to understand thatBeardsley had made up his mind to get rid of him in some way?

  "If that is what he wants, why didn't he pay me off while we were inNewbern?" was the question Marcy asked himself. "But for some reason orother it doesn't suit him to have me at home with mother; and that makesme think that there's going to be an attempt made to steal the money shehas hidden in the cellar wall. Oh, how I wish Jack was at home."

  When the schooner was clear of the Inlet, Beardsley gave the boy a winkas if to say, "I did take her through, didn't I?" held a shortconsultation with the mates, during which the course was determinedupon, then mounted to the cross trees with his glass in his hand; andafter sweeping it around the horizon, gave the cheering information tothose below that there was nothing in sight. But there was something insight a few hours later--something that put Beardsley in such a ragethat he did not get over it for a day or two. It was a schooner a littlelarger than his own, and she was standing directly across the _Hattie's_bows. She did not show any disposition to "dodge" as the brig had done,but held straight on her course, and this made Captain Beardsley suspectthat there might be a cruiser following in her wake to see that she didnot get into trouble. But if there was, his glass failed to reveal thefact, and this suggested an idea to him. When the stranger's topsailscould be seen from the _Hattie's_ deck he shouted down to his mate:

  "Say, Morgan, I'll tell you what's the matter with that fellow. He don'tknow that there's such things as privateers afloat, and he ain't seennary cruiser to warn him. That's why he don't sheer off."

  "I reckon you're right, cap'n," replied the mate. "It's plain that heain't afraid of us."

  "Well, if I am right," continued Beardsley, "it proves that the warships off Hatteras have went off somewheres, and that the coast below isall clear; don't you think so? What do you say if we make a straight runfor our port? We'll save more than a week by it."

  "I'm agreeable," answered the mate, who, upon receiving a nod from thecaptain, gave the necessary orders, and in a few minutes the _Hattie_was close-hauled and running in such a direction that if the two vesselsheld on their way, they would pass almost within hailing distance ofeach other. Of course the captain of the stranger must have witnessedthis manoeuvre, but he did not seem to be surprised or troubled by it;for he kept straight on and in another hour dashed by within less than aquarter of a mile of Captain Beardsley, who lifted his hat and waved itto a small party of men, her officers probably, who were standing on herquarter deck. In response to the salutation the Stars and Stripes werehoisted at her peak.

  "If she had done that three weeks ago wouldn't I have brought that flagdown with a jerk?" exclaimed Beardsley angrily. "Did anybody ever hearof such luck? Why didn't she show up when we had them howitzers aboard?They don't know what to make of us, for I can see two fellows withglasses pointed at us all the time. Run up that Yankee flag, Marcy."

  The latter was prompt to obey the order, and he was quite willing to doit, since it was not in Beardsley's power to do any harm to the handsomestranger. After being allowed to float for a few minutes the two flagswere hauled down and stowed away in their respective chests, and thelittle vessels parted company without either one knowing who the otherwas. But there was an angry lot of men on board the _Hattie._ Beardsleyshowed that he was one of them by the hard words he used when he camedown from aloft and sent a lookout up to take his place, and Tierney,after shaking his fist at the Yankee, shut one eye, glanced along therail with the other, as he had glanced through the sights of thehowitzer he once commanded, and then jerked back his right hand as if hewere pulling a lock-string. Marcy Gray was the only one aboard whocarried a light heart.

  After the schooner's course was changed there was a good deal ofsuppressed excitement among the crew, for Captain Beardsley was about totake what some of them thought to be a desperate risk. Probably therewere no cruisers off Hatteras when that merchant vessel passed, but thatwas all of fifteen or twenty hours ago, and they had had plenty of timeto get back to their stations. So a bright lookout was kept by allhands, and Beardsley or one of the mates went aloft every few minutes totake a peep through the glass. Marcy thought there was good cause forwatchfulness and anxiety. In the first place, the Bahama Islands, ofwhich Nassau, in the Island of New Providence, was the principal port,lay off the coast of Florida, and about five hundred miles southeast ofCharleston. They must have been at least twice as far from CrookedInlet, so that Captain Beardsley, by selecting Newbern as his home port,ran twice the risk of falling into the hands of the Federal cruisersthat he would if he had decided to run his contraband cargo intoSavannah or Charleston.

  "It seems to me that the old man ought to have learned wisdom afterliving for so many years in defiance of the law," thought Marcy, when itcame his turn to go aloft and relieve the lookout. "Of course a smugglerhas to take his chances with the revenue cutters he is liable to meetalong the coast, as well as with the Custom House authorities, and Ishould think that constant fear of capture would have made him sly andcautious; but it hasn't."--"Nothing in sight, sir," he said, in answerto an inquiry from the officer who had charge of the deck.

  And this was the report that was sent down by every lookout who wentaloft during the next four days; and what a time of excitement andsuspense that was for Marcy Gray and all the rest of the _Hattie's_crew. Perhaps there was not so much danger of being run down at night bysome heavy vessel as there would have been a few months before, butMarcy's nerves thrilled with apprehension when he stood holding fast tothe rail during the lonely mid-watch, and the schooner, with the spraydashing wildly about her bows and everything drawing, w
as running beforea strong wind through darkness so black that her flying-jib-boom couldnot be seen, and there was no light on board except the one in thebinnacle.

  "I know it's dangerous and I don't like it any better than you do,"Beardsley said to him one night. "But think of the money there is in it,and what a fule you were for not taking out a venture when I gave youthe chance. I bought four bales apiece for the mates, and they willpocket the money that you might have had just as well as not."

  "But I want to use my seventeen hundred dollars," replied Marcy; and sohe did. He still clung to the hope that he might some day have anopportunity to return it to the master of the _Hollins_, and that wasthe reason he was unwilling to run the risk of losing it.

  "Go and tell that to the marines," said Captain Beardsley impatiently."They'll believe anything, but I won't. You don't need it; your folksdon't, and I know it. Keep a bright lookout for lights, hold a stiffupper lip, and I will take you safely through."

  And so he did. Not only were the Federal war ships accommodating enoughto keep out of the way, but the elements were in good humor also. Theschooner had a fair wind during the whole of her perilous journey, andin due time it wafted her into the port of Nassau. Although Marcy Grayhad never been there before, he had heard and read of New Providence asa barren rock, with scarcely soil enough to produce a few pineapples andoranges, and of Nassau as a place of no consequence whatever so far ascommerce was concerned. It boasted a small sponge trade, exported somegreen turtles and conch-shells, and was the home of a few fisherman andwreckers; this was all Marcy thought there was of Nassau, andconsequently his surprise was great when he found himself looking outupon the wharves of a thriving, bustling little town. The slave-holders'rebellion, "which brought woe and wretchedness to so many of our States,was the wind that blew prosperity to Nassau." When President Lincoln'sproclamation, announcing the blockade of all the Confederate ports wasissued, Nassau took on an air of business and importance, and at oncebecame the favorite resort of vessels engaged in contraband trade. Therewere Northern men there too, and Northern vessels as well; for, to quotefrom the historian, "The Yankee, in obedience to his instincts oftraffic, scented the prey from afar, and went there to turn an honestpenny by assisting the Confederates to run the blockade." The supplieswhich the Confederates had always purchased in the North, and of whichthey already began to stand in need, were shipped from Europe in neutralvessels; and being consigned to a neutral port (for Nassau belonged toEngland), they were in no danger of being captured by our war shipsduring the long voyage across the Atlantic. It was when these supplieswere taken from the wharves and placed in the holds of vessels like the_Hattie_ that the trouble began, and men like Captain Beardsley ran allthe risk and reaped the lion's share of the profits. Almost the firstthing that drew Marcy's attention was the sight of a Union andConfederate flag floating within a few rods of each other.

  "What's the meaning of that?" he asked of Beardsley, as soon as he foundopportunity to speak to him. "We don't own this town, do we?"

  "No; but we've got a Consulate here," was the reply. "I don't know's Iunderstand just what that means, but it's some sort of an officer thatour government has sent here to look out for our interests. If a manwants to go from here to our country, he must go to that Consulate andget a pass before any blockade-runner will take him. Now don't you wishyou had took my advice and brought out a venture?"

  "It's too late to think of that now," answered Marcy. "And your ownprofits are not safe yet. It must be all of a thousand miles from hereto Newbern, and perhaps we'll not have as good luck going as we didcoming. I am to have a hundred dollars to spend here, am I not?"

  "Course. That's what I promised before you and the rest signed articles.I'll give it to you the minute this cotton is got ashore and paid for.What you going to do with it?"

  "I thought I would invest it in medicine."

  "Your head's level. You couldn't make bigger money on anything else."

  "And as it is my own money and the captain of the _Hollins_ has nointerest in it, I shall feel quite at liberty to spend it as I choose,"soliloquized Marcy, as the captain turned away to meet therepresentative of the English house to which his cargo of cotton wasconsigned. "Besides, I must keep up appearances, or I'll get intotrouble."

  "Turn to, all hands, and get off the hatches," shouted one of the mates."Lively now, for the sooner we start back the sooner we'll get there."

  Marcy did not know whether or not he was included in this orderaddressed to "all hands," but as the officer looked hard at him heconcluded he was. At any rate he was willing to work, if for no otherpurpose than to keep him from thinking. Somehow he did not like to havehis mind dwell upon the homeward run.