Marcy the Blockade Runner

by Harry Castlemon

  CHAPTER XV.

  THE ENCHANTED LOOKING-GLASS.

  Things went on in this unsatisfactory way for a long time--so long, infact, that Hanson began to grow discouraged. And well he might, for withall his scheming he had not been able to add a single scrap ofinformation to the first report he made to Colonel Shelby. The boyJulius held manfully to his story--that Mrs. Gray was the best kind of aConfederate, that she had no money except the dollar she carried in herpocket-book--and the most cunningly worded cross-questioning could notdraw anything else from him. In process of time Fort _Sumter_ was firedupon, Marcy Gray came home from school, and then the overseer rubbed hishands joyously and told himself that he would soon know all about it.Well, he didn't, but Julius did; and this was the way it came about.

  In the ceiling of the dining-room, to which apartment the family usuallybetook themselves when they had anything private to talk about, was astovepipe hole, communicating with a store-room on the floor above. Ithappened that Julius was roaming about the house one day when Mrs. Grayhad company at dinner, and the sound of voices coming up through thisopening attracted his attention. He listened a moment, and found that hecould plainly hear every word that was uttered in the room below; but henever would have thought of playing the part of eavesdropper if Hansonhad not told him that he was expected to do it. Believing that he couldadd to his usefulness and better guard the interests of the family if heknew more about its private affairs, Julius hastened to the store-roomthe minute he saw Marcy and his mother going in to breakfast, and puthis ear directly over the open stovepipe hole, and heard some thingsthat made him tremble all over. There was money in the house afterall--thirty thousand dollars all in gold; it was hidden in the cellarwall, and he could earn a nice little sum by carrying the news straightto the overseer, as he had solemnly promised to do; but he never thoughtof it. On the contrary he strove harder than ever to make Hanson believethat there was not a dollar in the house beyond the one Mrs. Gray keptin her pocket; because why, hadn't he heard her tell Marse Marcy so withhis own two ears? If the overseer did not say "money" during theirinterviews, Julius did; but he did not dwell long enough on the subjectto arouse the man's suspicions. More than that, Julius was brave enoughto "take the bull by the horns," and one day he disheartened theoverseer by declaring:

  "I seen something dis day, Marse Hanson, dat done took my breff all plumaway; I did so. Marse Marcy he come home a purpose to go into our army;and his mother she cried and cried, and pooty quick she say: 'My deahboy, dat man Linkum mus' be whopped; dat am de facs in de case'; and denshe slap him on de back and sick him on. Yes, sar. I done see dat wid myown two eyes dis bery day."

  The reason Hanson was disheartened was because he had been promised aliberal reward if he could bring evidence to prove that Mrs. Gray wasopposed to secession, and that her journeys to Richmond and other citieshad been made for the purpose of drawing funds from the banks; and whenMarcy backed up the young negro's bold statement by shipping on boardCaptain Beardsley's privateer, Hanson came to the sorrowful conclusionthat it was not in his power to earn that reward. He was none too goodto bear false witness against Mrs. Gray, but he was afraid to do it.Sailor Jack might come home some day, and--well, Hanson had never seensailor Jack but he had been told that he was a good one to let alone.

  The long-expected wanderer returned in due time, and the wide-awakelittle negro was the second on the plantation to find it out, Bose beingthe first. Julius slept in the back part of the house, so close toMarcy's room that if the latter wanted anything during the night, all hehad to do was to open his window and call out, and consequently it wasno trouble at all for him to catch every word that passed between Jackand his brother. He was not far off when the sailor was admitted at thefront door, and when he saw the reunited family go into the dining-room,he bounded up the back stairs into the store-room and placed his ear atthe stovepipe hole--not because he wanted to repeat anything he heard,you will understand, but because he wanted to know what subjects tosteer clear of in his interviews with the overseer. When he heard thatJack had passed himself off for a rebel, that he had brought a smugglerinto a Southern port, and that he had made considerable money out of thesale of his venture, Julius thought it would help matters if the newswere spread broadcast; and he lost no time in spreading it among thenegroes, and by their aid it reached Nashville before the boys wentthere for their mail the next morning. He told about the _Hattie's_adventure with the steam launch, also (of course he made it morethrilling than it really was), and that was the way Captain Beardsley'sdaughter came to know so much about it; but he never said a wordconcerning Jack's short captivity in the hands of the _Sumter's_ men.

  After Jack had been at home long enough to find out how things stood, heset himself at work to learn who it was that kept certain people in theneighborhood so well posted in regard to his mother's private affairs.He said not a word to anybody, but worked in secret, for he believedthat his efforts would result in the unearthing of a spy who lived inthe house. It would add to his mother's troubles if she knew that Jackbelieved, as she did, that there was some trusted servant who kept aneye on her movements and went to the overseer with a report of them--sohe kept his own counsel, and laid siege to Hanson the very first thing.The latter wasn't sharp enough to hold his own with any such fellow asJack Gray, and Jack learned all he cared to know about Hanson in lessthan two days. The next step was to find the servant on whom theoverseer depended for his information. This looked like a hopeless task,but fortune favored him. One morning he stood in front of the mirror inMarcy's room performing his toilet. The door, which was behind and alittle to one side of him, was open, and the lower end of the long hallwas plainly reflected upon the polished surface of the looking-glass. Sowas the slim, agile figure of the small darkey who slipped out of one ofthe rooms, ran along the hall with the speed of the wind, anddisappeared down the back stairs.

  "That's Julius," said Jack, whose first thought was to call the boy backand make him give an account of himself. "He has been up to somemischief, I'll warrant; but I will see if I can find out what it isbefore hauling him over the coals."

  So saying Jack stepped into the hall, and the first door he opened wasthe one leading into the store-room. There was the open stovepipe hole,and through it voices came up from the room below. He bent a littlecloser to it, and distinctly heard his mother tell one of the girls toput breakfast on the table and ring the bell for the boys. In an instantthe whole secret flashed upon him. He said not a word, but as soon as hereturned from the post-office, and Marcy had ridden to the field tocarry some instructions to the overseer, Jack went up to his room,leaving orders with one of the girls to send Julius there at once. Whenhe came, the first thing Jack did was to lock the door and put the keyin his pocket.

  "Now, Julius," said he, in his most solemn tones, his face at the sametime taking on a fierce frown, "if you are an innocent boy, if you havebeen strictly honest and truthful ever since I have been at sea, if youhave obeyed your mistress and kept your hands off things that do notbelong to you----"

  "Oh, Marse Jack," exclaimed the frightened boy. "Suah hope to die Inevah----"

  "Don't interrupt me," commanded Jack, with a still more savage frown."I'll show you in a minute that I have it in my power to find out justwhat you have done while I have been gone, from the time you stole----"

  "Marse Jack, I nevah took dat breastpin; suah hope to die if I did,"began Julius.

  "Hal-lo!" thought Jack. "I've got on to something when I least expectedit. That's what comes of knowing how to handle a darkey. I didn't evenknow that mother had lost a breastpin."

  "I haven't asked you whether you stole it or not," he said, aloud."There is no need that I should ask you any questions, for I have a wayof finding out everything I want to know. If you have been an honest,truthful boy during the last two years, sit down in that chair; but Iwarn you that if you are deceiving me, it will drop to pieces with youand let you down on the floor. S
it down!"

  "Oh, Marse Jack," cried the darkey, backing away from the chair. "Don'tI done tol' you dat I didn't took it?"

  "Do you stick to that story?" demanded Jack.

  "Yes, sar. I stick to it till I plum dead."

  "All right. I hope you are telling me the truth, and I'll very soon findout whether you are or not. The Yankees are coming right through thiscountry some day, and I don't want to give you up to them, as I amafraid I shall have to do. You have heard Aunt Mandy tell herpickaninnies what awful fellows the Yankees are, have you not? Why,Julius, it scares me to think of them. If a live Yankee was in this roomthis minute,--don't get behind me, for I wouldn't try to help you if oneshould walk in and carry you off,--if one came in and sat down in thatchair that will fall to pieces if you touch it, and you should take offhis hat and his right boot, you would find that he had horns and acloven hoof--a hoof like an ox instead of a foot like yours."

  "Look a hyar, Marse Jack," exclaimed Julius, clinging to the sailor withone trembling hand while he pointed toward the wash-stand with theother. "Wha--wha' you doing da'? Wha' dat white stuff for?"

  While Jack was telling the boy what terrible fellows the Yankees weresupposed to be, he had slowly and solemnly filled a goblet with waterfrom the pitcher, and then in the same solemn and deliberate way drewforth his ditty-bag and took from it a small bottle containing aharmless-looking white powder known to the druggists as citrate ofmagnesia. He held it at arm's length as if he were afraid of it, andthat made Julius so weak with terror that he could scarcely keep hisfeet.

  "Do you want to know what--look out for yourself, now! If it explodeswhen I remove the cork, look out! Do you want to know what this is?"said Jack. "Then I must whisper the words to you, for it would never doto say them out loud. It is my enchanted looking-glass--my fetich--myvoodoo charm."

  That was too much for Julius. With a wild scream he jumped for the door;but it was locked, and he could not get out.

  "Now watch," continued Jack, who knew that he would get at the truth ofthe whole matter in a minute more. "To begin with, I shall command myenchanted looking-glass to show me the likeness of the villain who stolethat breastpin; and in the next, I shall tell it to show me the placewhere it is now. Now, stand by to look in and tell me who you seethere."

  He poured a small portion of the white powder into the goblet, whosecontents at once began to bubble and boil in the most unaccountablemanner. When the water boiled up to the top and ran over on thewash-stand, Jack commanded Julius to look in and tell him what he sawthere; but the boy sprang away and curled himself up on the floor in thefarthest corner of the room.

  "Come here!" said Jack sternly. "You won't? Then I'll look myself. Ah!What is this I see? Julius, come here this instant and tell me who thisis."

  Jack emphasized the order by taking the negro by the back of the neckand lifting him to his feet; but he soon found that he could not holdhim there without the use of more strength than he cared to put forth.Julius was like an eel in his grasp. As fast as he raised him from thefloor he would somehow manage to slip back again; and all the while hebegged and pleaded so loudly that Jack was forced to desist for fearthat his mother would hear the uproar, and come to the door to ask whatwas the matter.

  "You are afraid to look in that goblet and you dare not sit in thechair," said Jack at length. "That proves that you did take the pin. Nowwhere is it? If I have to fill my enchanted glass again, I'll make youlook in it whether you want to or not. Where is it?"

  THE ENCHANTED LOOKING-GLASS.]

  "De oberseer got it," was the reply that made the sailor wonder whetherhe was awake or dreaming. "Suah's you born, de oberseer done made me gibit to him."

  Jack had not the least doubt of it, but in order to test the boy'ssincerity, he told him to sit down in the chair, assuring him, at thesame time, that he had nothing to fear. As he had atoned for his guiltby making a confession, the chair would hold him up as it would anybodyelse. Julius tremblingly obeyed, and when he found that the chair reallydid support him, he gained courage, and with a little questioning toldthe whole story pretty nearly as we have told it, with this difference:He omitted some important items which we have been obliged to explain inorder to make the narrative clear to the reader. It was a very nicescheme, Jack told himself, but he had not yet got the game as completelyin his own hands as he determined to have it.

  "Julius," said he impressively, "do you know what will happen to you ifyou fail to prove the truth of this most remarkable tale? You'll be solddown South before the week is over. A darkey who has been as carefullybrought up as you have wouldn't last long in the cotton fields."

  "But, Marse Jack," said Julius earnestly, "I kin prove dat I ain't toleyou nuffin but the gospel truth. I kin fotch you de pin; but you musn'tluff de oberseer whop me."

  "He shall not put a hand on you," Jack assured him. "Keep away from thequarter, take no more reports to him, and I will stand between you andall harm."

  As he said this he unlocked the door, and the darkey disappeared like aflash. He was gone about half an hour, and when he returned he handedJack the breastpin, which was wrapped in a piece of newspaper. Theoverseer being away in the field and his cabin unlocked, it was a matterof no difficulty for the darkey to rummage his bureau drawers until hefound the object of which he was in search. Whether or not Hanson everdiscovered that he had been robbed of the "charm" that gave him suchpower over Julius, Jack never knew. If he did, he never said a wordabout it while he remained on that plantation.

  But this was not the only good work Jack Gray did during the first twoweeks he passed at home. When the _West Wind_ was a day out from Boston,he accidentally learned that one of his best foremast hands was aresident of his own State, and that his father, who was a strong Unionman, lived but an hour's ride from Nashville. Of course the two becamefriends at once. All the lightest and easiest jobs about deck seemed tofall into Aleck Webster's hands, and Jack won the good will of his messby taking it upon himself to see that their food was not only abundant,but that it was well-cooked and properly served. They talked over thesituation as often as they could get together, and not knowing just howmatters stood at home they concluded that they had better not recognizeeach other after they reached Newbern. If, after they had passed a fewdays at their respective homes, they thought it safe to do so, theycould very easily bring about a meeting, and who could tell but thatthey might find opportunity to work together for the good of the oldflag, or for the relief of some persecuted Unionist? Jack knew of oneUnionist who was persecuted by being watched by rebel neighbors, andthat one was his mother. He and Webster met at the post-office onemorning, but they met as strangers. In fact his shipmate was a strangerto all present, for his father, who was a small farmer, had moved intothat section from Georgia while Aleck was at sea. Having the misfortuneto be a "cracker," or a poor white, Mr. Webster was rather looked downon by such men as Colonel Shelby and Major Dillon, but Jack Gray was notthat sort. Aleck was a good sailor, and such a man was worth more in agale at sea than a landsman who could call upon his bank account for ahundred thousand dollars.

  During his first interview with his old shipmate Jack Gray heard somethings that made him open his eyes. It was true, as he afterward toldMarcy, that the Union men in the neighborhood were few in number, andthat they dared not say out loud that their souls were their own; butthey were well organized, and by no means afraid to follow the exampleset them by the rebels, and act in secret. Aleck said that there wereabout twenty of them all told, and no one could join their companyunless he was vouched for by every man in it. They calculated to defendthemselves and one another. They would not go into the Confederateservice, and if they were crowded upon too closely they would take tothe swamps and fight it out with any force that might be sent againstthem. They were well armed and resolute, and Aleck said they would be injust the right humor to deal with Hanson's case when it was brought totheir notice at their next meeting.

  "My mother rather took me to task because
I helped that smuggler intoport, but if you can give me the assurance that these Union men willstand between her and that cowardly overseer she's got on the place, Ishall be glad I became a smuggler for the time being," said Jack.

  "I can give you that assurance, Mr. Gray," said Aleck positively."That's just what the company, or society, or whatever you have a mindto call it, was got together for. I know, because I was present at theirlast meeting, and the whole thing was explained to me before I took theoath to stand by it. Why can't you come down and join us?"

  "We're not on board ship now, and my name is Jack. There's no Misterabout it," was the reply. "I am in full sympathy with you and with theobject for which you have been brought together, and if I was going tostay at home I should surely ask you to hand in my name. But my motherwill be defenseless when I go into the navy and Marcy leaves to jointhat blockade-runner, and if Shelby and Beardsley and Hanson should findout that I knew there was an organization like yours in existence, theywould burn up everything we've got. We can't discharge Hanson withoutbringing ourselves into serious trouble; and if you fellows could thinkup some way to drive him off the place, and bring old Beardsley home sothat my brother wouldn't have to go blockade running any more, you wouldmake us all your everlasting debtors."

  "If you wanted to write to this Captain Beardsley you would address himat Newbern, wouldn't you? All right. We meet somewhere in the woods nextWednesday night, and then we will talk it over and see what can be donefor you."

  Jack Gray always was light-hearted and jolly, no matter whether thingsworked to suit him or not; but Marcy and his mother thought they hadnever seen him quite so much at peace with himself and all the world ashe appeared to be after this interview with Aleck Webster. If thoseUnion men were in earnest and did what his shipmate thought theycertainly would do, there might be a fight right there on theplantation; and that was the reason Jack did not take his mother intohis confidence. To quote from Marcy, she had enough to trouble heralready. If the attempt to drive the overseer from the place was madeand resulted in failure, it would probably lead to some vigorous actionon the part of Colonel Shelby and his friends; and that was the reasonJack did not tell Marcy of it. If a difficulty arose, he wanted Marcy tobe able to say that he did not know a thing about it. But thisparticular night might be the last one he would ever spend with hisbrother, and he thought it prudent to make a clean breast of thematter.

  "That is my story," said Jack, in conclusion. "What do you think ofit?"

  "I think you have worked to some purpose," replied Marcy, who could notyet understand how Jack had done all this without his knowledge. "Butthere is one thing you have yet to explain. You told me that I need notgo back to the _Hattie_ if I don't want to. I certainly do not want to,but how shall I get out of it?"

  This was the way Jack explained that. On the Thursday morning followingthe day on which he held his first interview with Aleck Webster, he methim again, and the young fellow had startling news for him. After thetwo had seated themselves on a low fence a little way from the store,Aleck fastened his gaze upon a paper he held in his hand and said:

  "It is just as I told you it would be. Our men were all mad when I toldthem that Unionists, and women at that, were being mistreated right hereunder their very noses, and them setting around like bumps on a log anddoing nothing to stop it, and it's my private opinion that if thatoverseer of your'n had been handy last night, they would have used himrough. He'll get out; I can promise you that."

  "Well, look here, Aleck. My brother is going to take me down to theblockading fleet in a few days, and I wish you wouldn't make a moveuntil we are gone. Then folks can't say we had a hand in it or knewanything about it."

  "Very good, sir. We'll look out for that. And perhaps you and yourbrother will be glad to learn that Captain Beardsley will be warnedto-day that if he don't quit blockade running and bringing in suppliesfor the Confederacy, he will miss some of his buildings when he getsback."

  "That will bring him sure," said Jack gleefully. "You can't touch him ina worse place than his pocket. But you didn't say anything about hisforcing Marcy into the rebel service, did you? For if you did, he'llbounce my folks the minute he gets home."

  "If he tries it, may be he'll miss some more buildings when he gets upin the morning," said Aleck.

  "But he'll not let you or anybody know that he is working against them,"said Jack. "He's too sharp for that."

  "If anything happens to your folks we will lay it to him and actaccordingly," said Aleck, with a laugh. "But the man who was told towrite that letter to Beardsley will take care to word it so that hecan't lay the blame on any one person's shoulders. You tell your brotherthat if he doesn't want to go blockade running again, he needn't go; forhis schooner is about to quit the business."

  "Do I know any of those Union men?" inquired Marcy.

  "Probably you are acquainted with all of them, but they will make nosign," replied Jack. "The only one I know is Aleck Webster. I tell youit was a lucky thing for all of us when Captain Frazier took me aboardthe _West Wind._ Now you take charge of this pin, and when the agony isall over, when Beardsley has been brought home and Hanson has been takencare of, give it to mother and tell her how you came by it. Perhaps thestory will prove as interesting to her as I hope it has been to you.Now, let's go into the house. She will wonder what is keeping us out solong."