Part 17 (1/2)
”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 Was.h.i.+ngton and try to get a pa.s.s 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 pa.s.ses 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 a.s.sure 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 doc.u.ments 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 s.h.i.+pmaster who may be in need of a coast pilot and second mate; but I never expect to use it. Here are some doc.u.ments 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 s.h.i.+p 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 mult.i.tude 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 pa.s.sed 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 'longsh.o.r.emen 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 sc.r.a.pe 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?”