r and the "rip." We reached the bar
before our pursuers, and were soon lost to their sight in the darkness
outside. Our supply of coal being limited, the course was shaped for
Nassau as the nearer port, where we arrived without accident. A day or
two after our arrival the news came of the fall of Fort Fisher.

Several narrow escapes, besides our own, were made. Maffitt, in command
of the "Owl" crossed the Western Bar a night or two after the fall of
Fort Fisher, and while our troops were evacuating Fort Caswell and
other military stations along the river. Crossing the bar, and
suspecting no danger, he continued on his way up to Smithville, where he
anchored. He was boarded a few moments afterwards by a boat from our
military post there. The officer in command of the boat informed him of
the capture of Fort Fisher, and that our troops were then evacuating
Fort Caswell; adding that several vessels of the Federal fleet had
crossed the New Inlet Bar, and were at anchor in the river almost within
hail of him. Maffitt was about to give the order to slip the chain, "not
standing upon the order of his going," when his pilot begged for
permission to go ashore, if only for ten minutes. He represented the
situation of his wife, whom he had left ill and without means of
support, in such moving terms, that Maffitt granted permission, upon
condition that he would return speedily. The pilot was faithful to his
promise, returning in fifteen or twenty minutes. During his absence,
steam was raised, and the chain unshackled. As the pilot's foot touched
the deck of the "Owl" again, the boat was hooked on and run up to the
davits, the chain slipped, and the "Owl" on her way to sea again.

Another blockade-runner is said to have been not so fortunate. She had
run the gauntlet safely, and come to anchor off Smithville. The
tarpaulins had been removed from the hatches, the lamps lighted, and a
cold supper spread upon the table, at which the passengers were seated,
two or three officers of the British army among them. A toast to the
captain had been proposed, and they had just tossed off a bumper in
champagne to his health and continued successes, and he was about to
reply to the compliment, when the officer of the deck reported that a
boat was coming alongside. The captain received the officer at the
gangway. The mail bag, according to the usual routine, was given to the
latter for transportation to the shore; and the customary inquiries made