But her appearance was by no means prepossessing, and she
was very slow, her maximum speed being about nine knots. I forget by
what accident she was at last disabled; perhaps by sheer old age and
infirmity; but her ribs were to be seen for many a day before the war
ended, bleaching in the sun on one of the mud flats in Cape Fear River.

The night of our crossing the bar was dark and stormy and we felt under
great obligations to the blockading fleet outside, for showing lights at
their peaks--thus enabling us to avoid them with much ease. At this
period, indeed, blockade running had not assumed such enormous
proportions as it afterwards attained, when hundreds of thousands of
dollars were invested in a single venture and the profits were so
immense that the game was well worth the candle. Subsequent to the
period of which I now write, Wilmington became the chief place of import
and export. Large quantities of cotton were stored there, both on
Government and private account; and steam cotton presses were erected,
but at this period Charleston possessed greater facilities and was
perhaps quite as accessible.

Our voyage to Nassau was safely accomplished; the vigilant look-out at
the mast-head giving prompt notice of a speck on the horizon no larger
than a gull's wing, when the course would be so changed as to lose sight
of it. Two cases of yellow fever, both ending fatally, occurred among
the passengers during the brief voyage, and we were quarantined on our
arrival at Nassau. One of the sick men had been brought on deck and
placed on a couch under the deck awning. As he had taken no nourishment
for two or three days, our good captain directed that a bowl of soup
should be prepared for him. The sick man sat up when the steaming bowl
was presented to him; seized it with both hands, drained it to the
bottom, and fell back dead. We had not been at anchor more than an hour
when an outward-bound passing schooner hailed us and announced to our
captain the death of his wife and child, whom he had left in good health
only a few days before.

As the epidemic on board the Kate had been contracted at Nassau, and
still prevailed on shore, we were at a loss to understand why we should
be refused "pratique"; but it gave our little party no concern, as the
town did not present an attractive or inviting appearance from the
quarantine ground; nor were our unfavorable impressions removed upon a
nearer acquaintance with it two or three mon