loss of Prof.
McCullough and Dr. Mears was thought to be the severest blow they had
received.

"Dr. Blackman left Jackson and Capt. Redingson to go to Richmond, but
which way he went they never knew. Capt. Redingson took passage for
Nassau, there to run the blockade, and was never heard of again by
Jackson. I hope he is alive, as I think he was at heart a good man, full
of noble impulses. Jackson was very fond of him, rebel as he was."

Col. Bush said: "Well, Prof. McCullough and Dr. Mears got their just
deserts; their own fireworks did the business."

"Yes, yes! but the innocent officers and crew suffered with them."

"Yes," said Col. Bush, "but this had to be; the Lord did not intend that
such infamy should be permitted to succeed."

"But," said Maj. Clymer, "there was Dr. Blackman, just as bad as either
of the others; he escaped most miraculously."

"Yes," said Col. Bush; "his material, however, was all lost, and he had
a warning against trying the same thing again. There was no great secret
in his material to be lost; but there was in the others', and the gain
to mankind was in the loss of their diabolical secret."

"Uncle Daniel, what became of this vile conspirator, Dr. Blackman?"
asked Dr. Adams.

"Well, Doctor, I am sorry to be compelled, with shame, to state the
fact, but nevertheless it is a fact, that this same man, Dr. Blackman,
has been made Governor of one of the States since the war, and at the
same time his record was known by his constituents. But it did not seem
to lose him any friends with his party, but, on the contrary, seemed
to help him. Yes, yes, my friends, this is the sad phase of the whole
matter. It matters not what a man did if he was a rebel; but if a Union
man, and he did the slightest wrong, he was disgraced forever. None
of the great and inhuman wrongs are remembered against the individual
rebels who violated every instinct of humanity."

Here the old gentleman became silent, and placing his hands over his
face, wept like a child. At length he continued:

"I, with all my sacrifices, even here at home would be thrust aside
in order that the citizens might pay homage to the men who would have
afflicted their own household with loathsome disease, and at the same
time mocked at their calamity. If God wills, let it be so. I do not
believe, however, that He is doing more than trying the Nation, to see
if our people are worthy of such a Government as ours."

CHAPTER XVI.