ficer
before him for a shield and gracefully backed out of danger."

They stopped and gazed over the lazy, shimmering waters of the harbor.

Jennie looked up into his manly face with a glow of pride.

"You're splendid, Dick,--I'm proud of you!"

"Are you?" he asked eagerly.

"Yes. You're just like my brothers."

"Look here now, Jennie," he protested, "don't you go telling me that
you'll be a sister to me. I've got a lot of sisters at home and I don't
need any more--"

"I didn't mean it that way, Dick," she responded tenderly. "My brothers
are just the finest, bravest men that God ever made in this
world--that's what I meant."

"Don't you like me a little?"

"I almost love you to-night--maybe it's our victory--maybe it's the fear
that made me pray for you and the boys on that house top the other
night--I don't know--"

"Did you pray for me?" he asked softly.

"Yes--"

"I ought to be satisfied with that, but I'm not--I want you! Won't you
be mine?"

She smiled into his eager face in a gentle, whimsical way. A half
promise to him was just trembling on her lips when Socola's slender,
erect figure suddenly crossed the street. He lifted his hat with a
genial bow.

Dick ground his teeth in a smothered oath, and Jennie spoke abruptly:

"Come--it's late--we must go in."

Through the long night the girl lay awake with the calm, persistent,
smiling face of the foreigner looking into the depths of her brown
eyes.

CHAPTER XII

A LITTLE CLOUD

The first aggressive act of the President of the Confederacy revealed
his alert and far-seeing mind. His keen eye was bent upon the sea, with
an instinctive appreciation of the tremendous import of the long
Southern coast line.

Without a ship afloat or a single navy yard, by a stroke of his pen he
created a fleet destined to sweep the commerce of the North from every
sea. His task was to create something out of nothing and how well he did
it events swiftly bore their testimony.

The United States Government was the only nation which had refused to
join the agreement to abandon the use of letters of marque and reprisal
for destroying the unarmed vessels of commerce in time of war. This
unfortunate piece of diplomacy gave Jefferson Davis the opportunity to
strike his first blow at the power and prestige of the North.

He immediately issued a proclamation offering to issue such letters to
any ship that would arm herself and enlist under the ensign of the
C