one of my easy frame of mind.

Tired at last of idleness and lounging on the Common, I engaged in two
or three little ventures of a semi-professional character, such as
an exhibition of laughing-gas, advertising to cure cancer,--"Send
twenty-five stamps by mail to J. B., and receive an infallible
receipt,"--etc. I did not find, however, that these little enterprises
prospered well in New England, and I had recalled very forcibly a story
which my father was fond of relating to me in my boyhood. It was about
how certain very knowing flies went to get molasses, and how it ended by
the molasses getting them. This, indeed, was precisely what happened to
me in all my efforts to better myself in the Northern States, until at
length my misfortunes climaxed in total and unexpected ruin.

Having been very economical, I had now about twenty-seven hundred
dollars. It was none too much. At this time I made the acquaintance of a
sea-captain from Maine. He told me that he and two others had chartered
a smart little steamer to run to Jamaica with a variety cargo. In fact,
he meant to run into Wilmington or Charleston, and he was to
carry quinine, chloroform, and other medical requirements for the
Confederates. He needed twenty-five hundred dollars more, and a doctor
to buy the kind of things which army surgeons require. Of course I was
prudent and he careful, but at last, on his proving to me that there was
no risk, I agreed to expend his money, his friends', and my own up to
twenty-five hundred dollars. I saw the other men, one of them a rebel
captain. I was well pleased with the venture, and resolved for obvious
reasons to go with them on the steamer. It was a promising investment,
and I am free to reflect that in this, as in some other things, I have
been free from vulgar prejudices. I bought all that we needed, and was
well satisfied when it was cleverly stowed away in the hold.

We were to sail on a certain Thursday morning in September, 1863. I
sent my trunk to the vessel, and went down the evening before we were to
start to go on board, but found that the little steamer had been hauled
out from the pier. The captain, who met me at this time, endeavored
to get a boat to ferry us to the ship; but a gale was blowing, and he
advised me to wait until morning. My associates were already on board.
Early next day I dressed and went to the captain's room, which proved to
be empty. I was instantly filled with doubt, and ran frantically