utaries, ran
entirely around the city behind it, and out of sight of the
fortifications that the Confederates had thrown up on the banks of the
Roanoke. Starting from Pamlico River below Roanoke Island, a small boat,
manned by those who were acquainted with the windings of the different
channels, could come up through Middle River and Seven Mile Creek,
passing within a few hundred yards of Captain Beardsley's house and Mrs.
Gray's, and strike the Roanoke two miles above Plymouth. Please bear
this in mind, for it is possible that we may have to speak of two
expeditions that made use of these rear waterways to avoid the
Confederate batteries. But there was no danger to be apprehended from
the Plymouth people. The danger would come when the schooner passed
outside and drew near to the blockading fleet; and that was the reason
Jack had thought it best to disguise her.

The breeze being light and the channel crooked, it took the schooner an
hour or more to work out of the creek under her jib, but when the rapid
current of the Roanoke took her in its grasp, and the fore and main
sails were run up, she sped along at a much livelier rate. As the _Fairy
Belle_ approached the town the roar of the morning gun reverberated
along the river's wooded shores, and the Confederate colors were run up
to the top of a tall flagstaff.

"Now comes something I don't at all like," said Jack. "We will run our
own rebel rag up to the peak, and when we come abreast of the town we'll
salute the colors on shore."

"How do you perform that ceremony anyhow?" asked Marcy.

"By lowering and hoisting the flag three times in quick succession,"
replied Jack. "It takes two to do it as it ought to be done, but of
course you can't manage the halliards with only one hand. All I ask of
you is to hold the wheel. I don't suppose those haymakers in the fort
will have the sense to answer the salute, but we don't care for that. It
may save us the trouble of going ashore to listen to questions that we
can't answer with anything but lies."

The first gray-coated sentry they passed looked at them doubtfully, as
though he did not know whether it was best to halt them or not, but
probably the sight of the flag they carried settled the matter for him.
At any rate he did not challenge them, and neither did any of the other
sentinels they saw along the bank; but one of the numerous little groups
which had assembled, as if by magic, to see them go by, hailed them with