.

"Who are you?" demanded the officer, as Jack slipped a becket over one
of the spokes in the wheel and came forward to meet him. "What schooner
is this and where are you going?"

"This schooner is the _Fairy Belle_ and she is the property of my
brother," answered Jack, waving his hand in Marcy's direction. "We are
going to the blockading fleet. And as to who I am--will you be kind
enough to run your eye over these? They will answer the question for
you."

As Jack said this, he placed his papers in the officer's hand, while
Marcy held up the lantern so that he could see to read them. He was by
no means so surprised as Marcy expected him to be, and the reason was
simple enough. Since the forts at Hatteras Inlet were captured, scarcely
a day passed that some vessel of the blockading fleet did not hold
communication with Union people on shore. There was more love for the
old flag in that secession country than most of us dreamed of. If Marcy
Gray had known this he would not have felt as uneasy as he did.

"I have been on the watch for an audacious little blockade-runner that
slipped by one of our boats into this Inlet a few weeks ago," said the
officer, as he folded the papers and handed them back to their owner.
"You're quite sure you're not the fellow?"

"Do I answer his description?" asked Jack, in reply.

"Well, no; I can't say that you do. But it is very easy to disguise a
vessel of this size."

"And it is just as easy for you to look around and see if I have any
place to stow a cargo," said Jack. "Come below, if you please."

Taking the lantern from his brother's hand Jack led the way through the
standing-room into the _Fairy Belle's_ cabin, where he stopped to throw
back the cushioned top of one of the lockers.

"Here's the flag I have sailed under ever since I was old enough to shin
aloft," said he, taking up the carefully folded Union banner. "The other
is the one Semmes's boarding officer hoisted on the _Sabine_ when she
was captured. When we took her out of the hands of the prize crew I
hauled it down and kept it. It brought us safely by Plymouth and Roanoke
Island, and I hope it will take my brother safely back."

With this introduction Jack went on to give the officer a hasty
description of the state of affairs in and around the settlement in
which his mother lived, and told what the Confederates were doing at
Roanoke Island; and all the while he was leading the officer from one
room to another an