aid she came from Vicksburg?"

"Did I not tell you? She came with Captain Leathers from Memphis. The
transport, The Gem, joined us just below Vicksburg. He brought us
supplies, and there is absolutely no question with regard to his
sentiments. They have been proved over and over again."

"Of course the girl may be all right and everything be just as she says,"
said General Butler again. "As I say the thing in her favor is that she
came here to ask for Archer. I suppose it was because she knew no one.
Had she sought her uncle first----"

"I advised her to come here," said Farragut in a low tone. "I told her
to find Archer first, and then to seek for her uncle, and she acquiesced
without hesitation."

"I am afraid that she is deep. Of course the whole thing was concocted
in New York City. They could not know that Archer had been arrested, and
this information would have been sent to the Confederates as other plans
have been. I tremble to think of the consequences had these papers fallen
into their hands. Really, traitors are everywhere. I had hoped that the
government had gotten rid of them by this time."

Meantime Jeanne was just recovering from the shock of learning that her
uncle was a rebel. She had not heard the conversation of the two officers,
and now she came to Admiral Farragut turning to him instinctively in her
distress.

"What shall I do?" she asked. "I can't go to Uncle Ben if he is a rebel.
Oh, what will father say!"

"I don't know, child. What shall be done, General? You command here."

"The girl must go to her uncle," said the General decidedly. "There to
remain until I sift this thing to the bottom. Meantime she must take the
oath of allegiance to the United States."

"The oath?" cried Jeanne. "Why should I take the oath, General Butler? I
thought that it was only for those whose loyalty to the Union was doubted."

"That is it precisely," returned General Butler coldly. "If you are
sincere in your avowed devotion to your country, the oath won't hurt you.
If you are not then you will either perjure yourself or else be registered
as an open enemy to the United States."

Jeanne was dumb with anguish. She, Jeanne Vance, an open enemy of the
United States! Of the country for which she was ready to give her life!
She gave one stricken glance at the austere man before her, and burst
into tears.

"Come, come, General," said Farragut laying a kindly hand on the girl's
bowed head, "you are too severe,