on all
sides. All these things, combined with the delightful feeling of
security from capture, and the glorious prospect of a good night's rest
in a four-poster, wound one up into an inexpressible state of jollity.
If some of us had a little headache in the morning, surely it was small
blame to us. Our host's cocktails, made of champagne bitters and pounded
ice, soon put all things to rights; and after breakfast we lounged down
to the quays on the river-side, which were piled mountains high with
cotton-bales and tobacco tierces, and mixed in the lively and busy scene
of discharging, selling, and shipping cargoes.

CHAPTER XI.

EXCITING ADVENTURES.

I may now, I trust, without appearing egotistical, digress slightly from
the narrative to give an account of how I managed with my own private
venture, which I had personally to attend to; for it is scarcely
necessary to mention that in blockade-running everyone must look after
himself. If he does not his labour will have been in vain.

Before leaving England I had met a Southern lady, who, on my inquiring
as to what was most needed by her compatriots in the beleaguered States,
replied curtly: 'Corsages, sir, I reckon.' So I determined to buy a lot
of the articles she referred to, and on arriving at Glasgow (the port
from which we originally started) I visited an emporium that seemed to
contain everything in the world; and I astonished a young fellow behind
the counter by asking for a thousand pairs of stays. Such an unusual
request sent him off like a rocket to higher authority, with whom I
made a bargain for the article required at one shilling and a penny per
pair, to be delivered the next day. At the same time I bought five
hundred boxes of Cockle's pills, and a quantity of toothbrushes. Well,
here I was in Wilmington, with all these valuables on my hands; the
corsages were all right, but the horrid little Cockles were bursting
their cerements and tumbling about my cabin in all directions. I was
anxious, with the usual gallantry of my cloth, to supply the wants of
the ladies first. The only specimens of the sex that I could see moving
about were coloured women, who were so little encumbered with dress that
I began to think I was mistaken in the article recommended by my lady
friend as being the most required out here. After waiting some time, and
no one coming to bid for my ware, I was meditating putting up on the
ship's side a large board with the name of the