quarter-deck, and was in turn saluted by
the acting ensign on watch.

"Anything new or strange to tell me, Mr. Robbins?" asked the captain
carelessly.

"Nothing at all, sir, except that a lone contraband came off to us in a
leaky skiff, when I first took charge of the deck," was the reply.

"Does he know anything?" was the captain's next question.

"I did not interrogate him, sir, only just enough to find out that he is
not a pilot."

"Perhaps he knows where we can get one, so you might as well bring him
aft."

A messenger-boy was sent forward to obey this order, and presently
brought to the quarter-deck the lone contraband of whom the ensign had
spoken, and who was none other than Doctor Patten's boy Jonas, whom we
saw watching the Union vessels from his hiding-place on the beach. The
captain asked him who he was and where he belonged, what his master's
politics were, and why he ran away from him and came off to the fleet,
and then he said:

"You told my officer here that you are not a pilot for these waters; but
you must know where I can find one. There ought to be any number of them
on the mainland, for I happen to know that many of you black people make
the most of your living on the water."

"Dat's a fac', moster," replied Jonas, "but I aint no pilot. Dey used to
be some on de mainland, but dey aint dar now. Dey up to de forts on de
Island."

"All of them?" inquired the captain. "Can't you think of a single man
hereabouts who knows the channel through Croatan Sound?"

"Not about here, I can't," answered the black boy, "an' I tell you dat
fur de truth. Dey is all on de Island waitin' for you uns to come wha'
dey is; but dey's two back in de country a piece."

"How far back in the country, and who are they?"

"It's a right smart piece, sar; twenty mile suah, an' mebbe mo'. Name
Mahcy Gray an' Cap'n Beardsley, sar."

"Are they Union or secesh?"

"Well, sar, dere's Mahcy Gray, he's de best kind of a Union boy; but de
other one, he's----"

"Boy!" interrupted the captain. "I don't want any boy to take charge of
my ship. This is no boy's play," he added, returning the salute of his
executive officer, who just then came up the ladder. "If I understand
the flag-officer's plans, we are to lead one division of the fleet in
the attack; and if we go on until we are aground, and the division
follows in our wake, there will be the mischief to pay, for the other
vessels draw more water than we do."

"Sakes a