live, moster! Mahcy Gray won't nebber run you on de groun',"
exclaimed the negro, with so much earnestness in his tones that the
captain turned about and listened to him. "He de bes' boy fur de Union
you eber see, an' he take you right fru de Sound, wid his eyes shet, on
de blackest night you eber was out in. But dat rebel Beardsley you don't
want no truck wid him. He know wha' de deep watah is mighty well, but he
aint gwine to take you dar. He run you on de groun' suah's you live and
breathe."

"Never mind talking about that. You called him captain a minute ago.
What is he captain of?"

"Well, sar, moster, previous to de beginning of de wah he was cap'n ob a
trader; but endurin' de wah he run a privateer an' blockade runner; de
_Osprey_ he call her."

"What?" exclaimed the gunboat captain, so suddenly that Jonas jumped,
and the executive and the officer of the deck looked surprised. "Did you
call him Beardsley, and say that he commanded the _Osprey?_"

"Dat's de name, moster," replied Jonas. "He cotch some Yankee vessels
outside, an' when de gunboats get too thick on de bar, he take de two
big guns out, load up wid cotton, an' run de blockade."

"What was his object in taking the guns out?" inquired the captain; and
the negro went on to explain what the reader already knows--that
Beardsley had disarmed and disguised his little vessel in order to
deceive the cruisers along the coast. If he had been captured with
nothing but cotton on board, the Federal authorities would not be likely
to hang him and his men as pirates, which they might have done if they
had caught him while he had two howitzers on his gun-deck and a supply
of small-arms and ammunition in his cabin. The gunboat captain listened
attentively, and seemed very much impressed by what the negro had to
say; and when the latter ceased speaking he turned his back upon him,
and said to his executive officer:

"Mr. Watkins, I have wanted to meet that man for--for an age, it seems
to me now. He is the villain who robbed me of the _Mary Hollins_, and
ironed my crew like felons--like felons, sir, and in spite of my earnest
protest." Then turning once more to the negro, he inquired, "Can you
guide a squad of my men to Beardsley's house and Gray's to-night? You
told me, I believe, that they live twenty miles or more inland."

"Dat's about de distance of de journey you will have to travel, sar,"
answered Jonas.

"I kin go da', kase I know de house whar dey resid