d. "I don't want you to think that I am
going to take these matters out of your hands, for I don't mean to do
anything of the sort."

"You had better not. You are nothing but a boy, and you would be sure to
make a mess of the whole thing if you tried it. Me and Shelby will deal
with Marcy and his mother."

"I shall be satisfied, so long as you do something to him that he can
feel. All I ask is to be around when it is done, so that I can see it.
But you will have to be careful, captain. There are some about here who
believe that the Grays are the best kind of Confederates."

"What makes them believe that when me and you know it aint so?"

"It's the way they worked things; and it was about the slickest scheme I
ever heard of," replied Allison. "Why, captain, they ran down the river
past Plymouth and Roanoke, with our flag flying from the _Fairy Belle's_
masthead."

"Of all the imperdence! Where did they get a flag of our'n?"

"No one knows, unless Jack got it off the smuggler _West Wind_, that he
piloted into Newbern. Anyhow he got it, and kept it hung upon the wall
of his mother's house in plain sight of all who went there."

"It was nothing but a cheat and a swindle, I tell you," shouted the
captain. "Both them boys is Union, and their mother is too. I'll fix
'em!"

"I say again that you had better be careful," cautioned Tom. "If it
turns out that they are in favor of the South, you will burn your
fingers if you touch them; and if they are Union, they have friends to
watch over and see that no harm comes to them. Have you forgotten the
men who carried Hanson away in the night?"

"No, I ain't; and that's what makes me so mad. We-uns about here can't
do nothing with that money---- Say! mebbe I could tell you something
else if you'll promise never to let on about it."

"All right. I never will," answered Allison, who was becoming impatient
to hear all the man had on his mind. Nashville was in plain sight now,
and of course there could be no more talking of this sort done after
they got there. "Hold up a bit. Don't let your horse walk so fast."

"What I thought of saying to you is this," said Beardsley, once more
sinking his voice to a whisper. "We-uns who live about here can't do
nothing by ourselves, but we can hint--just hint, I say--to some
outsiders that there's a pile of money in that there house of Mrs.
Gray's that's to be had for the taking."

"Go on," said Tom, when Beardsley stopped and looked at him