Not to dwell upon the particulars of Marcy's visit to Plymouth, it will
be enough to say that he found Captain Burrows at the office of the
provost marshal, and that he was just as sociable and friendly as he was
when sitting in one of Mrs. Gray's easy-chairs examining Marcy's guns,
and talking to him about the shooting on the plantation. He listened
patiently and with evident satisfaction to the boy's statements, and
then took him to the headquarters of the colonel commanding the post;
leaving Hanson, who would have been dull indeed if he had not realized
by this time that he was in the worst scrape of his life, to the care of
the provost marshal. When Marcy turned to look at him as he left the
marshal's office, he told himself that Hanson was in a fair way to see
the inside of a Northern prison pen.

He had not talked with the colonel more than five minutes before the
latter became aware that Marcy could tell him the very things he most
wished to know regarding the condition of the Union people who lived
outside his lines. Almost every statement he made was reduced to writing
by one of the orderlies, and when the interview was ended at ten o'clock
that night, Marcy received the thanks of the commandant and the
assurance that the Home Guards should be scattered or captured without
loss of time, and his home made a safe place for him to live. Captain
Burrows offered to take good care of him and his servant if he would
remain all night, but Marcy was so anxious to tell his mother the good
news that he thought he had better start for home at once; so he was
given the countersign, and a pass commanding all guards and patrols to
permit him to enter or leave the lines at any hour of the day or night,
and Captain Burrows furnished him with a generous lunch and went with
him to his boat to see him off.

"Good-by, Marcy, but not for long," said he. "If I have any influence
with the colonel, I shall be riding around in your neighborhood
to-morrow afternoon; and when this cruel war is over, I am coming down
here on purpose to go quail-shooting with you."

"Take care of the Home Guards, and drive the rebels away from
Williamston, and you can go quail-shooting any time," replied Marcy.
"But I am afraid it will be a long time before that will come to pass,
or my home will be a safe place for me to live," he soliloquized, as he
settled back in the stern of the boat and looked up at the stars while
Julius plied the oars. "Captain