hand a hearty farewell
shake. "The more I see of those people the less I like to face them in
battle. I hope you will soon have the use of your arm again, and that I
shall see you by my side fighting for the glorious cause of Southern
independence. Good-by."

The two officers mounted and rode away, Marcy remained upon the gallery
long enough to wave his hand to them as they passed through the gate,
and then he went into the house and to the room in which he had left his
mother.

"What did I tell you?" were the first words he uttered. "Didn't I say
that Beardsley would not let harm come to us if he could help it? I tell
you, mother, he is afraid of the men who carried Hanson away and ordered
him to come home."

"Well, then, is he not aware that we are looking to those same men for
protection?" inquired Mrs. Gray.

"If he doesn't know it he suspects it pretty strongly. Aleck Webster
told me that Beardsley had been warned to cease persecuting Union people
in this settlement. That includes you and me, for the minute Beardsley
saw and recognized my schooner in Crooked Inlet, that very minute he
knew where to place us. He knows where Jack is now as well as we know it
ourselves."

"And will he not tell of it?"

"Of course, for it is to his interest to do so. If he has been home long
enough to ride into Nashville, he has told Shelby and Dillon of it
before this time. I wish I could see a copy of the letter that was sent
to him by Aleck and his friends. I am sorry to lose all our best hands
at the very time we need them most, but all the same I am glad those
officers came here. They didn't say _money_ once, and that proves that
Beardsley could not have spoken of it in their hearing."

"O Marcy," exclaimed Mrs. Gray, rising from her chair and nervously
pacing the room. "I little dreamed that that money would be the occasion
of so much anxiety to all of us. I almost wish I had never seen it. I
can't sleep of nights for thinking of it, and sometimes I imagine I hear
someone moving about the cellar."

"I don't wish you had never heard of it," replied Marcy. "We can't tell
how long it will be before a dollar or two of it may come handy to us.
Say, mother," he added, stepping to her side and placing his arm about
her waist, "do you think you would be any easier in your mind if you did
not know just where that money was, so long as you knew it was safe?"

"I know I should," was the reply, given in cautious tones. "But, my s