uld make the run
through the blockading-fleet; so that the blockade-runners were seldom
without two or three passengers, poor though their accommodations
might be. For the voyage from Nassau to Wilmington, three hundred
dollars passage money was charged, or more than fifty cents a mile. To
guard against treachery, passage could only be obtained through the
Confederate consul, who carefully investigated the proofs of each
applicant's identity before issuing to him a ticket.

When the blockade-runner had taken her cargo and passengers aboard,
and was prepared for her voyage, every one in the little town came
down to the docks to see her start. It was a populace strongly
Southern in feeling that filled the streets of Nassau, and nothing but
good wishes were to be heard on every side. Perhaps from a house on
the hillside, over which floated the Stars and Stripes, the United
States consul might be watching through a spyglass the movements of
the steamer, and wishing in his heart that she might fall in with
some Yankee cruiser; but nevertheless, under his very eyes, the
audacious racer slips out, and starts on her stealthy voyage. On
leaving the harbor, a quick run of fifteen or twenty miles would be
taken along the coast, to try the machinery. Great care would be taken
to keep within British waters, lest some watchful gunboat should seize
the prize thus early in her career. When every thing proved in good
working trim, the little vessel's prow would be turned northward, and
the perilous voyage begun. For the first day, little danger was to be
expected, and the voyage was generally so timed that the outer line of
blockaders would be reached just after nightfall. A soldier going to
enlist in one of the Confederate cavalry regiments thus tells the
story of his evasion of the blockade.

"After a favorable voyage we reached the desired point off Wilmington
at the proper time. A brief stoppage was made, when soon the final
preparations were completed for running the gauntlet of the Federal
blockaders, who would become visible shortly, as we approached nearer
shore. All the lights in the steamer were extinguished, and all
passengers ordered below, only the officers and crew being permitted
to remain on deck. The furnaces were replenished with carefully
selected coal, which would give the greatest amount of heat and the
least smoke. The last orders were given, and every man was at his
appointed place. Presently the boilers hissed,