or, who had seen too much fighting to believe in blowing up his
own ship; and, when he saw the smoking slow-match, he hastily broke
off the lighted end, and without saying a word threw it into the
water. No one observed the action, and the crew of the "Vincennes"
watched mournfully for their good ship to go up in a cloud of smoke
and flame. After they had watched nearly an hour, they concluded
something was wrong, and returned to their old quarters. By this time
the enemy had given up the conflict, and the United States navy was
one ship ahead for the old sailor's act of insubordination. The
Confederate flotilla returned to New Orleans, and reported that they
had driven the blockaders away. There was great rejoicing in the city:
windows were illuminated, and receptions were tendered to the officers
of the Confederate fleet. But, while the rejoicing was still going on,
the Union ships came quietly back to their old position, and the great
river was as securely closed as ever.

[Illustration: Fort Pensacola.]

About a month before the fight with the "Manassas," the blue-jackets
of the North scored for themselves a brilliant success in the harbor
of Pensacola. The frigate "Colorado" was lying outside the harbor of
that city, within clear view of the city front. For some weeks the
sailors had been greatly interested in watching the activity of people
on shore around a small schooner that was lying in a basin near the
navy-yard. With a harbor so thoroughly blockaded as was that of
Pensacola, there seemed really no need of new vessels; and the haste
of the Confederates seemed inexplicable, until they saw through their
glasses men at work mounting a heavy pivot-gun amidships. That made it
clear that another privateer was being fitted out to ravage the seas
and burn all vessels flying the United States flag. The gallant tars
of the "Colorado" determined to go in and burn the privateer before
she should have a chance to escape. It was an undertaking of great
peril. The schooner was near the navy-yard, where one thousand men
were ready to spring to her assistance at the first alarm. On the dock
fronting the navy-yard were mounted a ten-inch columbiad and a
twelve-pounder field-piece, so placed as to command the deck of the
schooner and the wharf to which she was moored. Fort Pensacola, not
far distant, was full of Confederate troops. But the Union sailors
thought that the destruction of the privateer was of enough importance
to