the bottom, and boats from other vessels
were picking up the crew. The launch escaped in the excitement.

The Union sailor-boys did not let the Confederates outdo them in dash
and pluck. One of the cleverest bits of work in the whole war was done
by four boat-crews from two men-of-war on the Charleston station. Word
had been brought to the blockaders, that, far up a little deep and
narrow creek, a large steamship was loading with cotton, expecting to
reach the ocean through the labyrinth of inlets that fairly honeycomb
the South Carolina coast. Should she once get into that network of
waterways, it would require a whole fleet to catch her; for there was
no telling at what point she might emerge.

It was at once determined to try to capture her as she lay at her
deck, and four boats' crews of picked men were sent out on the
expedition. It was early evening when they set out; and all through
the dark night they pulled away, threading the mazes of the tidal
inlets. Just as the eastern horizon was beginning to grow gray with
the coming dawn, they came in sight of their destination. Sure enough,
there on the bank of the river was a little Southern village, changed
into a prosperous town by the blockade-runners that had evidently been
making this place a harbor for some time.

All was dark and silent as the grave. Confident in their fancied
security, the blockade-runners had all turned in, leaving no one on
guard. The steamer was loaded, and ready to sail in the morning; and
the thin wreaths of smoke rising from her smokestack told that the
fires were up. Stealthily the sailors pulled alongside, and clambered
on deck. Without a word they stole below, put the crew under guards,
and rushed into the engine-room, where they found the engineer dozing
on his stool. He was ordered to get under way at once; and, though he
looked rather dazed, he obeyed the order. And in fifteen minutes the
steamer was speeding down-stream, leaving the old town still asleep.

One man alone of all the townspeople had seen the capture. A negro,
hiding behind a pile of lumber on the dock, had watched the whole
affair, and, as if struck dumb with astonishment, failed to give the
alarm until the steamer was out of sight down the winding stream. The
blue-jackets took their capture safely out of the enemy's lines, and
the next day it was sent to New York as a prize.

While the navy was keeping the port of Charleston sealed, and every
now and then beatin