proved to be no less a personage than a Mr. S--k, a wealthy planter.

"Don't take that man on board of your vessel, at the peril of your life,
captain. He's an abolitionist," said he, accompanying his imperative
command with a very Southern rotation of oaths.

The man paddled his canoe on the outside of the vessel, and begged the
captain "for God's sake to take him on board and protect him; that an
excitement had been gotten up against him very unjustly, and he would
explain the circumstances if he would allow him to come on board."

"Come on board," said the captain. "Let you be abolitionist or what you
will, humanity will not let me see you driven out to sea in that manner;
you would be swamped before you crossed the bar."

He came on board, trembling and wet, the little boy handing up a couple
of carpet-bags, and following him. No sooner had he done so, than three
or four balls whizzed past the captain's head, causing him to retreat to
the cabin. A few minutes intervened, and he returned to the deck.

"Lower your boat and come on shore immediately," they cried out.

The captain, not at all daunted, lowered his boat and went on shore.
"Now, gentlemen, what do you want with me?" said he, when S--k stepped
forward, and the following dialogue ensued:--

"Who owns that vessel, and what right have you to harbor a d--d
abolitionist?"

"I don't know who owns the vessel; I know that I sail her, and the
laws of God and man demand that I shall not pass a man in distress,
especially upon the water. He protests that he is not, and never was
an abolitionist; offers to prove it if you will hear him, and only asks
that you allow him to take away his property," rejoined the captain.

"What! then you are an abolitionist yourself?"

"No, sir. I'm a Southern-born man, raised in Charleston, where my father
was raised before me."

"So much, so good; but just turn that d--d scoundrel ashore as quick
as seventy, or we'll tie your vessel up and report you to the Executive
Committee, and stop your getting on more freight on the Edisto."

"That I shall not do. You should have patience to investigate these
things, and not allow your feelings to become so excited. If I turn
him and his son adrift, I'm answerable for their lives if any accident
should occur to them," rejoined the captain.

"Are you a secessionist, captain, or what are your political principles?
You seem determined to protect abolitionists. That scoundrel has been
as