uskets were laid across the thwarts, and the
rowers pulled out to the middle of the creek, just in season to intercept
the schooner. Of course they were seen by the men on board of her, who
attempted to avoid them.

"Hallo!" said Tom, in a kind of confidential tone. "On board the schooner
there! Are you going over?"

"Yes. What do you want?" answered one of the men on board the vessel.

"We want to get over, and are afraid to go in this boat. Won't you take us
over?"

"Who are you?"

"Friends. We've got a mail bag."

"Where did you get it?"

"In Washington."

By this time, the schooner had luffed up into the wind, and Tom directed
his companions to pull again. In a moment the boat was alongside the
schooner, and the soldier boy was about to jump upon her half-deck, when
the rebel crew, very naturally, ordered him to wait till they had
satisfied themselves in regard to his secession proclivities.

There were five men in the schooner, all of whom were seated near the
stern. Tom did not heed the protest of the traitors, but sprang on board
the schooner, followed by his companions.

"Now, tell us who you are before you come any farther," said one of the
men.

"Massachusetts soldiers! Surrender, or you are a dead man," replied Tom,
pointing his gun.

CHAPTER XXV.

IN THE HOSPITAL.

The night was very dark, so that the rebels in the boat could not
distinguish the uniform of those who had applied for a passage on the
schooner. Perhaps Tom Somers's experience in the Blue Ridge and on the
Shenandoah had improved his strategic ability, so that his words and his
manner seemed plausible. But as strategy and cunning always owe their
success to the comparative stupidity of the victims, Tom and his
companions gained the half-deck of the schooner more by the palpable
blundering of her crew than through the brilliancy of their own scheme.

Tom did not stop, in the midst of the exciting enterprise, to determine
the particular reason of his success, as we, his humble biographer, have
done. He was on the enemy's ground, and confronting the enemy's forces,
and logic was as much out of place as rebellion in a free republican
country. He was closely followed by Hapgood, and at a later period by Fred
Pemberton. The nerves of the latter were not remarkably steady, and as he
stepped on board the schooner, he neglected to take the painter with him;
and the consequence was, that the boat went adrift. It is good generals