ng fluttered for a few moments
upon his deck, while his men were busy with the signal halyards, and
then a joyous cheer greeted the well-known stars and stripes, as they
rose above her bulwarks, and mounted slowly to her mizen peak.

She was not a very valuable prize, being merely a small brigantine,
called the Joseph Park, of Boston, six days out from Pernambuco, in
ballast. But she was the first fruits of a fresh cruise, and right
joyously did the boat's crew pull on board her to haul down the enemy's
flag, and replace it with the saucy stars and bars.[3]

[Footnote 3: The author of the "Notes" in the _Index_ writes:--

"The officer who boarded the Joseph Park asked the captain if he had
cargo. 'No.'--'Have you any specie?' 'Not a dollar.'--'Then, captain,
you must get into the boat, and go with me on board the Sumter.' 'What
are you going to do with me when I get on board?' The officer told him
it would depend entirely upon circumstances; that if he behaved himself,
and did not try to conceal anything, he would receive kind treatment;
that it all depended upon himself 'Well,' said he, 'captain' (he called
the officer who had boarded him captain) 'I _have_ got a thousand
dollars down below, and I guess I had better give it to you.' So he went
below, and from out of some little hole took the bag containing the
gold. The officer asked him why he had hidden the money, as we had the
United States colours up. He said he thought it was the Sumter, and
wanted to be on the safe side. The whole scene between the officer and
the captain of the Joseph Park was ludicrous in the extreme. The answers
to questions with that Yankee nasal twang and Yankee cunning, the
officer seeing through it and enjoying it all the while, made many jokes
in our mess afterwards."]

This done, the crew were transferred to the captain's vessel, and a
prize crew passed on board of the Joseph Park, with instructions to keep
within sight of the Sumter, and signal her immediately on perceiving any
suspicious sail. So the two cruised for some days in company, the Joseph
Park keeping to windward during the day, and at night running down under
cover of the Sumter's guns. This capture was none the less welcome for
the news she brought in a file of recent papers from Pernambuco, of the
first victory of the South at Manassas, or Bull Run, as well as of the
successes achieved in Missouri over the troops of General Lyon. Poor
Joseph Park! she had little anticip