ter. "I should have thought that your zeal for the
Confederacy would have taken you into the army long ago. Man alive,
you're missing heaps of fun. Look at my arm. I've suffered for the cause
and you haven't." ["And what's more to the point, you don't mean to,
added Marcy to himself.]

"It's fun to have a broken arm, is it?" exclaimed Allison. "I can't see
it in that light. The reason I haven't enlisted is because I thought
that perhaps you would bring me a favorable word from Captain Beardsley.
Did you speak to him about taking me as one of his crew?"

"I did, before I had been aboard the schooner half an hour."

"And what did he say?"

"His reply was that he couldn't accept you. The crew is full; you know
nothing about a vessel; he wants nothing but sailor-men aboard of him,
and if you want to do something for the South, the best thing you can do
is to go into the army."

"Well, I'd thank him to hold fast to his advice until he is asked to
give it," said Allison spitefully. "I'll not carry a musket; I can tell
him that much. I have seen some fellows who were in the fight at Bull
Run, and they say that the privates in our army are treated worse than
dogs. If I could get a commission the case would be different."

"That's the idea," said Jack. "Why don't you pitch in and get one?
Begin at the top of the ladder and not at the foot. Crawl in at the
cabin windows and don't bother about the hawsehole. I mean--you see,"
added the sailor, seeing by the blank look on his face that Allison did
not understand his nautical language, "aboard ship we take rank in this
way: First the captain, then the mates, then the captain's dog, and
lastly the foremast-hands. And I suppose it must be the same in the
army."

"You don't mean it!" exclaimed Allison, opening his eyes.

"I do mean every word of it. Ask any seafaring man and he will tell you
the same. Whatever you do, don't go before the mast--I mean don't go
into the ranks. Get a commission and be a man among men." ["You'd look
pretty with straps on your shoulders, _you_ would," said Jack mentally.
"I'd like to gaze upon the man who would be foolish enough to put
himself under your orders."]

"Don't go into the office yet," said Allison, when the boys turned about
as if to move away. "There's a crowd in there, and I want you to stay
and talk to me. Tell me how you got wounded, Marcy."

"Let Jack tell you how he piloted that Yankee schooner into the port of
Newbern with a c