y and Allison went into the post-office they found Jack
surrounded by an interested group of old-time friends, to whom he was
giving a humorous account of Captain Beardsley's unsuccessful effort to
capture the vessel to which he belonged.

"It happened right here on our own coast," said Jack. "She first tried
to fool us by showing the figures that were painted on her sails; but
that wouldn't go down with our old man. Then she hoisted the English
colors, but that made us sheer still farther away from her; for what
would a pilot-boat be doing in these waters with a foreign flag at her
peak? Than she cut loose on us with her bow gun, and we yelled and shot
back with sporting rifles. What do you think of a fellow who will try
his best to bring trouble to his only brother by showing a friendly
flag, and then shoot cannons at him when he finds he can't do it? That's
the way Marcy served me and more than that, he had the face to tell me
of it when I came home last night."

Of course this raised a laugh at Marcy's expense, but he didn't seem to
mind it. He gave the postmaster Captain Beardsley's letter and asked for
the mail in his mother's box.

"And of course when the brig escaped you yelled as loudly as any Yankee
in the crew," observed one of his auditors. "I suppose you had to in
order to keep out of trouble."

"But I don't reckon he'll do it again in a hurry," said another. "When
he brought that Yankee schooner into Newbern he proved to my
satisfaction that he is as good a Confederate as any man in the State.
Why didn't you stay with her. Jack, and make yourself rich by running
the blockade?"

"I had two reasons," answered the sailor. "In the first place I wanted
to come home for awhile; and in the next, there is too much danger these
times in cruising about on an unarmed vessel. The next time I ship it
will be aboard of something that can fight."

"Did you hear any talk of an ironclad that is being built in the river a
few miles above Newbern?" asked a third.

Jack winked first one eye and then the other, looked sharply into the
face of each member of the group around him, and then turned about and
softly rapped the counter with his riding-whip.

"You needn't be afraid to speak freely," said the postmaster, who knew
what the sailor meant by this pantomime. "There isn't a traitor within
the hearing of your voice. We are all true blue."

"One can't be too careful in times like these," replied Jack, turning
aroun