ng the first two
weeks he passed at home. When the _West Wind_ was a day out from Boston,
he accidentally learned that one of his best foremast hands was a
resident of his own State, and that his father, who was a strong Union
man, lived but an hour's ride from Nashville. Of course the two became
friends at once. All the lightest and easiest jobs about deck seemed to
fall into Aleck Webster's hands, and Jack won the good will of his mess
by taking it upon himself to see that their food was not only abundant,
but that it was well-cooked and properly served. They talked over the
situation as often as they could get together, and not knowing just how
matters stood at home they concluded that they had better not recognize
each other after they reached Newbern. If, after they had passed a few
days at their respective homes, they thought it safe to do so, they
could very easily bring about a meeting, and who could tell but that
they might find opportunity to work together for the good of the old
flag, or for the relief of some persecuted Unionist? Jack knew of one
Unionist who was persecuted by being watched by rebel neighbors, and
that one was his mother. He and Webster met at the post-office one
morning, but they met as strangers. In fact his shipmate was a stranger
to all present, for his father, who was a small farmer, had moved into
that section from Georgia while Aleck was at sea. Having the misfortune
to be a "cracker," or a poor white, Mr. Webster was rather looked down
on by such men as Colonel Shelby and Major Dillon, but Jack Gray was not
that sort. Aleck was a good sailor, and such a man was worth more in a
gale at sea than a landsman who could call upon his bank account for a
hundred thousand dollars.

During his first interview with his old shipmate Jack Gray heard some
things that made him open his eyes. It was true, as he afterward told
Marcy, that the Union men in the neighborhood were few in number, and
that they dared not say out loud that their souls were their own; but
they were well organized, and by no means afraid to follow the example
set them by the rebels, and act in secret. Aleck said that there were
about twenty of them all told, and no one could join their company
unless he was vouched for by every man in it. They calculated to defend
themselves and one another. They would not go into the Confederate
service, and if they were crowded upon too closely they would take to
the swamps and fight it out