in the morning," said Aleck.

"But he'll not let you or anybody know that he is working against them,"
said Jack. "He's too sharp for that."

"If anything happens to your folks we will lay it to him and act
accordingly," said Aleck, with a laugh. "But the man who was told to
write that letter to Beardsley will take care to word it so that he
can't lay the blame on any one person's shoulders. You tell your brother
that if he doesn't want to go blockade running again, he needn't go; for
his schooner is about to quit the business."

"Do I know any of those Union men?" inquired Marcy.

"Probably you are acquainted with all of them, but they will make no
sign," replied Jack. "The only one I know is Aleck Webster. I tell you
it was a lucky thing for all of us when Captain Frazier took me aboard
the _West Wind._ Now you take charge of this pin, and when the agony is
all over, when Beardsley has been brought home and Hanson has been taken
care of, give it to mother and tell her how you came by it. Perhaps the
story will prove as interesting to her as I hope it has been to you.
Now, let's go into the house. She will wonder what is keeping us out so
long."

CHAPTER XVI.

OFF FOR THE FLEET.

Mrs. Gray was always uneasy when the boys were out of her sight, and
that was not to be wondered at, for they so often brought her bad news
when they came back. But on this particular evening they had no news of
any sort, except that which shone from their radiant faces. Marcy
thought he had good reason to feel light-hearted, for was he not getting
the better of the secret enemies of whom he and his mother had stood so
much in fear? Julius would carry no more reports to Hanson; Hanson
himself would soon disappear from their sight; Captain Beardsley would
be compelled to stop blockade running; and Colonel Shelby and his
friends would have to act with the greatest caution in order to escape
the vengeance of the Union men who held secret meetings somewhere in the
woods. That was good news enough for one night, and Marcy was sorry that
he was obliged to keep it from his mother. It was long after midnight
when the boys went upstairs, and there they passed another half hour in
ripping up one of Marcy's bed quilts to get at the flags that had been
stitched into it.

"I hope there are no more privateers on the coast," said Marcy, as he
drew one of the flags from its hiding place.