three very fast American vessels were cruising, although five hundred
miles from American waters. I am ignorant, I confess, of the laws of
blockade, or indeed if a law there be that allows its enforcement, and
penalties to be enacted, five hundred miles away from the ports
blockaded. But it did seem strange that the men-of-war of a nation at
peace with England should be allowed to cruise off her ports, to stop
and examine trading vessels of all descriptions, to capture and send to
New York, for adjudication, vessels on the mere suspicion of their being
intended blockade-runners; and to chase and fire into real
blockade-runners so near to the shore that on one occasion the shot and
shell fell into a fishing village, and that within sight of an English
man-of-war lying at anchor in the harbour at Nassau. Surely it is time
that some well-understood laws should be made, and rules laid down, or
such doings will sooner or later recoil on their authors.

Having so little coal on board, we determined on making for the nearest
point of the Bahama Islands, and luckily reached a queer little island
called Green Turtle Quay, on the extreme north of the group, where was a
small English colony, without being seen by the cruisers. We had not
been there long, however, before one of them came sweeping round the
shore, and stopped unpleasantly near to us; even though we were inside
the rock she hovered about outside, not a mile from us.

We were a tempting bait, but a considerable risk to snap, and I suppose
the American captain could not quite make up his mind to capture a
vessel (albeit a blockade-runner piled full of cotton) lying in an
English port, insignificant though that port might be. We had got a
large white English ensign hoisted on a pole, thereby showing the
nationality of the rock, should the cruiser be inclined to question it.
After many longing looks, she steamed slowly away, much to our
satisfaction. Coals were sent to us from Nassau the next day, which
having been taken on board, we weighed anchor, keeping close to the
reefs and islands all the way. We steamed towards that port, and arrived
safely, having made the in-and-out voyage, including the time in
unloading and loading at Wilmington, in sixteen days.

To attempt to describe at length the state of things at this usually
tranquil and unfrequented little spot is beyond my powers. I will only
mention some of its most striking features. Nassau differed much from
W