uld turn to go
into the river. While we were performing this somewhat ticklish
manoeuvre, Fort Fisher most kindly opened a heavy fire from all its guns,
and thus drew the attention of the blockaders from us. In twenty
minutes from the time we got off we were safely at anchor under the
Confederate batteries. The vessel that had been so hard chased and fired
at during the night was lying safely at the anchorage, not very much
damaged.

This was by far the most anxious time we had gone through. We had to
thank the commandant and garrison of Fort Fisher for our escape. Having
paid our gallant rescuers a visit, we took a pilot on board and steamed
up to Wilmington. Cape Clear river at this time was full of all sorts of
torpedoes and obstructions, put down to prevent any gun-boats from
approaching the town of Wilmington, should the forts at its entrance be
taken possession of by the enemy. And as the whereabouts of these
obstructions were only known to certain pilots, we had to be careful to
have the right man on board. We got up in safety, and finding that our
cargo of cotton was ready, made haste to unload and prepare for sea
again as quickly as possible.

There was nothing interesting in Wilmington, which is a large straggling
town built on sand-hills. At the time I write of the respectable
inhabitants were nearly all away from their homes, and the town was full
of adventurers of all descriptions; some who came to sell cotton, others
to buy at enormous prices European goods brought in by
blockade-runners. These goods they took with them into the interior,
and, adding a heavy percentage to the price, people who were forced to
buy them paid most ruinous prices for the commonest necessaries of life.

On this occasion we spent a very short time at Wilmington, and having
taken our cargo of cotton, we went down the river to the old waiting
place under the friendly batteries of Fort Fisher. We had scarcely
anchored when a heavy fog came on; as the tide for going over the bar
did not suit till three o'clock in the morning, which I considered an
awkward time, inasmuch as we should only have two hours of darkness left
in which to get our offing from the land, I determined to go out in the
fog and take my chance of the thick weather lasting. I calculated that
if we had met with any cruisers, they would not have been expecting us,
and so would have been under low steam.

I was told by every one that I was mad to venture out, and a