f introduction was addressed to this particular Percival, but still he
had no desire to make the gentleman's acquaintance if he could help it.
While he was turning the matter over in his mind, the captain of the
_Mollie Able_ stepped out of the clerk's office and tapped him on the
shoulder.

"The very best thing I can do for you," said he, "is to set you ashore
at Cedar Bluff landing."

Rodney was surprised, but it was clear to him that the captain knew who
he was and where he wanted to go.

"There are only a few people who live there, and they are principally
wood-cutters," continued the skipper. "But they are true as steel, and
you can trust them with your life. I have bought wood of them for years
and know them like a book. I will go ashore with you and give you a good
send-off. We shall get there about ten o'clock to-night."

Rodney opened his lips to thank the captain for his kindness, but he was
gone. The old steamboat-man sympathized with the South, and Captain
Howard and his friends had found it out, and induced him to do what he
could to help Rodney escape the expectant Yankee cotton-factor at St.
Louis. The boy laughed aloud when he thought how astonished and angry
Tom Randolph would be to learn that he had wasted time and telegrams to
no purpose. He passed the rest of the day in company with Captain Howard
and his friends, nearly all of whom held some position of trust under
the new government, and at nine o'clock, in obedience to a significant
wink and nod from the skipper, he went below and put the saddle and
bridle on his horse. Just then the whistle sounded for Cedar Bluff
landing, and some of the passengers came down to bid him good-by and see
him safely ashore.

"A boy with your ability and pluck ought to make his mark in the
service, and I wish I could keep track of you," said Captain Howard,
giving Rodney's hand a cordial shake. "But I shall most likely be
ordered East, hundreds of miles away from here, and possibly I may never
hear of you again; but I shall often think of you. Good-by, and good
luck."

This was the way in which all his new friends took leave of him, and if
good wishes were all that were needed to bring him safely through,
Rodney would have had no fears of the future. When the _Mollie Able's_
bow touched the bank and a line had been thrown out, a gang-plank was
shoved ashore, and the skipper came down from the hurricane deck to give
his passenger a "send-off." The blazing torch