l. Poor Page!
Poor Ringgold! More of us are to go down to-morrow. Who will it be?"

Very possibly, the list of American slain would contain the
announcement that a mere second lieutenant, named Ulysses S. Grant, had
been struck by a chance shot from one of the Mexican batteries.

CHAPTER III.

THE FORTUNE OF WAR

The morning of the 9th of May dawned brightly on the ocean and on the
shore. There was a heavy sea running on the Gulf of Mexico, but the wind
that was blowing was little more than a ten-knot breeze. Before this, at
distances of a few miles from each other, a trio of armed vessels,
representing three of the great powers of the world, were dashing along
under full sail, as if they were in a hurry. They were so, for they all
were searching hungrily after a double-flagged bark, which they had
caught the day before, but which had managed to escape from them in the
night. She had done it mysteriously and impudently. Instead of her,
there now toiled along, away behind them, a dingy-looking Brazilian
coffee schooner, the skipper of which did not conceal his satisfaction
over the idea that he had unintentionally aided some other sailor--he
did not care who--to get away from all those war-sharks. Well to the
westward, with every sail spread that she could carry, the _Goshhawk_
sped along in apparent safety, but she was once more carrying the
American flag, and Ned Crawford, busy below at his breakfast, felt a
great deal easier in his patriotic mind. He could almost forget, for the
moment, that he was taking a cargo of the worst kind of contraband of
war goods to the armies of the enemies of his country. He was shortly on
deck again, to be heartily greeted by Captain Kemp with:

"Hullo, my boy, where are all your ships of war?"

Ned took a long, sweeping glance around the horizon, and replied:

"It looks as if we'd lost 'em."

"We've done it!" chuckled the captain. "I think we'll not see any more
of that lot. We made a fine run in the night, and we may be within three
days' sail of Vera Cruz. But that depends a great deal on the wind and
on our luck in keeping out of difficulties."

The captain turned away to his duties, and Ned went forward among the
sailors. He could always manage to have good chats with them, and they
were especially ready just now to discuss the war and their chances for
running against more cruisers. Ned did not count as one of them exactly,
but he was not to be looked down upon as