"Oh, Ma.r.s.e Jack," cried the darkey, backing away from the chair. "Don"t I done tol" you dat I didn"t took it?"
"Do you stick to that story?" demanded Jack.
"Yes, sar. I stick to it till I plum dead."
"All right. I hope you are telling me the truth, and I"ll very soon find out whether you are or not. The Yankees are coming right through this country some day, and I don"t want to give you up to them, as I am afraid I shall have to do. You have heard Aunt Mandy tell her pickaninnies what awful fellows the Yankees are, have you not? Why, Julius, it scares me to think of them. If a live Yankee was in this room this minute,--don"t get behind me, for I wouldn"t try to help you if one should walk in and carry you off,--if one came in and sat down in that chair that will fall to pieces if you touch it, and you should take off his hat and his right boot, you would find that he had horns and a cloven hoof--a hoof like an ox instead of a foot like yours."
"Look a hyar, Ma.r.s.e Jack," exclaimed Julius, clinging to the sailor with one trembling hand while he pointed toward the wash-stand with the other. "Wha--wha" you doing da"? Wha" dat white stuff for?"
While Jack was telling the boy what terrible fellows the Yankees were supposed to be, he had slowly and solemnly filled a goblet with water from the pitcher, and then in the same solemn and deliberate way drew forth his ditty-bag and took from it a small bottle containing a harmless-looking white powder known to the druggists as citrate of magnesia. He held it at arm"s length as if he were afraid of it, and that made Julius so weak with terror that he could scarcely keep his feet.
"Do you want to know what--look out for yourself, now! If it explodes when I remove the cork, look out! Do you want to know what this is?"
said Jack. "Then I must whisper the words to you, for it would never do to say them out loud. It is my enchanted looking-gla.s.s--my fetich--my voodoo charm."
That was too much for Julius. With a wild scream he jumped for the door; but it was locked, and he could not get out.
"Now watch," continued Jack, who knew that he would get at the truth of the whole matter in a minute more. "To begin with, I shall command my enchanted looking-gla.s.s to show me the likeness of the villain who stole that breastpin; and in the next, I shall tell it to show me the place where it is now. Now, stand by to look in and tell me who you see there."
He poured a small portion of the white powder into the goblet, whose contents at once began to bubble and boil in the most unaccountable manner. When the water boiled up to the top and ran over on the wash-stand, Jack commanded Julius to look in and tell him what he saw there; but the boy sprang away and curled himself up on the floor in the farthest corner of the room.
"Come here!" said Jack sternly. "You won"t? Then I"ll look myself. Ah!
What is this I see? Julius, come here this instant and tell me who this is."
Jack emphasized the order by taking the negro by the back of the neck and lifting him to his feet; but he soon found that he could not hold him there without the use of more strength than he cared to put forth.
Julius was like an eel in his grasp. As fast as he raised him from the floor he would somehow manage to slip back again; and all the while he begged and pleaded so loudly that Jack was forced to desist for fear that his mother would hear the uproar, and come to the door to ask what was the matter.
"You are afraid to look in that goblet and you dare not sit in the chair," said Jack at length. "That proves that you did take the pin. Now where is it? If I have to fill my enchanted gla.s.s again, I"ll make you look in it whether you want to or not. Where is it?"
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ENCHANTED LOOKING-GLa.s.s.]
"De oberseer got it," was the reply that made the sailor wonder whether he was awake or dreaming. "Suah"s you born, de oberseer done made me gib it to him."
Jack had not the least doubt of it, but in order to test the boy"s sincerity, he told him to sit down in the chair, a.s.suring him, at the same time, that he had nothing to fear. As he had atoned for his guilt by making a confession, the chair would hold him up as it would anybody else. Julius tremblingly obeyed, and when he found that the chair really did support him, he gained courage, and with a little questioning told the whole story pretty nearly as we have told it, with this difference: He omitted some important items which we have been obliged to explain in order to make the narrative clear to the reader. It was a very nice scheme, Jack told himself, but he had not yet got the game as completely in his own hands as he determined to have it.
"Julius," said he impressively, "do you know what will happen to you if you fail to prove the truth of this most remarkable tale? You"ll be sold down South before the week is over. A darkey who has been as carefully brought up as you have wouldn"t last long in the cotton fields."
"But, Ma.r.s.e Jack," said Julius earnestly, "I kin prove dat I ain"t tole you nuffin but the gospel truth. I kin fotch you de pin; but you musn"t luff de oberseer whop me."
"He shall not put a hand on you," Jack a.s.sured him. "Keep away from the quarter, take no more reports to him, and I will stand between you and all harm."
As he said this he unlocked the door, and the darkey disappeared like a flash. He was gone about half an hour, and when he returned he handed Jack the breastpin, which was wrapped in a piece of newspaper. The overseer being away in the field and his cabin unlocked, it was a matter of no difficulty for the darkey to rummage his bureau drawers until he found the object of which he was in search. Whether or not Hanson ever discovered that he had been robbed of the "charm" that gave him such power over Julius, Jack never knew. If he did, he never said a word about it while he remained on that plantation.
But this was not the only good work Jack Gray did during the first two weeks he pa.s.sed at home. When the _West Wind_ was a day out from Boston, he accidentally learned that one of his best foremast hands was a resident of his own State, and that his father, who was a strong Union man, lived but an hour"s ride from Nashville. Of course the two became friends at once. All the lightest and easiest jobs about deck seemed to fall into Aleck Webster"s hands, and Jack won the good will of his mess by taking it upon himself to see that their food was not only abundant, but that it was well-cooked and properly served. They talked over the situation as often as they could get together, and not knowing just how matters stood at home they concluded that they had better not recognize each other after they reached Newbern. If, after they had pa.s.sed a few days at their respective homes, they thought it safe to do so, they could very easily bring about a meeting, and who could tell but that they might find opportunity to work together for the good of the old flag, or for the relief of some persecuted Unionist? Jack knew of one Unionist who was persecuted by being watched by rebel neighbors, and that one was his mother. He and Webster met at the post-office one morning, but they met as strangers. In fact his shipmate was a stranger to all present, for his father, who was a small farmer, had moved into that section from Georgia while Aleck was at sea. Having the misfortune to be a "cracker," or a poor white, Mr. Webster was rather looked down on by such men as Colonel Shelby and Major Dillon, but Jack Gray was not that sort. Aleck was a good sailor, and such a man was worth more in a gale at sea than a landsman who could call upon his bank account for a hundred thousand dollars.
During his first interview with his old shipmate Jack Gray heard some things that made him open his eyes. It was true, as he afterward told Marcy, that the Union men in the neighborhood were few in number, and that they dared not say out loud that their souls were their own; but they were well organized, and by no means afraid to follow the example set them by the rebels, and act in secret. Aleck said that there were about twenty of them all told, and no one could join their company unless he was vouched for by every man in it. They calculated to defend themselves and one another. They would not go into the Confederate service, and if they were crowded upon too closely they would take to the swamps and fight it out with any force that might be sent against them. They were well armed and resolute, and Aleck said they would be in just the right humor to deal with Hanson"s case when it was brought to their notice at their next meeting.
"My mother rather took me to task because I helped that smuggler into port, but if you can give me the a.s.surance that these Union men will stand between her and that cowardly overseer she"s got on the place, I shall be glad I became a smuggler for the time being," said Jack.
"I can give you that a.s.surance, Mr. Gray," said Aleck positively.
"That"s just what the company, or society, or whatever you have a mind to call it, was got together for. I know, because I was present at their last meeting, and the whole thing was explained to me before I took the oath to stand by it. Why can"t you come down and join us?"
"We"re not on board ship now, and my name is Jack. There"s no Mister about it," was the reply. "I am in full sympathy with you and with the object for which you have been brought together, and if I was going to stay at home I should surely ask you to hand in my name. But my mother will be defenseless when I go into the navy and Marcy leaves to join that blockade-runner, and if Shelby and Beardsley and Hanson should find out that I knew there was an organization like yours in existence, they would burn up everything we"ve got. We can"t discharge Hanson without bringing ourselves into serious trouble; and if you fellows could think up some way to drive him off the place, and bring old Beardsley home so that my brother wouldn"t have to go blockade running any more, you would make us all your everlasting debtors."
"If you wanted to write to this Captain Beardsley you would address him at Newbern, wouldn"t you? All right. We meet somewhere in the woods next Wednesday night, and then we will talk it over and see what can be done for you."
Jack Gray always was light-hearted and jolly, no matter whether things worked to suit him or not; but Marcy and his mother thought they had never seen him quite so much at peace with himself and all the world as he appeared to be after this interview with Aleck Webster. If those Union men were in earnest and did what his shipmate thought they certainly would do, there might be a fight right there on the plantation; and that was the reason Jack did not take his mother into his confidence. To quote from Marcy, she had enough to trouble her already. If the attempt to drive the overseer from the place was made and resulted in failure, it would probably lead to some vigorous action on the part of Colonel Shelby and his friends; and that was the reason Jack did not tell Marcy of it. If a difficulty arose, he wanted Marcy to be able to say that he did not know a thing about it. But this particular night might be the last one he would ever spend with his brother, and he thought it prudent to make a clean breast of the matter.
"That is my story," said Jack, in conclusion. "What do you think of it?"
"I think you have worked to some purpose," replied Marcy, who could not yet understand how Jack had done all this without his knowledge. "But there is one thing you have yet to explain. You told me that I need not go back to the _Hattie_ if I don"t want to. I certainly do not want to, but how shall I get out of it?"
This was the way Jack explained that. On the Thursday morning following the day on which he held his first interview with Aleck Webster, he met him again, and the young fellow had startling news for him. After the two had seated themselves on a low fence a little way from the store, Aleck fastened his gaze upon a paper he held in his hand and said:
"It is just as I told you it would be. Our men were all mad when I told them that Unionists, and women at that, were being mistreated right here under their very noses, and them setting around like b.u.mps on a log and doing nothing to stop it, and it"s my private opinion that if that overseer of your"n had been handy last night, they would have used him rough. He"ll get out; I can promise you that."
"Well, look here, Aleck. My brother is going to take me down to the blockading fleet in a few days, and I wish you wouldn"t make a move until we are gone. Then folks can"t say we had a hand in it or knew anything about it."
"Very good, sir. We"ll look out for that. And perhaps you and your brother will be glad to learn that Captain Beardsley will be warned to-day that if he don"t quit blockade running and bringing in supplies for the Confederacy, he will miss some of his buildings when he gets back."
"That will bring him sure," said Jack gleefully. "You can"t touch him in a worse place than his pocket. But you didn"t say anything about his forcing Marcy into the rebel service, did you? For if you did, he"ll bounce my folks the minute he gets home."
"If he tries it, may be he"ll miss some more buildings when he gets up 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 pa.s.sed another half hour in ripping up one of Marcy"s bed quilts to get at the flags that had been st.i.tched 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.
"So do I," replied Jack, "for if we should happen to run foul of one of them, my Confederate colors would be no protection whatever. The boarding officer would very naturally inquire: "What are you doing out here so near the blockading fleet?" and no answer that we could give would satisfy him. Why don"t you take the old one? It would be a pity to have that nice piece of silk whipped to tatters by a Cape Hatteras gale."
"My friend d.i.c.k Graham gave me that old flag," answered Marcy; "and I told him that the next time it was hoisted it would be in a breeze that was not tainted by any secession rag. I want to keep my promise if I can. Now, I will put what is left of the quilt in my trunk where mother can find it in the morning." After that the boys went to bed, but not to sleep. Marcy was too nervous. Thinking over the details of the remarkable story his brother had told him during the evening, and speculating upon the possible results of his trip to the blockading fleet, effectually banished slumber; and seeing how restless he was.
Jack was considerate enough to stay awake to keep him company. The time pa.s.sed more rapidly than it generally does under such circ.u.mstances, and it did not seem to them that they had been in bed an hour before they heard their mother"s gentle tap at the door, and her voice telling them that the day was breaking.