Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-07-10

cess in the daily expected battle ol
Shiloh depended on the safe deliv-
cry of these arms, and no man
could possibly feel the responsible
ity of the hour more gravely than
himself, for before our departure,
letter upon letter had been sent to
Charleston from both officers of the
army and of the government, beg
ging US by every consideration TO
forward them with all possible des-
patch. "Good morning, Captain,
l am glad to see you" was Oakey's
of-hand greeting. They had met
before on previous visits of our
blockade runners to Nassau.
| "Morn'n', morn'n'," morn IN
growled the old sea dog, extending
a fat, freckled hand, that looked as
as if at some time it had been the
fiipper of q turtle.
"Jast in time," said Tom. "Pve
| just ordered a toddy; dye ever
drink?'
"Drink sir, drink sir, aye, aye,
by Jove try me; I'm like the Irish
man, sir-the Irishman: if / don't
drink, d--n.it, make me drink, sir,
make me drink" After these py-
rotechnic calculations, the venera-
bic mariner gave vent to series of
abdominal cackles, which shook his
corporositY like the premonitory
tremors of a young earthquake.
"Walk aft" said Tom.
"By the way" remarked the old
salt, as they moved toward the
cabin, "the GuV'ner yonder has
fancy that you are shipping arms
for the Contederates-ha ha! good
joke, sir, good joke; shipping arms
under Her Msjesty's nose. Wanted
me to come off and see what you're
doing-egad, sir, what you're doing.
And I've come, I've come, sir"
'That's right" said Tom, "I'm
glad to welcome you. Look around
for yourself; there's a pile of hoes,
some shOvels and spades, and when
you go below we'll have the boxes
opened, and I'll show you the pref
tiest lot of hardware ever shipped
from Great Britain. But come
along to the cabin and let's drink
first.
With that Oakley ushered his Wis
itOr into the private cabin of the
"Kate," and closed the door on that
side of the ship from which she
was every moment receiving her
warlike cargo.
"What shall it be? I've little of
all Sorts" "Take some cham
pagne," said Tom.
"a little brandy first, cap'n-
brandy first. Brandy's a sheet an
chor, cap'n, sheet anehor-nO
water, thank'ee, no water; they
don't agree, as the Irishman said,
when he gave the Pope recipe for
making punch"
"How was that2'' asked Tom.
"First pour in the brandy, then
add the sugar, but, 'gad, sir, every
drop of water you put in after that
spoils the punch, sir, spOils the
punch.
Oakley piled his guest with ques-
tions, and kept him busy with an
swers, every three or four minutes
putting in q liquid punctuation
point in the shape now of brandy,
and now Of champagne, until the
British captain was in an uprOar-
GUS state of personal felicity. At
first he was strictly and most i'm
partially neutral-the very essence
OF representative Briton, dutifully
engaged; but the more he praCticed
multiplication with Johannes Bar
leycOrn, the kinder grew his SYM
pathies, until finally kindled into
enthusiasm, about fifteen glasses
deep, he threw his arms affection
ately around Tom, and exclaimed
with intoxicated pathOs, "Nev'r
mind e 'ardware, cap'n nev'r
mind Ye see, ye see, hic-it's all
rightly Jove, all right, hic. I'm
with ye, hic-with ye, cart and
soul, by Jove-'eart and soul, hic."
The last words were grandly en-
phatic, accompanied with a stroke
on Tom s back, which the old salt
doubtless intended to be particu-
larly fraternal, but which Tom
AYERS, to this day, was very much
like the descending stroke of a
spile driver, and always gives him
a rheumatic twinge to think about.
Three or four more drinks did
the business, by which time Tom
was safe from all fears OF inspec-
ton.
Between the Otard on the one
hand, and the necessary official
dignity to be preserved on the 9th
er, the old BritoD, as he leaned
heavily on Toms arm in the pass
age from the cabin to the ships
ladder, found it exceedingly diff
cult to maintain his specific gravi.
ty. As he rolled over the side, his
parting words were, "Her maj'stys
officer after 'ardware-hic, 'ardware.
Ha ha good joke, sir, by Jove,
hic; God bless yer, eap'n, hic,-an'
safe v'yage-safe wage back"
When last seen the worthy captain
was stretched out in the stern
sheets of his cutter, snoring an un-
conscious accompaniment tO"When
the swallow shomeward fly"
We had now only to finish load
ing, get our clearance from the GUS
tomhouse, and turn our bow home
ward. The "Kate," although a
trim and beautiful boat, was not
the fastest of our blockade run
ners; but fortunately we were not
put to trial of speed on the re-
| turn trip. Our cargo being too i'm
portant to warrant the ordinary
risks incurred in running the block
ade at Charleston or Wilmington,
Capt. Oakley determined to land at
Smyrna, on the coast of Florida,
which was done.
The Confederate authorities, duly
advised of our arrival, then took
the cargo in hand, and in the
/ 8 4 Al