The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-08-28

OF anything that I had done for him.
My only thought now was that Aaron
knew me. and II he should spot" mo
my only chance was gone.
Down the limo came the officer In
charge. roll in hand.
He reached Signal Officer McGregor.
whats your name7' he inquired.
Boldly the answer was given NC
Gregori"
what's your occupations
"Oiler."
"oller, ehr HIM! You arc signal
officer. I'll SOC that you go UP for
the rest Of the war" Poor McGregor's
name and nature had been unveiled by
Aaron long before tho officer got to
him. The questions were a mere for
mality. On hearing his sentence his
tainted.
What was tho condition OF my
knees? Well, that's nobody's affair. II
is mono OF their business whether I
had any knees or not. In fact, don't
know myself. for ! had double do
ception to. work, and the ono question
in my mind was whether or not Aaron
had fixed me as he had done the rest
My turn next
Whats your manner" / hardly had
time to answer before the offlcer re-
sponded with: You are giving false
name: you are c. c. Leslie and you
are steward. I'll see that you go
UP for the rest Of the war" Good
gracious! Nobody spared! Nothing
to work; and all on account OF Aaron
Love. Now came streaming into my
mind my kindness to him. Hero, too.
Aaron's memory and conscience began
to put in little extra work. He
knew mo, and he knew Lieutenant Nc
Cutcheon tthat was his name as
learned afterwards). Aaron knew a
thing or two about him. He knew
that It was he who had been the dis
appearing guest on our ship after put
ting in a good afternoons work az a
spy. Aaron knew also about the mem
orable cocktail, and he knew that such
a decoction we'll rendered was cap
ital rabbits foot" for fellow IN
hard luck. / thought had seen the
face Of that officer somewhere, and
maybe he was thinking that he had
seen me before. But In the combination
of circumstances. unexpected and sur
prising as they turned out, my bread
cast upon the waters" came floating
done for him with what I had for the
officer. Aaron stepped up and wills
pered: For Gods sake, Lieutenant.
be easy with Mr.. Leslie. He has been
good friend to me, and member the
time when he made you them cocktails
when you get on board the Eugenie
a spy"
The effect was Immediately visible.
Although an outward semblance Of
severity was kept up. could see that
friends had met, and that the lieu
i - y. U.s.
me. / saw. or imagined I saw, the
soft light in his eyes like the light
in the eyes of one who dreams of
a distant love. And did 1 or did I not
observe a thirstful movement of his
Adams apple? At all events he turned
aside and in a few moments presented
me with cabalistic note which was
to pass along the line to officers, as I
should be transferred from point to
point That note contained something,
which meant that i was treated as
leniently as was consonant with safe
ty and convenience. / believe that 1t
also had something to do with my re-
gaining my liberty earlier than might
have been the case without 1t.
Under Confederate Fire.
We remained in Newbern eight or
ten days. till the mail and supply boat
came down the coast. On deck of this
vessel we were shipped to Fort Mon
roe en- route for Portsmouth During
! the voyage on the Newbern before
reaching Portsmouth the lookout re-
ported about half a dozen schooners
ahead on fire. They turned out to be
Federal supply boats to which Con-
federate vessel had set fire. AS soon
as this was determined We were or
dered below and put in irons in the
brig. Just what happened above have
never learned the details I only know
that there was considerable firing of
guns, and that each report seemed to
be accompanied with a shot just at the
spot where my head was located in
the brig, and seemed to be particularly
aimed at me. And I remember feeling
pretty certain between the intervals
that had gone to Davy Jones's locker
with boots on, and without being able
so much as to stand up and salute his
submarine majesty.
On the Phantom, could see the
fun" But hero I was with condi-
lions reversed. Here was with hands
and feet chained and every moment a
chance of being sent to the dickens by
my friends; for this was Confederate
boat firing on Federal supply vessel.
And tell you there was no fun in
that. either for me or for some 200
companions In misery. 1t was bad
enough when we We're taking chances
of being cut down by the enemy, but
II was too tough to contemplate being
put on the train express to eternity
manacled and blindfolded, and that at
the unwilling hands OF friends
BY some means or other we, how
ever. reached Portsmouth In safety
sIere there was no room for us, and
we We're sent on to New York and
landed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard
soon to be transferred to Ludlow
Street prison, when after six weeks
I was liberated.
The first thing did on. getting gu,
was to look for a chance of getting
back home again. for again joined
ship bound for Bermuda. This was
the Somerset. While she was not a
blockade runner. she was owned by
the merchant from whom we got most
Of our blockade stores. On her we
reached Bermuda without incident.
In Great Britain.
On arriving In ST. George learned
that Captain Porter had gone with the
Eugenia to England In search of a
new boat. I got my discharge from
the Somerset. and with two friends
shipped on the Alice with Captain
Grant. bound for Scotland for repairs
In eight or ten days we We're in
Greenook and discharged. went up