“It’s all over now,” replied the young hero cheerfully, “and I am anxious to send word to mother. I wish one of you would write to her at Plymouth, care of Captain Burrows, and I am sure he will have the letter delivered.”
“Do you know that you slept for eighteen straight hours?” replied Rodney. “Well, that gave me time to write the letter and take it to Baton Rouge and mail it to the address Jack gave me before he went home. Now that you are safe I don’t see what there is to hinder Jack from carrying out his plan of becoming a cotton trader. If he wants to pay back to his mother every dollar she is likely to lose by this war, I don’t know any better thing for him to do.”
“Did you say as much in your letter?”
“I said all that and more. I am sure he will come, if it is only to see you.”
“Rodney, you’re a brick,” exclaimed Marcy. “But I wish you could tell me more about Tom Allison and Mark Goodwin.”
But Rodney couldn’t, for the very good reason that all Jack said about it was that they had been bushwhacked; and with this meagre information Marcy was obliged to be satisfied.
CHAPTER XVI.
SAILOR JACK, THE TRADER.
It was a long time before Marcy Gray could bring himself to believe that he was not dreaming, and that he would awake to find himself a conscript guard at the Millen prison pen, but this uncertainty did not prevent him from making long strides toward recovery. His faithful friend Bowen declared that he could see him getting well. In less than a week he was strong enough to ride to Baton Rouge with Rodney. He reported to the provost marshal, who listened in amazement to his story, and gave him and Bowen a standing pass in and out of the Union lines. At the end of two weeks he began to wonder why he did not hear from Jack, and at the end of three that wished-for individual presented himself in person, much to the delight of all his relatives. He rode into Rodney’s yard in company with Mr. Gray, as he had done on a former occasion, and no sooner did his eyes rest upon Marcy, who sprang down the steps to meet him, than he began quoting something.
“This accident and flood of fortune
So far exceed all instance, all discourse,