We must not forget to say that before these things happened Sailor Jack ran up from New Orleans to tell what he had done with Marcy, and to make a settlement with his uncle.
“I’ve made a successful trip,” said he gleefully, “and, Uncle Rodney, you have that much to your credit in the Chemical Bank of New York.”
As he said this he handed Mr. Gray a certificate of deposit calling for a sum of money so large that Rodney opened his eyes in amazement.
“Of course I had to take Marcy to New York with me,” continued Jack, “but two days after we got there Captain Frazier found a Union storeship that was about to sail with provisions for the blockading fleet; and as she had a lot of mail and stuff aboard for Captain Flusser, whom I knew to be serving on the Miami in Albemarle Sound, I managed to obtain permission for Marcy to take passage on her, believing that if he could reach the Miami he could also reach Plymouth, and from there it would be easy for him to get home. I expect to find a letter from him when I return to New York, and he also promised to write you in care of the provost marshal at Baton Rouge.”
There was one thing Jack did before he went back to New Orleans that at first disgusted Rodney Gray, though he was afterward very glad of it. He paid over to Mr. Randolph every dollar his twenty bales sold for in New York, not even deducting the Hyperion’s freight bill, so that unfortunate gentleman was not quite as badly off as he thought. He had a little money with which to make a new start when the war ended.
CHAPTER XVII.
CONCLUSION.
One of the most soul-stirring scenes that Rodney Gray ever witnessed occurred a short time subsequent to the fall of Vicksburg. He and his father and Ned Griffin stood on the Baton Rouge levee and saw the steamer Imperial dash by on her way to New Orleans. The swift vessel, which came from St. Louis, moved as if she were a living thing and knew that she was speaking not only to the Confederacy, but to the world. To the Confederates she said that the last vestige of their power and authority had disappeared from the Mississippi forever; that its waters were free to the commerce of the great West, which should nevermore be interrupted. And to France and England, who had been hoping and plotting for our downfall, she said that “thenceforth the country was to be one nation, under one flag, with Liberty and Union forever.”
Exciting and interesting events happened rapidly after that, but we can touch upon but few of them, for our “War Series” ought to end with the war record of the characters that have appeared in it. Rodney, who was waiting impatiently for Sailor Jack to make his appearance, spent the most of his time on the Baton Rouge levee, so as to be the first to welcome him when he came up with his trading boat. On one memorable night he reached home after dark, as he usually did, put his horse into the stable-yard, and went into the house; and there, just as we found him on a former occasion, seated in Rodney’s own rocking-chair, with his feet resting upon the back of another and a book in his hand, was Dick Graham. When Rodney entered the room Dick merely turned his head slightly and looked at him as he might have done if they had parted an hour or two before.
“I always knew you had cheek,” exclaimed Rodney, as soon as he could speak. “Dick, old boy, how are you?”
“Pretty and well, thank you,” answered Dick, dropping the book and jumping to his feet.