"I think so. Where do you stand, any way? You need not be afraid to be honest with me."
"I think as you do, only I go a little farther. The Constitution says:
'Treason against the United States shall consist in levying war against
them.' Did you fellows levy war against them when you fired upon Sumter?
If you did, you are traitors the last one of you."
"W-h-e-w!" whistled Gifford. "And you think we ought to be hanged?"
"I certainly hope you won't be, you especially, but you know as well as
I do that the penalty of treason is death."
"And you don't call yourself a traitor to your State, I suppose?"
"I don't, because I have made no effort to overthrow the legal government of my State. Between you and me, I joined that privateer because I did not think it would be safe to do anything else."
"There's where you showed your good sense," said Gifford earnestly. "Judging by what I have heard, you took the only course that was open to you. The people here are not half as crazy as they are in Charleston, Wilmington, and Newbern, but they are none the less dead in earnest, and you will find that after the State goes out, a Union man will not be safe in this country. I think you have completely allayed suspicion here in Nashville, but you want to look out for secret enemies near home. Whatever you do, don't run Beardsley's schooner aground."
"What have I got to do with running the schooner?" asked Marcy, who was surprised at the extent of his friend's information. He began to see that he and his movements had been pretty thoroughly discussed.
"You're going to pilot her," answered Gifford. "That's what you've got to do with running her, and I say again, don't run her aground."
"If I do accidentally, Beardsley will shoot me, I suppose."