resistance. If the captain of the steamer was a fool, the mate was not,
for he saw the folly of resisting a United States force.

"Mr. Carlin, you will remain on deck with the men; Mr. Passford and Mr.
Gilfleur, may I trouble you to come into the cabin with me?" continued
Mr. Birdwing, as he led the way.

The executive officer seated himself at the table in the middle of the
cabin, and his companions took places on each side of him. The first
paper drawn from the case was the clearance of the Ionian for
Wilmington, with a cargo of old iron. The manifest had clearly been
trumped up for the occasion. The old iron was specified, and a list of
other articles of merchandise.

At this point the executive officer sent for Mr. Carlin, and directed
him to take off the hatches and examine the cargo, especially what was
under the pieces of machinery. There were several letters to unknown
persons, and one in particular to the captain himself, in which he was
directed to deliver the machinery to a gentleman with the title of
"Captain," who was doubtless a Confederate agent, in St. George's,
Bermuda. The papers were abundantly sufficient to convict Davis of
treason. The last one found in the case directed Captain Sawlock to
deliver the cannon and ammunition in the bottom of the vessel to the
steamer Dornoch, on her arrival at St. George's, or at some convenient
place in the Bahama Islands.




CHAPTER VII