fugitives from a rebel prison; they had been tracked by bloodhounds, and
followed by men at whose hands, if retaken, they could expect nothing
but death. He remembered how his heart bounded with joy on the morning
when he and his associates, in their leaky dug-out, had arrived in sight
of the Mississippi. Then, he was ragged, hatless, and almost shoeless,
weary with watching, and living in constant fear of recapture. Now, he
was among friends, the Old Flag waved above him, and he was the second
in command of one of the finest vessels in the squadron.

The passage up the river was without incident worthy of note, and in a
short time they arrived at the obstructions which the rebels had placed
in the river nine miles below Fort De Russy. A vast amount of time and
labor had been expended upon these obstructions, but they were speedily
cleared away, and the fleet passed on. They had expected a stubborn
resistance at the fort, but it had been captured by the army after a
short engagement, and the gun-boats kept on to Alexandria.




CHAPTER VI.

Frank turns Detective.


A day or two after the arrival of the fleet at Alexandria, it became
known that several persons belonging to the rebel secret service were
hovering about in the vicinity of the village, with the intention of
destroying some of the vessels by torpedoes--contrivances made to
resemble pieces of coal--which were to be placed in those barges out of