arrested and tried, but he took to the mountain, and has been living there ever since. The sheriff has not been able thus far to arrest him, but in a month or two Jack Frost will drive him down from the mountain, and then the law will attend to him if the people give it a chance. Why haven't we trailed him with dogs! We have tried it, but without success. Massey is more cunning than a fox, and a dog on his trail is soon at fault. Besides, he is a desperate man, swift as a deer and a dead shot with any kind of firearm. He carries a repeating rifle which he brought with him from the Yankee army, and never misses his mark with it. About a month ago he came to Joe B.'s shanty on the outskirts of the town, and sent word to the sheriff that he was there, and would submit to arrest, provided the sheriff came alone. Just think of the cheek of the man! An indicted criminal making conditions with the officers of the law! But the sheriff paid no attention to the proviso. He summoned a posse of twelve, divided them into two parties, and approached the front and rear of the house at the same time. Massey was there and would have been caught, only the party in front showed itself too soon, and he slipped out at the back door and made for the woods, passing right through the second party, which was advancing in skirmishing order. Of course they fired at him, and the sheriff thinks he was hit, but he got away all the same. The sheriff's party were not so fortunate. Two of them were dropped by Massey in the running fight, and although they were not dangerously wounded, they have not been able to be about since. Of course new indictments will be found against him for these last crimes. The old indictments are for sheep and cattle stealing, robbery, and murder. He was a perfect terror in this region during the war when all the men were away in the army. He was captain of a gang of bushwhackers, and claimed to belong to the Yankee army, but that was merely pretense, although he and his gang did ultimately go over to the enemy.

I had heard enough on that side. How was I to hear the other? Massey it seemed had many friends, yet I had met none of them. Buffaloes were said to be plenty, but I had seen none. I wondered if I would have been equally unsuccessful if I had come in uniform. Perhaps the people piped what they thought would be a pleasant tune. If they knew that I was an army officer perhaps somebody would change the tune and let me hear the other side. I determined to try the experiment the first opportunity.

I made an early start next day, taking the road towards the mountains. It was a raw, misty morning, and where the road was not rocky it was knee-deep in mud-a soft alluvial deposit, washed down by recent rains. The road was evidently the bed of a moun

tain torrent. I was beginning to get discouraged, and so was my horse. He carried his head mighty low, and I determined, not altogether for his sake, that this should be our last day in the county. If I succeeded in meeting a possible buffalo, I should approach him as an army officer. I had plenty of time to think it all over. Houses were scarce on the road I had taken, and there seemed to be no inhabitants at all. At last, about eleven o'clock, I sighted a man and a boy. The man was building a stone fence with boulders taken from the road, and the boy was watching him. As soon as I hove in sight the boy began to whistle. He was perhaps ten or twelve years old, and whistled as if he had been brought up to the business. Was he whistling for fun? I doubted it, because the man never once raised his head, although he must have heard me approaching, and travelers were scarce enough to be curiosities in that region. I halted abreast of the man, who simply returned my good morning and went on with his work. The boy had stopped whistling, and eyed me with an exceedingly sharp expression on his face. I asked where I could get a drink of water. The man replied, "The spring is behind the house." Could the boy get me a cup from the cabin? The boy replied, "There is a gourd at the spring." They evidently did not relish my presence. The man especially was very sulky. He continued his work, answering in monosyllables without looking up, and I felt sure I was in the presence of a buffalo. In spite of the incivility I had experienced I was delighted. I dismounted, and the man straightened himself up for the first time and looked at me. Approaching to within a few feet I whispered to him as if I did not wish the boy to hear. "You need not be afraid of me; I am an officer of the United States army and am here on business." The hammer slipped from his hand, and after a short pause, during which he stroked his long beard and looked at the boy, he said, "Go and get some milk for the gentleman." The boy hastened away; but before he started I saw a look of intelligence pass between him and the man, which led me to believe that bringing the milk was not all he was ordered to do. During the boy's absence I conversed further with the man, and showed him my orders as evidence of my bona-fide character. He was not easily convinced, but at last he seemed satisfied. About this time the boy returned with the milk, and I noticed the same look pass between father and son-for that was their relation -as I had noticed when he got the order to fetch it. Manifestly they could converse without using words.

It is impossible to reproduce the picture presented by this man and boy. Every movement and look was that of a hunted animal. It had become second nature to them. The boy in particular at

tracted my attention. I complimented him on his whistling, and again I noticed the peculiar look at his father. It passed like a flash, and I was more convinced than ever that the boy did not whistle for fun.

In course of time the man became more communicative. He said he had been a soldier in the -th North Carolina, a Union regiment. It was the first time I had heard of North Carolina regiments in the Union army, and I was a little skeptical. However, I did not interrupt, and I found out afterwards that the man was right. He served but a short time, and was mustered out at the close of the war. He had not been molested so far, but he had friends among the ex-Confederates, who seemed to think that they had been the victors. He was permitted to live in peace, because he was poor and had never been prominent. His cousin Massey had a fine farm before the war. But he was a Union man, and incurred the hatred of the Confederates. He took to the woods rather than enter the rebel army, and they burnt his house down because his wife would not tell where he was hid. His family had a hard time of it; in fact, they were homeless. This no doubt made Massey worse than he otherwise would have been. He collected a party of escaped prisoners, and armed them in some way, and I must say they helped themselves liberally as they marched through. After that Massey got a captain's commission, and came here to raise a company, and it was while thus employed that most of the acts were done for which he has been indicted. When the war was over Massey rebuilt his house, but it was burned down again after he took to the woods from the sheriff. Yes, Massey was in the house when you came up, but he heard the signal, and by this time is where it would be difficult to find him. He may not be back for two or three nights. Could he come to Raleigh? Certainly he could; Massey is not afraid to go anywhere. He even was willing to be arrested by the sheriff alone. He is willing to stand trial on the indictments. But he will not submit to a posse. If he did, he never would reach the jail. Dead men cannot testify," and it would be easy to say he was killed when trying to escape. If you think it necessary that he should come to Raleigh, I will tell him so the next time I see him, and you may depend upon it he will come. And he did. If I remember rightly, he was there before I got back. At any rate, the season for "buffalo"-hunting was at an end. A squadron of cavalry occupied the country through the winter, and so long as the military continued supreme in the State the "buffaloes" were safe.

(To be continued.)

THE LAST EXPLOIT OF OLD IRONSIDES.

THE record of the Constitution contains many notable events, and of all the men-of-war which have flown the flag of the United States, the Old Ironsides alone retains the renown of her victories in the war of 1812. For fifty years her name was the one most dear to her countrymen, and to this day our pulses quicken as we recall her successes. Apart from the usual vicissitudes common to men-ofwar, and even beyond the episodes of successful combats such as have fallen to the lot of very few, this one ship, the Constitution, bears upon her history not alone the single contests whose victorious results cheered the hearts of our ancestors, and carried dismay to the most famous sea-power in history, whose boasts were that her battleships were irresistible and her frigates invincible, but also the story of an escape from an overpowering force of the enemy, which constitutes as captivating a tale of real warfare as any romantic sea-yarn conjured by the brilliant imaginations of a Marryat, a Cooper, or a Clark Russell. Beyond these stands forth one action and its sequel which has no exact parallel in naval annals. An action which was not as costly in men and material as many others, but one in which the consummate skill and brilliant seamanship of the commander achieved the full measure of success in the capture of two of the enemy whose combined offensive force was superior to that of the Constitution. The commanders of both of these ships were men of approved courage, excellent seamen, and had under them gallant and thoroughly efficient crews.

In telling again this oft-told tale, I shall vary a little from the accounts found in the standard authors on naval history, as none of them appear to have followed closely the official narrative. It will be the object of this paper to present in as brief and succinct a manner as the subject permits, a lucid narration of as complete a victory as ever was won by superior skill over equal courage.

I disclaim at once any pretence at originality. The familiar waters have been ploughed by literary line-of-battle ships, but the light sloop may perhaps gather a bit of the wreckage her prouder forerunner disdained. The subject matter has been gathered from accepted and well-known authorities, and the main events of the battle will

follow closely the accounts of Cooper, Bowen, Emmons, Gaylord, Roosevelt, and Maclay on the American side, and the somewhat divergent in detail, but sensibly concordant accounts, of Allen and James on the English side. I have also been aided slightly by a perusal of some of the original reports at the Navy Department.

The freedom with which all of the authorities above quoted have treated the second of the critical junctures of the contest is surprising, and the apparent disregard shown to the purpose of one of the maneuvers alters completely the exact reason why the Constitution's success was so thorough. On the other hand there has been no hesitation in appropriating from each of the historians any part of their narration which appears best to describe the fight as it occurred. The words are my own, but most of the ideas are due to others.

The frigate Constitution, under the command of Captain Charles Stewart, then thirty-seven years of age, after being for a long time blockaded in the harbor of Boston, escaped the vigilance of the blockaders and slipped out to sea on December 17, 1814. As soon as her escape was known to the enemy, the British frigates were ordered to sail in couples, and their sloops of war to steer clear of every sail which resembled her. Her fame had made her dreaded, and she was, as the first administrator of the Navy reported, "separately superior to any European frigate."

I may here remark that she was built in Boston in 1797, under the law of 1794, which was approved by Washington himself.

I am indebted to the kindness of Commodore Miller for some interesting details of her launching furnished by clippings in an old scrap-book, taken from the "Massachusetts Mercury," printed in Boston in 1797. The President of the United States, John Adams, the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and all the staff officials, were present at her launching, and thousands from the country round flocked to the scene. Elaborate directions are given to the sightseers; and people who gathered in boats and skiffs, and on wharves, are cautioned that the "entrance of so large a body may produce an agitation of the water somewhat hazardous."

We also gather that on the Friday preceding the launching "that the cables of the Constitution were carried from Jeffrey & Russell's ropewalk to the Navy Yard, on the shoulders of about 490 men, with music and the American colors."

Music, orations, and salutes of cannon dignified this occasion, and the launch of the ship was heralded as a nationl achievement. Much is said of the superior proportions and elegance of the ship, and this was not bombast, as her after career proved.