Like all
secessionists, George was very fiery and transitory in his feelings.
He expressed unmeasurable surprise when the Captain told him the
condition of his man in the old jail. "You don't say that men are
restricted like that in Charleston? Well, now, I never was in that
jail, but it's unsuited to the hospitality of our society," said he.
"Your prison groans with abuses, and yet your people never hear
them," replied the Captain.
George seemed anxious to change the subject, and commenced giving
the Captain a description of his journey to the plantation, his
hunting and fishing, his enjoyments, and the fat, saucy, slick
niggers, the fine corn and bacon they had, and what they said about
massa, ending with an endless encomium of the "old man's" old
whiskey, and how he ripened it to give it smoothness and flavor. His
description of the plantation and the niggers was truly wonderful,
tantalizing the Captain's imagination with the beauties of a growing
principality in itself. "We have just got a new vessel added to our
ships, and she sails for the Pedee this afternoon. We got the right
stripe of a captain, but we have made him adopt conditions to be
true to the secession party. As soon as I get another man, we'll
despatch her in grand style, and no mistake."
The Captain thought of his second mate, and suggested him at once.
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