To attempt to describe at length the state of things at this usually tranquil and unfrequented little spot is beyond my powers.  I will only mention some of its most striking features.  Nassau differed much from Wilmington, inasmuch as at the latter place there was a considerable amount of poverty and distress, and men’s minds were weighted with many troubles and anxieties; whereas, at Nassau, everything at the time I speak of was couleur de rose.  Every one seemed prosperous and happy.  You met with calculating, far-seeing men who were steadily employed in feathering their nests, let the war in America end as it might; others who, in the height of their enthusiasm for the Southern cause, put their last farthing into Confederate securities, anticipating enormous profits; some men, careless and thoughtless, living for the hour, were spending their dollars as fast as they made them, forgetting that they would ‘never see the like again.’  There were rollicking captains and officers of blockade-runners, and drunken swaggering crews; sharpers looking out for victims; Yankee spies; and insolent worthless free niggers—­all these combined made a most heterogeneous, though interesting, crowd.

The inhabitants of Nassau, who, until the period of blockade-running, had, with some exceptions, subsisted on a precarious and somewhat questionable livelihood gained by wrecking, had their heads as much turned as the rest of the world.  Living was exorbitantly dear, as can be well imagined, when the captain of a blockade-runner could realise in a month a sum as large as the Governor’s salary.  The expense of living was so great that the officers of the West India regiment quartered here had to apply for special allowance, and I believe their application was successful.  The hotel, a large building, hitherto a most ruinous speculation, began to realise enormous profits.  In fact, the almighty dollar was spent as freely as the humble cent had been before this golden era in the annals of Nassau.

As we had to stay here till the time for the dark nights came round again, we took it easy, and thoroughly enjoyed all the novelty of the scene.  Most liberal entertainment was provided free by our owner’s agent, and altogether we found Nassau very jolly:  so much so, that we felt almost sorry when ‘time’ was called, and we had to prepare for another run.  In fact, it was pleasanter in blockade-running to look backwards than forwards, especially if one had been so far in good luck.

CHAPTER XII.

A VISIT TO CHARLESTON.

All being ready, we steamed out of Nassau harbour, and were soon again in perilous waters.  We had a distant chase now and then—­a mere child’s play to us after our experience—­and on the third evening of our voyage we were pretty well placed for making a run through the blockading squadron as soon as it was dark.  As the moon rose at twelve o’clock, it was very important that we should get into port before she threw a light upon the subject.