No, I was to preserve my dignity and travel like a gentleman on a large steamboat to Jacksonville, and then other means would surely present themselves, as probably another boat ran from Jacksonville to Galveston, Texas. Splendid idea! Why the trip was going to prove easy--a regular "cinch," and I could afford to laugh at the train people now, and that for a good long time, too, but alas! my joy was short-lived, for I was soon to learn the truth of the old adage: "The best laid plans ofttimes go astray." We entered the drug store, and Marine, after much effort, composed the notes, which he wrote down in my memorandum book. The following is a reproduction of one of them, verbatim, taken from the same little book, which I yet own: "ENGINEER, Mr. J. Dunn wil you bee kind enough to help my yung friend over to J. and let me hear from you oblige" ARCHIE MARINE. I was also given a letter of introduction to his brother, William Marine, who is a very popular Jacksonville citizen, and who is superintendent of the Clyde Line Docks in that city. The author desires to publicly thank Mr. Marine through this book for that service, and feels confident, had he ever reached Georgetown, the notes would undoubtedly have been of much assistance. At 2 p. m. the following day I boarded the boat for Southport, and knowing how I was to travel on leaving home, I had only brought along one suit of clothes, which I had on. It was a nice fitting khaki suit, with prominent brass buttons, and seemed to be the very thing for the wear and tear of a long journey. It was a homeguard suit, though I was no homeguard, and had never been one, but purchased the suit just before leaving home. Now, as the reader may not be aware, Southport is a favorite camping resort of North Carolina's home guards, and as luck would have it, there was a company encamped there at this particular time. [Illustration] Up to this time I had paid no heed to what I was wearing, but it was soon obvious that I was attracting unusual attention. There were three or four men in blue uniforms on the boat, who seemed to give me their whole attention, for everywhere I went on the boat they would follow me and begin their whisperings, and it was fast becoming a nuisance, when, finally, one of them stepped up to me and asked: "Are you a home guard?" "I am not," I replied civilly, realizing my clothes warranted the question. "The reason I asked," he said, "there has been a desertion in one of the companies lately, and the description of the deserter fits you. If you were to land there now and suddenly make off across the sands towards Georgetown--I had informed him of my intention--you would quite likely be overtaken and held three or four days for identification," he said.