------------------------------------------------------------------------ Transcriber’s Note: This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects. Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_. Footnotes have been moved to follow the paragraphs in which they are referenced. Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation. [Illustration: THE LAST OF THE “LOUISIANA.”] _CASTLEMON’S WAR SERIES._ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SAILOR JACK, THE TRADER BY HARRY CASTLEMON, AUTHOR OF “GUNBOAT SERIES,” “ROCKY MOUNTAIN SERIES,” “FOREST AND STREAM SERIES,” ETC., ETC. _Four Illustrations by Geo. G. White._ [Illustration: colophon] PHILADELPHIA: PORTER & COATES. COPYRIGHT, 1893, BY PORTER & COATES CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. TOM RANDOLPH, CONSCRIPT, 1 II. LAMBERT’S SIGNAL-FIRE, 29 III. MR. RANDOLPH CARRIES TALES, 59 IV. THE PHANTOM BUSHWHACKERS, 86 V. THE COTTON THIEVES, 114 VI. THE MAN HE WANTED TO SEE, 141 VII. SAILOR JACK IN ACTION, 168 VIII. BAD NEWS FROM MARCY, 195 IX. RODNEY IS ASTONISHED, 222 X. MARK GOODWIN’S PLAN, 247 XI. BEN MAKES A FAILURE, 273 XII. SURPRISED AND CAPTURED, 302 XIII. IN WILLIAMSTON JAIL, 326 XIV. THE PRISON PEN, 350 XV. ON ACCOUNT OF THE DEAD LINE, 375 XVI. SAILOR JACK, THE TRADER, 403 XVII. CONCLUSION, 435 SAILOR JACK, THE TRADER. CHAPTER I. TOM RANDOLPH, CONSCRIPT. “Well, by gum! Am I dreamin’? Is this Tom Randolph or his hant?” “I don’t wonder that you are surprised. It’s Tom Randolph easy enough, though I can hardly believe it myself when I look in the glass. There isn’t a nigger in the settlement that isn’t better clad and better mounted than I am.”