"I never sailed no river before," Jim cheerily answered, "'n I dun know nothin' 'bout the Jeems River, but I 'low we've come 'bout a thousand mile. 'N it's nigh sun-up. How'll we-uns git to sho' 'n hide?" "If we did that," said Tom, "we'd have to give up our ship. Don't let us do that. Let's say what Captain Lawrence said: 'Don't give up the ship!' We'll call her the 'Liberty' and sail her down to Hampton Roads. We can hide in the branches or the roots if we meet anybody on the river. Everybody will give us a wide berth. We have some food, thanks to you. Forty-eight hours more will see us through." "All right, Captain," Jim Grayson replied. "You're the commander." Up to that time, the Confederate private had been in command of the expedition, but now that the Union officer was himself again, he took charge of everything, much to Jim's content and also, we must admit, much to Tom's content. The good ship "Liberty," Tom Strong, captain, Jim Grayson, mate, made a prosperous voyage. Its crew was thoroughly scared three or four times by the sight of Confederate craft, small and large. When a gunboat selected it as a floating target and plumped half-a-dozen cannon balls around it, the crew thought the end had come. But nobody on the gunboat saw the two people cowering amid the branches of the tree. The gunners were untrained. Their aim was poor. And powder and cannon-balls were not so abundant in the Confederacy that the practice-firing could continue long. Early on the third morning of the voyage, they were in Hampton Roads, borne by the ebbing tide towards the Union squadron that lay under the guns of Fortress Monroe. As the sun rose above the horizon, our flag sprang to the mastheads of the ships. Tom felt like echoing Uncle Mose's triumphant phrase: "De Stars 'n de Stripeses, dey jest kivered de sky." The "Liberty" would have gone straight out to sea, so far as any control by its crew was concerned. It did go out to sea, indeed, but not until after Tom and Jim had been taken from it by a boat from the Admiral's ship. Jim had fired off his gun to attract attention, as the "Liberty" neared the squadron, and then he and Tom had both stood up on the teetering trunk of their tree and shouted and waved their shirts, which they had taken off for that purpose, as they had nothing else to wave, until help came. The "Liberty" had brought them to liberty. They said good-by to her almost with regret. But their joy was deep when they stood on the deck of the flagship, under the flag of the free. CHAPTER XII TOWSER WELCOMES TOM TO THE WHITE HOUSE--LINCOLN RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT--GRANT COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF--SHERMAN MARCHES FROM ATLANTA TO THE SEA--TOM ON GRANT'S STAFF--FIVE FORKS--FALL OF RICHMOND--HANS ROLF FREED--BOB SAVES TOM FROM CAPTURE--TOM TAKES A BATTERY INTO ACTION--LEE SURRENDERS--TOM STRONG, BREVET-CAPTAIN U. S. A.