As for the second part of the volume I have called it Veracious Tales advisedly, for all of these stories are founded upon facts in one way or another. Some of them have been suggested to me by incidents with which I am familiar because in them I bore a small part. The substance of one of them came from a young English traveller who told a romantic incident at a delightful dinner at the New York University Club. A real diary suggested another. An historical mystery as to what became of a certain cargo of slaves captured by Decatur in the Mediterranean evoked a third. Neglected chapters in history and biography are responsible for some of the others, as the Martinique tale, for the Diamond Rock was once a ship! Sir Henry Irving's marvellous rendition of Matthias in _The Bells_ so possessed me with its power that after I came home from the theatre I could not sleep until I had written the story. All of these tales represent real incidents, therefore, or are founded upon them in some way. Writing a short story, with me at least, is very different from writing a novel. I can invent plots of novels without the slightest difficulty, but the making of a short story is different. The making is a case of birth! The single incident, the brief condensed plot, or the vivid character sketch which is necessary to a proper short story has to come to me from outside. The short story is the product of inspiration, the long story the result of labor. Perhaps, therefore, there is more truth in the short story than in the long--from my point of view. At any rate, in this volume are two kinds, and the readers may decide. If they have half as much pleasure out of the book as I had, they will thank me for having written. C. T. B. THE LAKE PLACID CLUB, ADIRONDACKS, NEW YORK, June 16, 1902. CONTENTS PART I WOVEN WITH THE SHIP CHAPTER PAGE I.--THE BUILDING OF THE SHIP 9 II.--HIS LAST COMMAND 16 III.--THE WOMAN AND THE MAN WHO LOVED HER 23 IV.--CAST UP BY THE SEA 28 V.--THE RESCUE 36 VI.--THE WATER-WITCH 40 VII.--THE HOME OF THE SEA-MAIDEN 50 VIII.--"OLD IRONSIDES" 57 IX.--THE SWORD OF THE CONSTITUTION 65 X.--FACING WORLD-OLD PROBLEMS 74 XI.--BLOWS AT THE HEART 80 XII.--BROKEN RESOLUTIONS 91 XIII.--LOVE HOLDS THE YOKE-LINES 103 XIV.--IN THE SHADOW OF THE SHIP 117 XV.--FORGIVENESS THE FIRST LESSON 123 XVI.--A CLOUD ON THE HORIZON 130 XVII.--FREED! 136