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250 part I had been playing during a greater portion of the past year, and represented myself to be just what I then appeared, a woman, who was engaged in the perilous task of running the lines for the purpose of carrying information. My evident accomplishments, and my thorough knowledge upon many points about which they were but meagrely informed, however, greatly increased their respect for me, and enabled me to gain confidences that otherwise might have been withheld. From Messrs. Infanta & Co., and other prominent persons, I succeeded in learning much that was well worth knowing; and before the time came for me to say adieu to Havana, my brain was teeming with plans which I was all eagerness to execute. I found that the friends of the Confederacy were completely in the ascendent in Havana, and that more than one of its capitalists were deeply interested in the profitable but hazardous business of blockade-running; although, through a variety of circumstances, this city was not the headquarters of the extensive trade which the misfortunes of the South were building up, and which promised to yield almost fabulous profits should the war continue for any length of time, as these good money-loving people evidently desired that it should.

I could not help thinking, however, when I heard of the enormous sums of money which a single cargo yielded, in event of its being able to elude the Federal cruisers and the blockading fleet, and reach a Southern port, of the suffering and impoverished people at whose expense the blockade-runners were heaping up riches, and I wished heartily that I had some way of making them devote a portion of their wealth to the relief of the victims of cruel war, and to the advancement of the cause. I could not help acknowledging, however, that their money was fairly earned, and that while accumulating magnificent profits by their operations, they were doing a great deal in a certain way towards sustaining the Confederacy in the mighty struggles it was making for independence.

The capture of New Orleans had been a great surprise to every one in Havana, as it doubtless was to the friends of the Confederacy everywhere; and it was the cause of innumer-