6 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



Just at this juncture the officers at the Academy re- 

 ceived a dispatch from Mr. Welles, Secretary of the 

 Navy : " Do not accept Mr. Wood's appointee for the 

 navy." Back to New York rushed De Long and de- 

 manded of Mr. Wood the reason for the dispatch. 

 Mr. Wood showed him a letter from the Secretary, by 

 which it appeared that the nomination of De Long had 

 been delayed, and that the cadet whose place he was to 

 fill had recovered his health and been reinstated. " So 

 that ends the matter," said Mr. Wood ; but it did not 

 at all end it in De Long's mind. He burst into a vig- 

 orous invective against the Department. It was all 

 wrong. Mr. Wood had been imposed upon. It was 

 because he was a Democrat that this injustice had been 

 done, and the Republican Secretary was depriving the 

 Congressman of his rights. He ought not to stand 

 such treatment an hour. Mr. Wood was amused and 

 moved by the zeal of the young advocate, and finally 

 said : — 



" Do you sit down, Mr. De Long, and write what you 

 ■want to the Secretary. I will sign the letter, and you 

 can take it to Washington yourself if you like." 



The letter was written and De Long set off at once 

 to Washington. It was in the fall of 1861, when the 

 trains were packed with soldiers, and the boy had to 

 stand all the way from Philadelphia to Washington. 

 He reached the city at six in the morning, and as soon 

 as he could get something to eat, presented himself at 

 the door of the Secretary's office, and was ready when 

 the hour came for business. He entered and handed 

 Mr. Wood's letter to the Secretary. Mr. De Long often 

 enjoyed telling of that interview ; how he watched the 

 various expressions of Mr. Gideon Welles's face as he 

 read the tempestuous letter, which the boy had written. 



