ing of a
midshipman and four sailors, was placed on board the brig. Both prizes
were then taken in tow by the _Sumter_, which steamed away for the
harbor of Cienfuegos, Captain Semmes laboring under the delusion that
Spain would permit him to have his Yankee prizes condemned and sold in a
Spanish port. The Confederate midshipman commanded the brig, the Yankee
sailors sullenly performed the little work there was to be done, and the
four Confederate sailors stood around and kept watch of them.

Only one thing that was worthy of note occurred during the day. The
_Sumter_ steamed slowly along the coast, making not more than five knots
an hour, and the Yankee sailors, enraged over the loss of their vessel,
and looking forward to nothing else but a long term of confinement in a
Southern prison, were very uneasy, and naturally enough they wanted to
exchange opinions on the situation; but that was something the
midshipman would not permit. He was vigilant, and would not allow the
brig's crew to get together for fear that they might hatch up a plan for
recapturing their property. If a couple of them got near enough together
to whisper a few words to each other, he would call out roughly:

"What are you about, there? Get farther apart, you two."

This state of affairs continued until night came and darkness settled
down over the Caribbean Sea, and then Captain Semmes himself did
something that caused the heart of every one of the _Sabine's_ crew to
beat high with hope.

CHAPTER IX.

THE "SUMTER" LOSES A PRIZE.

While the majority of the _Sabine's_ crew chafed and fretted like
captive birds which beat their wings against the bars of their cage to
no purpose, there were two who stood aloof from every one and from each
other; who never spoke a word, but who nevertheless came to a perfect
understanding through the interchange of frequent and expressive
glances. They were the captain and Jack Gray. Each one knew as well as
if the other had explained it to him, that both had resolved upon the
same thing--that before the sun rose again the _Sabine_ must be taken
out of the hands of the prize crew, and her course shaped toward a
Northern port, no matter what the risk might be.

"I knew, although I had no chance to speak to the old man about it, that
our first hard work must be to disarm those five rebels," said Jack, in
telling his story. "I knew it would be easy enough to