e party; and, even when they
passed the picket schooners near the wreck of the "Southfield," they
were unchallenged, although they could see the schooners, and hear the
voices of the men, not more than twenty yards away. Not until they
came into the fitful glare of the firelight were they seen, and then
quick hails came from the sentries on the wharf and the "Albemarle's"
decks. But the light on the shore aided the adventurers by showing
them the position of the ram. They dashed up alongside, amid a shower
of bullets that seemed to fill the air. On the decks of the ram all
was confusion, the alarm rattles were sprung, the bell rung violently.
The launch running alongside came into contact with the row of logs,
and sheered off to make a dash over it. Cushing, who on these
dangerous expeditions was like a schoolboy on a holiday, answered with
ridicule all hails. "Go ashore for your lives," "Surrender yourselves,
or I shall sink you," he cried, as the gunners on the ram trained a
heavy gun on the little launch. Now she was headed straight for the
ram, and had a run of thirty yards before striking the boom. She
reached, and dashed over. Cushing, standing in the stern, held in one
hand the tiller ropes, in the other the lanyard of the torpedo. He
looked up, saw the muzzle of a heavy gun trained directly on his boat:
one convulsive pull of the rope, and with a roar the torpedo exploded
under the hull of the "Albemarle," just as a hundred-pound shot
crashed through the bottom of his boat. In a second the launch had
disappeared; her crew were struggling in the waves, or lying dead
beneath them, and the "Albemarle" with a mortal wound was sinking to
the bottom.

Cushing swam to the middle of the river, and headed down stream. Most
of his companions were killed, captured, or drowned. In the middle of
the stream he met Woodman, who had followed him on previous
expeditions. Woodman was almost exhausted. Cushing supported him as
long as he was able, but was forced to leave him, and the sailor sank
to the bottom. The young lieutenant floated down the river until at
last he reached the shore, exhausted and faint from a wound in his
wrist. He lay half covered with water in a swamp until daylight. While
there he heard two Confederate officers who passed say that the
"Albemarle" was a total wreck. That news gave him new energy, and he
set about getting safely away. Through the thick undergrowth of the
swamp he crawled for some hours, un