isty, leaving the
engine-room.

"If we have snuffed the whole thing, I don't believe this steamer will
ever wear anything but the Stars and Stripes," said Sampson stoutly; and
there could be no doubt in regard to his loyalty, judging from his
speech, though that is not always to be trusted in time of war.

"Bellevite, ahoy!" shouted some one at the foot of the accommodation
steps.

"Have they come again so soon?" asked Sampson, as he rushed to the rail.
"It is only a small canoe."

"Is Christy on board?" called the visitor alongside.

"That is Mr. Vapoor: tell him I am on board," added Christy.

"Christy is on board, sir," replied Sampson to the hail. "Will you come
on board, sir?"

Paul Vapoor would and did come on board, and Christy gave him a hearty
welcome, for he was more glad to see him than he had ever been before in
his life.

"Where have you been all day and all the evening, Christy?" asked the
engineer. "Your mother and sister are very much worried about you, for
they have not seen you for a long time, and they fear that something has
happened to you."

"Something is likely to happen to me and all the rest of us who expect
to go to sea in this steamer," replied Christy, as he proceeded to
inform his friend as briefly as he could of the great event of the
evening.

"Well, if we are not in the enemy's country, the enemy are in ours,"
replied Paul. "What is to be done?"

"That is what I have been thinking of. I listened very attentively to
all that passed between Major Pierson and Captain Carboneer, and I am
satisfied that the latter has a considerable force somewhere on the
river, and their headquarters are at the mouth of a creek five miles
down the river."

"How many have they?" asked the engineer.

"I don't know; they did not mention the number in figures, but they have
enough to work the ship, and even to fight her," replied Christy, very
seriously.

"That means forty or fifty, at least," added Paul. "This looks like a
heavy matter, and it is quite time that something was done about it."

"But what shall we do is the question," said Christy anxiously. "We have
two men on board beside ourselves, and we can hardly expect to hold our
own against fifty."

"Who is this Captain Carboneer?"

"I saw him at Nassau, and he looked like a man of decision and
character. I don't know anything about him, but I have no doubt he is
a naval officer, both from the circumstances and from what I heard.
I