been lashed, so that there
might be no possibility the rudder-head would creak in its socket,
and every rope was brailed to guard against its flapping.

Had ours been the ghost of a ship and those on board a phantom crew,
we could not have glided down stream more silently; but the danger
which had been ever present in my thoughts was that of coming in
collision with one of the ships.

We had already passed the first in safety; but there were three
others, and in fear and trembling I admitted to myself that we could
not hope to slip by them all.

CHAPTER XXI.

IN PORT.

The moments passed in silence, save for the hissing of the rain-drops
as they mingled with the water of the river, and I was saying to
myself that of a verity we must have drifted safely through the fleet
without touching a ship, when that came which I had been fearing.

Suddenly I felt a shock; then a noise as of wood grinding against
wood, and I knew we had fouled the enemy!

While one might have counted five the pungy rubbed against the side of
the ship, and then came the hail:

"Ahoy there! Ahoy!"

"What are you hailing?" a strange voice cried, and he who had first
broken the silence replied:

"There's a craft of some kind alongside, sir!"

Then it was as if a swarm of bees had been let loose. The enemy's ship
was alive with moving, buzzing beings, some of whom cried out this or
that order, and others called down maledictions on the head of the man
who had needlessly aroused them.

"There's nothin' here, sir. Sam was dreamin'," I heard the voice of a
sailor cry, and almost at the same instant came the rattling of
fire-arms as they were being handled, sounding so near aboard that it
seemed as if a portion of the enemy had leaped upon our decks.

"Make ready! Fire!" sounded the command, sharp and quick.

Then came a sheet of flame which lighted up surrounding objects until
we could distinctly see the deck of the bomb-vessel, and the eager men
thronging her deck.

This illumination was but as the lightning's flash, and then we could
hear the angry hum of the bullets as they swarmed above our heads.

We had been seen, and I believed that a broadside would follow in
short order, yet at the same time I realized that our good fortune had
followed us when it sent the pungy afoul of a bomb-vessel, instead of
a craft which had her guns ready trained for service.

Now had come the time, however, when we were to remain idle no longe