room was full.

The fleet continued on its voyage after the call at the Florida port,
and was soon in the Gulf Stream. It was an exceedingly quiet time in the
little fleet of vessels, though the drill on board of the Vixen was
closely followed up. On the second day they had a mild gale, and the
schooners were cast off, and towed astern, one behind the other.

Then the weather was fine again, though the sea was still too rough for
the Havana and the Aleppo to tow the prizes alongside. Christy observed
the drill a great deal of the time, and Bertha Pembroke was often his
companion. He told her all about vessels in the navy, explained actions
at sea, but hoped she would not be permitted to see one.

Then he related to her the experience of the Bellevite as a yacht and
_as_ a naval vessel, and no one ever had a more attentive listener.
He could not conceal it from himself that he was deeply interested in
the young lady, and observers would have said that she was not less
interested in him. On the fifth day out from Key West, while they were
thus agreeably occupied, there was a hail from the fore rigging.

"Sail, ho!" shouted the lookout on the fore crosstrees, where the
prudence of the commander required a hand to be stationed at all times,
day and night.

"Where away?" called Scopfield, the third lieutenant, who was the
officer of the deck.

"Broad on the starboard bow," replied the lookout.

"Can you make it out?"

"A steamer, sir; black smoke behind her," responded the lookout.

Mr. Fillbrook had joined the third lieutenant by this time, and the
former reported to the captain. Christy had heard all that had passed,
and he immediately began to feel a heavy anxiety in regard to the sail.

"What do you think of her, Mr. Fillbrook?" he asked, after the executive
officer had reported to him.

"There are so many steamers coming over from British ports about this
time, bound to Confederate ports, that it is not very difficult to guess
what she is," replied the first lieutenant. "She is either a blockade
runner, or a steamer fitted out to prey upon the commerce of the United
States."

"That seems to be plain enough; and from the position in which we find
her, she has come out of the Bermudas, or is bound there," added the
commander. "Bring my glass from my state room," he continued to his
cabin steward, who was sunning himself on the deck.

When it was brought, the captain and the executive officer went forward
a