nd mounted the top-gallant forecastle. Mr. Fillbrook procured a glass
from the pilot house, and both of them looked long and earnestly at the
speck in the distance. The steamer was hull down, and they soon agreed
that she was bound to the eastward.

"We have no business with her at present," said Christy, as he shut up
his glass.

"But I have no doubt she has already run the blockade, and came out of
Wilmington or Savannah. If that is the case, she must be loaded with
cotton, which contains a fortune at the present time within a small
compass," replied Mr. Fillbrook, who had not been as fortunate as some
others in the matter of prizes.

"Very likely," replied Christy, rather coldly, his companion thought.
"I do not think I should be justified in giving chase to her, which
could only be done by abandoning the convoy."

"Could we not pick up the convoy after we had captured the steamer?"
asked the first lieutenant.

"Yes, if some Confederate cruiser does not pick it up in our absence,"
replied Christy, with a significant smile.

Mr. Fillbrook was evidently very much disappointed, not to say
disgusted, with the decision of Captain Passford; but he was too good an
officer to make a complaint, or utter a comment. The ship's company had
become somewhat excited when it was announced that a sail, with black
smoke painting a long streak on the blue sky, was made out. If it was a
blockade runner, with a cargo of cotton, it meant a small fortune to
each officer, seaman, and others on board.

The new commander had a reputation as a daring leader, and the hopes of
the officers and men ran high. They waited eagerly to have the steamer
headed to the eastward; but no such order was given, and the chins of
all hands began to drop down.

Christy had no interest in the money value of a prize, and yet he could
understand the feeling of his ship's company. He was an heir of a
millionaire, and he had no occasion to trouble his head about the
profits of a capture. He looked at the question from a purely patriotic
point of view, and every prize secured was so much taken from the
resources of the enemy.

He saw the disappointment painted on the face of the first lieutenant,
and he went to his cabin to consider his duty again, and review the
reasoning that had influenced him; but he came to the conclusion he had
reached in the beginning. He was in charge of six vessels loaded with
cotton, and the ship's company of the Bronx and other