"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 and 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.