"How shall you manage it?"
"We shall be well out of sight of the flag-ship by dark, or sooner, and then we can come about, and keeping closely under the lee of the land, we shall reach the entrance of the bay before morning; and then all we have to do is to run in."
"But the flag-ship will make out the steamer," suggested Corny.
"We shall be too far in for her to do us any harm, for the water has not less than four fathoms anywhere along the shore of St. Rosa's Island."
"But she will signal the fort to fire upon us."
"They can't make us out soon enough to do us any harm, or not much, at any rate," replied Mr. Galvinne confidently.
"I hope it will all come out right, but I have some fears," added the impostor.
"You need not have. You have played your part remarkably well, Mr. Passford, and it was an excellent idea on the part of Major Pierson, who suggested this plan of putting you in the place of your cousin. He had seen you and your relative together, I believe?"
"He had, for we were both prisoners of war after our unsuccessful attempt to capture the Bellevite, on the Hudson."
"I have heard about that; and I know that your cousin Christopher is no chicken."