"When do you expect to get through the sound?" asked Christy.
"I don't know when; but I shall get through."
"But you will find a blockader at the east end of the island; and then you will be as badly off as you are now," argued Christy.
"I don't believe there is any blockader there. Who are all those men in the boat with you, Gilder?"
"They belong to the water guard," replied Christy, at a venture, and he thought that would describe them as well as any terms at his command. "They expected you to go out by the main channel to-night."
"No lie in that," chuckled Flint.
"I wish they would come on board of the Teaser and help me out, for my men won't work."
"How many men have you?" asked the lieutenant.
"Just fifteen; the rest of my crew were to come on board at midnight, half an hour before high tide. But the men I have with me won't work, and I shall not be ready for them, I am afraid."
"What is the reason they won't work?"