"Thank you, Captain Gilder. Did you have any trouble in getting out of the bay?"
"No, none at all. By the way, Mr. Lonley, we have been hearing firing at the west end of the island to-night. Do you know what it means?"
"The first thing was to clean out that regiment of Zouaves; and I have no doubt that has been done before now; and our boys may get a hack at Pickens. A big force was landed in the fog, and the Yankees will not stay on this island much longer," replied Lonley.
His information was entirely correct, though his prediction was not equally reliable.
"I was sure there was fighting going on over there," added Christy. "You seem to be all alone, Mr. Lonley. Where are all your men?"
"I told you before you came ashore that I had sent them all over to the place where they had left their bags, about a mile to the eastward of us. I suppose Captain Folkner has sent the boats over there for them before this time?"
"He was inclined to run over in the steamer," added Christy.
"I hope he did not do that," said the privateersman, with a good deal more energy than the other thought the occasion warranted. "I warned you that there was a Yankee gunboat over that way."
"The Teaser has not gone over that way," replied Christy.
"If she has, she will be gobbled up by that gunboat, and all my men with her."