236 THE CAPTAIN. 



ready to pick up vessels belonging to the North, 

 and we kept a good watch out, I assure you, for 

 such cruisers. 



" North of the Bermudas we saw traces of the 

 foe in the shape of an abandoned hull, her masts 

 gone, and bearing the marks of fire. We ran 

 near enough to hail her, but no one was on board. 



" At last we, too, ran into danger. When only 

 fifty miles south of Nantucket Shoals, our lookout 

 sighted a steamer two points off our lee bow. I 

 went aloft, fearing the worst. My fears were 

 confirmed when I made her out to be a long, 

 rakish, bark-rigged steamer, standing across our 

 bows and heading towards the north. 



" I was sure we were lost. But we had suffered 

 all kinds of perils and were to be spared this. For 

 a large ship had been in sight of us all day about 

 eight miles to the windward, steering in the same 

 direction that we were. 



" She was a richer prize than we would be, and 

 we saw through our glasses the steamer overhaul 

 her and send a boat to board her. 



" It was about sunset when this happened. So 

 we clapped on all sail, put out our lights and 

 sailed away, fearing lest the steamer should take 

 us ; but the next day it was thick and foggy, and 

 we saw the steamer no more. 



