With the return of day, however, the Sumter ran once more along the shore; and, without waiting for a pilot, steered boldly past the group of small, bold-looking islands, and dropped her anchor in the port.
No sooner was the anchor down than the following letter was despatched to the Governor, asking permission to leave the prize until adjudication:-- C.S.steamer Sumter.

Puerto Caballo, July 26th, 1861.
Sir,--I have the honour to inform your Excellency of my arrival at this port in this ship, under my command, and with the prize schooner Abby Bradford, captured by me about seventy miles to the northward and eastward.

The Abby Bradford is the property of citizens of the United States, with which States, as your Excellency is aware, the Confederate States, which I have the honour to represent, are at war; and the cargo would appear to belong also to citizens of the United States, who have shipped it on consignment to a house in Puerto Caballo.

Should any claim be given, however, for the cargo, or any part of it, the question of ownership can only be decided by the Prize Courts of the Confederate States.

In the meantime, I have the honour to request that your Excellency will permit me to leave this prize vessel with her cargo in the port of Puerto Caballo, until the question of prize can be adjudicated by the proper tribunals of my country.