When the boat was alongside, he glanced idly and carelessly at the person in the stern sheets.

Instantly he was wide awake, though he did not change his position.

The person looked like a gentleman, and Christy was sure that he had seen him before.

A couple of minutes of earnest cudgelling of his brain assured him that he had seen the stranger in Nassau; that he was one of the many who wanted to purchase the Bellevite, ostensibly for a merchant vessel, but really for the Confederate navy.
After he had run a short distance farther down the river, Christy came about, the boat being some distance from him, but the gentleman soon landed and walked up the river on the shore, or very near it.

In a short time, he was joined by another person, whose form looked familiar to the skipper of the Florence.