She would be a rich prize, and the masts of the schooners were still to be seen over the tops of the buildings.

She must have chosen this hour of the night to go out, not only on account of the tide, but because the darkness would enable her to get off the coast where a blockader occasionally wandered before the blockade was fully established.

Her paddle wheels indicated that she had not been built very recently, for very nearly all sea steamers, including those of the United States, were propelled by the screw.
As Mr.Amblen had predicted the steamer moved very slowly, and it was all of a quarter of an hour before she came to the Seahorse Key.

At the right time Christy gave the word to the crew to "Give way lively!" and the first cutter shot out from the concealment of the little island, while Flint did the same on the other side of the channel.

Almost in the twinkling of an eye the two boats had made fast to her, and seven men from each boat leaped on the deck of the steamer, cutlass in hand.