Permit me to advise you to retire to the cabin, miss, and later, I shall be happy to give you all the information in my power," said Christy, touching his cap to her, and pointing to the companion way.
She accepted the advice, and went down the steps.

The young officer had no time then to wonder who and what she was, for he realized that there was little hope of stopping the desultory firing from behind the cotton pile; and perhaps by this time the soldiers realized what had become of their four field pieces, for they knew that the Havana had not been armed when they loaded her with cotton.
Christy went forward to set the officers at work in picking up the two prizes, and as he stopped to look down into the engine room, he felt his cap knocked off his head, and heard the whizzing of a bullet unpleasantly near his ears.

He picked up his cap, and found a bullet hole through the top of it.

If it had gone an inch or two lower, Mr.
Flint would have succeeded to the command of the expedition without any ceremonies.

Though there was no reason for it, this incident seemed to provoke him, for it assured him that he could not pick up his prizes without exposing his men to this nasty firing for some time longer.
It was now light enough for him to make out the situation of the breastwork of cotton, and he saw that it was a long and narrow pile, probably near a siding of the railroad where the bales had been unloaded from the cars.