He was sure that she had come about, and he reasoned that she had done so when her commander ascertained that the steamer he had sighted laid her course through the North-west Channel.
This was as far as he could carry his speculations.
Without understanding the situation as well as did his prisoner, Captain Flanger seemed to be nervous and uneasy.

He watched the distant sail for a long time, sent for his spy-glass and examined her, and then began to plank the deck.

When he came abreast of Christy he stopped.
"Do you see that sail off to the eastward, Mr.Passford ?" "I see it now, Captain," replied the prisoner, as indifferently as possible, for he felt that it would be very imprudent to manifest any interest in the matter.
"Can you make out what she is ?" continued the captain.
"I cannot; she must be eight or ten miles from us," replied Christy, as he glanced to the eastward.
"I shouldn't wonder if that was one of your Yankee gunboats," added Captain Flanger, spicing his remark with a heavy oath, for he could hardly say anything without interlarding his speech with profanity.
"It may be, for aught I know," replied the prisoner with something like a yawn.
"Whatever she is, the Snapper can run away from her, and you need not flatter yourself that there is any chance for you to escape from a Confederate prison; and when they get you into it, they will hold on very tight." "I must take things as they come," added Christy.
He wanted to ask the captain why he wondered if the sail was a Yankee gunboat, but he did not think it would be prudent to do so.

The captain seemed to have, or pretended to have, great confidence in the speed of the Snapper.

When he left his prisoner he went to the engine-room, and it was soon evident from the jar and shake of the vessel that he had instructed the chief engineer to increase the speed.
Christy watched the distant sail for about three hours before he could come to any conclusion.