As he approached the opposite shore, he discovered a steamer getting under way.

He had not seen the vessel on board of which he was ordered to report as a passenger, but when he asked a deck hand what the steamer was, he was informed that it was the Vernon.

The ferry-boat had just gone into the slip, and Christy was terribly startled to learn that he was late.

He was still two hours ahead of the time indicated in his orders, and the Vernon was actually getting under way.
The young officer was more excited than he had ever been in the face of the enemy, for the present looked like a case in which his honor was at stake.

He felt that it would be his ruin if the Vernon sailed without him.