Mr. Flint was disposed to object to this plan, on account of the time it
would require; but he yielded the point when Christy informed him that
it was only half past two, as he learned from the repeater he carried
for its usefulness on just such duty as the present expedition.
The guns and all that belonged to them were landed on the Key, and the
boats shoved off, the lieutenants happy in the thought that they were no
longer embarrassed by their weight, while they could not be brought to
bear upon them.
The boats had hardly left the little island behind them when the noise
of paddle wheels ahead was reported by one of the trio in the bow of the
first cutter. Christy listened with all his ears, and immediately heard
the peculiar sounds caused by the slapping of the paddle wheels of a
steamer upon the water.
"We are in for something," said he to the pilot, as he listened to the
sounds. "What might that be?"
"It is a steamer without any doubt coming around the point, and she will
be in sight in a moment or two," replied Mr. Amblen. "It may be a river
steamer that has brought a load of cotton down the Suwanee, and is going
out on this tide.
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