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. No
guns were to be seen, and the watch of not more than half a dozen men
were on the forecastle; and perhaps this was the entire force of the
sailing department.
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