With the drum still beating on the shore, the Teaser rounded the northwestern point of the island, when the wheel was heaved over. Christy was entirely confident in regard to the navigation, for he had steered the Bellevite through the same channel when on an excursion a year before. But he had daylight and sunshine at that time instead of fog and gloom as on the present occasion.

"Buoy on the starboard, sir!" reported the leadsman on that side.

"Buoy on the port hand!" cried the man on the other side, a minute later.

"We are all right," added the lieutenant. "We are between the middle ground and the island. The buoy on the port is the southwest point of the island."

The Bellevite was not the only man-of-war that lay off Pensacola, for the Brooklyn and other vessels 257 were there to assist in the defence of Fort Pickens, which the enemy were determined to capture if possible. The government had done everything within its means to "hold the fort," though an army of about ten thousand men had been gathered in the vicinity to reduce it. The dry-dock which had floated near Warrenton, and which the Confederates intended to sink in the channel, had been burned, and a force of unionists, including the Zouaves, called "The Pet Lambs," had been quartered on the island of Santa Rosa. It had looked for several days as though the enemy were preparing for a movement in retaliation for the destruction of the dry-dock, which was a bad set-back for them.

The getting to sea of the Teaser had no connection with this movement, it appeared afterwards, and if Lieutenant Passford's enterprise had been carried out only an hour or two later, he would have found the situation quite different. He had sent the most of Captain Folkner's force on board ashore, and had it all his own way afterwards. He was sorry to leave these men, and the rest of the ship's company of the Teaser, to assist in fighting the battles of the Confederacy, and he was 258 filled with the hope that they might yet be captured.

As soon as the Teaser was well to the southward of the island, Christy gave two short and a long blast on the steam whistle, which was the signal he had agreed to make when he approached the Bellevite, though Captain Breaker had laughed at him when he suggested that he might return in the prize. The same signal was made in reply, and repeated several times to aid him in finding the ship. The water was comparatively smooth, and the prize came alongside the Bellevite, where it was made fast.

The lieutenant's first duty was to report to the captain of the Bellevite, and taking Dave with him, he hastened on board. He found Captain Breaker on deck, for there was a feeling in the fleet and in the fort that some important event was about to transpire in the vicinity.

"I am glad to see you, Mr. Passford," said he; and possibly it occurred to him that he had sent the young man on a difficult mission, practically within the enemy's lines. "You have brought the prize with you, I see; and I was before informed of the fact that you had her by the signal whistles."

259 "Yes, sir; the Teaser is alongside. She is not a vessel of the Confederate Navy, but was fitted out on private account. She is a privateer," replied Christy.

"So much the better that you have captured her," added the captain. "Did you have a severe fight, Mr. Passford?"

"We had no fight at all, sir. I was instructed to avoid a fight if possible, and I have done so. Not a blow has been struck or a shot fired, sir."

"I will hear your report in detail later, Mr. Passford, when the prize is in a better situation than now. Have you any prisoners?" asked Captain Breaker.

"Only the captain and the engineers, sir. This man with me is Dave, and he was a steward on board of the Teaser. He has given me valuable information, and I have not regarded him as a prisoner," replied the lieutenant.

"I understand," said the commander, with a smile, as he saw the yellow hue of the steward's face. "We will not regard him as a prisoner. But you may send the others on board."

Captain Folkner was in no better humor than before, and a berth in the steerage was assigned to 260 him. The other prisoners were sent on board, and Captain Breaker had ordered Christy to anchor the prize near the Bellevite.

"I don't feel as though I had quite finished my work," said Christy, as he walked towards the gangway to obey the order.

"What more is there to do?" asked the commander.

"It would take me a little time to tell the story of my trip into the bay, sir, and I think you would not understand what more is to be done until you have heard it," replied Christy.

"Then I will hear you before you anchor the Teaser," said the captain, leading the way to his cabin.

The lieutenant narrated the events of his trip across Santa Rosa Island. Captain Breaker was not a little amused at his scheme to get rid of the portion of the crew of the privateer before he captured her.

"I never suspected that you were the possessor of so much audacity, Christy," said he, when the lieutenant had put him in possession of all the facts.

"I did not know that I had more than my fair 261 share, sir, and I don't know what I have done that is at all audacious," replied Christy, very meekly.

"It is a very dark and foggy night, but I don't believe that I have another officer who would have cheek enough to pretend to be a pilot in Pensacola Bay, and to be in possession of the guard-boat at the same time."

"Capt............