"
Silently Mr. Pennant selected his crew for the boat, saw them armed, and
had the cutter lowered into the water. In a very short space of time the
boat was off. The commander did not believe that anything very serious
would result from this boat expedition, for he was confident there was
no vessel of any size near the Bronx. The men in the cutter pulled very
quietly, and hardly splashed the water with their oars, for they had all
been trained by Christy himself to pull without noise when he was
executive officer.
This was the first responsible position Mr. Pennant had been called
upon to fill, and he knew that his future depended in a large measure
upon the skill and fidelity with which he obeyed his orders. His crew
believed in him, and they were very painstaking in their efforts to work
in silence. He had stationed quartermaster Vincent in the bow of the
boat as the lookout, and he was industriously peering out into the gloom
of the fog and darkness to discover a vessel or a boat. He had heard the
sounds himself, and he knew there was something there. When the boat had
pulled about fifteen minutes, Vincent raised his hand up into the air;
this was a signal which the third lieutenant understood, for he had
arranged several of them with the quartermaster.
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