In action he carried a navy revolver
in each of his hip pockets.
Thus prepared for any emergency, though none might come for years, he
went on deck, and made his way to the bridge, where he could get the
best view of the approaching sail. He obtained his first sight of the
vessel as soon as he reached the bridge, and saw that the sail was a
steamer, much larger than the Bronx. She carried no sail, for the wind
was from the west; but the commander soon realized that she was moving
at great speed.
"We must be about forty miles off the station of the blockaders before
the entrance to Mobile Bay," said Christy, after he had thought the
matter over for a moment.
"I should think so," replied the first lieutenant.
"That sail appears to be headed for the station. She is a large steamer,
and I judge by the way she is coming up with us that she is very fast,"
added Christy with some anxiety in his tones.
"She must be a steamer of fifteen hundred tons, and perhaps more," said
Mr. Flint, after he had looked at her through his night glass.
"In that case she is too big for us to fight her, and too fast for us
to run away from her; and Captain Flanger may be a free man in a few
hours."
"It does not follow that we shall have to fight her or run away from
her," added the first lieutenant, still gazing at the approaching
steamer through his glass.
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