the north
point of the island. She was under Danish colours, and had made, it was
evident, some ludicrous attempts at disguising herself--such, for
instance, as a studied disarrangement of her yards, and some alteration
of her head-booms. I was under the impression at the time that we were
very old birds to be caught with such chaff. She came up slowly at
first, evidently not seeing us as we lay concealed in the shadow of the
hills; but when within about two miles, we could see, with the aid of
our glasses, the water curling from her bows, and we knew that the
Yankee had scented his prey; or, to employ the expressive phrase of our
rough old signal quartermaster, "she had got a bone in her mouth." All
the good citizens of St. Pierre came down to the beach to witness the
scene, and a great many indulged their aquatic instincts by swimming out
to us to await the _denouement_. The Iroquois was now close on to us,
and when about a hundred yards distant, hauled down the Danish colours,
and set the stars and stripes in their place. Thus we were once more in
the presence of our hated foe.

The Iroquois is one of the new class of gunboats, powerfully armed with
nine and eleven-inch guns, and is about 1000 tons burden. Her crew
consists of about 200 men; and we knew it was useless for the Sumter to
think of fighting her, our only hope of escape being by strategy. The
enemy stood in close to the land, and sent a boat on shore to
communicate with the U.S. Consul and the French authorities, being,
however, very careful not to drop anchor. Captain Palmer informed his
Excellency the Governor that there was a pirate at anchor in the port of
St. Pierre, and requested permission to destroy her; but this was
refused emphatically, and the irate commander furnished with the
proclamation of his Imperial Majesty Napoleon III., according
belligerent rights to the Confederate States, and decreeing strict
neutrality on the part of France. He was informed that it was necessary
for the Iroquois either to cast anchor, or leave the waters of the isle,
and if accepting the former alternative, that an interval of twenty-four
hours must elapse between the departure of either belligerent; also
that, in case of any breach of neutrality occurring, the forts would
open on the offending party. After remaining stationary for some two
hours, her boat returned. The Iroquois stood out of the harbour, taking
a position a short distance ahead of us, and commenced