ore, our appearance during the
afternoon might have awakened a sufficient amount of uneasiness to cause
a watch to be set for us, it was further arranged that a landing should
be effected, if possible, on the outside beach; since if we were
expected, we should almost certainly be looked for somewhere along the
more sheltered shore inside the harbour.

Our expedition numbered sixty men, all told--thirty in each division,--
and upon shoving off from the schooner the two divisions at once
separated, the skipper bearing away to the eastward, while I hauled up
for a point about half a mile, as nearly as I could guess, to the
westward of the western battery.

The night was even thicker and darker than it had been when we brought
the schooner to an anchor off the harbour's mouth; there was a cold,
dismal rain persistently falling, and the breeze, having freshened up
considerably, was now sweeping over the sea with a dreary, wintry,
moaning sound that distinctly accentuated the discomfort of our
situation, while it had knocked up a sea that threatened to render our
landing a work of very considerable difficulty and danger. This became
increasingly apparent as we drew closer in with the land, the roar of
the surf upon the rocky beach and the ghostly white gleam and flash of
the fringe of breakers exciting within me a feeling of very lively
apprehension as to the safety of the boats. We pulled cautiously in to
within about fifty fathoms of the beach, and then turned the boats
round, bows on to the sea, while we looked anxiously about for a
suitable spot at which to beach them, allowing them to drift shoreward
meanwhile; but it soon became evident that, if we desired to land
outside the harbour's mouth, it would be necessary for us to seek a more
favourable spot for the purpose, the surf being so heavy and the shore
so thickly cumbered with rocks, just where we were, that any attempt at
beaching the boats would only result in their destruction, and possibly
the loss of several lives. We therefore hauled off again a short
distance, and directed our search somewhat further westward, when, after
traversing the line of beach for somewhere about half a mile, we found
ourselves in a sort of miniature harbour, about fifteen fathoms wide,
formed by a projecting reef of rocks, under the lee of which we
forthwith effected a landing without the slightest difficulty. I left
two men in each boat, to take care of them and keep them afloat,