r. Taylor,' he whispered, 'on the starboard
bow.'

"In vain I strained my eyes to where he pointed, not a thing could I
see; but presently I heard Steele say, beneath his breath, 'All right,
Burroughs, I see her. Starboard a little, steady!' was the order passed
aft.

"A moment afterward I could make out a long, low black object on our
starboard side, lying perfectly still. Would she see us? that was the
question; but no, though we passed within a hundred yards of her we were
not discovered, and I breathed again. Not very long after we had
dropped her, Burroughs whispered,--

"'Steamer on the port bow.'

"And another cruiser was made out close to us.

"'Hard-a-port,' said Steele, and round she swung, bringing our friend
upon our beam. Still unobserved, we crept quietly on, when all at once a
third cruiser shaped itself out of the gloom right ahead, and steaming
slowly across our bows.

"'Stop her,' said Steele, in a moment; and as we lay like dead our enemy
went on and disappeared in the darkness. It was clear there was a false
reckoning somewhere, and that instead of rounding the head of the
blockading line we were passing through the very centre of it. However,
Burroughs was now of opinion that we must be inside the squadron, and
advocated making the land. So 'slow ahead' we went again, until the
low-lying coast and the surf-line became dimly visible. Still we could
not tell where we were, and, as time was getting on alarmingly near
dawn, the only thing to do was to creep down along the surf as close in
and as fast as we dared. It was a great relief when we suddenly heard
Burroughs say, 'It's all right. I see the Big Hill.'

"The 'Big Hill' was a hillock about as high as a full-grown oak, but it
was the most prominent feature for miles on that dreary coast, and
served to tell us exactly how far we were from Fort Fisher. And
fortunate it was for us we were so near. Daylight was already breaking,
and before we were opposite the fort we could make out six or seven
gunboats, which steamed rapidly towards us and angrily opened fire.
Their shots were soon dropping close around us, an unpleasant sensation
when you know you have several tons of gunpowder under your feet.

"To make matters worse, the North Breaker Shoal now compelled us to haul
off the shore and steam farther out. It began to look ugly for us, when
all at once there was a flash from the shore followed by a sound that
came like music to our ears,--tha