purpose of the conspirators.
The middy watched her with the most intense interest as she approached
the point where he was stationed. There was no light to be seen on
board, and there appeared to be no men on her lower deck; but she had a
cabin and other rooms, in which a force as large as that of the captain
could be concealed.

"Steamer, ahoy!" shouted Christy, as soon as the Vampire was abreast of
the spot he occupied.

No answer came to this hail, and the midshipman repeated it, louder than
before.

"On shore!" replied a voice from the forward deck.

"Come up to the shore, and take me on board, will you?" continued
Christy, disguising his voice to some extent the better to answer his
purpose.

"Who is it?" demanded the person on board who acted as speaker; and
Christy could see his form very distinctly, as he stood at an open
gangway, and was the only person in sight on the lower deck.

"Brigster," replied Christy, chewing up the word he coined so that the
man could not possibly make it out.

"Are you alone, Brewster?" demanded the speaker from the steamer.

This was a hard question, and with less information than he had obtained
while in his cabin on board of the Florence, he would not have dared to
reply to it. But he knew something of the plan of the conspirators, and
he felt competent to answer.

"Three more back in the road," replied Christy, promptly; and he said
three so as to give the idea that the force on board might be increased
by this number. "Is Captain Carboneer on board of that steamer?" asked
the midshipman, coming to his main point.

[Illustration: "Steamer, Ahoy!" shouted Christy.--Page 107.]

"He is, and we are all here but four," replied the speaker on the deck;
and Christy was satisfied that the captain was the person by this time,
for his language and his voice indicated that he was an educated man.

"We had no boat, and we could not get across the river to the creek,"
added Christy, to increase the confidence of the leader of the
expedition. "But we saw a boat half at mile up the river, and we
will come off there, if you say so."

"All right; come on board as soon as you can," added Captain Carboneer,
as he walked away from the gangway.

Mindful of the peril of the situation, Christy walked leisurely back
from the river, and soon joined Mr. Watts, who had been near enough to
hear the conversation between the captain and the midshipman.

"That was done very handsomely, Chr