e blown; but Christy answered very
emphatically that no whistles were to be blown; though he ordered the
lookouts to be doubled, and the steamer to proceed at half speed.

In the middle of the second dog watch, in charge of Mr. Baskirk, the
lookout on the topsail yard made himself heard, and the others aloft
repeated the call.

"Sail on the starboard bow, sir!" said the first lookout from the yard,
hailing the bridge.

Captain Passford heard the hail from aloft, for he was planking the deck
with the first lieutenant. Both of them rushed forward at a pace rather
undignified for a commander.

"Silence, aloft!" shouted the captain. "We have made her out. Mr. Flint,
you will take the deck, and call all hands without any unnecessary
noise."

This order was given to Giblock, the boatswain, and in a minute or two
every man on board was in his station. The first lieutenant remained on
the bridge, but the second took his place in the waist, and the third
forward, though this arrangement of the officers was not sanctioned by
ancient usage. Silence was commanded, and the engine, working at half
speed, made hardly any noise. The captain had spoken to Sampson, the
chief engineer, and he had done his best to avoid all noise in his
department.

The captain and the first lieutenant remained on the bridge, anxiously
sighting in the direction in which the sail had been reported to be. As
the captain had instructed the engineer to do, he had caused the fires
to be reduced and a change of fuel used so that the smokestack of the
Bronx was just beginning to send up volumes of black smoke. The bunkers
contained a small portion of soft coal for this purpose.

CHAPTER XIII

THE STEAMER IN THE FOG

The Bronx was slowly approaching the steamer in the fog, which appeared
to have stopped her propeller, and to be resting motionless on the long
swells, hardly disturbed by a breath of air. By this time the smokestack
of the Bronx was vomiting forth dense clouds of black smoke. The
steamers of the navy used anthracite coal, which burns without any
great volume of smoke, and blockade runners had already begun to lay
in whatever stock of it they were able to procure to be used as they
approached the coast where they were to steal through the national
fleet. The attention of the naval department of the United States had
already been given to this subject, and the first steps had been taken
to prevent the sale of this comparatively smok