Hitherto no object could be discovered
by those who strained their eyes eagerly and painfully
through the gloom, although the sounds became at each
moment more distinct. It was evident the party, guided
by the noise of the rippling waves that fell from the
bows of the schooner, was enabled to follow up a course,
the direct clue to which had been indicated by the cry
of the captive. Every man stood near his gun on the
starboard battery, and the burning matches hanging over
their respective buckets ready to be seized at a moment's
notice. Still, but little room for apprehension existed;
for the practised ear of the mariners could easily tell
that a solitary bark alone approached; and of one, or
even ten, they entertained no fear. Suddenly, as the
course of the vessel was now changed a point to windward,
--a movement that brought her bows more off the adjacent
shore,--the sound, in which all were more or less
interested, was heard not more than twenty yards off,
and in a line with the gangway at which the principal of
the crew were assembled. In the next minute the low hull
of a canoe came in sight, and then a tall and solitary
human figure was seen in the stern, bending alternately
to the right and to the left, as the paddle was rapidly
and successively changed from side to side.
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