Somers was now entirely relieved from duty. He had delivered up the prize and handed the prisoners over to the proper officers. On the following day he went on shore to spend a few hours before the supply steamer sailed. On visiting the fortress, he received the astonishing intelligence that Mr. Pillgrim had escaped from the officer having him in charge, even before he had been placed in the casement appropriated to his use. Somers had cautioned the lieutenant to whom he had delivered him, of the danger of removing the irons, but his advice had not been heeded. The careless officer was now under arrest for his neglect of duty. By none was this unfortunate event more deeply regretted than by him who had been the means of foiling the schemes of the traitor and handing him over to the custody of the government. Pillgrim had boasted that he would soon be at liberty. He was certainly a talented and a daring fellow; and to handle him safely, it was necessary to understand him thoroughly. Somers had a suspicion that the officer from whom the wretch escaped was bribed by his prisoner; but of course there could be no evidence on this interesting point. A careful search had been made by the garrison of the fort, but without success. Pillgrim was dressed in the full uniform of a naval lieutenant, and in this garb his ingenuity would enable him to pass the military lines, if indeed he was not provided with the means of doing so by the faithless officer in charge of him. The prisoner had escaped on the preceding day, and there was now little hope of recapturing him; but Somers gave such information as he possessed in regard to the fugitive. Captain Walmsley had been less fortunate, and was still in durance. The story of the traitor's escape was a very simple one. When the boat which had conveyed the prisoners from the steamer to the shore reached the pier, and they had landed, Walmsley began to protest against his confinement, being a British subject. He insisted upon seeing the commandant of the fortress; and while everybody was listening to this debate, Pillgrim slipped into the crowd and disappeared, passing the sentinels, who had no suspicion that he was a prisoner, without a challenge. Immediate search was made for him; but he must have taken to the water, since there was no other place of concealment which was not examined. A calker's stage was moored to the shore near the pier, and it was afterwards surmised that he had crawled under this, securing a position so that his head was out of water, and remained there till evening.