But my messenger had not reached the landing-place before one of the owners arrived alongside, and immediately came on board. They had already learned of our arrival by means of the semaphore, which had been established quite recently for sending communications from the lower bay to the city. It is a wonderful invention, and as simple as it is wonderful. On the tops of towers four or five miles apart, there are frames containing shutters, and the shutters are so arranged that the combinations of their positions represent the letters of the alphabet. In this way the name of a ship, or a message of any kind, can be spelled out, and it is repeated from one tower to another along the line. Of course, it can only work when the weather is clear, so that the signals can be seen. A fog cuts it off completely; and it sometimes happens that a fog comes up just in the middle of a very interesting message. [Illustration: THE CREW HAULED AWAY ON THE ROPE. Page 249.] "You've done splendidly," said the gentleman, as soon as he had reached the deck and grasped my hand. "Here you've been gone only fifteen days and have sent in two first-rate prizes, besides the one that is coming by the Sound. It is probably all safe, as there are no British vessels there to trouble it when once it turns the eastern end of Long Island." Before the day was over I heard that the prize was safe, word to that effect having been brought down by a fishing-boat. The next day she came through the dangerous channel of Hell Gate, and anchored in the East River, where I visited her. Of course, the crew of the Marguerite wanted to go on shore as soon as they could get away. I called them together and asked how many wanted to re-ship for the next cruise, which would begin just as soon as I could refit and get away. Every man responded; and the owner told me that those who had come in on the two prizes had already been secured. It was arranged that they should be under pay while we remained in port, one-half having liberty on shore, while the rest stayed on-board and helped with the work that was to be done. As soon as they learned of our arrival, my second and third mates reported for duty, their prizes having been turned over to the owners for condemnation and sale. In the afternoon I went ashore; and after visiting the office and transacting some business there, I hastened to the fashionable boarding-house on Broadway, just below Trinity Church, where I understood the Graham family was staying.