The Snapper continued to go ahead, and in a short time she made a sort of a plunge, as she went over the bar. The motion of the steamer began to be rather violent, and Christy saw through the port the white caps that indicated a strong north-west wind. When the vessel had continued on her course for a couple of hours, she stopped, and the prisoner saw the pilot boat drop astern a little later. The opportunity to deliver his statement had passed by, and he tore up the paper, keeping the fragments in his pocket, so that they should not expose his intention. He had scarcely destroyed the paper before his door was thrown open by Percy Pierson, who informed him that he was at liberty to go on deck if he wished to do so. He accepted the permission. He could see the land in the distance in several directions, but he had no interest in anything. He was called to breakfast soon after, and he took a hearty meal, for the situation had not yet affected his appetite. In the middle of the forenoon, with the light at Hole in the Wall on the starboard, and that on Stirrup Cay on the port, the course of the Snapper was changed to the north-west. At this point Christy discovered a three-masted steamer, which had also excited the attention of Captain Flanger. It looked like the Chateaugay; and the prisoner's heart bounded with emotion. CHAPTER XXIII THE CHATEAUGAY IN THE DISTANCE The steamer which Christy had discovered was a long distance from the Snapper. She had just come about, and this movement had enabled the prisoner to see that she had three masts; but that was really all there was to lead him to suppose she was the Chateaugay. She was too far off for him to make her out; and if he had not known that she was cruising to the eastward of the Bahamas, it would not have occurred to him that she was the steamer in which he had been a passenger two days before. Captain Flanger discovered the sail a few minutes later, and fixed his attention upon it. In the business in which he was engaged it was necessary to practise the most unceasing vigilance. But, at this distance from any Confederate port, the commander of the steamer did not appear to be greatly disturbed at the sight of a distant sail, believing that his danger was nearer the shores of the Southern States. Doubtless he had papers of some sort which would show that his vessel had cleared for Havana, or some port on the Gulf of Mexico. Christy did not deem it wise to manifest any interest in the distant sail, and, fixing his gaze upon the deck-planks, he continued to walk back and forth, as he was doing when he discovered the steamer. He had not been able to make out her course. He had first seen her when she was in the act of turning, obtaining only a glance at the three masts. Whether or not she was "end-on" for the Snapper, he could not determine, and Captain Flanger seemed to be studying up this question with no little earnestness.