These words brought the captain to his senses. He gave the necessary orders, and in a few minutes the brig's maintopsail had been backed and the Union emblem was floating from her peak. There were an astonished lot of men aboard of her, and they were so angry, too, that they could not stand still. They clenched their hands and gritted their teeth when they saw a boat filled with armed men put off from the steamer, and when the boarding officer came over the side and informed the captain of the _Sabine_ in courteous tones, that his vessel was a prize to the Confederate cruiser _Sumter_ they could scarcely control themselves. "I suppose I shall have to give in," said the Yankee skipper. "But I tell you plainly that if I had five guns and as many men as you've got, one or the other of us would have been on his way to the bottom before this time." "Oh, I don't doubt that you would make us plenty of trouble if you had the power," said the rebel officer, with a smile. "But, fortunately, you haven't got it. I shall have to ask you to get your papers and go off to the _Sumter_ with me. What's your cargo, where from, and whither bound?" he added, turning to Jack, when the captain had disappeared in the cabin. The second mate did not waste any time or words in giving the desired information. "Ah! A neutral cargo bound from one neutral port to another," said the officer. "I am sorry to hear that." "Why are you?" inquired Jack. "Because under the circumstances we cannot destroy your vessel." "What's the use of being so mean just because you happen to possess the power?" said Jack. "Young man," replied the officer sharply, "we are bound to harass you Yankees all we can and in every way we can. That's what your people are doing to us. But what else can we do? France and England have denied us the privilege of taking our prizes into any of their ports, and there's but one course left for us to pursue. But Spain hasn't spoken yet, and perhaps we shall test her friendship for us by taking you into a Cuban port." Things turned out just as the boarding officer thought they would. The captain of the brig was taken off to the _Sumter_, and after his papers had been examined he was sent back, and a prize crew, consisting of a midshipman and four sailors, was placed on board the brig. Both prizes were then taken in tow by the _Sumter_, which steamed away for the harbor of Cienfuegos, Captain Semmes laboring under the delusion that Spain would permit him to have his Yankee prizes condemned and sold in a Spanish port. The Confederate midshipman commanded the brig, the Yankee sailors sullenly performed the little work there was to be done, and the four Confederate sailors stood around and kept watch of them.