Much indeed of the interest of the hour was derived from the animated account, given by Gerald, of the circumstances which had led to his lying in ambuscade for the American on the preceding day; and as his narrative embraces not only the reasons for Captain Molineux's strange conduct, but other hitherto unexplained facts, we cannot do better than follow him in his detail: "I think it must have been about half past eleven o'clock, on the night preceding the capture," commenced Gerald, "that, as my gun-boat was at anchor close under the American shore, at rather more than half a mile below the farther extremity of Bois Blanc, my faithful old Sambo silently approached me, while I lay wrapped in my watch-cloak on deck, calculating the chances of falling in with some spirited bark of the enemy which would afford me an opportunity of proving the mettle of my crew. "'Massa Geral,' he said, in a mysterious whisper--for old age and long services in my family have given him privileges which I have neither the power nor the inclination to check--'Massa Geral,' pulling me by the collar, 'I dam ib he no go sleep when him ought to hab all him eyes about him--him pretty fellow to keep watch when Yankee pass him in e channel.' "'A Yankee pass me in the channel!' I would have exclaimed aloud, starting to my feet with surprise; but Sambo, with ready thought, put his hand upon my mouth, in time to prevent more than the first word from being uttered. "'Hush! dam him, Massa Geral, ib you make a noise, you no catch him.' "'What do you mean, then--what have you seen?' I asked, in the same low whisper, the policy of which his action had enjoined on me. "'Lookee dare, Massa Geral, lookee dare!'