By half-past two A.M., about a mile below Plymouth, where the “Albemarle” lay, they came upon the submerged “Southfield,” and could just make out the lines of the guard-schooner. The machinery of the launch was slowed, almost stopped, for Cushing had decided to get by her if he could without a fight. It was a moment of utmost anxiety, and every man was prepared for the attack. But there was no sign of discovery from the schooners, and in ten minutes the little expedition had passed up the river in safety. But only the first danger of discovery was over. Between the “Southfield” and Plymouth the bank was guarded by a double line of sentries, and the men in the boats, now moving more quickly, could see the red glare of the smouldering fires reaching all the way to town. As they came to the point beyond which the ram was lying, they found, to their delight, that the fires which should have been brightly burning were smouldering in the rain. There was no sign of a man to be made out anywhere, and Cushing pushed on directly for the “Albemarle,” which he could now see plainly as she lay at the wharf, grim and menacing, but without a sign of life. Suddenly from the shore there came the sharp bark of a dog. To the ears of Cushing and his men in the deep silence and anxiety of the moment it sounded like the report of a Dahlgren. There was a cry from a sentry and a challenge, followed by a musket-shot, and the bullet flew over the boats and struck the water fifty feet away with a vicious _ping_ that sounded not less loud than the report itself. There was another challenge, and in a moment the cries came from everywhere. Other dogs began barking, and it seemed as though the whole town was aroused. The sentries on both sides of the stream threw inflammable material on the smouldering fires, and in a moment the river was as bright as day. Realizing that further concealment was useless, Cushing himself cast off the towline of the cutter, and telling the men in her to row for their lives, gave the engineer the order, “Four bells, ahead full speed,” setting the nose of the launch directly for the ram. The sparks flew up from her stack, and the dark water churned up in masses of foam under her stern, as like a sentient thing she leaped forward on her deadly mission. It was then that Cushing discovered for the first time the line of torpedo booms which guarded the ram. In facing the musketry-fire and the great guns of their enormous adversary the task of getting close enough to reach her seemed impossible.