For captain I had Steele, one of the most daring and successful commanders the time brought out. Absolutely devoid of fear, never flurried, decided and ready in emergency, and careful as a mother, he was the beau-ideal of a blockade-runner. Already he had served his apprenticeship to the trade and knew what failure meant, for while in command of the _Tubal Cain_ he had been captured on his very first trip, and, after tasting for a short time the hospitality of an American prison, had been released—richer by the experience, but in no wise daunted. The chief engineer, Erskine, too, had seen service, having worked as second engineer on board the Confederate cruiser _Oreto_, when the famous Captain Maffitt ran her into Savannah. As the engines of a blockade-runner are her arm, her success must necessarily in great measure depend on the qualities of her engineer, and it would have been hard to find a better man for the task than Erskine. Cool in danger, full of resource in sudden difficulty, and as steady as the tide, he was yet capable of fearlessly risking everything and straining to the last pound, when the word came, in one of those rousing forms of expression with which old Steele was wont to notify down the engine-room tube, that the critical moment had come. For pilot a Wilmington man had been sent out by our agents there, and was waiting for me at Nassau. He too turned out a jewel. He knew his port like his own face, and the most trying situations or heaviest firing could never put him off or disturb his serene self-possession. For all his duties he had an instinct that approached genius. On the blackest night he could always make out a blockader several minutes before any one else; and so acute at last did this sense become, that it used to be a byword that Tom Burroughs at last got to smell a cruiser long before he could see her. Through the ignorance or cowardice of the pilot vessels were frequently lost, and to obtain a good pilot was as troublesome as it was essential. The risk they ran was great, for if captured they were never exchanged; but their pay, which frequently amounted to £700 or £800 a round trip, was proportionate to the risk. Thus well equipped and laden with arms, gunpowder, boots, and all kinds of contraband of war, as soon as the moon was right, the _Banshee_ stole out of Nassau for the first time to make the best of her way to Wilmington. CHAPTER IV THE _BANSHEE'S_ FIRST RUN IN The approach to Wilmington—Fort Fisher—Tactics of the blockading squadron—Reason of the _Banshee's_ success—The look-out man—The dangers of blockade-running—The favourite course into Wilmington—All lights out—An anxious moment—Taking soundings—In the midst of the enemy—A false reckoning—The big hill—Attacked by gun-boats—Fort Fisher wide awake—Safely over the bar—The days of champagne cocktails.