hostile red men; to him, therefore, these men of the _Noank's_ company were the heroes of the ocean. He admired them tremendously, just now, as they discussed, in their matter-of-fact way, quietly, calmly, fearlessly, the seemingly desperate chances just before them. They all admitted, without hesitation, that it was a pretty doubtful problem whether or not they would be able to escape not only the one cruiser near them, but afterward the vigilant British blockade of the Sound entrance and of the adjacent waters. The _Noank_ had very serious risks to run before she could spread her wings on the Atlantic. The mist was hanging lower, thicker, whiter, and the morning gun from Fort Griswold had long since announced that in the opinion of the gunners the sun had risen. "Hullo! What?" exclaimed Captain Avery, springing to his feet. "Another? They don't fire a shotted gun jest for sunrise." His practical ears had told him that this report was not made by a blank cartridge. What could it mean? "Gunner saw lobster ship," said Up-na-tan, quietly. Away he went, then, toward his long eighteen, followed by Coco and Guert and several sailors. "Captain Avery," he called back, "ole chief get gun ready. S'pose fort gunner no fool." "Ready with her!" said the captain. "Ready! Every gun! Silence, all! This fog's a friend of ours." The Indian's understanding of the shotted cannon was correct. The sharp-eyed lookout upon the rampart had detected something more than fog in the general whiteness which concealed the sea, and the nearest gunner had at once put in a nine-pound ball on top of his signal cartridge. "That brig has crept in to watch for the _Noank_," they said to each other. "Let's give her a pill." The pill went well enough for a warning to the _Boxer_ that her sly creeping in had been discovered, but it did no damage. Probably its best use was the response it provoked from the too hasty gunners of the _Boxer_. For the brig to fire at the fort was mere bravado, of course; but her commander was nettled. "Give 'em a broadside!" he roared. "Let 'em have it. They can't strike us out here in the mist. Blaze away!" All the port guns of the brig, five in number, were of small account against earth and stone works; but they could express warlike feeling, and they immediately did so, and they did one thing more. "Good!" said Captain Avery, as he heard them. "Now I know jest where she is. Wish I knew how she's headed. We've all sail on. Keep still, all! We can slip past her."