It was fortunately more easy to run out than to run in, as there was no harbour mouth to find in the dark, and the open sea lay before them. They learnt that the Admiral’s ship remained at anchor during the night, while the other vessels moved slowly to and fro across the mouth of the river; so they formed a bold plan, thinking that security lay in a startling impudence. They hid the _Banshee_ behind Fort Fisher till nightfall, rowing ashore to get the latest news from Colonel Lamb, who commanded the fort. “Which, sir, is the Admiral’s flag-ship?” “The _Minnesota_, a sixty-gun frigate. Don’t go too near her.” “That is just what we mean to do, Colonel; but first we will take her bearings exactly. We don’t want to bump into her.” The Colonel was very kind and helpful, and they often enjoyed his society and that of his wife, who lived in a cottage not far off. As soon as night fell over the sea the _Banshee_ slipped quietly from her secret anchorage, crossed the river bar, and following the observations they had taken, ran close by the flagship, and so out to sea, clear of the first cordon. But in trying to pass the second they ran across a gunboat, which at once opened fire. The men lay down on the deck, and the engines throbbed and thumped. Luckily the gunboat was very slow, and they soon lost one another; but as they could hear her pounding along behind, they attempted a ruse. The helm was put hard over, so that they steamed in a direction at right angles to their former course, and in a few minutes their engines were stopped. The _Banshee_ lay perfectly still. The crew rose on their elbows and peeped over the bulwarks, following the course of the gunboat by the flashes of her guns and by the rockets she was sending up madly to attract or warn her consorts. So they saw her go plunging past them and firing madly into the dark abyss of the night. After resting five minutes on the heaving wave, the _Banshee_ started again as noiselessly as she could. One danger remained--the third cordon. You may be sure they stared wide-eyed round the horizon as morning broke. With the _Banshee_ so heavily laden it would be fatal to meet a cruiser in the daylight. No smoke visible--no sail! All that day and for two days more they steamed on with fear beside them. On the evening of the third day they steamed proudly into Nassau, though a heavy list to starboard made them present a rather drunken appearance. The profits of blockade-running may be estimated by the fact that though the _Banshee_ afterwards became a total loss by capture, she earned enough on her eight successful trips to pay the shareholders 700 per cent. on their investment. The Northerners turned her into a gunboat, but she asserted her sympathies for the South by running foul of the jetty in the naval yard at Washington.