The crews of the cutters watched him with eager interest: and most of them believed, perhaps some hoped, that the expedition was to be abandoned; for they did not see what three boats could do while exposed to the fire of the rebel battery, whose guns commanded the waters of the bay. Mr. Granger, Mr. McBride, and the master’s mate from the third cutter, held a short consultation on the shore, out of the hearing of the men. When it was ended, each returned to his boat, and orders were given to cast off. It was a moment of deep anxiety to all the men; for the question of success or failure rested upon the decision of the officers. The boats shoved off from the land; and, when the men gave way, instead of going about, they were headed up the bay. There was a strong inclination to give three cheers manifested by the more ardent spirits; but it was quickly repressed by a sharp word from the second-lieutenant. The boats were kept as much as possible within the shelter of the range of islands on the easterly side of the bay, and in a few moments they had passed out of reach of the shells; for the gunners in the fort, probably enveloped in their own smoke, had not discovered the change of position made by the boats. “Steamer on the port-quarter, sir!” shouted Mr. McBride from the second cutter. “I see her!” replied Mr. Granger. “Now look out for squalls, my hearties!” said Tom Longstone in a low voice, as he glanced at the new enemy, which was just emerging from behind a headland in the direction indicated by the fourth-lieutenant. “We shall have a fight yet!” added Jack uneasily; for, on a nearer approach, a hand-to-hand fight with the rebels was not quite so sentimental an affair as it had seemed to be at a distance. We do not mean to accuse our hero of being afraid; but the terrible inactivity of the moment was almost insupportable. He wanted to pitch right in, and do “a big thing.” He wanted something to do, so that he could prove to himself and his companions that he was no coward. To sit in the boat like a block of wood, and be shot at by the rebels, was wretched business; and he hoped Mr. Granger would pull out, and order the boats’ crews to board the steamer, and not permit her to stand off and pelt them with shot and shell. “It will be a smart fight, too,” added Tom. “Ay, ay; that it will. The steamer’s cut us off! I’ll tell you what, Tom: Mr. Granger has got us into a tight place!” replied Grummet, the sheet-anchor man. “Let him alone; he knows what he’s about,” answered the veteran. “Don’t ye see, Tom, the steamer can stand off, and whittle us up into inch-pieces; and we can’t board, nor nothin’?” “Leave all that to Mr. Granger,” persisted Tom, whose long experience had begotten confidence in his officers.