But apparently he was satisfied to stick to the old method, even when he made his long trips across the Atlantic.
On this particular morning the wind was blowing gently from the west, which was very favorable to the _Ebba_, and would enable her to stand straight out of the Neuse, across Pamlico Sound, and through one of the inlets that led to the open sea.
At ten o'clock the _Ebba_ was still rocking lazily at anchor, her stem up stream and her cable tautened by the rapidly ebbing tide.

The small buoy that on the previous evening had been moored near the schooner was no longer to be seen, and had doubtless been hoisted in.
Suddenly a gun boomed out and a slight wreath of white smoke arose from the battery.

It was answered by other reports from the guns on the chain of islands along the coast.
At this moment the Count d'Artigas and Engineer Serko appeared on deck.

Captain Spade went to meet them.
"Guns barking," he said laconically.
"We expected it," replied Serko, shrugging his shoulders.

"They are signals to close the passes." "What has that to do with us ?" asked the Count d'Artigas quietly.
"Nothing at all," said the engineer.
They all, of course, knew that the alarm-guns indicated that the disappearance of Thomas Roch and the warder Gaydon from Healthful House had been discovered.
At daybreak the doctor had gone to Pavilion No.