He saw two men standing on her decks, and two or three others visible in her rigging.
Evidently she was a neat and speedy craft, but he was not there to waste his time looking at schooners.

The letter of Colonel William Johnson to Master Nicholas Suydam in Paulus Hook must be delivered, and, taking up his oars, he rowed vigorously toward the hamlet on the Jersey shore.
When he was about two-thirds of the way across he paused to look back again, but the air was so heavy with wintry mists that New York did not show at all.

He was about to resume the oars once more when the sound of creaking cordage caused him to look northward.

Then he shouted in alarm.

The dark schooner was bearing down directly upon him, and was coming very swiftly.