Judging rightly that they would never suspect that any attempt would be made to run the blockade at such a time, she joined a detachment of gun-boats and went deliberately in as one of them.

When they, being repulsed, had steamed away, our friend remained at anchor under the fort, much to the astonishment of the garrison.

It would have been rather awkward if the fort had been taken, but in such times no one looks very far ahead.
Another vessel went out from Wilmington the same night, and was unmolested.

But fortune does not always favour the brave.

Fort Fisher was at last taken _unbeknownst_, as the sailors say, to the blockade-runners at Nassau or Bermuda, at which places the blindest confidence was still felt in everything connected with the fortunes of the South, and where to whisper an opinion that any mishap might happen to Wilmington was positively dangerous.