Christy took his place with Flint in the stern sheets of the boat, and ordered Beeks, who was acting as coxswain, to shove off and give way.
"I have no instructions yet, sir," replied Beeks, as he obeyed the order, and headed the boat away from the shore.
"We have to make two miles east by south, and that course will carry us parallel with the shore of Santa Rosa Island, variation included," replied Christy, who had been a diligent student of the chart, and had written down all that it was important for him to remember, though he had one of his own charts, or a piece of one, in the boat.
"East by south, sir," replied Beeks, as he put the whaleboat on the required course.
Thus far, Christy had kept his own counsel, and not whispered a word of his intentions even to the master's mate.

He had no motive for such heroic concealment of his plan, but he had not had the time to discuss it with any person.

Besides, though he had decided upon his course in the beginning, he was too much in the dark himself to lay down a definite plan; and his course must depend largely upon the information he obtained from time to time.
He had examined the charts and the Coast Pilot very carefully; and the facts he had obtained from the latter rather staggered him in regard to the idea he had advanced that the Teaser might go out through Santa Rosa Sound.

It was not navigable for vessels with a draught of over four feet, and it would have to be a very small man-of-war that could float in that depth.

Though it was now the time of the spring tides, they did not add more than six inches to the height of the mean tide, which was but a couple of inches over two feet.
Even before he took his place in the boat alongside the ship, he had come to the conclusion that the Teaser, if she proved to be anything more than a toy boat, could not go to sea through the sound, and she was not likely to attempt it.