A leadsman had been stationed on each side of the forecastle, though there was no present occasion for their services.

Christy thought everything was going extremely well, and he was reasonably confident that he should succeed in his plan.
"Steamer, ahoy!" shouted a voice, coming out of the dense fog.
"That must be the patrol boat," said Dave, in a low tone.
Christy could not make any reply that would be satisfactory to the patrol, and he decided not to answer the hail.

He had rather expected to be challenged in this way..