But Flint was quite as confident as the third lieutenant that the forty men, more or less, would be captured.

The noise of the firing could no longer be heard, and then Christy suggested that the whistle be sounded as a signal to the men if they were in the vicinity.
The depth of water was three or four fathoms close up to this part of the island.

The soundings indicated that the steamer was as near as it was prudent to go in the dense fog.

Christy was sure that the privateer's crew could not have gone any farther to the eastward by this time, and the screw was stopped, while all hands made an anxious use of their ears to detect any sounds that came from the shore.

But nothing could be heard at first, and Mr.Blowitt again intimated that they were engaged in a "wild-goose chase." But he had hardly uttered this cooling reflection before Beeks came aft to report that a number of pistol shots, as he thought they were, had been heard in the distance.
"Nobody can tell what they mean," said the sceptical Mr.Blowitt.