No one on the former could have
suspected that the latter had changed hands; for French had answered for
Captain Sullendine every time a call was made, and his voice was not
unlike that of the master of the schooner.
Christy could not understand why the officer who used so many expletives
should be dissatisfied, for the Tallahatchie could certainly make better
time when no longer encumbered by the towing of the West Wind. But it
must look to him just as though the schooner would be captured by the
steamer to the westward, which had been uselessly firing at the
blockade-runners in the densest of the fog. He could not help seeing
that the vessel in tow had set her sails, and therefore the casting off
of the wire rope could not have been caused by an accident.
The action of the captain of the schooner, for they had no reason to
suppose the change on board of the schooner was not made by him, must
have bewildered the officers of the Tallahatchie. But the fog was
lifting, the steamer to windward was now under way, though moving very
slowly, and her solid shot fell very near to the Confederate vessel.
By this time the sails of the West Wind were all drawing full, and the
craft was making very good headway through the water. The fog bank had
scattered, and appeared now to be in a dozen smaller masses, floating
off in the direction of Mobile Point.
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