hundred yards further, I doubled, and came back under cover of the land, while I stopped once or twice to assure myself that the enemy was continuing his course in the opposite direction, in obedience to his signals; when, as soon as the engineer could do so (for he had to cool his bearings, and this was truly an anxious moment for me), I gave her all steam, and stood for the north end of the island.  As we approached it, the Fates, which had before seemed unpropitious to us, began to smile, and the rain-squall, which had come up quite unexpectedly, began to envelope us in its friendly folds, shutting in our dense clouds of black smoke, which were really the worst tell-tales we had to dread.  The first half-hour’s run was a very anxious one for us; but as we began to lose sight of the lights of the town and to draw away from the land, we knew that the enemy had been caught in his own trap, and that we had successfully eluded him.  I had warned the French authorities that their neutrality would be disregarded, and that these signals would be made.  The commander of the Iroquois had been guilty of a shameful violation of good faith towards the French naval officer, to whom he made a promise that he would respect the neutrality of the port, by sending his pilot on shore, and arranging these signals with the Yankee skippers.  Yankee faith and Punic faith seem to be on a par.  Our ship made good speed, though she was very deep, and by half-past eleven we made up with the south end of Dominica.  Here the wind fell, and we ran along the coast of the island in a smooth sea, not more than four or five miles from the land.  The moon by this time being up, the bold and picturesque outlines of this island, softened by the rains and wreathed in fleecy clouds, presented a beautiful night-scene.

The sleeping town of Rousseau barely showed us the glimmer of a light, and we passed but one coasting schooner.  At 2 A.M., we were off the north end of the island, but now heavy rain-squalls came up, and rendered it so thick, that we were obliged to slow down, and even stop the engine, it being too thick to run.  The squall lighting up a little, we endeavoured to feel our way in the dark; mistook the south for the north end of Prince Rupert’s Bay, and only discovered our mistake when we had gotten fearfully near the shore, and had whitened our water!  Hauled her broad out, and again put her under very slow steam.  The weather now lighting up more, we put her under headway again, doubled the island, and shaped our course E. by N. It was now 4:30 A.M., and I went below and turned in. Deo gratias. Poor D., the quartermaster, I had to depose him from his high office of night look-out this night.  He had been remarked for his keen vision by night; but on this occasion he was so perturbed, that he saw a steamer bearing down upon him from every direction—­even magnifying small sloops into frigates.  The evening of this day was lovely, and I think I have never seen