and to take our chance.  When it was quite dark we started steaming at full speed.  It was extremely thick on the horizon, but clear overhead, with just enough wind and sea to prevent the little noise the engines and screws made being heard.  Every light was out—­even the men’s pipes; the masts were lowered on to the deck; and if ever a vessel was invisible the D——­n was that night.

We passed several outlying cruisers, some unpleasantly near, but still we passed them.  All seemed going favourably, when suddenly I saw through my glasses the long low line of a steamer right ahead, lying as it were across our bows so close that it would have been impossible to pass to the right or left of her without being seen.  A prompt order given to the engine-room (where the chief engineer stood to the engines) to reverse one engine, was as promptly obeyed, and the little craft spun round like a teetotum.  If I had not seen it, I could never have believed it possible that a vessel would have turned so rapidly, and (although, perhaps, it is irrelevant to my subject) I cannot refrain from bearing testimony to the wonderful powers of turning that are given to a vessel by the application of Symond’s turnscrews, as he loves to call them.  On this occasion L50,000 of property was saved to its owners.  I do not believe the cruiser saw us at all, and so very important to us was the fact that we had turned in so short a space, that I scarcely think we lost five yards of our position.  Having turned we stopped to reconnoitre, and could still see the faint outline of the cruiser crawling (propelled, probably, only by the wind) slowly into the darkness, leaving the way open to us, of which we at once took advantage.  It was now about one o’clock in the morning; our lead, and an observation of a friendly star, told us that we were rapidly nearing the shore.  But it was so fearfully dark, that it seemed almost hopeless ever to find our way to the entrance of the river, and no one felt comfortable.  Still we steamed slowly on and shortly made out a small glimmer of a light right ahead.  We eased steam a little, and cautiously approached.

As we got nearer, we could make out the outline of a vessel lying at anchor, head to wind, and conjectured that this must be the senior officer’s vessel, which we were told generally lay about two miles and a half from the river’s mouth, and which was obliged to show some sort of light to the cruisers that were constantly under weigh right and left of her.  The plan of finding out this light, and using it as a guide to the river’s entrance, being shortly after this time discovered, the vessel that carried it was moved into a different position every night, whereby several blockade-runners came to grief.