"The steamer of which you speak is already loaded, is she?" asked
Captain Chantor.
"She is; and now I wish both of you to go with me, and I will point out
the vessel to you, and you must mark her so well that you can identify
her when occasion requires."
The trio left the house and took the train together. They went to New
York, and in an out-of-the-way locality they went down to a wharf; but
there was no steamer or vessel of any kind there, and the pier was
falling to pieces from decay. Captain Passford stopped short, and seemed
to be confounded when he found the dock was not occupied.
"I am afraid we are too late, and that the steamer has sailed on her
mission of destruction," said he, almost overcome by the discovery. "She
was here last night, and was watched till this morning. She has already
cleared, bound to Wilmington, Delaware, with a cargo of old iron."
"Do you know her name, Captain Passford?" asked the commander of the
Chateaugay.
"She was a screw steamer of about six hundred tons, and was called the
Ionian, but she is American."
It was useless to remain there any longer, for the steamer certainly was
not there.
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