about two o'clock a.m.
Then came dinner in the saloon , and as Villacampa took his seat at the elegantly appointed table , and noted with keen appreciation the prompt and orderly service of the luxurious meal , he felt fully confirmed in his previous conviction that he had missed his proper vocation . The rising moon had just cleared the horizon and was flooding the weltering waters with her silvery light when , the saloon party being once more assembled on the top of the deck-house for the better enjoyment of the grateful coolness of the night air , a large steamer , which could be none other than the _ James B. Potter _ , was seen to come out of Mulata Bay and head for the passage , steaming thence out to sea and away to the eastward at a rapid pace , though not so fast but that Villacampa , unconsciously biting his finger nails to the quick in the excess of his mortification , felt convinced that the yacht could have caught her , had that vessel only been under way at the moment . She was not , however , and it was not until the American craft had sunk beyond the eastern horizon a good hour and a half that Macintyre came up on deck to report that he had completed his repairs and was ready to once more start his engines . Whereupon the sea anchor was got inboard and , since there was nothing else to be done , the yacht returned to Havana harbour at a speed of fourteen knots -- her engines working as smoothly as though they had never broken down -- arriving at her former berth and picking up her buoy at about two o'clock a.m. Captain Morillo , who had been anxiously awaiting her return , promptly made his appearance alongside in the cruiser 's cutter , for the purpose of taking off his men and learning the result of the expedition ; and great was his wrath and disgust on hearing that it had failed , after all , in consequence of a breakdown of the yacht 's engines . He was most searching and minute in his enquiries as to the nature and cause of the accident , which , he eventually agreed with Jack , had undoubtedly been brought about by the miscreants who were responsible for the disablement of the Spanish warships , and who , it was perfectly evident , had determined to ensure the success of the American undertaking by tampering with the machinery of every vessel in the harbour which could by any possibility be employed to frustrate it . Ere taking his leave he ventured to express the hope that Jack and Captain Milsom would do him the favour to accompany him when he went ashore , a few hours later , to report to the Capitan-General the failure of the expedition , as it would be his duty to do : but Jack courteously yet very firmly declined to do anything of the kind , pointing out that Lieutenant Villacampa , who had commanded the expedition , was perfectly able to furnish every particular that the General might require ; while , further , Jack considered that very unfair pressure had been brought to bear upon him to induce him to lend his yacht for the purpose of the expedition , and he therefore felt perfectly justified in declining to afford any further assistance to the local representative of the Spanish Government . Whereupon Captain Morillo expressed his profound regret that Senor Singleton should have cause to feel himself aggrieved , and departed , taking his men and his flags with him .