Mr. Montgomery, the mate of the Inchcliffe Castle, crosses the Mediterranean in his steamboat and watches in wonder as a sailboat begins to pass them on the sea. Angry that the sailboat is beating them he calls down to Mr. Glencannon to make their boat go faster. He is joined on deck by Captain Ball who is also surprised that the sailboat is beating them. They look on board the other boat and see a crew of men dressed all in black with long hair and beards. One man on the other ship makes insulting gestures to them as he passes the Inchcliffe Castle. _They see that the name of the boat is the Flaming Chariot of Savannah, Georgia. As they get into a port in France, the crew of the _Inchcliffe Castle _see the _Flaming Chariot _also unloading its cargo. They stay a few days in port and Mr. Montgomery and Mr. Glencannon decide to go inspect the boat and the American crew. As they go near they are ushered up by the captain of the boat and are introduced to him and his sons. His sons are named Shadrach, Mishach, and Abindigo and the captain says he is the Prophet Ezekial. Mr. Montgomery and Mr. Glencannon are slightly surprised and a little nervous when the Prophet tells them that his wife had committed suicide the night before off the bow of the ship. The Prophet offers them corn whiskey which the two drink and the Prophet tells them that he has made up his own religion in the United States. He also tells them that the Flaming Chariot is an old boat from the American Civil War, a war which the two men had not heard of. They drink a lot of whiskey and suddenly Mr. Glencannon becomes very drunk and during a meal with the Americans he challenges them to a rowing race, and bets a lot of money on it. Mr. Glencannon awakes later back on the _Inchcliffe Castle and Mr. Montgomery tells him about the bet and that they have to do the race soon. Mr. Glencannon, realizing his drunken mistake, sets to work and asks Mr. Montgomery to lower only one row boat down while he disappears in the hull of the ship. When the race begins, the crews get into the rowboats from the _Inchcliffe Castle _and the Americans lose despite rowing their hardest and hearing threats from the Prophet. They pay Mr. Glencannon. Mr. Montgomery is surprised that he was able to beat the Americans and Captain Ball tells Mr. Montgomery that Mr. Glencannon had attached an anchor of sorts to the rowboat that the Americans used so they would be slowed down significantly. Mr. Glencannon goes to the bank to deposit his money but the banker tells him that the bank notes are not valid. Upon inspection Mr. Glencannon sees that the money is from the Confederate States of America and thus worthless. He decides to go to a pub to see if he can use it there.