eering ahead through one of the ports. "Is that the place, right
ahead, on the far side of the bay, with the two lakes beyond it?"

"Yes," answered Mildmay, "that is Odessa. But what you take to be the
second lake--the more distant and larger sheet of water--is Dniester
Bay, the estuary of the river Dniester; and if you will look away there
into the far distance on our right, you will catch glimpses here and
there of the stream winding through the landscape."

"Yes, of course; I see it quite distinctly," returned Sir Reginald; "and
the broad sheet of water ahead and on our port bow, I take it, is the
Black Sea. When do you expect to sight the convict-ship?"

"In the course of the next hour I hope to be alongside her," answered
Mildmay. "Fortunately for us, the weather is gloriously clear, and we
ought, therefore, to sight her at a very considerable distance.
Furthermore, since we know, within a very few miles, precisely where to
look for her, I think we need not anticipate any difficulty in the
matter of identification. And, once alongside her, I propose to make
short work of the job, even should she happen to be in company with
other ships. For, in such an event, no other craft--unless, indeed, she
should happen to be a Russian man-o'-war--will be in the least degree
likely to interfere with us."

"Have you decided upon your plan of operation?" demanded Lethbridge.

"Yes," answered Mildmay. "I propose that as soon as we have sighted and
identified the steamer, we sink to the surface of the water, and
approach our quarry in the character of an ordinary ship of more or less
mysterious appearance, for by so doing we shall render our own
identification all the more difficult. It will be necessary that the
professor and I should remain here in the pilot-house--I to manoeuvre
the _Flying Fish_, and the professor, prompted by me, to do the hailing
part of the business, since he is the only man among us who can make
himself thoroughly intelligible in the Russian language. We have
mounted one of our Maxims, as you have, doubtless, already observed; for
it is improbable that the skipper of the other craft will concede our
demands until we have convinced him of our power to enforce them, and I
shall therefore be obliged to request one of you two gentlemen to take
charge of the gun, while the other stations himself in the torpedo-room
for'ard, and stands by to fire a torpedo-shell if necessary."

"Very well," said Si