trouble him to
send one of his own boats for us."

"As you will," agreed the baronet. "You know what will be the correct
thing to do, under the circumstances."

Accordingly the engines were once more sent ahead, at a twenty-knot
speed; and while Sir Reginald took the helm and headed the ship for the
liner, Mildmay and von Schalckenberg stepped out on deck, raised the
deck-flaps beneath which the boats were housed, and swung them and their
supporting davits into position, one on each quarter. By the time that
this was done, and the pair had satisfied themselves that the boats were
all right and quite ready for lowering, the _Flying Fish_ was within
easy enough distance of the liner to enable those in the pilot-house to
read her name. As Mildmay had shrewdly surmised, she was an X. and Z.
boat, and her name was the _Baroda_. Her engines were still motionless,
and she had by this time quite lost her way. There were two men in
uniform on her bridge, and her promenade deck was crowded with
passengers, many of whom were women, attired mostly in white flimsy
muslins; and there were also several children playing about the decks.
A number of seamen were aft, busy about the fallen mast, and casting
adrift the rigging of it.

As the _Flying Fish_ crossed the _Baroda's_ stern, and ranged up on the
latter's starboard side, it was seen that the gangway-ladder had been
cast loose and lowered; it looked, therefore, as though her skipper
fully expected a visit. Possibly the sight of the white ensign had
caused him to imagine that his rescuer was, as Mildmay had remarked but
a short time before, in connection with the pirates, "some sort of
new-fangled British gun-boat;" and past experience would doubtless have
taught him that the British naval officer has an inveterate habit of
getting right to the bottom of things whenever he encounters anything
that has the least smack of irregularity about it.

"All hands" were now on deck aboard the _Flying Fish_, and the ladies
looked up with marked interest at the decks of the towering liner, the
occupants of which looked down upon them with unconcealed wonder and
curiosity.

As the _Flying Fish_, handled by the professor, came to a halt within
fifty yards of the liner, Mildmay, accompanied by Sir Reginald, stepped
to the rail and hailed, in somewhat unconventional fashion--

"_Baroda_ ahoy! This is the _Flying Fish_, Royal Yacht Squadron,
belonging to my friend here, Sir Reginald El