that faded into the glitter on the horizon, but at one point the latter
was faintly blurred. A passing vessel, Dick thought, and occupied himself
with the engine, for he had not brought the fireman. Looking round some
time afterwards, he saw that the ship had got more distinct and picked up
his glasses.

She was a two-masted steamer and, cut off by the play of reflected light,
floated like a mirage between sky and sea. After studying her for a
minute, Dick gave Jake the glasses.

"It's a curious effect, but not uncommon on a day like this," he said.
"She's like the big Spanish boats and has their tall black funnel."

"She's very like them," Jake agreed. "There's no smoke, and no wash about
her. It looks as if they'd had some trouble in the engine-room and she'd
stopped."

Dick nodded and glanced across the dazzling water towards the high, blue
coast. He did not think the steamer could be seen from the land, and the
launch would, no doubt, be invisible from her deck, but this was not
important and he began to calculate how long it would take them to reach
a point ahead. Some time later, he looked round again. The steamer was
fading in the distance, but no smoke trailed behind her and he did not
think she had started yet. His attention, however, was occupied by the
headland he was steering for, because he thought it marked the
neighborhood of their port.

He spent an hour in the place before he finished his business and started
home, and when they were about half-way across the bay the light began to
fade. The sun had sunk and the high land cut, harshly blue, against a
saffron glow; the sea was shadowy and colorless in the east. Presently
Jake, who sat facing aft, called out:

"There's a steamer's masthead light coming up astern of us. Now I see her
side lights, and by the distance between them she's a big boat."

Dick changed his course, because the steamer's three lights would not
have been visible unless she was directly following him and the launch's
small yellow funnel and dingy white topsides would be hard to
distinguish. When he had shut out one of the colored side lights and knew
he was safe, he stopped the engine to wait until the vessel passed. There
was no reason why he should do so, but somehow he felt interested in the
ship. Lighting his pipe, he studied her through the glasses, which he
gave to Jake.

"She's the boat we saw before," he said.

"That's so," Jake agreed. "Her engines are all right now