" said Mrs. Cliff.

"Well, they won't fool with her if she is in company," replied Shirley.
"Now, and what do you say?" he asked, addressing Burke, but glancing
around at the others. "I don't know how this ship's company is made up,
or how long a stop you are thinking of making here, or anything about
it! But you're the owner, Mrs. Cliff, and if you lend Burke and me your
yacht, I reckon he'll be ready enough to steam after the _Dunkery
Beacon_ and deliver the messages. It's a thing which Captain Horn has
set his heart upon, and it's a thing which ought to be done if it can be
done, and this yacht, I believe, is the vessel that can do it!"

During this speech Mr. Burke, generally so eager to speak and to act,
had stood silent and troubled. He agreed with Shirley that the thing to
do was to go after the _Dunkery Beacon_ at the best speed the yacht
could make. He did not believe that Mrs. Cliff would object to his
sailing away with her yacht on this most important errand,--but he
remembered that he had no crew. These parsons must be put off at
Kingston, and although he had had no doubt whatever that he could get a
crew in this port, he had expected to have a week, and perhaps more, in
which to do it. To collect in an hour or two a crew which he could trust
with the knowledge which would most likely come to them in some way or
other that the steamer they were chasing carried untold wealth, was
hardly to be thought of.

"As far as I am concerned," cried Mrs. Cliff, "my yacht may go after
that steamer just as soon as she can be started away!"

"And what do you say, Burke?" exclaimed Shirley.

Burke did not answer. He was trying to decide whether or not he and
Shirley, with Burdette and Portman, and the two engineers could work the
yacht. But before he had even a chance to speak, Mr. Hodgson stepped
forward and exclaimed:--

"I'll stick to the yacht until she has accomplished her business! I'd
just as soon make my vacation a week longer as not. I can cut it off
somewhere else. If you are thinking about your crew, Captain, I want to
say that so far as I am concerned, I am one volunteer!"

"And I am another!" said Mr. Litchfield. "Now that I know how absolutely
essential it is that the _Dunkery Beacon_ should be overtaken, I would
not for a moment even consider the surrender of my position upon this
vessel, which I assure you, madam, I consider as an honor!"

Mr. Shirley stared in amazement at the speaker. What sort of