t a line as she could for Cape St. Roque, and if the _Summer
Shelter_ also kept the same line, and if the yacht steamed a great deal
faster than the other vessel, it stood to reason that it could not be
very long before the _Summer Shelter_ overhauled the _Dunkery Beacon_.

But those who consulted with Mr. Portman were not so well encouraged as
those who pinned their faith upon the Captain. The sailing-master had
very strong doubts about ever sighting the steamer that had sailed away
two days before they left Kingston. The ocean being so very large, and
any steamer being so very small comparatively, if they did not pass her
miles out of sight, and if they never caught up to her, he would not be
in the least surprised.

Four days had passed since they left Kingston, when Burke and Shirley
stood together upon the deck, scanning the horizon with a glass. "Don't
you think it begins to look like a wild goose chase?" said the latter.

Burke thrust his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

"Yes," said he, "it does look like that! I did believe that we were
going to overhaul her before she got outside the Caribbees, but she must
be a faster vessel than I thought she was."

"I don't believe she's fast at all," said Shirley. "She's had two days'
start, and that's enough to spoil our business, I'm afraid!"

"But we'll keep on," said Burke. "We're not going to turn back until our
coal bunkers tell us we've got to do it!"

Steamers they saw, sometimes two in an hour,--sailing-vessels were
sighted, near by or far away;--schooners, ships, or brigs, and these
were steaming and sailing this way and that, but never did they see a
steamer with a single funnel painted black and white, with the stripes
running up and down.

It was very early next morning after the conversation between Burke and
Shirley that the latter saw a long line of smoke just above the horizon
which he thought might give him reason for looking out for the steamer
of which they were in quest; but when he got his glass, and the masts
appeared above the horizon, he saw that this vessel was heading
eastward, perhaps a little northeast, and therefore was not likely to be
the _Dunkery Beacon_. But in half an hour his glass showed him that
there were stripes on the funnel of this steamer which ran up and down,
and in a moment Burke was called, and was soon at his side.

"I believe that's the _Dunkery_!" cried the Captain, with the glass to
his eye. "But she's on the