."

"That is a very good programme, Dicky; we will carry it out, at
once."

While they were eating their meal, Ryan asked:

"Where do you suppose we are, Terence?"

"Beyond the fact that we are right out in the Bay of Biscay, I have
not the most remote idea. By the way the water went past us, I
should say that we had been going at pretty nearly the same rate as
we did when we were sailing; say, four miles an hour. We have been
running for forty-eight hours, so that we must have got nearly two
hundred miles from Santander. The question is: would it be best to
make for England, now, or for Portugal? We have been going nearly
northwest, so I should think that we are pretty nearly north of
Finisterre, which may lie a hundred and twenty miles from us; and I
suppose we are two or three times as much as that from England. The
wind is pretty nearly due east again now, so we can point her head
either way. We must be nearly in the ship course, and are likely to
be picked up, long before we make land. Which do you vote for?"

"I vote for the nearest. We may get another storm, and one of them
is quite enough. At any rate, Spain will be the shortest, by a
great deal and, if we are picked up, it is just as likely to be by
a French privateer as by an English vessel."

"I am quite of your opinion, and am anxious to be back again, as
soon as I can. If we got to England and reported ourselves, we
might be sent to the depot and not get out again, for months; so
here goes for the south."

The sail was hoisted, and the boat sped merrily along. In a couple
of hours their clothes were dry.

"I think we had better put ourselves on short rations," Terence
said. "We may be farther off than we calculate upon and, at any
rate, we had better hold on to the mouth of the Tagus, if we can;
there are sure to be some British officials there, and we shall be
able to get money, and rejoin our regiment without loss of time;
while we might have all sort of trouble with the Spaniards, were we
to land at Corunna or Vigo."

No sail appeared in sight during the day.

"I should think we cannot have come as far west as we calculated,"
Terence said, "or we ought to have seen vessels in the distance;
however, we will keep due south. It will be better to strike the
coast of Spain, and have to run along the shore round Cape
Finisterre, than to risk missing land altogether."

That night they kept regular watches. The wind was very light now,
and they w