s hole; but that's
one of the risks of a game like this, and I'll play my hand out."

He went on to talk of many other things, but as he did not speak of his
own past, or of the ship, I began to nod with sleep; and presently I
found him covering me up with a rug and turning out the lamp. I was
dead worn-out then, and must have slept twelve hours at the least, for
it was afternoon when I awoke, and the sun streamed in through the
skylight upon a table whereon dinner was set. But Black was not in the
cabin, and I went above to him on the bridge, which he paced with a
restless step and a betraying haste. There was no land then to be seen;
but the clear play of sparkling waves shone away to the horizon over a
tumbling sea, upon which were a few ships. Upon one of these he
constantly turned his glass; she was a long screw steamer, showing two
funnels and three masts, away some miles on the port quarter, and I saw
at once that from this ship the Captain got all his fear.

"Do you make her out?" he said in a big whisper directly I came up to
him, and then, hushing me, he added--"Keep your tongue still, and say
nothing. That's a British cruiser in passenger paint. She's come out
from Southampton."

This was about the very best bit of news he could have given me; but I
did not let him see that I thought so, for I had eyes only for the ship
in our wake. She was a long boat of the _Northumberland_ class; but
there was nothing whatever about her to betray her disguise, since she
had all the look of an Orient, or a P. and O. liner, and was too far
away from us to permit a reading of her flag. The men evidently had not
seen her, or took no notice of her if they had; but John upon the
bridge followed the movements of Black with curiosity, and once or
twice turned his own glass on the black hull just visible above the
horizon. He had forgotten the episode of the previous night--when,
undoubtedly, he was full of drink--and was almost as troubled as the
skipper.

"What's he up to?" he asked me in a whisper, as Black kept turning his
glass towards the hull of the other ship. "Did he get any liquor in him
last night? I never saw him this way before."

And again, after a pause--

"Have you got any eyes for that ship? What's he fixing her like that
for? She's no more than an Orient boat by her jib, and if she lays on
her course we'll make it warm for her outside."

Black heard his last words, and turned round upon him savagely--

"