all sift the matter
myself later on." As he said this he noticed that Jimmy Foote had not
entered the smoking-room with them. In an idle sort of a way he
wondered at his absence.

"How long will it take you to repair the damage, do you think?" Browne
inquired of the chief-engineer.

"Well, sir, it all depends upon circumstances," said that officer. "If
we find the duplicate pins we can do it in less than an hour; if we
cannot, it may take us twelve hours, and it may take us twenty-four."

"And how long do you think it will be before that boat comes up?" asked
Browne, turning to the captain.

"Oh, a good hour at least, sir," the captain replied. "She has seen
us; and I'm afraid it would be of no use our even thinking of trying to
get away from her."

"But how do you know that she wants us?" Maas inquired. "Being aware
of our own guilt, we naturally presume she knows it too. As
Shakespeare says, 'Conscience doth make cowards of us all.'"

"I don't think there can be very much doubt, but that she's after us,"
said Browne lugubriously. "Her appearance at such a time is rather too
much of a coincidence. Well, Mr. M'Cartney, you'd better get to work
as soon as possible. In the meantime, Captain Mason, keep your eye on
yonder vessel, and let me know how she progresses. We," he continued,
turning to MacAndrew and Maas, "must endeavour to find some place in
which to hide Monsieur Petrovitch, should the commanding officer take
it into his head to send a boat to search the ship."

The captain and the engineer rose and left the room; and, when the door
had closed behind them, the others sat down to the consideration of the
problem, which Browne had placed before them. It was knotty in more
points than one. If, as Browne had the best of reasons for supposing,
the warship was in search of them, they would hunt the yacht from stem
to stern, from truck to keelson, before they would be satisfied that
the man they wanted was not on board. To allow him to be found would
be the most disastrous thing that could possibly happen to all of them.
But the question that had to be settled was, where he could be hidden
with any reasonable chance of safety. They had barely an hour in which
to make up their minds on this point, and to stow the fugitive away
before the man-o'-war's boat would arrive. In vain they ransacked
their brains. Every hiding-place they hit upon seemed to have some
disadvantage.

"The only place I can