ce had taken turns on the broad sofa in
the pilot-house. But Captain Scott had hardly closed his eyes during the
night.

From the time the Fatime was found to be headed to the northward, the
officers of the Maud had lost sight of her for only a couple of hours,
when a bank of fog swept over the sea, just before sundown. But at eight
bells her lights had been discovered. At midnight they could still be
seen; but the captain and Morris were confident that she had been losing
ground, judging by the diminished clearness of the triangle of lanterns
as they appeared over the stern of the Maud.

The lights of a vessel following another appear to the latter in this
form, with the white, or plain one, at the upper apex of the triangle,
the red and the green making the two abreast of each other. They were
observed at seven bells in the first watch; but another fog-bank had
passed over the sea, and at eight bells, or midnight, they could not be
seen. Morris and Louis had the first watch. Felix had gone to take his
nap in the galley; for Pitts, the cook, had been called into service,
and was attending to the reefed sail on the upper deck. Captain Scott
had joined him here.

With a rope made fast around his waist, he had been to the standing-room
to look out for the triangle of lights on the Fatime. He could not find
them; but the fog explained why they were not in sight. It was not a
very comfortable position on the hurricane deck, for the spray stirred
up at the stern was swept over it. All hands had donned their waterproof
caps, with capes to protect the neck, and the oilskin suits they had
found on board when the steamer was purchased.

"We have been gaining upon her, Pitts," said the captain, after he had
looked attentively into the fog astern for some time. "We may not see
her again."

"Perhaps not, sir; but she's a bad penny, and she is likely to turn up
again," replied the cook. "But I suppose you will not weep, sir, if you
don't see her again."

"I should like to know what had become of her if we don't see her
again," added Scott carelessly.

"I suppose that Mustapha Pacha is still on board of her; and I should
rather like to see Captain Ringgold pitch him into another muddy gutter,
as he did in Gibraltar. But the Guardian-Mother is not with us just now,
and that is not likely to happen on this little cruise."

Pitts hinted in this manner that he should like to know something more
about the present situation; but