tune time for the Schofields.

The heavy insurance on the fifty-year-old _May_ was about to run out,
and it was almost a certainty that Burns would not recommend its
renewal except at a vastly increased premium.

As a matter of fact, on a hurried trip that Code had taken, he had
picked up Burns himself at St. John's, the inspector coming for the
purpose of examining the schooner while under sail in a fairly heavy
seaway.

All the island knew this, and all the island knew that Code was the
only one to return alive. The inference was not hard to deduce,
especially as the gale encountered had been one such as the _May_ had
lived out a dozen times.

Had not all these things been enough to fire the impulsive, passionate
Burns with a sullen hatred, the next events would have been. For Code
received his insurance without a dispute and, not long afterward,
while in Boston for the purpose, had picked up the almost new
_Charming Lass_ from a Gloucester skipper who had run into debt.

Code now saw to what Nat's uncontrolled brooding had brought him, and
he realized that the battle would be one of wits.

He got up to go on deck. He had only turned to the companionway when
the great voice of Pete Ellinwood rumbled down to him.

"Come on deck, skipper, an' look over this schooner astern of us.
There's somethin' queer about her. I don't like her actions."

Code took the steps at a jump, and a moment later stood beside
Ellinwood. The _Lass_ was snoring along under full sail.

The stranger, which at eight o'clock had been five miles astern, was
now, at noon, less than a mile away.

Code instinctively shot a quick glance at the compass. The schooner
was running dead east.

"What's this, Ellinwood?" demanded the skipper sharply. "You're away
off your course."

"Yes, sir, and on purpose," replied the mate. "I've been watchin' that
packet for a couple of hours back and it seemed to me she was a little
bit too close on our track for comfort. 'What if she's from St.
John's?' I sez to myself. 'Then there'll be the devil to pay for the
skipper.'

"So, after you'd got your observation and went below I just put the
wheel down a trifle. I hadn't been gone away from her five minutes
when she followed. It's very plain, Code, that she's tryin' to catch
us."

A sudden feeling of alarm took possession of Schofield. That she was a
wonderful speed craft she had already proven by overhauling the _Lass_
so easily. The thought immediately