then and she could see nothing; but her captain had the course to a
hair's breadth.

He knew which way his prey was gone, and he knew to what port she was
going. He knew, too, that she would not dare go near the harbor of Key
West until daylight. And so if by any chance he missed her in the
darkness he would still have another opportunity.

And those on the shore who saw the vessel glide away chuckled gleefully
to themselves. It was something to look forward to, a chance to revenge
themselves upon the impudent Yankees who had dared to elude the fire
from their guns.

Meanwhile the Yankees, totally unsuspicious of this last move, were
buffeting their way bravely ahead.

The lookouts clinging to the railing in the bow were peering anxiously
ahead in the darkness, and the sailors in the pilot house were wrestling
with the wheel; it was quite a task to keep that vessel headed straight,
for she was going into the very teeth of the gale.

And as for Clif, he was watchfulness personified. When he was not eyeing
the compass carefully he was hurrying about the vessel, now down in the
fire-rooms, making sure that those Spaniards were doing as they were
ordered, and again looking the prisoners over to make sure that the sly
rascals had not wriggled themselves free.

"It would be a fine thing to do," he thought to himself, "if they
managed to recapture the ship."

There was something quite prophetic in that thought.

It is hard to keep awake all night, but a man can do it if he has to
even though he has been working like a Trojan all day.

Clif kept moving to work off the sleepiness whenever he felt it coming
on.

"I'll have time enough to sleep by and by," he muttered.

He was thinking, grimly enough, of how he would be stalled in the town
of Key West with his prize, waiting for a chance to get out to the fleet
again.

The vessel did not attempt to make more than half speed during the trip,
and that, against the storm, was very little.

But there was no need to hurry thought every one.

And so for some two hours the vessel crept on, wearily as it seemed and
monotonously. The only thing to vary matters was when some extra high
wave would fling itself over the bow in a shower of spray.

But that was not a welcome incident, for it made it harder for the weary
sailors to keep the course straight.

The cadet paced up and down the deck; he had been doing that for perhaps
the last half hour, stopping only to say a ch