away, and lose the weather-gage, in order to avoid the shoal
himself.

He was disappointed and felt cheap after his failure. The Caribbee,
close-hauled, was standing off to the south-east, while The Starry Flag
was a quarter of a mile astern of her. Neither had the advantage, and
it was still an open question which could make the best time. Levi soon
found that the Caribbee was running away from him; but she carried a
main gaff-topsail and a staysail. Fortunately he had similar sails on
board, though he seldom used them. They were set when the two vessels
were about a mile apart.

The wind held fresh and steady, and Levi was happy when he realized
that the Caribbee was no longer gaining upon him. Hour after hour he
followed her, without any perceptible change in the distance between
them. It was plain now that the two vessels were about equally matched,
and day and night Levi held his course. On the third day out he spoke a
ship bound to New York. He knew what agony Mr. Watson was suffering,
and he wrote two letters to him, one directed to New York, and the
other to Rockport; "I shall follow the Caribbee round the world if
necessary, and I will not return without Bessie," he wrote. These
letters he sent on board of the ship, and in due time both were
received by Mr. Watson.

For weeks and weeks The Starry Flag followed the Caribbee; but the
voyage would be as tedious to the reader as it was to Bessie Watson.
From the summer time, the yacht went into the heat of the torrid zone,
and from that to the spring time of the south temperate. A week out
from New York she encountered a heavy gale, and lost sight of the
chase; but Levi, true to his promise, did not give up the pursuit,
though he did not see the Caribbee again for weeks. As the yacht was
getting short of water and provisions, he put in at the Island of St.
Helena for fresh supplies, and learned that the Caribbee had left the
port only the day before.

Again he made a harbor at Cape Town; but the chase had not been there.
With fresh provisions, he sailed again, not expecting to see the
Caribbee till he found her at Melbourne, the port for which she had
cleared; but as he went out of the harbor, he discovered her coming in.
The Caribbee went about, and stood on her course again to the eastward.
Levi was in high spirits now. He had outsailed his rival from St.
Helena. He had profited by an attentive study of the current chart, and
gained a day. Proud of this triu