s about to put his engine at full
speed again when an aeroplane shot up from the deck of the flagship
and started in pursuit, followed at a short interval by a second
aeroplane from a vessel some distance down the line. Smith smiled to
himself. From what he knew of the service aeroplanes, the _Puck_, as
he had now named his vessel, was in no danger of being overtaken; but
if the airmen of the Red fleet wanted a run, he was not the man to
baulk them. In a few minutes the pursuers began to close in; he
increased the speed to eighty miles; still they gained on him. Another
notch in the regulator increased his speed to a hundred miles an hour,
at which he felt that he should be able to hold his own. He found,
however, that one of the aeroplanes was still gaining, and it was not
until he had increased his speed another twenty miles that the _Puck_
began to draw away.

"Now to business," Smith said to himself.

Paying no more attention to the pursuers, except by a glance to assure
himself that, though hopelessly outstripped, they were still following
him, he searched the horizon ahead for signs of the Blue fleet. The
rugged coast of Cork county had been for some time in sight, and as
Smith was well acquainted with it from experience in former
manoeuvres, he was able to steer straight for Bear Haven as soon as
the landmarks were distinguishable. It was more than half-an-hour
after sighting the Red fleet when he flew over Bantry Bay to the
harbour. Except for a number of colliers it was empty.

Smith had already decided on his course of action if he should find
that the fleet had put to sea. He would adopt the tactics that had
succeeded so well in Ysabel Island, searching, not the land this time,
but the sea, fanwise, while his fuel lasted. The position of the
colliers seemed to indicate that they had only recently been engaged
in coaling, so that in all probability the fleet had left that morning
and was not far away. Probably, too, it was in the open Atlantic, and
not sheltering in any of the innumerable inlets of the western coast.
He steered due west, noticing as he did so that the pursuers were
still doggedly on his trail, and had gained considerably while he had
been investigating the harbour.

He looked at his watch. It was twenty-five minutes to nine. He would
reach his ship in time if it were not more than eighty-five miles
distant, supposing that it was going in the same direction, or perhaps
a hundred and ten if