it were coming towards him. Rising to the height
of 4,000 feet, he searched the sea in all directions through his
binocular. He noticed with amusement that one of the pursuing
aeroplanes had come down on Mizzen Head; the other was still labouring
after him. There were fishing smacks here and there near the coast,
looking like moths. Far to the left he saw a liner pouring its black
smoke into the air; it might have been a cockroach in widow's weeds.
And there, far in the west, what is that? Smoke, or a cloud? In two
minutes there is no longer any doubt; in three minutes the shapes of a
squadron of battleships can be clearly seen; in five minutes Smith's
practised eyes, now that he has descended, can distinguish the
_Imperturbable_, flying the admiral's flag, among what to a landsman
would appear to be a dozen exactly similar vessels. Glancing back, he
sees that the Red Scout has changed her course, and is already only a
speck in the southern sky.

It was precisely ten minutes to nine by Smith's watch when the _Puck_,
literally received with open arms by two-score sturdy tars, alighted
on the deck of the _Imperturbable_.

"Come aboard, sir," said Smith cheerfully to his captain.

"So I see," was the laconic reply.

"Sorry I was away, sir, when your recall arrived--in the South
Pacific."

"In the--what?"

"The South Pacific, sir, or thereabouts."

"Don't you think, Mr. Smith, you are going a little too far?" said the
captain sternly.

"Well, sir," replied Smith naively, "it _was_ a goodish distance. But
I have managed to get back within my leave. Ten minutes to spare,
sir."

Captain Bolitho gasped.

"Do you mean to tell me, seriously, you have been to the South
Pacific?"

"Certainly, sir. I left home about midnight last Thursday, and got
back not quite nine hours ago. Went to the Solomon Islands _via_
Penang and Port Darwin, and come home _via_ Samoa and 'Frisco."

"But--but--then you have been _round the world_, sir--in _how_ long?"

"Seven days, sir. My leave expires at nine this morning."

Mechanically, like a man in a dream, the captain took out his watch.

"Twenty-five minutes past eight," he said. "You needn't have hurried
yourself. You've another half-hour by Irish time. Perhaps you'd like
to fill it up by a trip round Ireland," he added dryly.

Smith smiled. The first lieutenant broke in--

"Look-out reports, sir, another aeroplane was sighted behind Mr.
Smith's."

The admiral, who had bee