to issue first from one
and then from the other funnel of the cruiser. It was evident that they
had started to get steam on board her in a hurry. And indeed the time
had arrived for hurry; for it was now five bells in the forenoon watch,
and the _James B. Potter_ was timed to arrive in Mulata Bay at eight
bells--an hour and a half thence! She was probably off the harbour's
mouth at that moment--or, if not off the harbour's mouth, at least in
sight. The Morro Castle, with its signal staff, was not visible from
the spot where the _Thetis_ lay moored, being shut off from view by the
eastern portion of the Old Town, but it could probably be seen from the
cruiser, which was lying considerably farther down the harbour and
farther over on the Regla side of it; and while the men folk on the top
of the yacht's deck-house were still discussing the matter, Milsom's
quick eye caught the cruiser's answering pennant being hoisted in
acknowledgment of a signal made to her from some unseen spot.

"Aha!" he exclaimed; "do you see that? I wouldn't mind betting my next
allowance of grog that that is the acknowledgment of a signal from the
Morro that the _Potter_ is in sight! How can we find out, I wonder,
without doing anything to arouse the suspicions of the Spanish Johnnies,
that we are interested in the matter? If it were not for the suspicion
that it would arouse, the simplest way, of course, would be to take the
steamboat and run down as far as the harbour's mouth, when we could see
for ourselves whether there is a steamer in sight. But it would never
do; it would be rather too palpable."

"Cannot you tell by reading the cruiser's signals?" demanded Don
Hermoso. "See, there are several flags being hoisted on board her now?
What do they mean?"

"Quite impossible to tell, my dear sir, without possessing a copy of the
Spanish Naval signal-book," answered Milsom. "Each navy has its own
private code of signals, which no man can read unless he has access to
the official signal-book. No; that is no good. Is there no spot ashore
from which one can get a good view of the offing?"

"Nothing nearer, I am afraid, than Punta Brava; and that is quite two
miles from the landing-place by the shortest possible cut," answered Don
Hermoso. "One could not walk there and back in much less than an hour
and a half, in this heat; and to drive there would, I am afraid, be
almost as imprudent as running down to the harbour's mouth in the ste