him.

Granet glanced once more at the clock in front of him.

"For a time," he remarked, "I am your chauffeur. I just want to see what
she'll do--to experiment a little."

From that point conversation became scanty. The girls leaned back in
their seats. Granet sat bolt upright, with his eyes fixed upon the road.
Shortly before one o'clock they entered Portsmouth.

"The most wonderful ride I ever had in my life!" Geraldine exclaimed.

"Marvelous!" Olive echoed. "Captain Granet, Ralph promised that there
should be a pinnace at number seven dock from one until three."

Granet pointed with his finger.

"Number seven dock is there," he said, "and there's the pinnace. I shall
go back to the hotel for lunch and wait for you there."

"You will do nothing of the sort," Geraldine insisted. "Ralph would be
furious if you didn't come with us."

"Of course!" Olive interposed. "How could you think of anything so
ridiculous! It's entirely owing to you that we were able to get here."

Captain Granet looked for a moment doubtful.

"You see, just now," he explained, "I know the regulations for visiting
ships in commission are very strict. Perhaps an extra visitor might
embarrass your brother."

"How can you be so absurd!" Geraldine protested. "You--a soldier! Why,
of course he'd be delighted to have you."

Granet swung the car around into the archway of a hotel exactly opposite
the dock.

"All right," he agreed. "We'll leave the car here. Of course, I'd like
to come all right."

They crossed the cobbled street and made their way to the dock. The
pinnace was waiting for them and in a very few minutes they were on
their way across the harbour. The _Scorpion_ was lying well away from
other craft, her four squat funnels emitting faint wreaths of smoke. She
rode very low in the water and her appearance was certainly menacing.

"Personally," Geraldine observed, leaning a little forward to look at
her, "I think a destroyer is one of the most vicious, the most hideous
things I ever saw. I do hope that Ralph will be quick and get a
cruiser."

"Is that the _Scorpion_ just ahead of us?" Granet asked.

Geraldine nodded.

"Did you ever see anything so ugly? She looks as though she would spit
out death from every little crevice."

"She's a fine boat," Granet muttered. "What did your brother say she
could do?"

"Thirty-nine knots," Geraldine replied. "It seems wonderful, doesn't
it?"

The officer in charge of the pinnace s