r knots."

"You say that she is built like the Bronx, Mr. Flint?" asked Christy
anxiously.

"Just like her; I should say that both hulls came out of the same
mould."

"That very nearly settles the question in my mind. Probably she was
designed by the same naval architect, and constructed by the same
builders, as the Bronx," replied Christy, gazing intently at the dim
outlines of the steamer in the fog. "When a designer has made a great
reputation for fast ships, men with piles of money, like the former
owners of the Bronx, the Scotian, and the Arran, employ him to furnish
the plans for their steam yachts. From what we have learned so far,
though it is very little indeed, I feel reasonably sure that this
steamer ahead of us is the Scotian or the Arran, and I don't care much
which it is. But why has she stopped her screw, or reduced her speed to
four knots?"

"That is a question that can only be answered an hour or two hence, if
ever," replied the first lieutenant.

"But it is a very important question all the same," added Christy.

"I doubt if the Bronx is making four knots at the present moment," said
Flint, as he went to the end of the bridge, and looked down into the
water.

"In changing the fires in the furnaces, Mr. Sampson had been obliged to
clear them out in part, and that has reduced the pressure of steam; but
we shall soon have the usual head," said Christy, as he went to the
speaking tube and communicated with the chief engineer.

He was informed that his explanation was correct in regard to the coal,
and that in a very short time the boilers would have a full head of
steam. Christy spent the next few minutes in an earnest study of the
scarcely perceptible outline of the steamer in the fog. He was hardly
wiser when he had finished his examination than before. The hull and
lower masts of the vessel could be indistinctly made out, and that was
all. Sampson informed him that he had not been using all the steam he
had, and that the screw was hardly turning at all. He ordered him to
stop it entirely.

Impatient as he was to follow up the discovery that had been made, he
realized that it would be very imprudent to expose his ship to possible
danger when he had not steam enough to work her to the best advantage.
He could only wait; but he was satisfied that he had done the best
possible thing in changing the coal, for the black smoke would
effectually blind the officers of the other vessel. They were not