“Oh, that explains everything!” he said to himself. “She has either lost it or quarreled with Nat, and it’s no wonder she is unhappy.”
Nellie was saying to herself: “The letter must have been very personal or he would have told me about it. He never acted like this before. There is something between them.”
Suddenly astern of them sounded the flap of sails, rattle of blocks, and shouted orders. They turned 136 in time to see a schooner come up into the wind all standing.
She was clothed in canvas from head to foot, with a balloon-jib and staysail added, and made her position less than a hundred yards away.
Schofield gazed at the schooner curiously. Then he leaned forward, his eyes alight. There were certain points about her that were familiar. With a fisherman’s skill he had catalogued her every point. He looked at the trail-board along her bows, and where the name should have been there was a blank, painted-out space.
It was the mystery schooner!
Once more all the fears that had assailed Code’s mind at her first appearance returned. He was certain that there was mischief in this. But he sat quiet as the vessel drifted down upon the anchored Rosan.
As he looked her over his eyes were drawn aloft to a series of wires strung between her topmasts. Other wires ran down the foremast to a little cubby just aft of it.
“By the great squid, they’ve got wireless!” he said. “This beats me!”
At fifty yards the familiar man with the enormous megaphone made his appearance.