“What do you make her out to be?”
“I should say she was a schooner by her topsails.”
The ship’s course was at once changed, and every rag of sail put upon her. The first lieutenant climbed to the upper crosstrees, and after a long look through his telescope returned to deck.
“I should say she is certainly one of the schooners that we are in search of, sir, but I doubt whether with this light wind we have much chance of overhauling her.”
“We will try anyhow,” the captain said. “She is probably steering for the rendezvous, so by following her we may at least get some important information.”
All day the chase continued, but there was no apparent change in the position of the two vessels. The Furious was kept on the same course through the night, and to the satisfaction of all on board they found, when morning broke, that they had certainly gained on the schooner, as her mainsails were now visible. At twelve o’clock a low bank of sand was sighted ahead, and the schooner had entered a channel in this two hours later. The Furious had to be hove-to outside the shoal. The sand extended a long distance, but there were several breaks in it, and from the masthead a net-work of channels could be made out. It was a great disappointment to the crew of the Furious to have to give up the chase and see the schooner only some four miles off on her way under easy sail.
“This is an awkward place, Mr. Farrance,” the captain said, “and will need a deal of examination before we go any farther. The first thing to do will be to sail round and note and sound the various channels. I wish you would go aloft with your glass and see whether there is any ground higher than the rest. Such a place would naturally be the point of rendezvous.”
Lieutenant Farrance went aloft and presently returned.
“There is a clump of green trees,” he said, “some ten miles off. The schooner is nearing them, and I think, though of this I am not certain, that I can make out the masts of another craft lying there.”
“Well, it is something to have located her,” the captain said. “Now we must find how we can best get there; that will be a work of time. We may as well begin by examining some of these channels.”