All at once there was a puff of smoke from one of the forts, and the deep roar of a gun.
“Hullo!” cried Hilary. “What does that mean?”
“Practice, I should say,” replied the newcomer. “Nothing that concerns us. You have your orders, sir.”
“Yes,” said Hilary, “and I’ll obey them;” and away sped the Kestrel, her young commander little thinking that he had been made the victim of a clever plot, and that he was bearing despatches to the enemy such as might set England in a blaze.
Chapter Forty Two.
A Troublesome Mentor.
“Those sound to me like signals of recall,” said Hilary to his companion, as gun after gun was fired, the last sending a shot skipping before the bows of the Kestrel.
“Yes, they must be; but not for us,” said Lieutenant Anderson coolly.