"We are going to hide him," returned Browne. "MacAndrew has taken him below to a certain place where he will be quite safe. He will remain there, while the ship is in sight, and rejoin us when she has disappeared again. Believe me, dear, they shall not get him, whatever happens."
There was a little pause, and then Katherine said, as if she were following up the conversation:—
"It would be too cruel if he were to be captured, just as he has got away."
"He shall not be captured; never fear," continued Browne. "And now, dear, you had better go and tell Madame Bernstein all that has happened. I think you had better both remain in your cabins for the present. When the Russian officer arrives, if all turns out as I am very much afraid it will, I will ask you to dress and come on deck, for they will ask to be allowed to search your cabins for a certainty."
"I will go to Madame at once," she answered; "but I think——"
She was about to say more when a footstep sounded upon the companion-ladder, and a moment later Jimmy Foote, his face surcharged with excitement, looked down upon them.
"For heaven's sake, Browne," he cried, as he held on to the brass hand-rail, "come up to the smoking-room at once! There is not a moment to lose."
"What on earth has happened?" Browne inquired, as he left Katherine's side and bounded up the ladder.
"Just what I suspected," said Jimmy. "I never could have believed such villainy could be possible."
Having reached the deck, they hastened towards the smoking-room. As he did so, Browne glanced out to sea, and noticed that the man-o'-war was now so close that her hull could plainly be distinguished. At most she could not be more than eight or nine miles away.