“Why, sir, if we don’t begin to gain faster, soon, then night will come down on us in a few hours, and we won’t be able to make out enough to keep that other boat in sight. She could change her course and slip away.”
“But her lights? It promises to be clear weather to-night.”
Anxious as he was, Captain Tom Halstead did not entirely succeed in suppressing a grin.
“An outlaw boat—a pirate craft, such as the ‘Buzzard’ is when engaged in a trick of this kind, isn’t likely to carry any visible lights at night.”
“Then we——”
“We’ll have to, sir. This is an honest boat, sailing under the law. Only United States naval or revenue people, on board, could legally authorize this craft to sail at night without lights, and then only under stress of great need.”
“We have police officers on board.”
“They don’t count in an excuse for sailing at night without masthead and side lights showing,” Captain Tom replied, gravely. “The whole story is told, sir, when I say that our only chance lies in getting so close to the ‘Buzzard’ before dark that, lights or no lights, she can’t give us the slip in the dark.”
“Then the chances are all against our success, aren’t they?” inquired Mrs. Tremaine.
“Yes, madam,” replied the young sailing master.