“No, we’ll make no stops, but we’ll be off Piræus this evening. I shan’t feel really comfortable till we’re tied up at Venice.”
“Well,” said Sidney, “that Turkish storm didn’t materialize.”
“I don’t know whether it did or not,” replied the captain; “but if it did we were beyond it.”
The Princess Mary was too small and unimportant a craft to carry a wireless, and since passing the Dardanelles they had met no vessel within speaking distance. Captain Foster, therefore, had had no opportunity to learn what his friend, the Turkish officer, had meant by the warning he had given. He was, consequently, feeling rather anxious to know if he had passed the danger, whatever it was.
The day wore on uneventfully, and the boys amused themselves as best they might. They went back and forth from the deck, where there was nothing of especial interest, to the engine-room, where there was a good deal. They were left entirely to their own devices, for Captain Foster watched the horizon constantly. He knew there was a possibility that they might meet an Austrian cruiser, and in that case he wished to take advantage of whatever chance there might be to escape.
Early in the afternoon the captain called the boys’ attention to the island of Skyros, which showed off on their right, and he told them that before long they would see the mainland of Greece. While they were examining the horizon Raymond thought he saw a tiny line of smoke dead ahead. He called Captain Foster’s attention to it, and the captain brought his binoculars to bear on the spot.
“It’s not a cruiser,” he announced immediately; “it’s a tramp steamer. Do you want to look at her?” And he passed the glasses over to the boys.
“How can you tell that’s not a cruiser?” asked Raymond. “I can’t see anything but a little speck.”
“Well, she’s only got one funnel, for one thing, and she’s too small for another. She doesn’t look like any liner, either. I can’t explain to you exactly how I can tell; I simply know, that’s all.”
As the approaching ship was coming directly toward them, she grew large rapidly. While she was still too small, however, for the boys to distinguish anything about her, even with the glasses, Captain Foster examined her again. He looked intently through the glasses for a few moments, and then declared,—