“What does she look like?”
“She looks like a fast craft, sir. Most likely a coast guard vessel,” was the reply.
“Change course. Bear nor’-nor’-west!” ordered the villain. “We don’t want to fall in with any Cuban cruiser just now.”
The schooner lay about on the new course. She was a fairly fast sailer and cut the water rapidly.
But in a few moments the man aloft again shouted:
“Ahoy, the chase!”
“Eh?” roared Poole. “Is she giving us a chase?”
“That she is, sir, and she is gaining on us. She has steam up and can sail two knots to our one.”
“A steam vessel!” gasped Poole. “Then she is certainly a Cuban cruiser. She takes us for a filibuster. If she overtakes us nothing will convince her that we are not and our jig is up! Ho, there, all aloft and crowd on sail! We must make a run for it! If she overhauls us——”
“Well?” asked one of the men.