"Can you tell me why that steam-yacht of over six hundred tons is crowding on steam, and running away towards Port Said, while we are, by Captain Ringgold's order, headed for Cyprus?" asked the captain.
"Of course I can. He expects by this means to draw off the Fatty, and set her to chasing the Maud, so that the party will not be bothered with any conspiracies while we are going through the canal," replied Louis.
"What then?"
"If the Fatty chases us, the Guardian-Mother will put in an appearance before any harm comes to the Maud, or to any one on board of her."
"Precisely so; that is the way the business is laid out," replied Captain Scott; but he looked just as though something more might be said which he did not care to say.
"But it remains to be shown whether the Fatty will follow the Maud or the ship," added Louis.
"She will not follow the Guardian-Mother," said the navigator very decidedly.
"How do you know, Captain? You speak as positively as though Captain Mazagan had told you precisely what he intended to do."
"Of course he has told me nothing, for I have not seen him. Common-sense is all I have to guide me."
They were about to go into a further discussion of the question when Felix came tumbling down the ladder from the upper deck as though he was in a hurry.