“Lady Ethel was with your wife on the wharf. I am sorry that they did not come a quarter of an hour earlier. Lady Mildred will be very miserable.”
“And so will her husband. But we won’t talk of it, Drake. I have made up my mind to think of one thing, and one thing alone—the Congo. This may be a rash adventure of ours, but it shall not fail from any lack of energy on my part. And here’s luck to it,” Gaunt remarked as he raised his glass to his lips.
As they steamed down the channel the weather grew so rough that many of the passengers were confined to their cabins. But they had determined to make no acquaintances, and kept themselves strictly to themselves, so they were rather glad than otherwise. Upon reaching the bay of Biscay, as is often the case, the sea was smoother and they were able to spend more time in the open air. It was not until the fourth day that anything of moment happened. It was just after twelve o’clock that they saw smoke on the horizon, and soon they could make out a steamer that was traveling very rapidly.
“Looks like one of our small cruisers,” the first officer remarked to them.
And it was not until the war-ship was but some two or three miles astern that they knew that she was the Esmeralda.
“She is flying the San Salvador flag,” the officer remarked.
Gaunt ran for his glasses, and fixed them on the vessel of which he was the temporary owner and his heart beat more rapidly as he noticed her workmanlike appearance.
“She is doing well over twenty knots, and I should say she carries turbines. A smart little ship,” the friendly officer continued.
The Esmeralda was quickly overhauling them, and soon signal flags fluttered on the Saxon which were answered by the cruiser.
“What does she say?” Gaunt asked quickly.