Just before dawn the Alerte brought St. Agnes' Head broad on the starboard beam. Then she turned and ran leisurely down the coast, bringing up off the little harbour of Portreath just as the sun appeared above the gaunt and rugged Cornish hills.
To the coast-watching station she made a signal announcing herself as the s.s. Eldorado of Sunderland from Bristol to Whitby, following up with a request to know whether it was practicable to send a boat ashore.
Portreath station replied that it could be done, but care was necessary on account of the disturbed state of the bar.
"Carry on, Mr. Pengelly," ordered the inexorable Captain Cain.
The boat made the harbour safely. Pengelly, on stepping ashore, was met by one of the Customs men.
"Hello!" remarked the latter. "Rather unusual you coming in here, isn't it?"
"I have to post important letters," replied Pengelly.
"Lucky you didn't bring up off here a week or so ago," commented the official. "We'd have to have searched you."
"What for?" asked the Alerte's second in command, with well-feigned innocence.
"'Cause of that pirate what was knocking about. Well, she's gone, thank goodness! I wasn't none too keen myself, putting off to a vessel that might have been manned by cutthroats."