CONTENTS

CHAP.
I. [THE "SCRAPPED" CRUISER]
II. [THE INTERRUPTED MATCH]
III. [THE DESTROYER'S QUEST]
IV. [THE OUTRAGE ON THE HIGH SEAS]
V. [OVERHAULED]
VI. [TRAPPED]
VII. [HOLDING THE CONNING-TOWER]
VIII. [THE PERIL OF THE VOICE-TUBE]
IX. [HOLDING UP "L'ÉGALITÉ"]
X. [THE HYDRO-AEROPLANES]
XI. [HOKOSUKA'S SLEIGHT-OF-HAND]
XII. [THE "DUKE OF NEGROPONT"]
XIII. [THE HOSTAGES ARE MADE USE OF]
XIV. [THE FORTUNE OF WAR]
XV. [RAMMING AN ICEBERG]
XVI. [CARDYKE TO THE RESCUE]
XVII. [TOUCH AND GO]
XVIII. [MUTINY AND A RUSE THAT FAILED]
XIX. [CERVILLO DESERTS HIS CREW]
XX. [THE RECAPTURE OF THE "INDEPENDENCIA"]
XXI. [DRAKE MEETS THE YACHT "SERENA"]
XXII. [JUAN CERVILLO KEEPS HIS VOW]
XXIII. [FORESTALLED]
XXIV. [THE COCKED HAT]
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
[CRASH! A SHELL STRIKING THE BASE OF THE FUNNEL REDUCED IT TO ATOMS] Frontispiece

[RIGHT AHEAD CAME A HUGE BATTLE-CRUISER]

[A NOOSE WAS ADROITLY THROWN OVER HIS SHOULDERS AND JERKED TIGHT]

[THE SHOT CAUGHT THE DECOY-BEARER JUST BELOW THE KNEE]

[BEFORE CERVILLO COULD RECOVER FROM HIS ASTONISHMENT HE WAS FLOORED BY THE ATHLETIC SUB]

[HALF-A-DOZEN SEAMEN, HEADED BY THE RENEGADE ENGLISHMAN, BURST INTO THE ROOM]

[THE PIRATES RUSHED FOR THE BOATS]

[AFTER A QUARTER OF AN HOUR'S SUSPENSE THE "INDEPENDENCIA" GAINED THE OPEN SEA]

[HE STRUGGLED DESPERATELY TO THROW HIMSELF ONCE MORE INTO THE SEA]

THE STOLEN CRUISER

CHAPTER I

THE "SCRAPPED" CRUISER

It was half-past eight on a May morning. The sun was obscured in a dense haze that the light south-westerly breeze failed to disperse.

Spithead lay enshrouded in the sea-fog, while from the deck of H.M. torpedo-boat destroyer Frome neither the low-lying land upon which Portsmouth is built nor the undulating downs of the Isle of Wight were visible.