"Burgoyne, sir."
"And we've given 'em the slip, eh? Yes, the firing's stopped right enough. Where am I?"
"In good hands," replied Alwyn. "You've been knocked about a bit, but Holmes and the steward have patched you up all right."
"Yes, I remember," rejoined Captain Blair. "I told you to carry on, and everything's O.K.?"
Reassured on that point, the Old Man gave a long sigh, closed his eyes, and sank into a sound slumber.
Towards morning Burgoyne noticed, by consulting his compass, that the Donibristle had altered her course and was steering due west.
"Kamtchatka's off," he announced, as Tarrant appeared munching a biscuit. "They've altered course four points to the west'ard."
"And that means?" asked the Consular Service man. "That we make Japan if we carry on as we are going," replied Alwyn.
"H'm; s' long as they land me within easy distance of my destination I welcome the alteration," observed Tarrant. "But perhaps they're making for a coral island or something of that sort. Are there any hereabouts?"
"Evidently they mean to give Hawaii a wide berth," said Burgoyne. "After that there are only a few small islands—the Ocean Islands they're called. I've never been there, because they lie to the nor'ard of our regular track and a good way south of the Yokohama-San Francisco route."