The first officer of the Belle o' Perth had already signaled for the captain. The latter came running, and a wave of excitement spread through the ship.
The passengers on deck crowded to the rail at which Belinda Melnotte and her party were already standing. There was no outcry, and the crew went about their duties, but like magic an armed officer appeared beside each boat, while the wireless began to crackle overhead.
Bell-signals rang back and forth between the quarter-deck and the engine room. One man appeared on deck with a life preserver strapped under his arms. At that, a woman shrieked and was borne below, sobbing. But there was no panic.
Indeed, a solemn silence seemed to brood over the ship and her company. The revolutions of the screws had been immediately increased. The ship was plowing through the sea swiftly; but the wavering, pipe-like periscope was coming up on a slant. Although the submarine was not speedy enough to cross the steamship's bows, she would soon be able to strike.
Aunt Roberta sank into a chair and put her hands over her eyes; but she made no murmur or complaint. Belinda and Sanderson stood together at the rail. Captain Dexter had suddenly departed.
The girl swept the arc of the horizon as far as she could see with her gaze. Ahead and to the eastward lay a fogbank. She wondered if the officers on the steamship's quarter-deck saw this. She placed a tentative hand upon Frank Sanderson's arm.
"See!" she whispered, pointing.
He turned the glasses forward and nodded. Then he suddenly dropped them and gazed directly into her excited face.
"Why," he murmured, "you are not frightened, Miss Melnotte."
"I—I do not know whether I am or not," she confessed. "But if that awful boat reaches us——"