CHAPTER V
THE HOAX
A thin grey mist lay upon the waters, giving the impression of a silvery veil of gauze stretched from sea to sky. The evening was calm, with not a breath of wind stirring, and the sea was ruffled by long, undulating furrows that pursued their way across the surface like great ripples, with never a "cat's paw" nor a speck of foam to break the monotony of their green-grey hue.
Looking strangely impalpable and ghostlike by reason of the mist, the destroyer Knat slipped swiftly through the water, heaving gently to the ground-swell. Upon the bridge Lieutenant-Commander Lawless stood smoking a pipe, and near him Sub-Lieutenant Trent reclined against the searchlight, likewise absorbing tobacco smoke and ozone. No other vessel was in sight and the only sound to be heard was the soft whirr of the turbines.
"This is what I call balmy and peaceful," remarked Lawless, taking the pipe from his mouth and knocking it against the handrail. "One could almost sing 'A Life on the Ocean Wave.'"
"Huh!" grunted Trent; "then it would be balmy without being peaceful."
As Lawless made no reply, he looked up to see the Lieutenant staring hard through the mist at a vague, shapeless something which might have been a ship, or a cliff, viewed through the murky atmosphere.
"Something ahead of us on the starboard bow," he said.
Both officers riveted their gaze upon the nebulous object which, as the destroyer overhauled it, assumed the shape and appearance of a large steamer, while their ears caught the steady throb of engines.