The powerful glass brought every detail into view with extraordinary clearness. As Bob slowly swept the craft from stem to stern it seemed as though she was but a few yards distant. For an instant his gaze rested on the pilot house; then he lowered the glass, giving him the range of the upper deck.
A man leaning over the rail near the forward end, with a megaphone in his hand and surrounded by a group, immediately attracted Bob Somers’ attention. Their faces, sharply revealed in the circle of light, were all turned toward the motor yacht with an interest which seemed to him unusual.
“Looks as though the man is going to hail us,” he murmured.
He removed the glass, and, instantly, the whaleback seemed to be shot far back on the waste of water.
When the two craft were within a short distance of each other, Captain Bunderley, considerably surprised to notice that the steamer had stopped her screw, gave orders to shut off power.
“The ‘Fearless’ ahoy!” yelled a voice through the megaphone.
“That’s Captain Phillips,” declared Skipper Bunderley. “A good friend of mine, too. He wouldn’t stop out here unless he had something important to say.” He raised his voice in a sonorous yell. “What’s that, Phillips?”
“I want to ask if you can do me a great favor?” came from the captain of the whaleback.
CHAPTER XV
AN UNEXPECTED VOYAGE
A few minutes later, so skilfully had Martin Ricks handled the “Fearless” that she was bobbing up and down on the leeward side of the monster steamer, which was still going slowly ahead under its own momentum. Its decks, rising high above them, and suggestive of some great building, seemed to have the singular effect of flattening the motor yacht almost down to the water’s edge.