It was then we began to draw off a little, for we now had but one purpose—to keep an unwavering eye on the Orion. That vessel, it became plain, had come to have its single aim—to shake the Pearl from her trail. And now day after day, and night after night, the contest was on. The Orion at first put on every effort to outsail us; that was vain. Then she sought to hang us on dangerous shoals; but Captain Marat's charts told him where they lay. The Orion tried at night, by sudden changes in her course, to lose us in the dark. But sundown always found us clinging to her apron strings, and a sharp eye on every shift of her.
A week passed thus, and then the island of—well, suffice it to say it was an important island of the West Indies—This island hove in sight. The Orion made straight in, the Pearl at her heels. The frowning guns of a fort guarded the harbor and city, which lay on the west coast.
At ten of the morning the two schooners came to anchor. The Pearl chose a berth less than a hundred fathoms from the other. And it was little thought that these ships would go out of that harbor with rather a different distribution of passengers than that with which they went in.
CHAPTER XI
AT HIDE AND SEEK WITH THE ENEMY
The white buildings of that city, with the green mountain background, and the white beach, overhung with its graceful palms, presented a pleasing picture. I remember I thought what a place this would be to spend a peaceful holiday; to fish, to hunt, to feast on the luscious fruits, and explore those forests of mountain and valley, and the wonders of the caves. If only we had never come up with that fiend, Duran.
When Captain Marat had seen to it that all was snug, and the awning stretched, he turned his eyes toward the Orion, who likewise had stowed her cloth under gaskets.
"I did not think that Duran would come in to thees place," he said.
"He tried to shake us off his tail by running fast," said Ray; "and he tried to scrape us off on reefs; and now I guess he's come in here to try to crawl through some hole that'll be too small for us."