“The Chinese squadron is due in Singapore in three days,” Impey explained anxiously. “To-day is the 16th; that will be the 19th. It is nearly fourteen hundred miles. Your fleet will need over four days to arrive there. Meanwhile the destination of the Japanese fleet must become known, and America will order her fleet in Manila Bay to proceed to Singapore. Once there, the exchange can be made even in a neutral port, because China has given her consent, which she refused to give to Japan.”
Takishima was puzzled. Would Captain Inaba have set forth with so little chance of success?
“I cannot make a promise until I am sure you will be true to your word,” the lieutenant said coldly. “How may we be sure that you can persuade the Chinese admiral to sail?”
“I have prepared myself for just such an emergency,” Impey replied, proud of his duplicity even in his anxiety over his predicament. He drew out from his inner pocket a large envelope, a duplicate of the one he had given Phil. “Here is an order from the Wai-Wu-Pu to the Chinese admiral to turn his ships over to the Japanese fleet.”
Takishima stretched out his hand eagerly, for he recognized distinctly the great yellow seal of the Dragon Kingdom, but Impey backed away, the document clutched tightly in his hand.
“Your promise first; the word of a Samurai,” he cried earnestly, “and the paper is yours.”
Before Takishima could reply a shiver passed through the frail vessel, and both men saw at once that the engines, which had been only turning over slowly, had suddenly been set to full speed. Impey, forgetting the promise he had been so anxious to obtain from the Japanese naval officer, suddenly hastened to the deck, and gazed about him. His eyes encountered a wall of fog into which the yacht had entered. Off on the port bow he heard a deep throated whistle, apparently from the scout cruiser. His pulse beat high at this sudden and joyful deliverance. He forgot the young Japanese and the duplicate letter to the Chinese admiral.
CHAPTER XXII
PLOT AND COUNTERPLOT
Phil and Sydney were on deck early in the morning. The fog had continued during the afternoon and night, and Captain Bailey had skilfully shaped the “Sylvia’s” course through the Formosa Channel. The night had been uneventful; no vessel had been sighted. The Americans continued their watches on deck, still distrusting a conspiracy between Impey and his friends to get control of the yacht.
But one incident had marred the happiness of their miraculous escape from the Japanese scouts. Takishima had been found in the wireless room by O’Neil and Marley, attempting to wreck the plant, and before he had been discovered and marched back docilely to his stateroom, he had managed to put the wireless of the yacht temporarily out of commission. With the able assistance of Randall, who was luckily a skilful electrician and whose aid was enthusiastically given, the wireless gear would soon again be in working order. The avenue of escape from Takishima’s cabin through Impey’s was thereafter sealed by removing Impey to a cabin at the other end of the saloon.