Phil would have answered Impey’s sally by a denial, but Admiral Ting’s answer made it unnecessary.
“Mr. Perry, I will follow you,” he said quietly, rising from his chair and escorting them to the gangway, where their boat was waiting. “If we are successful you will have won the thanks of three nations and the applause of the civilized world.”
“And the dislike of a denationalized rascal,” Phil added with joy in his voice and a triumphant glance at the discomfited Impey as they passed down the gangway into the waiting boat.
With the “Sylvia” leading, the Chinese squadron steamed through the Singapore Straits and out into the China Sea. All the world soon knew that the coveted squadron had passed the city of Singapore, for it was cabled from there to every country. Then it disappeared as completely as if it had been swallowed up by the sea; days passed, and no news came of its arrival in any port.
It was the great mystery of the hour. The newspapers strained every effort and spared no expense to discover its whereabouts but without success.
The “Sylvia” had steered northwest, heading directly for the unknown bay on the coast of the Island of Paragua. A close watch was kept both during the day and night for the smoke of other vessels, but the course taken was so far out of the regular track of steamers plying between ports in the Orient that luckily none were sighted. The midshipmen desired that no eye should discover the position and destination of the squadron for fear that it would inform the world and cause searching war-ships to be sent to bring them back to civilization.
On the third day, after leaving Singapore, the high, densely-wooded coast of Paragua Island loomed before them, and before sunset the entire Chinese squadron had been piloted to a safe anchorage inside Malampaya Sound. Once inside, as Phil had said, the ships were as if at anchor in an inland lake. The sea was not visible and there were no signs of life ashore. The beach of the bay was lined with dense and impenetrable mangrove bushes, and back of that was the primeval forest.
“We are as completely cut off from the outside world as if we had landed on the planet Mars,” Phil exclaimed gleefully as he and Sydney returned from the Chinese flag-ship to the yacht. “Now we must possess our souls in patience; it would not do to communicate yet.”
Phil read the inquiry in Sydney’s face, so he continued to explain.
“We were seen passing Singapore three days ago, and if we used our wireless now to let the world know we are still on the earth, those with an analytical mind could figure out just how far from Singapore we must have come, and then a search might prove disastrous to our plans. The situation is one our rich newspapers would delight to unravel; they would spare no expense to find us by chartering if need be every steamship in the Orient and sending them out to hunt us down.”