“We’re all in for it,” Phil said bravely. “We were discovered by the Japanese battle-ships and will surely be chased by a torpedo boat. If we are overtaken before we clear the bay we’ll be brought back to Yokohama. “To us that will mean only a failure to thwart the aims of the Japanese,” he added, “but for Mr. Impey and his friends something more serious will be in store.” Impey’s face appeared pale and worried. “They can do nothing to me,” he exclaimed, striving to show a bold front. “They can deport me, but I am quite ready to leave Japan.” “Do you know the penalty, under the Japanese law, for breaking the Emperor’s seal?” Phil asked cruelly. “It’s five years in prison. How the Japanese lieutenant came to permit your two assistants to remain here, I can’t understand, unless they thought they’d be within easy reach. I shall take great pleasure in testifying against the lot of you, unless,” he added, “you stand by us and do all in your power to help us elude the vessel that soon will be in chase of us.” The midshipman waited quietly for an answer. “You can count on Wells and me,” Randall returned promptly. “I am in no mood to be introduced to a Japanese prison and a rice diet. If I can shake off the dust of this country nothing less than a Broadway beefsteak will suit me.” Wells nodded his head and raised a hand in agreement with his companion’s views. Phil’s eyes were on Impey. “I can’t see why you wanted me to go with you,” Impey said finally, in a petulant voice. “I offered you the yacht and gave you the permit from the Chinese cabinet. Of what further assistance can I be?” Phil smiled mysteriously. “I didn’t see the sense of taking only a paper permit when the living permit in the person of the agent for the builders of the ships was available,” he replied pointedly. “However, if you all will agree to obey me implicitly in everything and ask no questions, we shall elude the Japanese. If you don’t agree, then down you go under lock and key in one of the cabins.” Impey’s lip quivered irritably as he reluctantly gave an assent to Phil’s proposal. His subtle mind was attempting to solve what the midshipmen’s intentions might be. Nothing less, he decided, than to checkmate Captain Inaba and win the Chinese ships for the United States fleet--the course he himself had already outlined. The “Sylvia” was now tearing through the troubled waters of the bay at almost railroad speed. Her three turbine shafts were revolving at a far greater speed than they ever had before. The Chinese crew in the fire-room were told that their own lives depended upon the outcome of the race--that their old enemies the Japanese were chasing them. Their Oriental minds could not grasp the lack of logic in the warning. They knew that they had been hired for hazardous work, and were being paid a larger salary than they could get anywhere else in the Orient.