"I borrowed the North Atlantic Directory of Captain Ringgold when I saw him looking it over. It treats mainly of prevailing winds, of tides and currents," replied the captain. "I had read in some other book that a current from the Atlantic always sets into the Mediterranean through the Strait." "Faix, Oi'd think the big say'd git full, loike an Oirishman at Donnybrook Fair," interposed Felix. "The Directory don't take that view, and says it has sometimes been known to flow outward," added Scott. "But there are currents near the shores which set out on the tide." "Then we seem to be mixed up in a lot of currents," said Louis. "Felipe is very anxious to know what speed the Maud is making; for he says her usual rate used to be ten knots an hour, though she averaged only about nine during our voyage from Madeira to Tarifa. He has been at work on the engine, and he thinks he can make even more than that out of her." "Begorra, she is makin' ut loively this afternoon," suggested Felix. "It is easy enough to come at it," replied Captain Scott. "I gave out west south-west for the course when we were just two miles off Europa Point, from which we take our departure. When the lighthouse at Tarifa bears north by the compass, we shall have run fifteen knots." "That's it to a hair!" exclaimed Louis. "I knew it was to be done in about that manner." The steamer continued on her course for over an hour along the north shore, and as the distance from the land increased the captain looked out for the bearings of Tarifa lighthouse. CHAPTER XIX ENTER ALI-NOURY PACHA AND THE FATIMÉ There were two compasses on board of the Maud, and Captain Scott had one of them on the forecastle. Using his ingenuity, he had arranged a couple of sights so that he could accurately obtain the bearing of the Tarifa lighthouse. "Now we have it!" exclaimed he at the right moment. "Two: forty-five!" shouted Louis, as he looked at his watch. "We took our departure at one: thirty, and we have made this distance in one: fifteen, fifteen miles," added the captain. "But that is incredible!" protested Louis; "for that gives her twelve knots an hour, and, according to your statement, we have been going against the current that always sets out of the Strait." "The Directory does not admit that it always sets that way, though it does so nearly always," said Scott. "Besides, the statement is that the tide sets out near the shores on both sides. It is in the middle of the Strait that the great current runs into the Mediterranean, and only the last five miles of our course was anywhere near the middle. It is plain enough to me that we have been helped by the outward current near the land, and retarded the last fifteen or twenty minutes." "Swing six and cast out noine, and ye's will come to ut," laughed Felix, who did not take so much interest in the discussion as his companions.