"Fore-top, I believe," replied Peter. "Not sure, though. It depends, so the Commander informs me, upon the disposition of the little stunt I'm supposed to be in charge of. When are we going south, do you know?" Cavendish shook his head. "Waiting for the oil-tankers, I believe. And there's trouble with the _Repulse's_ under-water fittings. We can't go without her. Dockyard divers might fix up the damage. Wonder if the Rioguayan navy will come out, or will it act like the Hun High Seas Fleet? Hello, what's that? General signal." The two officers were pacing that side of the quarter-deck which was theirs by custom. The other side was by the same tradition the owner's. From the signal yard and almost immediately above their heads a hoist of gaily-coloured bunting fluttered in the breeze. It was the signal to "weigh and proceed". Cavendish gave a low whistle. "What's up now?" he asked. A messenger from the decoding officer came hurrying aft. The lieutenant stopped him, and repeated his question. "They're out, sir," replied the man, saluting. "Enemy have appeared in force off Barbadoes and Barbuda." "Good business, Peter," ejaculated Cavendish. "They're raiding. Will try to bust up Jamaica before they've done. We'll give it to 'em in the neck." For the next half-hour a scene of bustling activity took place. Steam pinnaces were scurrying between the ships and the dockyard, picking up liberty men, who had been hastily recalled to duty. The final consignments of urgent stores were being hurriedly unloaded from lighters alongside the warships. Cruisers and destroyers not lying at moorings were already shortening cable. Derricks were swinging in and out as they hoisted the heavy boom-boats. The signal halliard blocks were _cheeping_ as hoist after hoist of bunting rose and fell from the ship's upper-bridges; the semaphores waved their arms with bewildering rapidity as if mutually bewailing their inability to join in the din. Above all other sounds came the hiss of escaping steam. It was a chance--a chance at long odds--but the Admiral was throwing away no opportunity. The Rioguayan fleet was out. Possibly in ignorance of the presence of the British warships concentrated at Bermuda, the Republicans thought it a propitious moment to carry out a "sweep" amongst the Windward Islands. At a moderate estimate, they might reach a point some eight hundred miles from their base at San Antonio. Bermuda was approximately 1200 miles away from the estuary of the Rio Guaya. The proposition that confronted the British admiral was the chance of being able to intercept the enemy before the latter gained the shelter afforded by the neutral waters of the Republics of San Valodar and San Benito.