“I have caused inquiries to be made, and find that there are no homeward-bound ships in the harbor. So this young lady, I am selfishly glad to know, has no option but to go on with us for the present,” added the captain. “Unless she prefers to accept the hospitality tendered her by the Burneys; in which case she can remain at Silver Tree Villa, and wait for a homeward-bound ship. What do you say, Miss Conyers?” inquired Justin, turning toward her. “I say that, with the captain’s kind permission, I will stay where I am,” replied Britomarte. And so that matter was settled. CHAPTER XXXV. THE CHASE. With the first tide the next morning the ship sailed. The weather kept its promise and was very fine. The ship steered northeast, flying before a fresh wind at the rate of ten or eleven knots an hour. And all day long our passengers lounged upon the deck, reading, promenading or chatting; and all the evening they played whist in the captain’s cabin. And day and night the captain kept a man at the masthead on the lookout, and relieved him every two hours, that his vigilance might not slacken. But days and nights went by and there was no sign of the _Sea Scourge_, or any other ship, on all the lonely sea. At length one evening when the tropical full moon and great stars made all the sky and sea almost as bright as day, and the officers off duty were lounging on the deck, and the captain and his party were playing whist in the cabin, there came a cry from the man at the masthead: “Sail ho!” It roused the officers on deck like the blast of a trumpet does the war horse. They “snuffed the battle afar off.” It startled all the whist players in the cabin, except the phlegmatic captain, who went on counting his points: “Two by tricks and two by honors; and five before! We’re nine to their nine, Miss Conyers. And now all depends upon the odd trick. So we must look sharp!—I knew we should overhaul her at last! Parson, it’s my deal.” But no one listened to the captain. Every one was straining their ears to catch the voices from the deck. “Sail ho!” The cry rung through the night air like an alarm. “Where away?” called the officer of the forward watch. “About three points off our weather bows.” “What do you make of her?” “Can’t make her out yet!” While this bawling was going on aloft, the captain of the ship sat quietly over his rubber of whist. Presently Lieutenant Ethel came below, touched his cap, and said: “If you please, sir, we have made a strange sail.” “What do you make of her?” inquired the captain, without ceasing to deal his cards. “We can make nothing of her as yet, except that she appears to have seen us and is running away.”