CHAPTER XXV A NOTE FOR CAPTAIN BURKE Notwithstanding the fact that the _Summer Shelter_ made very good time, that she had coaled at Nassau, and was therefore ready for an extended cruise, it was impossible for any of those on board of her to conceal from themselves the very strong improbability of sighting the _Dunkery Beacon_ after she had got out upon the wide Atlantic, and that she would pass the comparatively narrow channel south of Tobago Island before the yacht reached it, was almost a foregone conclusion. Mr. Burke assured Mrs. Cliff and his passengers that although their chase after the steamer might reasonably suggest a needle and a haystack, still, if the _Dunkery Beacon_ kept down the coast in as straight a line as she could for Cape St. Roque, and if the _Summer Shelter_ also kept the same line, and if the yacht steamed a great deal faster than the other vessel, it stood to reason that it could not be very long before the _Summer Shelter_ overhauled the _Dunkery Beacon_. But those who consulted with Mr. Portman were not so well encouraged as those who pinned their faith upon the Captain. The sailing-master had very strong doubts about ever sighting the steamer that had sailed away two days before they left Kingston. The ocean being so very large, and any steamer being so very small comparatively, if they did not pass her miles out of sight, and if they never caught up to her, he would not be in the least surprised. Four days had passed since they left Kingston, when Burke and Shirley stood together upon the deck, scanning the horizon with a glass. "Don't you think it begins to look like a wild goose chase?" said the latter. Burke thrust his hands into the pockets of his jacket. "Yes," said he, "it does look like that! I did believe that we were going to overhaul her before she got outside the Caribbees, but she must be a faster vessel than I thought she was." "I don't believe she's fast at all," said Shirley. "She's had two days' start, and that's enough to spoil our business, I'm afraid!" "But we'll keep on," said Burke. "We're not going to turn back until our coal bunkers tell us we've got to do it!" Steamers they saw, sometimes two in an hour,--sailing-vessels were sighted, near by or far away;--schooners, ships, or brigs, and these were steaming and sailing this way and that, but never did they see a steamer with a single funnel painted black and white, with the stripes running up and down.