"Of course they are!" continued Burke. "And I don't wonder at it! Why, I don't believe such a cargo of gold ever left a port since the beginning of the world! For such a thing as that is enough to tempt anybody with the smallest streak of rascal blood in him and who could get hold of a ship! "Well, these three vessels were fitting out hard as they could,--two in France, at Toulon and Marseilles, and one in Genoa; and although the detectives were almost positive what their business was, they were not sure that they could get proof enough to stop them. If the _Dunkery Beacon_ had been going on a straight voyage, even to Rio Janeiro, she might have got away from them, but, you see, she was goin' to touch at Jamaica! "And now, now,--this very minute,--that slow old steamer and those three pirates are on the Atlantic Ocean together! Why, it makes your blood creep to think of it!" "Indeed it does! It's awful!" cried Mrs. Cliff. "And what are the London people going to do?" "They're not going to do anything so far as I know!" said Burke. "If they could get through with the red-tape business necessary to send any sort of a cruiser or war-vessel after the _Dunkery Beacon_ to protect her,--and I'm not sure that they could do it at all,--it would be a precious long time before such a vessel would leave the English Channel! But I don't think that they'll try anything of the sort; all I know is, that the London people sent a cable message to Captain Horn. I suppose that they thought he ought to know what was likely to happen, considerin' that he was the head man in the whole business!" "And what did the Captain do?" cried Mrs. Cliff. "What could he do?" "I don't know," answered Burke. "I expect he did everything that could be done in the way of sending messages; and among other things, he sent that telegram, about a thousand words more or less, to Shirley. He might have telegraphed to me, perhaps, but he didn't know my address, as I was wandering around. But Shirley, you know, is a fixture in his shipyard;--and so he sent it to him!" "I haven't a doubt," said Mrs. Cliff, "that he would have telegraphed to you if he had known where you were!" "I hope so," said Burke. "And when he had told Shirley all that had happened, he asked him to pull up stakes, and sail by the first steamer he could catch for Jamaica. There was a chance that he might get there before the _Dunkery Beacon_ arrived, or while she was in port, and then he could tell everything to make her captain understand that he needn't be afraid to lose anything on account of his ship stopping in Kingston harbor until arrangements could be made for his carrying his gold in safety to Lima. Captain Horn didn't think that the pirates would try to do anything before the _Dunkery Beacon_ left Kingston. They would just follow her until she got into the South Atlantic, and then board her, most likely!