The Hun bulwarks were lined with stolid-looking men whose faces looked like masks concealing a vulgar triumph. The _Titania's_ people simply ignored them. The common courtesies of the high seas were dispensed with; there were no dipping of ensigns and exchange of signals. For all the outward notice she attracted, the _Zug_ might have been non-existent. There was no lowering of screens revealing a battery of quick-firers; no foaming track of a torpedo; no attempt on the part of the Hun to put his helm hard over and ram his rival. No doubt the desire to do so was present, but the fear of detection and consequent punishment was too great. It was soon obvious to von Giespert and his henchman Strauss that the race was by no means a decided event. There was little doubt but that the German-owned vessel would arrive off the island first, but in the race against darkness the latter would win easily. With the suddenness common to tropical climes, the short twilight gave place to intense darkness. There was no moon and the stars were obscured. The _Titania_ displayed her navigation light, but the _Zug_ apparently did not. She might have shown her port and starboard lights, but even by the aid of night-glasses no red and green blurr was visible from the _Titania_; nor did the leading vessel hoist a stern light. All that indicated her presence was a phosphorescent swirl in the water under her stumpy counter, and an occasional display of sparks from her funnel. Harborough could well afford to hold on, although the low-lying reefs of Ni Telang were not so many miles away. Following in the wake of the _Zug_, he knew that the Hun vessel would give him fair warning of the partly-submerged danger, because if the Hun tramp piled herself upon the coral there would be sufficient time for the _Titania_ to port her helm hard over and avoid the danger. But presently the _Zug_ ported her helm. She had now displayed her navigation lights, and the white and green showed two points on the _Titania's_ starboard bow. "She's funked it, by Jove!" ejaculated Villiers. "And I don't blame her," added Harborough, straining his ears to catch the sound of the roar of the surf above the steady pulsations of the engines. "Now we'll have to watch her. It's like a game of musical chairs with two players for a solitary vacant seat. We'll have to keep our end up till dawn, and then we'll let them slip in." It was an eerie night. Except those whose duties required them to be below, the _Titania's_ crew remained on deck. Up and down on a four-mile beat parallel to the eastern side of Ni Telang the two vessels cruised, passing and repassing each other like two dogs "ready to wound and yet afraid to strike ". Occasionally the _Titania_ played her searchlights upon the island in order to verify her position, although Harborough took good care not to let the beams bear upon the rival ship.