"Avast heaving!" he continued, at a sign from my father, and the
clanking of the winch ceased, the dripping anchor hanging just clear
of the surface. In the tideless sea, with not a breath of wind to
ruffle the absolutely calm water, the "Fortuna" lay motionless,
awaiting the approach of her rival.
"Blest if I don't know 'er!" exclaimed one of the crew. "Why, if she
ain't the old 'Ermyhony' that used ter lie off Priddy's. 'Ard when I
was in the 'Nelson' I'll eat my 'at."
"The what did he say?" I asked the doctor.
"The 'Hermione' I suppose he means," he replied with a smile.
"Hoist our colours," ordered my father, and the blue ensign was run
up to the mizzen-truck, where it hung motionless in the still
atmosphere.
The strange yacht still held on her course, and slowly, so slowly
that it seemed like an exhibition of sulky reluctance, her ensign was
hoisted, and simultaneously, with a heavy splash and a loud rattle of
chain, the anchor was let go.
To me, her colours, as they hung in folds from her mainmast head,
appeared to be a mixture of blue, green, and yellow, but my ignorance
of their nationality was dispelled by a general exclamation, "The
Brazilian ensign!"
"There you are! Am I not right?" said my father.
"Yes," replied Uncle Herbert, who was studying the group on the
bridge through a glass. "And see that fellow by the chart-house door,
the second from the end? I would know him anywhere in spite of his
brass-bound togs. It's our old acquaintance, _alias_ James Ticket,
right enough. But see him scowl!"
"They're signalling, sir," said Lord, the quartermaster, as a string,
of bunting fluttered up from her bridge.
"International code: 'I want to communicate,'" reported the bos'n.
"Reply in the negative," repeated my father; "and give my compliments
to the Editor of the _Yachtsman's Fortnightly._"
The motor throbbed, and the "Fortuna," gathering way, showed her
stern to the Brazilian yacht, the crew of which were dividing their
attention between the vessel that had baulked their enterprise and
the gaunt outlines of the hulk of the "San Philipo," as, raised on
the summit of the reef, she stood out boldly against the cliffs of
the treasure island.
In another hour we had caught a favouring breeze, and the scene of
our many and varied adventures had disappeared beneath the horizon.
The "Fortuna" was homeward bound.
* * * * *
Little remains to be said concerning the "San Philipo" treasure. The
"Fortuna" had a long, though pleasant, passage home, Dr. Conolly
leaving the yacht at Singapore, where he received a cablegram from
London offering him his long-desired post as medical officer on a
liner.
Yadillah took his discharge at Suez, and, with a fair share of the
spoils, announced his intention of setting up as a bumboatman at that
port.
Eighteen months after our departure the "Fortuna" entered Fowey
Harbour, where an enthusiastic welcome awaited us.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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