There were not many people visible about the convict-ship's decks, for the hour was still early, and the business of the day had not yet begun--although, had she been British, her crew would already have been at the job of washing the decks and scouring the paint and brass-work. But here a solitary seaman slouched to and fro on the topgallant forecastle, keeping a perfunctory lookout; two or three others lolled over the rail forward, staring in stupid, open-mouthed wonderment at the silver shape of the _Flying Fish_; and the officer of the watch paced the bridge athwartships with an air of great importance, pausing for a moment every time he passed the compass, to glance into its bowl, or murmur a word to quicken the vigilance of the helmsman. As the _Flying Fish_, her name temporarily masked by tarpaulins carelessly dropped over it, ranged up on the other craft's starboard quarter, close enough to heave a biscuit aboard her, this man paused in his strutting march, and, standing at the extreme end of the bridge, gazed with quite visible perturbation at the strange apparition that seemed to have sprung from nowhere in particular within a very few minutes; and presently, having meanwhile seemingly made up his mind that what he beheld was really a ship, hailed in Russian-- "Ho, the ship ahoy! Port your helm, and sheer off a bit; you'll be aboard me if you are not careful!" At the same time he waved his hand to his own helmsman to starboard his helm. But Mildmay was a British naval officer--a man who, by training and the tradition of the Service, had acquired the habit of prompt resolution, and an equal promptitude of action in the conversion of such resolution into an accomplished fact. The helmsman of the _Ludwig Gadd_, therefore, had scarcely begun to revolve his steering-wheel ere the _Flying Fish_, with her speed accurately reduced to that of the other vessel, had sheered still closer, while von Schalckenberg, prompted by his companion, hailed in Russian, through one of the pilot-house ports-- "_Ludwig Gadd_, ahoy! Is your captain on deck?" "No, he is not," bawled back the Russian officer. "Why should he be on deck at this unearthly hour of the morning? And if you do not instantly sheer off, I will give orders to my men to open fire upon you! What do you want? and what do you mean by sheering up alongside me in this manner?" The professor rapidly translated this communication to Mildmay, and at once, again prompted by the latter, replied--