and uncertain light as still
remained; then, knowing exactly where to look for the stranger, I once
more pointed the instrument in that direction, searching the horizon
closely and carefully for the smallest blur that might betray her. But
the effort was useless; she had vanished.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

AN EXCITING CHASE.

Now arose the question: What has become of the chase; had we simply lost
sight of her in the growing obscurity, and was she still steering the
same course as when last seen, or had her captain availed himself of
that obscurity to put in practice some trick in order to give us the
slip?

I brought the telescope to bear upon the _Dona Inez_, in the hope of
gathering from her actions some clue as to whether or not she still held
the chase in view; she was carrying on, holding to her original course,
and the inference to be drawn from this was that those aboard could
still see the stranger. But, even as I looked, a string of lanterns
soared up to her peak, from which position they were hidden from the
chase by the intervention of the brig's head-sails, and when the signal
was at length complete I found, as I had quite expected, that it was a
question as to whether we still held the stranger in view. This signal
I answered in the negative, by means of a whip from the lee lower yard-
arm, keeping the lanterns quite low, in the hope that they would thus
escape the observation of the chase, and I then got a second signal from
the commodore, which read:

"Steer as at present for one hour, then, failing further orders, haul
wind to north-east."

This signal I acknowledged in like manner as the first, and, while doing
so, saw that the brig had taken in her studding-sails and hauled her
wind. I noted the time, and found it to be close upon seven o'clock.
Half an hour later, while Keene and I were below at dinner, the faint
boom of a distant gun came floating down the open skylight to our ears,
and Simpson, who had charge of the deck, poked his head down through the
opening to make the report:

"Commodore signalling again, sir!"

Snatching the signal book from the locker upon which it had been thrown,
I dashed upon deck, and presently, by the light of the binnacle lamps,
deciphered the signal as follows:

"Tack to south-east."

"Right!" said I, "answer it. In studding-sails, Mr Simpson, and then
heave about on the port tack. Keep your eye on the commodore, and also
keep a bright look-out to wind