visit to the _Virginia_; I was quite convinced there
could be no possible tampering with the name on the stern, while the
papers were undoubtedly genuine, and the crew were as undoubtedly
genuine Yankee as were the papers. Yet, despite all this, the fact that
such a suspicion had arisen in Captain Perry's mind caused it to recur
in my own; I was therefore very glad when he finally said:

"Thank you, Mr Fortescue. You appear to have executed your mission
very effectively, and to have done everything that I should have done,
had I been there. Of course I should have preferred to have been there
myself; but--well, I have no doubt the result would have been precisely
the same. Now, having found the _Virginia_, I am minded to send you
after her, to keep an eye upon her and also to drop a friendly hint to
any Yankee cruiser that you may happen to fall in with; for, although
you cannot touch her, they can; and they ought to be exceedingly
grateful for a hint that will ensure them against making any further
mistakes. Yes; you shall follow her up, every inch of the way; go into
the Congo with her, and, unless there is some very strong reason against
it, come out again with her and follow her right across the Atlantic to
her destination, wherever it may be. And while you are doing that, I--
confident that you are keeping the _Virginia_ under observation--will
look out for the _Preciosa_, and endeavour to nab her. Go and have a
yarn with Mr Hoskins while I prepare your written instructions."

The skipper was much longer than I had anticipated over the job of
drafting his written instructions to me, and Hoskins and I therefore had
an opportunity to discuss the situation at some length. I ventured to
voice the suspicion that, for some inexplicable reason, so persistently
suggested itself to me that the _Virginia_ and the _Preciosa_ might
possibly be one and the same vessel, despite the weighty evidence
against such a supposition, but the first lieutenant laughed at the
notion, which he pronounced in the highest degree fantastic.

"No," said he, "I do not think you need worry about that, Fortescue.
But, all the same, you will have to keep your weather eye lifting, on
this expedition upon which the captain is about to despatch you. For,
from your account of him, I judge the skipper of the _Virginia_ to be an
exceptionally vindictive individual, with a very strong animus against
us `Britishers,' as he calls us, and such men a