ig if you hail the deck, and so apprise them
of our approach. We must avoid that if possible; I want to get
alongside the craft and take her by surprise, and we may have some
trouble in accomplishing that if they suspect that we are after them.
The _Daphne_ is a fast ship, but so also is the brig, and I am by no
means certain that she has not the heels of us. We must devise a little
code of signals from you to the deck, so as to obviate any necessity for
hailing. Can anyone suggest anything?"

A very simple plan had occurred to me whilst the skipper was speaking,
and as no one else seemed to have a suggestion to make, I offered mine.

"If the pennant halliards were cast adrift down here on deck, sir, and
held by one of us," I said, "Mr Mildmay could get hold of them aloft,
and one tug upon them might mean `port,' two tugs `starboard,' and three
`steady.'"

"Excellent!" exclaimed the skipper, "and perfectly simple; we will adopt
it forthwith, and you shall attend to the deck-end of the halliards, Mr
Hawkesley, with Mr Keene and Mr Peters to pass the word from you along
the deck to the helmsman. Place us in a good weatherly position, Mr
Mildmay, if you please, so that when we run clear of the fog the brig
may have no chance to dodge us."

"Ay ay, sir, never fear for me," answered Old Mildmay as he swung nimbly
into the main rigging, and in a few seconds his body disappeared in the
mist.

The old fellow soon put us in the right course, and away we went,
crowding sail after the invisible brig. An anxious half-hour followed,
and then we ran out of the fog and found ourselves creeping along
parallel with the land to the northward of the river-mouth, with the
brig about half a mile ahead of us under every stitch of canvas she
could show to the freshening land-breeze. We had gained on her
considerably, the master having kept a keen eye upon her gleaming upper
canvas whilst piloting us out of the river and steering in such a
direction as to very nearly cut her off altogether. He of course came
down on deck as soon as we had cleared the fog, and Captain Vernon at
once ordered the crew to quarters.

The men were not long in getting to their stations, and when all was
ready a gun was fired after the flying brig, as a polite request for her
to heave-to, and the ensign hoisted to the peak. I was naturally very
anxious to see what notice would be taken of this, since the somewhat
high-handed course we were taking with t