ed. "Any one aboard the _Rosan_ seen or heard
anything of Captain Code Schofield, of the Grande Mignon schooner
_Charming Lass?_"

Code rose out of his chair, took off his hat ironically, and swung it
before him as he made a low bow.

"At your service!" he shouted. "I was picked up three days ago, adrift
in my dory. What do you want with me?"

This sudden avowal created a half panic aboard the mysterious
schooner, and the man astern exchanged his megaphone for field-glasses.
After a long scrutiny he went back to the megaphone.

"Congratulations, captain!" came the bellow. "When are you going to
rejoin the _Lass?_"

"As soon the _Rosan_ catches her," replied Code, and then, exasperated
by the unexpected maneuvers of this remarkable vessel, he cried: "Who
are you and what do you want that you chase me all over the sea?"

Instantly the man put down the megaphone and gave orders to the crew,
and in five minutes she was on her way north into the very heart of
the fleet.

"I don't know who she is or why she is or who is aboard her," he told
Nellie, after recounting to her the previous visitation of the
schooner. "She reminds me of a nervous old hen keeping track of a
stray chick. Pretty soon I won't be able to curse the weather without
being afraid my guardian will hear me. I say guardian, and yet I
don't know whether she is friendly or merely fixing up some calamity
to break all at once. You know I have enemies. She may be working for
them."

The girl could offer no solution, nor could Bijonah Tanner, who had
witnessed the incident from the forecastle head where he was smoking
and anticipating the wishes of the cod beneath him. He had walked aft,
and the three discussed the mystery.

"Ever see her before, captain?" asked Code.

If there was any man who knew schooners that had fished the Banks or
the Bay of Fundy, it was Bijonah Tanner.

"Don't cal'late I ever did. I've never saw _jest_ that set to a
foregaff nor _jest_ that cut of a jumbo-jib afore."

Tanner watched the schooner as she scudded away.

"Mighty big hurry, I allow," he remarked. "But, Jiminy, doesn't she
sail! There ain't hardly an air o' wind stirrin' and yet look at her
go! She's a mighty-able vessel."

It was about four o'clock the next afternoon that the _Rosan_ crept up
in the middle of the fishing fleet. She had made a long berth
overnight, dressed an excellent morning's catch, and knocked off half
a day because Bijonah did not feel it r