nly good run of it, considering that we were lying
twenty-four hours becalmed. If it had not been for that, we should
have been only four days from the Start to Saint Vincent."

The mate's calculations turned out correct, and at seven in the
morning they anchored a mile off Cape Saint Vincent. The gig was
lowered, and Frank was rowed ashore, taking with him a signal book
in which questions were given in several languages, including
Spanish. He had purchased it at Cowes before starting.

The signal officer was very polite, and fortunately understood a
little English. So Frank managed, with the aid of the book, to make
him understand his questions. No craft at all answering to the
description had been noticed passing during the last five or six
days; certainly no yacht had passed. She might, of course, have
gone by after dark.

He showed Frank the record of the ships that had been sighted going
east, and of those that had made their numbers as they passed. The
Phantom was not among the latter, nor did the rig or approximate
tonnage, as guessed, of any of the others, at all correspond with
hers.

After thanking the officer, Frank returned to his boat, and half an
hour later the Osprey was again under weigh.

At Ceuta, Tarifa, and Tangier there was a similar want of success.
Such a craft might have passed, but if so she was either too far
away to be noted, or had passed during the night. From Tangier he
crossed to Gibraltar, and anchored among the shipping there.

So far everything had gone to confirm his theory that the Phantom
would not go up the Mediterranean. Of course, she might have passed
the three places, as well as Saint Vincent, at night; or have kept
so nearly in the middle of the Strait as to pass without being
remarked. Still, the chances were against it, and he regarded it as
almost certain that she would have put into one or other of the
African ports, as she passed them, for water, fresh meat and fruit.

It was six days after the Osprey passed Saint Vincent before she
anchored off Gib. She had made her number as she came in, and in a
short time the health officer came out in a boat. The visit was a
formal one; the white ensign on her taffrail was in itself
sufficient to show her character, and that she must have come
straight from England; and the questions asked were few and brief.

"We are ten days out," Frank said. "We have touched at Tarifa,
Ceuta, and Tangier, but that is all. The crew are all