a helpless victim to drift about upon the open sea. But whence those
sounds?

He painfully raised himself to a sitting posture and looked out. To his
astonishment, he found himself and boat upon the deck of a swiftly
moving steamer.

Then he saw it all, and realized what had happened. He caught a glimpse
of the rays of the searchlight that still streamed across the water, and
a moment after heard the boom of a cannon out at sea.

"The New York!" he exclaimed. "She is in pursuit! But she's too far
away, and can never catch this fast boat. The only chance of her
stopping it is with one of her big guns."

And then, involuntarily, he shuddered as he thought that, bound and
helpless, he would share the fate of the Spanish crew if a shot from the
flagship should penetrate the ship's side and send it to the bottom!

He moved a little toward the stern of his boat, as best he could, to get
a better view of the light that showed the approaching flagship. As he
did so he struck a round, hard object that lay behind him.

"The unexploded shell!" he exclaimed, as he recognized what it was. "I
still have that with me, at any rate!"

And then he began to tug at the ropes that bound his arms in a frantic
effort to loosen them.

The rapid throb of the engines below and another boom of cannon from out
to sea told that the chase was becoming a hot one.

CHAPTER XXXII.

CLIF FARADAY'S TEST.

The excitement among the crew of the Spanish steamer was intense as they
watched the light from the flagship and noted the course of the
projectiles that came toward them. For this reason they had not observed
Clif's movements, and gave themselves no concern about him.

Whatever may have been his intended course of action, he was at last
compelled to abandon it.

Strain and tug as he would at the cords that bound his arms, they
remained intact, nor could his ingenuity devise any way of releasing
himself from their hold. Though hastily tied, the knots had been put
there to stay, and Clif at last realized that it was a hopeless task to
try to undo them.

But though he could not free his arms and legs, he could use his eyes,
and the scene was one thrilling enough to rivet his attention.

The fast moving steamer, urged to its utmost speed, the exclamations of
hope and fear among its crew, the more majestically moving flagship
whose deficiencies of speed were more than atoned for by the range of
her guns, suggested possibilities t