as fast as we it would probably be impracticable to attract her
attention for some time, until, at any rate, we were clear of the
shipping. Surely then the sight of a cumbrous ferry-boat beating down
on an unwonted journey to the heads would draw their eyes and fill
their speculations. We were three miles out twenty minutes after
starting, and now it was obvious that we were not making ground, but
losing. The trail of the smoke swept the water behind her, and her nose
was plunging for the open sea. I was in despair. I shouted to the
captain in the effort to get him to hoist signals, and at last one was
found which suited the emergency. I have forgotten what it was, but it
apparently signified that help was required immediately. But still the
yacht held on, and the distance between us grew.

It seemed that I was after all destined to be free of the fortunes of
that ship, whatever they might be; and I stood by the captain of the
ferry-boat with a feeling of defeat and helplessness, silent, and
almost resigned. And then, by one of those strange ironies the solution
came to me, came to me too just as mere selfish considerations were
asserting themselves. I had thought of the Prince and the conspirators
if I had thought at all, certainly not of myself; and now came the
reflection that I had pledged my last sovereign in the endeavour to
catch the yacht, and that I was to be landed again in that foreign port
penniless. Was it under the stimulus of that thought that I recalled of
a sudden the first appearance of the _Sea Queen_ in my life, and
remembered the flash of the rocket?

"Have you any rockets?" I asked, turning abruptly round.

The man stared, smiled deprecatingly, and shook his head. He addressed
his mate in Portuguese, and they held an animated conversation. Finally
he turned to me, and the mate went below.

"There is one, he believes, monsieur," said the captain. "It was for
saving life, but it is old."

Well, old or new, I was resolved to try it, and presently, when the
mate appeared with a huge bomb in his hands, we set ourselves to work.
The men by this time were interested, and we had the rocket rigged in a
trice. The anxious moment was when we came to fire it. Would it fizzle
out. Was the touch long gone?

It resisted sullenly for some minutes, and then unexpectedly took the
bit in its teeth, if I may put it that way, and bolted. In the summer
evening sky was a great rush of light, and in my ears the hi