, and trusted with perfect confidence to his heels.

Michael Roburoff was the hero of the moment, and the captain
cordially thanked him for his prompt attempt to frustrate the
atrocious act of the spy which deliberately endangered the liberty
and perhaps the lives of more than a thousand non-combatants.
Michael, however, cut his thanks short by taking him aside and asking
him what he thought of the position of affairs. He spoke so seriously
that the captain thought he was frightened, and by way of reassuring
him replied cheerily--

"Don't have any fear for the _Aurania_, Mr. Roburoff. That's only a
cruiser, or perhaps a couple, down there, and the enemy haven't a
ship that I can't give a good five knots and a beating to. We shall
sight the British ships soon after daybreak, and by that time those
fellows will be fifty miles behind us."

"I have as much confidence in the _Aurania's_ speed as you have,
Captain Frazer," replied Michael, "but I'm afraid you are underrating
the enemy's strength. Do you know that within the last few days it
has been almost doubled, and that a determined effort is to be made,
not only to catch or sink the _Aurania_, but also to break the
British line of posts, and cut the line of American and Canadian
communication altogether?"

"No, sir," replied the captain, looking sharply at Michael. "I don't
know anything of the sort, neither do the commanders of the British
warships on this side. If your information is correct, I should like
to know how you came by it. You are a Russian by name"--

"But not a subject of the Tsar," quickly interrupted Michael. "I am
an American citizen, and I have come by this information not as the
friend of Russia, as you seem to suspect, but as her enemy, or rather
as the enemy of her ruler. How I got it is my business. It is enough
for you to know that it is correct, and that you are in far greater
danger than you think you are. The signal given by that French spy
was evidently part of a prearranged plan, and for all you know you
may even now be surrounded, or steaming straight into a trap that has
been laid for you. If I may advise, I would earnestly counsel you to
double on your course and make every effort to rejoin the other liner
and the cruisers we have passed."

"Nonsense, sir, nonsense!" answered the captain testily. "Our
watch-dogs are far too wide awake to be caught napping like that. You
have been deceived by one of the rumours that are filling the a