are of the prize money! It makes me sick!"

"Captain Tonkaka tells me that other Japanese warships are in this
vicinity," said Captain Ponsberry. "They may fall in with the schooner
even if we don't. But what they will do with her, in that case, there is
no telling. They might claim her as a prize also, and if they did, I'd
have some trouble in getting my property back."

What the Japanese captain had said was true. In order to counteract the
doings of the Russian squadron which was raiding the northern and
eastern coasts of Japan, the Mikado had sent out a flying squadron of
six or seven vessels, all of which, though not large, had good sailing
powers.

Owing to the heavy mists, the flying squadron became separated, and two
of the vessels fell in with the _Pocastra_, as already described. Of the
other ships some proceeded up the coast to Korea and caught two Russian
colliers loaded with coal and another ship carrying steel rails for the
Manchuria railroad. The remainder of the squadron put further to sea,
and on the fourth day out caught sight of two Russian steamers loaded
with munitions of war. A chase ensued, lasting three days, and several
shots were exchanged at long range. But a mist, coming up one night, put
an end to the chase, and chagrined to think that the enemy had given
them the slip after all, the Japanese turned back once more, to look for
the other vessels of the flying squadron.

CHAPTER XVII

THE RETAKING OF THE "COLUMBIA"

"We are in for another storm!"

It was Larry who made the remark. He was in one of the tops with Luke,
gazing anxiously to the westward, where the black clouds were beginning
to pile up.

"Right you are, lad--and it's going to be a heavy one, unless I miss my
guess."

The storm broke half an hour later, and the wind and rain were so
furious that our friends were glad to leave the top and go below. But
some of the Japanese sailors did not appear to mind the lashing of the
elements and remained on deck as if nothing out of the ordinary was
occurring.

"These chaps beat me!" said Larry. "They are certainly as tough as pine
knots. I never saw their equal."

"I'm beginning to think that the Japanese are a wonderful nation," put
in Tom Grandon, seriously. "I used to look at them as something like the
Chinese. But there is a wide difference between them and the Chinks."

"A Chinaman isn't in it alongside of a Japanese," came from Captain
Ponsberry. "The Japanese ar