else. But another thought came into his head suddenly. 'It is
a wonder,' he said to his second in command, who had rejoined him after
sending the boat away.

"By that time both of them had been struck by the fact that the ship so
suddenly discovered had not manifested her presence by ringing her bell.

"'We came in very quietly, that's true,' concluded the younger officer.
'But they must have heard our leadsmen at least. We couldn't have passed
her more than fifty yards off. The closest shave! They may even have
made us out, since they were aware of something coming in. And the
strange thing is that we never heard a sound from her. The fellows on
board must have been holding their breath.'

"'Aye,' said the commanding officer, thoughtfully.

"In due course the boarding-boat returned, appearing suddenly
alongside, as though she had burrowed her way under the fog. The officer
in charge came up to make his report, but the commanding officer didn't
give him time to begin. He cried from a distance:

"'Coaster, isn't she?'

"'No, sir. A stranger--a neutral,' was the answer.

"'No. Really! Well, tell us all about it. What is she doing here?'

"The young man stated then that he had been told a long and complicated
story of engine troubles. But it was plausible enough from a strictly
professional point of view and it had the usual features: disablement,
dangerous drifting along the shore, weather more or less thick for days,
fear of a gale, ultimately a resolve to go in and anchor anywhere on the
coast, and so on. Fairly plausible.

"'Engines still disabled?' inquired the commanding officer.

"'No, sir. She has steam on them.'

"The commanding officer took his second aside. 'By Jove!' he said, 'you
were right! They were holding their breaths as we passed them. They
were.'

"But the second in command had his doubts now.

"'A fog like this does muffle small sounds, sir,' he remarked. 'And what
could his object be, after all?'

"'To sneak out unnoticed,' answered the commanding officer.

"'Then why didn't he? He might have done it, you know. Not exactly
unnoticed, perhaps. I don't suppose he could have slipped his cable
without making some noise. Still, in a minute or so he would have been
lost to view--clean gone before we had made him out fairly. Yet he
didn't.'

"They looked at each other. The commanding officer shook his head.
Such suspicions as the one which had entered his head are not defended
easily. He