uite ready to land shot on board
of her, believing that he was doing well enough and that his prize would
surely be taken sooner or later. Besides, if she were, indeed, to become
a prize, no sound-minded sea-captain could be willing to shoot away her
selling value or that of her cargo.

Noon came, and there did not appear to be any important change in the
relative positions of the two ships. At times, indeed, the _Goshhawk_ had
gained a quarter-mile or so, but only to lose it again, as is apt to be
the case in ocean races. She was not at all tired, however, and both of
the contestants had all the wind they needed.

Two hours more went slowly by, and Captain Kemp began to exhibit signs
of uneasiness at the unexpected persistence with which he was followed.

"What on earth can be the matter?" he remarked, aloud. "I'd have thought
she'd get tired of it before this--"

"Captain!" sharply interrupted Zuroaga, standing at his elbow, glass in
hand. "Another sail! Off there, southerly. Seems to be a full-rigged
ship. What are we to do now?"

"Keep on!" roared the captain, and then he turned to respond to a
similar piece of unpleasant information which came down from the
lookout.

"We'll soon know what she is," he remarked, but not as if he very much
wished to do so. "What I'd like to do would be to sail on into the
darkest kind of a rainy night. That's our chance, if we can get it."

It might be, but at that very moment the commander of the _Portsmouth_
was asserting to his first lieutenant:

"There comes the _Kennebec_, my boy. We'll have this fellow now. We'll
teach him not to play tricks with national flags and man-o'-war
signals."

The race across the Gulf of Mexico was now putting on new and
interesting features, but Ned Crawford, posted well forward to watch the
course of events and what might have been called the race-course, sagely
remarked:

"I don't know that two horses can run any faster than one can. We are as
far ahead as ever we were."

That would have been of more importance if the newcomer had not been so
much to the southward and westward, rather than behind them. She was, of
course, several miles nearer to the _Goshhawk_ than she was to the
_Portsmouth_, and neither of these had as yet been able to make out her
flag with certainty. That she was a full-rigged ship was sure enough,
and if Ned had been upon her deck instead of upon his own, he would have
discovered that she was heavily armed and in