_Goshhawk_ while they were getting
together. Rapid and loud-voiced indeed were the explanations which
passed between the two commanders. At the end of them, the wrath of the
Englishman was turned entirely against the culprit bark, which had
trifled with his flag.

"We must take her, sir!" he shouted. "She's a loose fish o' some kind."

It was while this conversation was going on that Senor Zuroaga, after
long and careful observations, reported to Captain Kemp concerning the
far-away stranger to the westward.

"She is a Frenchman, beyond a doubt. Are all the nations making a naval
rendezvous in the Gulf of Mexico?"

"Nothing extraordinary," said the captain. "But they're all more'n
usually on the watch, on account o' the war, if it's coming."

It was precisely so. War surely brings disturbance and losses to others
besides those who are directly engaged in it, and all the nations having
commercial relations with Mexico were expecting their cruisers in the
gulf to act as a kind of sea police. Moreover, a larger force than usual
would probably be on hand and wide awake.

The day was going fast, and the weather promised to shorten it. Ned was
now wearing an oilskin, for he would not have allowed any amount of rain
to have driven him below. He and all the rest on board the _Goshhawk_
were aware that their pursuers were again beginning to gain on them
perceptibly. It was a slow process, but it was likely to be a sure one,
for the men-of-war could do better sailing in a heavy sea and under
shortened canvas than could a loaded vessel like the saucy merchant
bark.

"I'm afraid they'll catch us!" groaned Ned. "I s'pose they could make us
all prisoners of war,--if there is any war. Oh, I wish all that powder
and shot had been thrown overboard!"

It did not look, just now, as if the Mexican army would ever get any
benefit from it, for even the French stranger to leeward seemed to be
putting on an air of having evil intentions. Captain Kemp had made her
out to be a corvette of moderate size, perhaps a sixteen-gun ship, and
she would be quite likely to co-operate with the police boats of England
and America in arresting any suspicious wanderer in those troubled
waters.

Darker grew the gloom and a light mist came sweeping over the sea. Both
pursuers and pursued began to swing out lights, and before long the mate
of the _Goshhawk_ came to Captain Kemp to inquire, in a puzzled way:

"I say, Cap'n, what on earth do you do tha