Part 28 (1/2)
He steered due west, noticing as he did so that the pursuers were still doggedly on his trail, and had gained considerably while he had been investigating the harbour
He looked at his watch It enty-five minutes to nine He would reach his shi+p in tihty-fivein the sa towards hiht of 4,000 feet, he searched the sea in all directions through his binocular He noticed with a aeroplanes had co after hi s likeits black sht have been a cockroach in eeds
And there, far in the west, what is that? Ser any doubt; in three minutes the shapes of a squadron of battleshi+ps can be clearly seen; in five minutes Suish the _I what to a landsman would appear to be a dozen exactly si back, he sees that the Red Scout has changed her course, and is already only a speck in the southern sky
It was precisely ten minutes to nine by Smith's watch when the _Puck_, literally received with open arhted on the deck of the _Imperturbable_
”Come aboard, sir,” said Smith cheerfully to his captain
”So I see,” was the laconic reply
”Sorry I ay, sir, when your recall arrived--in the South Pacific”
”In the--what?”
”The South Pacific, sir, or thereabouts”
”Don't you think, Mr S a little too far?” said the captain sternly
”Well, sir,” replied Sed to get back within asped
”Do you mean to tell me, seriously, you have been to the South Pacific?”
”Certainly, sir I left hoot back not quite nine hours ago Went to the Solo and Port Darwin, and come home _via_ Samoa and 'Frisco”
”But--but--then you have been _round the world_, sir--in _how_ long?”
”Seven days, sir My leave expires at nine this ”
Mechanically, like a man in a dream, the captain took out his watch
”Twenty-five ht,” he said ”You needn't have hurried yourself You've another half-hour by Irish time Perhaps you'd like to fill it up by a trip round Ireland,” he added dryly
Smith smiled The first lieutenant broke in--
”Look-out reports, sir, another aeroplane was sighted behind Mr
Smith's”
The admiral, who had been an amused auditor of the colloquy between Captain Bolitho and his lieutenant, was a man of intuitions
”There are no aeroplanes on this coast except the tith the Reds,”
he said ”Mr Sle aeroplane has broken doe must impress yours for public service I will not ask you what you have seen; but you will at once follow the strange aeroplane, and endeavour to find out the position and course of the enemy's fleet”
In less than a minute Smith was in the air; in ten h as he approached, and hovering over his late pursuer, who ine power of the _Puck_ gave her as great an advantage over her rival in soaring as in horizontal speed By the rules of the manoeuvres the Red aeroplane was out of action as soon as the _Puck_ rose vertically above her Wasting no further tihted the Red squadron, noted its strength and course, and in another half-hour was back on the deck of the _Imperturbable_