Three hours later the breeze came. Frank was pacing up and down the deck, when there was a slight creak above. He stopped and looked up.  
"Is that the breeze?" he asked the first mate, whose watch it was.
 
"I think so, sir, though it may be just the heaving from a steamer somewhere. I don't feel any wind; not a breath from any quarter."
 
There was another and more decided sound above.
 
"There is no mistake this time," the mate said, as the boom which had been hanging amidships slowly swung over to port. "It's somewhere about the quarter that we expected it from, and coming as gently as a lamb."
 
Five minutes later there was sufficient breeze to cause her to heel over perceptibly as she moved quietly through the water.
 
"Hands aft to shake out the reefs," the mate called.
 
The order was repeated down the fo'castle hatch by one of the two men on the lookout. The rest of the watch, who had been allowed to go below, tumbled up.
 
The sailors hastened to untie the reef points. All were aware of the nature of the chase in which they were embarked. The whole crew were full of ardour. They felt it as a personal grievance that the young lady to whom their employer was engaged had not only been carried off, but carried off from the deck of the yacht. Moreover, she was very popular with them, as she had often asked them questions and chatted with them when at the helm or when she walked forward. She knew them all by name, and had several times come off from shore with a packet of tobacco for each man in her basket. She had been quick in learning to steer, and her desire to know everything about the yacht had pleased the sailors, who were all delighted when they learned of her engagement to the owner. The new hands, on learning the particulars, had naturally entered to some extent into the feeling of the others, and the alacrity with which every order was obeyed showed the interest felt in the chase.
 
As soon as the reef points were untied came the order:
 
"Slack away the reef tackle, and see that the caring will run easy.
 
"Now up with the throat halliard. That will do.
 
"Now the gaff a little more. Belay there.
 
"Now get that topsail up from the sail locker. We won't shift jibs just yet, until we see whether the breeze is going to freshen."
 
It was not long before the increasing heel of the craft, and rustle of water along her side, told that she was travelling faster.
 
"The wind is freeing her a bit, sir. It has shifted a good half point in the last ten minutes."
 
"That is a comfort," Frank said. "You may as well heave the log. I should like to know how she is going before I turn in."
 
"Seven knots, sir," the mate reported. "That is pretty fair, considering how close-hauled she is."
 
"Well, I will turn in now. Let me know if there is any change."
 
At five o'clock Frank was on deck again. Purvis was in charge of the watch now.
 
"Good morning, sir," he said, touching his hat as Frank came up. "We are going to have a fine day, and the wind is likely to keep steady."
 
"All right, Purvis. What speed were we going when you heaved the log?"
 
"Seven and a half, sir. Perry tells me that she has been doing just that ever since the wind sprang up. I reckon that we are pretty well abreast of Finisterre now. We shall have the sun up in a few minutes, and I expect that it will come up behind the land.
 
"Lambert, go up to the cross-tree and keep a sharp lookout, as the sun comes up, and see if you can make land."
 
"I can make out the land, sir," the sailor called down as soon as he reached the cross-tree. "It stands well up. I should say that you can see it from deck."
 
The mate and Frank walked further aft and looked out under the boom. The land was plainly visible against the glow of the sky.
 
"There it is, sure enough," the mate said. "I looked over there before you came up and could not make it out, but the sky has brightened a lot in the last ten minutes. I should say that it is about five-and-twenty miles away. It is a very bold coast, sir.
 
"That is Finisterre over the quarter; you see the land breaks off suddenly there. We ought to have made out the light, but of course it is not very bright at this distance, and there was a slight mist on the water when I came up at eight bells."
 
"I suppose in another forty-eight hours we shall not be far from the southern point of Portugal."
 
"We shall be there, or thereabouts, by that time if the wind keeps the same strength and in the same quarter. That would make an uncommonly good run of it, considering that we were lying twenty-four hours becalmed. If it had not been for that, we should have been only four days from the Start to Saint Vincent."
 
The mate's calculations turned out correct, and at seven in the morning they anchored a mile off Cape Saint Vincent. The gig was lowered, and Frank was rowed ashore, taking with him a signal book in which questions were given in several languages, including Spanish. He had purchased it at Cowes before starting.
 
The signal officer was very polite, and fortunately understood a little English. So Frank managed, with the aid of the book, to make him understand his questions. No craft at all answering to the description had been noticed passing during the last five or six days; certainly no yacht had passed. She might, of course, have gone by after dark.
 
He showed Frank the record of the ships that had been sighted going east, and of those that had made their numbers as they passed. The Phantom was not among the latter, nor did the rig or approximate tonnage, as guessed, of any of the others, at all correspond with hers.
 
After thanking the officer, Frank returned to his boat, and half an hour later the Osprey was again under weigh.
 
At Ceuta, Tarifa, and Tangier there was a similar want of success. Such a craft might have passed, but if so she was either too far away to be noted, or had passed during the night. From Tangier he crossed to Gibraltar, and anchored among the shipping there.
 
So far everything had gone to confirm his theory that the Phantom would not go up the Mediterranean. Of course, she might have passed the three places, as well as Saint Vincent, at night; or have kept so nearly in the middle of the Strait as to pass without being remarked. Still, the chances were against it, and he regarded it as almost certain that she would have put into one or other of the African ports, as she passed them, for water, fresh meat and fruit.
 
It was six days after the Osprey passed Saint Vincent before she anchored off Gib. She had made her number as she came in, and in a short time the health officer came out in a boat. The visit was a formal one; the white ensign on her taffrail was in itself sufficient to show her character, and that she must have come straight from England; and the questions asked were few and brief.
 
"We are ten days out," Frank said. "We have touched at Tarifa, Ceuta, and Tangier, but that is all. The crew are all in good health. Here is the list of them if you wish to examine them."
 
"As a matter of formality it is better that it should be done," the health officer said.
 
"I will order them to muster," Frank said, "and while they are doing so, will you come below and take a glass of wine?
 
"Can you tell me if a craft about this size, a schooner or brigantine, has put in here during the last fortnight? I don't know whether she is still flying yacht colours, or has gone into trade, but at any rate you could see at once that she had been a yacht."
 
"Certainly no such craft has put in here, Major Mallett. Yours is the first yacht that has come round this season, and as I board every vessel that anchors here, I should certainly have noticed any trader that had formerly been a yacht. The decks and fittings would tell their story at once. Do you know her name?"
 
"I don't know much about her," Frank said, "but a craft of that kind sailed from Cowes a day or two before I started, and, as I believe, for the Mediterranean. Being about our own size, and heavily sparred for a schooner, I was rather curious to know if I had beaten her. We did not make her out as we came along."
 
"You must have passed her in the night, I should say, unless, as is likely enough, she did not put in, but kept eastward."
 
As Frank had touched at Gibraltar three times before, the place had no novelty for him. He, however, went ashore at once to make arrangements for filling up again with water. The steward and George Lechmere accompanied him into the town to purchase fresh meat, fruit and vegetables.
 
Frank then made his way to the post office. He was scarcely disappointed at finding that there was nothing for him as yet.
 
The next three days he spent in wandering restlessly over the Rock. As long as the Osprey was under weigh, and doing her best, he was able to curb his anxiety and impatience; but now that she was at anchor he felt absolutely unable to remain quietly on board. Several officers of his acquaintance came off to the Osprey, and he was invited to dine at their mess dinner every night. He, however, declined.
 
"The fact is, my dear fellow," he said to each, "I am at present waiting with extreme anxiety for news of a most important nature, and until I get it I am so restless and so confoundedly irritable that I am not fit to associate with anyone. When I look in here again I hope that it will be all right, and then I shall be delighted to come to you, and have a chat over our Indian days; but at present I really am not up to it."
 
His appearance was sufficient to testify that his plea was not a fictitious excuse.
 
On the fourth day he found a letter awaiting him at the post office. He tore it open, and read:
 
"Funchal, Madeira, August 30.
 
"Sir: At the request of Mr. Greenwood I beg to inform you that a brigantine, precisely answering to the description given me, anchored in the roads here on the 21st. She only remained a few hours to take in water and stores. I was at the landing place when the master came on shore. He said that they had had a wonderfully fast voyage from England, having come from the Lizard under seven days, and holding a leading wind all the way. She was flying the Belgian flag, and I learned from the Portuguese official who visited her that her papers were all in order, and that she had been purchased at Ostend from an Englishman only three weeks before, and had been named the Dragon. He did not remember what her English name had been.
 
"Most unfortunately she had left a few hours before the mail steamer came in, bringing me the letter from Lloyd's. I do not know that I could, in any case, have stopped her; but I think that I could have got the officials to have searched her, and if the ladies had been on board, and had appealed to them for protection, I think the vessel would certainly have been detained; or, at any rate, the authorities would have insisted upon the ladies being set on shore.
 
"Her papers had the Cape as her destination, though this may, of course, have been only a blind. I regret much that I am unable to give you further information, beyond the fact that there were two male passengers on board. I shall be happy to reply to any communication I may receive from you."
 
Frank hurried down to the landing place.
 
"Lay out, men," he said. "I want to be under way in a quarter of an hour."
 
The men bent to their oars, and the gig flew through the water. There was no one on shore, for Frank had given strict orders that no one was to land, of a morning, until he returned from the post office.
 
"Get under way at once," he called to the captain, as soon as he came within hailing distance.
 
There was an instant stir on board. Some of the men ran to the capstan, others began to unlace the sail covers, while some gathered at the davits to hoist the boat up directly she came alongside.
 
"I have news, lads," Frank said, in a loud voice, as he stepped on board. "She has touched at Madeira."
 
There was a cheer from the men. It was something to know that a clue had been obtained, and in a wonderfully short time the Osprey was under way, and heading for the point of the bay.
 
"Then they did not stop them there, Major?" George Lechmere asked, after Frank had stated the news.
 
"No, the mail did not arrive with the letter in time for Lloyd's agent to act upon it. The Phantom had sailed some hours before. She is still under her square yards, and her name has been changed to the Dragon. She was there on the 21st, and the letter is dated the 30th."
 
"An............