“That looks as if she came from Petit Gouve, or the bay of Mitaquane, or that under the Bec de Marsouin,” Frank said.

“Dat is it, sar,” Dominique agreed.  “If she want to go north side of bay from Port au Prince, she would have gone either side of island.  I expect she lie under de Bec.  Fine, safe place dat, no town there, plenty of wood all round, and villages where she get fruit and vegetables; sure to be little stream where she can get water.”

The watch was maintained until sunset, but, although a powerful telescope had been brought up, no vessel at all corresponding to the appearance of the brigantine was made out.

At six o’clock the next morning Frank was again at the lookout, and scarcely had he turned his telescope to the south shore than he saw the brigantine come out from behind the Bec de Marsouin and head towards the west.  The wind was blowing from that quarter, and after a few minutes’ deliberation, Frank told the men to follow him, and dashed down the hill.  In half an hour he reached the shore opposite the yacht, and at his shout the dinghy, which was lying at her stern, at once rowed ashore.

“Get up the anchor, captain, and make sail.  I have seen her.  She has just come out from the Bec, and is making west.  As the wind is against her, it seems to me that he would never choose that direction to cruise in unless he was starting for Cuba, and I dare not let the opportunity slip.  If he once gets clear away we may have months of work before we find him again, and as the wind now is, I am sure that we can overhaul him long before he can make Cuba.  Indeed, as we lie, we are nearer to that coast than he is, and can certainly cut him off.”

In five minutes the Osprey was under way, with all sail set.  The wind was nearly due west, and as Cuba lay to the north of that point, she had an advantage that quite counter-balanced that gained by the start the Phantom had obtained.  In two hours the lookout at the head of the mast shouted down that he could perceive the brigantine’s topsail.

“She is sailing in towards the land on that side,” he said.  “She has evidently made a tack out, and is now on the starboard tack again.”

“It will be a long leg and a short one with her, sir,” the skipper said.  “I think that if we were in her place we could just manage to lay our course along the coast, but with those square yards of hers, she cannot go as close to the wind as we can.  As it is, we can lay our course to cut her off.”

“It would be rather a close pinch to do so before she gets to the head of the bay,” Frank said.

“Yes, sir, and I don’t suppose that we shall overhaul her before that, but we certainly shan’t be far behind her by the time she gets there.  I think that we shall cut her off if the wind holds as it does now.  At any rate, if she should get there first, we should certainly lie between her and Cuba, and she will have either to run back, or to round the cape, or to run east or south.  I wish the wind would freshen; but I fancy that it is more likely to die away.  Still, she is walking along well at present.”