Presently the captain, who was examining the stranger through a glass,
ordered the helmsman to "ease away a bit."

The Curlew fell off more before the wind, when it was seen that the
steamer slightly changed her course so as to meet the altered movements
of the schooner.

Gary and Rucker now put their heads together, then the first mate,
summoning the boatswain, disappeared below.

"Hold her up a little, Mr. Duff," said the captain to the second
officer, who was once more at his post. "She is a man of war, I think,
and though I have no love for their prying ways, we must not seem to
want to avoid her, now that she evidently intends to speak us."

So the schooner's head was put to windward, and the two vessels rapidly
drew near each other.

It could soon be seen that the stranger was an armored cruiser, of
great power and speed.

"Run up the Stars and Stripes," said Gary. "Let him see what we are.
Perhaps he'll be satisfied and pass on."

This was done, but evoked no response from the cruiser, now less than a
mile away. Suddenly the warship swung gracefully around, showing along
her dull gray side a row of guns, while over bow and stern loomed two
immense cannon of a caliber sufficient to sink the Curlew at a single
discharge.