"Looks like we would be pretty much to our ourselves," grinned Jack.

"So much the better," said Frank.

The Algonquin was not, in the true sense of the word, a passenger
steamer. She had accommodations for some, but she was primarily a
freighter, detoured this trip to carry a cargo of oil to the Argentine
capital.

The vessel lifted anchor and steamed down the Thames promptly at 5
o'clock. At 6 the lads found themselves at dinner at the captain's
table. There, too, they found Mrs. Wheaton and her daughter,
Elizabeth. Introductions followed.

"I do hope we do not meet a submarine on the way," declared Miss
Wheaton, who could not have been more than eighteen.

"I guess we are safe enough on that score," smiled Jack.

"Then they tell me there is a German raider operating off the coast of
South America," said the girl. "We may be captured."

"Pooh!" exclaimed her mother. "Didn't I see guns front and back on
this ship as I came abroad?"

"You mean fore and aft, mother," said the girl, smiling. "Yes, I saw
the guns, too, but I don't imagine they would be much protection
against a German raider."