"Well, let's go on deck. We've sighted some vessel or the other."
"What's the game--piracy?" asked Stockton, suspiciously.
"I don't think so. But we're easing down, so look sharp."
Together the two chums gained the quarterdeck, the sentry on the half deck coming to the salute as Tregarthen passed. Here, again, Gerald was puzzled, for the man evidently was aware that the young lieutenant was no longer under arrest but had nominally become an officer of the ship.
The _Olive Branch_ and the _Puma_ lay side by side at about a cable's length apart. There was a total absence of wind, and the sea was as smooth as glass, while overhead the sun beat fiercely down upon the mirror-like surface of the ocean.
On the _Olive Branch_ the bo'sun's mate had piped "Clear lower deck," and already the somewhat meagre crew had mustered on the upper deck, where warps and hawsers were being laid out with the evident intention of making fast to the other vessel.
The _Puma_ was a tramp steamer of about 6,000 tons, with two stumpy masts, a black funnel, and towering wall sides that had been but partially painted, for a considerable portion of her hull still showed the priming coat of red lead. From an ensign staff over her taffrail the stars and stripes hung motionless in the sultry air. The _Olive Branch_ flew no colours.
"I don't think it's piracy this time," remarked Jack. "The men are not armed."
"They seem a well set up lot," said Gerald. "I wonder where they were picked up. Short service naval men and Royal Naval Reserve seamen in all probability."
Tregarthen knew a sailor when he saw one, and his observations were correct. The men had for the most part discarded their No. I suits of blue serge, and were dressed in serviceable white canvas. With the utmost alertness and intelligence they executed their orders, which were given with a noticeable lack of bawling and shouting.
Smartly the _Olive Branch_ was manoeuvred alongside the _Puma_, large fenders protecting the two vessels from the slight rolling as the latter's derricks were set to work.
In less than two hours eight 6in. guns, each weighing nearly seven tons, were transferred from the hold of the tramp to the deck of the cruiser, besides several smaller quick-firers and a quantity of cases and empty shells. Why the projectiles were shipped apart from their cartridges Tregarthen could not understand, though he resolved to make inquiries at the earliest opportunity.