Cyrus Townsend Brady

"The wind is freshening; we gain upon her easily, I think, sir." "Decidedly. This is our best point of sailing, and our best wind, too. We can't be going less than ten knots, " said the captain, looking critically over the bows at the water racing alongside. "I can almost make out the name on her stern now with the naked eye, " replied the other, staring hard ahead through the drift and spray. "Have you a glass there, Mr.
O'Neill?" asked the captain. "Yes, sir, here it is, " answered that gentleman, handing him a long, old-fashioned, cumbrous brass telescope, which he at once adjusted and focused on the ship they were chasing. "Ah!" said the elder of the two speakers, a small, slender man, standing lightly poised on the topgallant forecastle with the careless confidence of a veteran seaman, as he examined the chase through the glass which the taller and younger officer handed him; "I can read it quite plainly with this.
The M-a-i-d--Maidstone, a trader evidently, as I see no gun-ports nor anything that betokens an armament." He ran the tubes of the glass into each other and handed it back, remarking, "At this rate we shall have her in a short time."