Some had seen her sailing one way, some another;
she had evidently been, as Frank had expected, cruising about.
Pedro put down the dates of the times at which she had been seen,
but negroes are very vague as to time, and beyond the fact that
some had seen her about a week before, while in other cases it was
nearer a fortnight, he could ascertain nothing with certainty. So
far as he could learn, she had only put into three ports, although
the coasters he boarded came from some twenty different localities.
"I fancy that it is as I expected," Frank said. "They have one
regular headquarters to which they return frequently. It may be
some very secluded spot. It may be up one of these small rivers
marked on the chart--there are a score of them between Cape la Move
and here. She does not seem to have been seen as far east as this.
Of course, she has not put in here, because there are some eight or
ten foreign ships here now. Every one of these twenty rivers has
plenty of water for vessels of her draught for some miles up. I
fancy our best chance will be to meet her cruising."
"The worst of that would be, Major," George Lechmere said, "that
she would know us, and if she sails as well as she used to do, we
should not catch her before night came on--if she had seven or
eight miles' start--especially if we both had the wind aft.
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