There was no other sound, except the occasional creaking of a block and the tapping of a slack halyard.
"Luff her up a little, Garth," said Jim; "you won't have to tack quite yet. Hello, there! Look at the big steamer!"
Under a thin line of smoke a large vessel was slipping along the horizon.
"Do you suppose that she could be a transport?" asked Joan.
"She might be," said Jim; "they're sending men to embarkation points in Canada now. They keep the news so close that you never can tell when a transport might slip out. But I don't think she's quite big enough. She's probably just a coaster."
"It's too bad that we forgot the glasses," said Elspeth. "I meant to bring—" She stopped, because the Ailouros had done so suddenly. The boat had come practically to standstill, trembling a little, with flapping sail.
"What on earth—" Joan began.
"On water, you mean," said Jim. "The man at the helm was looking at another boat, instead of sailing his own, that's all; we're dead in the wind's eye. Ease her off now, Garth. Help him, Elspeth! That's it! Now get some way
