Three minutes later the saucy craft had rounded a projecting headland and disappeared, leaving the outwitted officer to get aboard his ship at his leisure, and make such report as seemed to him best.
[Illustration: At this the enraged officer whipped out a revolver.] After the exciting incident was ended, and the little "Sea Bee" had gained the safety of open water, Cabot grasped the young skipper's hand and shook it heartily.
"It was fine!" he cried, "though I don't see how you dared do it.
Weren't you afraid they would fire at us ?" "Not a bit," laughed White.

"They didn't realise what we were up to until we were well past them, and then they hadn't time to get ready before we were out of range.

I don't believe they would dare fire on the British flag, anyway; especially as we hadn't done a thing to them.
I almost wish they had, though; for I would be willing to lose this schooner and a good deal besides for the sake of bringing on a war that should drive the French from Newfoundland." "But what did they want of you, and what would have happened if you had not given them the slip ?" "I expect they wanted to hold me here until they heard how our case had gone, so that I couldn't get back to the factory before they had a chance to run up there and seize it.

Like as not they would have kept us on one excuse or another--lack of papers or something of that sort--for a week or two, and by the time they let us go some one else would have owned the Pretty Harbour lobster factory." "Would they really have dared do such a thing ?" asked Cabot, to whom the idea of foreign interference in the local affairs of Newfoundland was entirely new.
"Certainly they would.

The French dare do anything they choose on this coast, and no one interferes." "Well," said Cabot, "it seems a very curious situation, and one that a stranger finds hard to understand.