Read "Mrs. Cliff's Yacht" by Frank R. Stockton online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Notwithstanding the fact that the _Summer Shelter_ made very good time, that she had coaled at Nassau, and was therefore ready for an extended cruise, it was impossible for any of those on board of her to conceal from themselves the very strong improbability of sighting the _Dunkery Beacon_ after she had got out upon the wide Atlantic, and that she would pass the comparatively narrow channel south of Tobago Island before the yacht reached it, was almost a foregone conclusion.
Mr. Burke assured Mrs. Cliff and his passengers that although their chase after the steamer might reasonably suggest a needle and a haystack, still, if the _Dunkery Beacon_ kept down the coast in as straight a line as she could for Cape St. Roque, and if the _Summer Shelter_ also kept the same line, and if the yacht steamed a great deal faster than the other vessel, it stood to reason that it could not be very long before the _Summer Shelter_ overhauled the _Dunkery Beacon_.