At length the last of the _San Mathias"s_ cargo was transhipped. The two vessels parted company, the Argentine returning to Buenos Ayres while the _Pelikan_ headed eastward on her perilous pa.s.sage round the Cape of Good Hope.
CHAPTER IX
The Midnight Landing
The sanguine spirits of the German reservists had the effect of cheering up the crew of the _Pelikan_. To confirm their a.s.sertions the former produced copies of newspapers printed under Teutonic auspices for the benefit of the South American republics.
Taking advantage of the information concerning the dispositions of the British cruisers the kapitan of the _Pelikan_ stopped another collier at a distance of four hundred miles east of Buenos Ayres. For eighteen hours the two vessels lay side by side while the coal was being transhipped to the almost empty bunkers of the raider.
For certain reasons von Riesser did not sink the tramp after having depleted her cargo. Perhaps it was because the crew had offered no resistance; but it was just possible that the kapitan of the _Pelikan_ had sufficient humanity to see that the turning adrift of a couple of boat-loads in the desolate South Atlantic meant practically slow and certain death.
From the time of the arrival of the German reservists von Riesser"s demeanour towards Denbigh and O"Hara underwent a marked change. Rarely did he enter into conversation with them. He treated them with aloofness. This the subs minded but little; it was the restrictions placed upon their movements that riled them. They were now allowed only two periods of exercise on deck during the day--from ten till noon and from two till five--and kept within strict limits. A sentry was posted to see that they remained within boundaries specified, and orders had been given for none of the reservists, many of whom spoke English, to enter into conversation with them.
On the fifth day after falling in with the _San Matias_ the ship"s course was changed to S.S.E. This she held until further progress was barred by the presence of a large field of pack ice. Von Riesser, in order to avoid any possible chance of meeting any of the Cape Squadron, had elected to go south into the vast and desolate Antarctic before entering the Indian Ocean.
At length came the welcome order to steer north. Gradually the temperature rose as the _Pelikan_ left the frozen seas astern.
Maintaining a steady progress the ship reached the vicinity of Mauritius, keeping well to the eastward of that island.
The _Pelikan_ now underwent another change. From truck to water-line she was repainted--black on the starboard side and a light-grey on the port. An additional funnel, a dummy one made out of canvas stretched on a framework of hoop iron and wood, was set up.
"It looks as if this craft is going to get through after all," remarked O"Hara, as the _Pelikan_ reached Equatorial waters without having so much as sighted another vessel of any description.
"Yes, rotten luck," said Denbigh. "I heard von Langer telling that fat major that another twenty-four hours would bring us in sight of land.
I notice these fellows are preparing for their jaunt ash.o.r.e."
The reservists were discarding their motley civilian attire and were being provided with drill uniforms that had at one time been white but were now dyed to a colour nearly approaching khaki. Each man wore a sun helmet, but instead of puttees, jack-boots of dark undressed leather were served out.
In the midst of these preparations a sail was reported on the starboard bow. Hurriedly arms were served out to the troops, the quick-firers were manned, and machine-guns placed out of sight but in a position that would enable them to be used with deadly effect should occasion arise.
"Down to your cabins, you Englishmen!" snarled the fat major, von Eckenstein, who had previously been in conversation with the ober-leutnant of the _Pelikan_.
"Are you in charge of this ship, Herr Major?" asked O"Hara. "Hitherto our orders have come from Kapitan von Riesser."
The major"s only reply was to raise a cane that he held in his hand and to strike the Irishman sharply across the cheek.
O"Hara"s hot Hibernian blood surged at the insult. Fortunately he managed to keep himself under control, but for an instant Denbigh felt certain that his comrade"s hard fist would come violently in contact with von Eckenstein"s podgy nose.
"I"m afraid that bounder will have cause to be sorry for this,"
remarked O"Hara, when the chums had retired to their cabin. He critically examined in the gla.s.s the reflection of his face, on which a weal was rapidly developing. "By Jove, it was lucky for him that you were there, otherwise I would have given him something by which to remember me to the rest of his days."
"Perhaps it is as well," rejoined Denbigh. "It hardly pays in the circ.u.mstances to argue the point with a Prussian."
Of what occurred during the next two hours the subs had only a vague idea.
Von Riesser realized that flight was out of the question. To attempt to do so would arouse suspicion, and since several swift cruisers were known to be off the coast, a wireless message would bring half a dozen speedy British warships upon the scene. He therefore decided to carry on, escape by a stratagem if possible, if not, fight in a final bid for liberty.
Since the waters adjacent to German East Africa had been declared to be in a state of blockade it was useless to hoist the mercantile flag of any nation, so the Blue Ensign of the British Reserve was displayed.
In less than half an hour the strange craft was plainly visible. She was a small tramp, also displaying the Blue Ensign.
Von Riesser heaved a sigh of relief. She was not an armed auxiliary, otherwise the White Ensign would have been used. More than likely she was one of the fleet of subsidized merchantmen carrying stores and munitions for the British Expeditionary Force operating against the sole remaining German colony.
The stranger hoisted a signal. It was in code and consequently unintelligible to the _Pelikan_. Von Riesser promptly replied by another hoist, the flags meaning nothing, but simply to puzzle the tramp.
The _Pelikan_ held on her course, which, in defiance of the Rule of the Road at Sea, would bring across the bows of the other. That in itself was suspicious, but any alteration of helm would reveal the _Pelikan"s_ piebald sides.
At a distance of less than a mile the German vessel gave three blasts upon her siren, signifying that her engines were going astern.
Nevertheless she was steaming ahead as hard as she could until deception was no longer possible.
An order from the bridge and the screens surrounding the guns were lowered revealing her formidable quick-firers.
"Heave-to, or I"ll sink you!" shouted the kapitan through a megaphone, for the tramp was now less than two cables" lengths away and broad on the starboard beam.
The tramp, which proved to be S.S. _Myra_ of South Shields, had no option but to surrender. She was unarmed and of slow speed. Having left Simon"s Bay with a convoy under escort she had encountered the tail of a cyclone. Detained by temporary engine-room defects during the storm she had fallen out of station, and was now a couple of hundred miles astern of the rest of the convoy.
Slowly the Blue Ensign was lowered, and way taken off the ship. Within ten minutes a prize crew in charge of Unter-leutnant Klick was on board. The officers and crew were locked up below, and warned that any attempt at resistance would result in the instant destruction of the _Myra_ with all on board.
The boarding-officer"s report was to the effect that the tramp was heavily laden with warlike stores. He asked instructions as to the disposal of the prize.
Kapitan von Riesser"s mind was very active now. With a successful issue in sight he was not inclined to send such a valuable prize to the bottom.
"Can you get the _Myra"s_ engine-room and stokehold staff to work, Herr Klick?" asked the kapitan.
"I can, sir," replied the unter-leutnant grimly; and he did, for by dint of threats he compelled the luckless men to undertake to carry on under his orders.
"Very good," continued the kapitan of the _Pelikan_, receiving an affirmative reply. "Follow me at two cables" lengths astern. I"ll slow down to enable you to keep station. Be prepared to abandon ship instantly should occasion arise."
Later in the afternoon the _Pelikan_ and her prize arrived off Latham Island, under the lee of which von Riesser had decided to remain the night, since it was too hazardous to enter the harbour he had selected during the hours of darkness.
Denbigh, who had been allowed on deck, recognized the island. He had served a commission on the flagship of the East Indies India Station when he was a midshipman, and was fairly well conversant with the African coast in the vicinity of Zanzibar and Dar-es-Salaam.
Latham Island is a dangerous, low-lying patch of coral and sand, of oval form, being barely 350 yards in length and 180 yards broad. In no place does it rise more than 10 feet above the sea. Its surface is quite flat, having been made so by the constant treading of myriads of sea-fowl, that have consolidated the sand collected on the coral substratum into a soft sandstone, which shines very white in the sun, but is difficult to discern at night or in a bad light.
When visited and surveyed by H.M.S. _Shearwater_ in 1873, a stone beacon was erected on the island, but owing to the absence of mortar used in its construction, it was blown down by the wind. Coco-nut trees were planted at the same time, but the result was unsatisfactory, as the birds destroyed them.
Owing to the dangerous vicinity of the islands it was unlikely that any vessel would pa.s.s within several miles of it during the night, so the _Pelikan_ stood a chance of remaining at the anchorage without fear of detection.
"We are not far from the Rufigi River, are we?" asked O"Hara. "Do you think that the _Pelikan_ is going to run for there?"
"Hardly," replied Denbigh. "With the _Konigsberg_ as a warning I think she"ll give the Rufigi a wide berth. It"s my opinion that she"ll have a show at getting into the Mohoro River. It"s fairly close, and once we can pa.s.s the bar there"s deep water for nearly twenty miles. I"m curious to know what we are doing off Latham Island, however. I think I"ll try the Stirling trick and have a prowl round on deck during the night."
"Only don"t leave me in the lurch, old man," protested the Irishman, with an a.s.sumed look of consternation.
"I won"t," replied Denbigh laughingly. "So don"t lock me out."