"Very well; carry on back," he ordered. "You can rea.s.sure Kapitan von Riesser on the points he mentioned."
"There"s something else, sir," reported the petty officer, producing a linen envelope from under a cushion in the stern-sheets. "I had to deliver this to you personally."
The German officer took the envelope and went below to read its contents. It was to the effect that the _Pelikan_ had been lightened still more and that at high water she would attempt the bar. The _Myra_ was to return down stream and stand by to render a.s.sistance if necessary.
Returning on deck the prize-master gave back to the c.o.xswain the order, to which was added a notation that it would be complied with, and dismissed the boat. Then, grumbling at being turned out so early in the morning, Kaspar Klick retired to his cabin.
"Is that right about the sinking of one of our cruisers?" asked Armstrong, when Denbigh had translated the gist of the conversation, for in spite of the port-hole being closed every word had been audible.
"Hardly," replied Denbigh. "The Germans have a funny habit of magnifying the size and cla.s.s of any and every vessel they sink.
Unfortunately they sent one of our destroyers to the bottom. By Jove!
doesn"t this burnt cork take a lot of shifting?"
The two subs were busily engaged in scrubbing off their sooty coats, to make the rest of their bodies harmonize with their faces. Fresh water being strictly limited and yellow soap microscopic in size their task was not an easy one.
"Well, if they attempt to bring the _Pelikan_ up the river," commented the mate of the _Myra_, "I hope they"ll pile her up on the bar. If they succeed we"ll have to try our hand. Don"t I wish they"d let me have charge of the wheel for five minutes. Now what do you think of these? I call them champion."
He held out the two dummy forelocks, which he had completed in the absence of Denbigh and his chum. They had been coated with aluminium paint, while to give them a worn appearance he had rubbed charcoal over the paint. Only by actual handling, when the difference in weight between the real and the spurious article could be detected, could the deception be discovered.
"Capital!" exclaimed O"Hara, suppressing a yawn. "Oh, dash it all!
This is the result of being out of bed when one ought to be enjoying one"s beauty sleep. I"m turning in again."
"Also this child," added Denbigh; but before the chums could throw themselves upon their bunks a bugle sounded. It was the signal that another working day had begun, and that the prisoners had to turn out and a.s.sist their captors.
"Morning," was Captain Pennington"s greeting as Denbigh and O"Hara came on deck. Then, making sure that no German was within earshot, he asked, "And what little game were _you_ up to last night?"
"What do you mean?" asked Denbigh in surprise.
"Like you I have a liking for fresh air," replied the skipper of the captured tramp. "The Huns screwed down the dead-light to the port-hole, but forgot to enquire if I had a spanner. They saved themselves an unnecessary question, by the by, for I would not have owned up to being in possession of a very serviceable one. So during the night I opened the port-hole to get a breather. I was rather surprised to find a rope-ladder dropped over the side, and still more so to see two disreputable n.i.g.g.e.rs, whom I recognized as you two, swarm down and take a cold bath. Also I had the pleasure of seeing the same dusky pair return, and had the intense satisfaction of hearing a German bellow like a whipped child."
"Then we weren"t so smart as we imagined," observed O"Hara. "Fortunate it was for us that you weren"t a Hun."
Before the subs could enlighten Captain Pennington as to the nature of the mystery the unter-leutnant came up.
"You vill haf to vork, kapitan," he said without further preliminaries.
"If you no keep your crew up to concert pitch trouble you vill haf.
You men vill vork vatch and vatch, see?"
Captain Pennington merely nodded in reply. He realized that pa.s.sivity was desirable; on the other hand, having heard of Armstrong"s little plan, it would not do to show unwonted eagerness to a.s.sist in working the ship.
"Turn up der men," ordered Klick.
"One minute," interposed Captain Pennington. "We are not at sea now.
My men have insufficient head-gear. It"s risking sunstroke."
The unter-leutnant considered the affair for a few minutes. Personally he didn"t care a rope"s-end whether the strafed Englishmen had sunstroke or not, until it occurred to him that a number of invalids would hamper operations. Finally he gave orders for a number of solar topees or sun-helmets to be issued to the British crew.
It was eight o"clock in the morning when the _Myra_ weighed. Already the sun was unpleasantly hot. There was no wind. Under the shade of the mangroves the mists still held, while the black mud left uncovered by the falling tide gave out a most noxious vapour.
To Denbigh"s satisfaction Armstrong had been sent for"ard to superintend the weighing and catting on the anchor. The stern anchor had already been hove short.
Under the action of the steam winch the cable came home. Manoeuvred by means of the twin screws the _Myra_ swung round in mid-stream, and as the "hook" broke out from the muddy bottom the tramp forged slowly ahead.
Half a dozen British seamen were on the fo"c"sle together with three Germans. The latter took good care to leave most of the work to the prisoners, so that Armstrong had a clear opportunity to withdraw the real forelocks from the anchors and replace them with the wooden ones.
"That"s all serene," he whispered to Denbigh as he came aft. "Now there"ll be trouble for the Deutschers."
CHAPTER XVI
The Disaster to the _Myra_
Arriving at the entrance to the Mohoro River the _Myra_ made no attempt to recross the inner bar. Nor did she anchor, contenting herself with merely steaming ahead against the flood-tide at a slow speed that kept her stationary with the sh.o.r.e.
Just before high water the _Pelikan_ hove in sight from behind a projecting tongue of land. She still retained her garb of palm trees.
The subs noticed that she had a decided list to starboard. This, however, was not due to a leak but to the fact that her cargo had been trimmed so as to throw her on her bilge and thus lighten her draught.
Slowly she approached the bar, and promptly took ground. Gripped by the strong tide the stern portion swung round, throwing her almost broadside athwart the river.
Great was the confusion on board. Half a dozen officers were shouting simultaneously; men were rushing hither and thither, with no apparent object, while with her engines reversed, her propellers were throwing huge columns of mud and water.
Before the officers realized the danger the starboard propeller had shed its blades owing to their coming into contact with the bottom, while the port propeller was stopped after two blades had been badly buckled.
Cautiously the lighter-draughted _Myra_ was backed astern until a couple of stout hawsers were pa.s.sed to her from the stranded vessel.
Three times the tramp endeavoured without success to tow off the _Pelikan_, but on each occasion the hawsers snapped. By this time it was close on high water.
Meanwhile the raider"s crew were working like men possessed, throwing overboard heavy gear that Kapitan von Riesser would have given thousands of marks to retain. Military stores of the utmost importance had to be ruthlessly sacrificed, unless the _Pelikan_ was to remain a target for the guns of the British cruisers which were even now supposed to be on their way from Zanzibar.
On the fourth occasion a hawser was sent off to the _Myra_, while in addition the pinnace was towed into midstream with a large anchor slung underneath her keel.
The anchor having been dropped, the cable was led to the _Pelikan"s_ steam capstan. Directly the chain took the strain the _Myra_ began to tow, with the result that the luckless raider sc.r.a.ped heavily across the bar into deep water.
Kapitan von Riesser was delighted, in spite of the loss of stores and gear. The damaged propellers mattered little, since the _Pelikan_ would never again attempt to put to sea. The _Myra_ could tow her up the Mohoro River until she was out of range of the British cruisers"
guns, and from that point the reinforcements for the German Field Force could proceed to the Rhodesian border and attempt to check General s.m.u.t"s advance.
Amongst the troops was Major von Eckenstein, who had been discovered lying unconscious at the foot of the cliffs. He was badly battered about the face, and severely hurt internally. When he came to he was quite unable to account for his injuries. It was quite evident that from a combatant point of view the arrogant major was out of the running.
As soon as the _Pelikan_ was in comparative safety the German troops were re-embarked. The quick-firers which had been landed, and which had served so good a purpose in repelling the British destroyers, were brought round by steamboats and again hoisted on board the _Pelikan_.
This done the _Myra_ took her big consort in tow, and against the now strong ebb-tide slowly crawled up the turgid river.
Before the tidal stream had turned the two vessels had pa.s.sed the spot where the tramp had anch.o.r.ed on the previous night. Without stopping they proceeded up-stream, the _Pelikan_ keeping well under control by means of her rudder and a supplementary steering device consisting of a long spar towed astern to prevent the ship from yawing.
"By Jove! there"s trouble ahead," observed Denbigh, pointing to a sharp bend in the river about a mile ahead. Here the tidal portion of the stream extended nearly 500 yards from bank to bank, while the actual channel was a bare fifth of that distance. On the starboard hand ran a long tongue of mud, round which the stream swept with great violence.
By this time a strong breeze had sprung up, blowing athwart the channel. The absence of trees close to the bank increased the difficulty, for there was no protection from the wind as it swept against the lofty side of the slowly-moving _Pelikan_.