"Dey vos tell me der Englische are very fond of sleep," retorted von Langer with a laugh. "Himmel! I tink dot is very true."
The meal over, the prisoners went on deck. Out of curiosity Denbigh walked to the rail and leant over the side. He was not surprised at what he saw. The ship"s sides had been painted during the night. The black band still remained, but the yellow paint had been replaced with a coat of blue. Already the tropical sun was blistering the still wet paint, revealing patches of the original hue underneath. The funnels, too, had been redecorated. They were now red with black tops.
Some minutes later Kapitan von Riesser descended from the bridge and walked aft. Seeing the British officer he crossed the deck.
"You like our new colour scheme?" he asked.
Denbigh did not reply to the question. He asked another.
"Mr. Stirling and I both lost some gold during the night. Our cabin was entered while we were asleep and the money taken from our pockets.
Was the--er--theft committed at your instigation?"
For a moment von Riesser hesitated.
"There was no theft," he replied. "The gold was taken from you prisoners----"
"Contrary to----" began Stirling hotly.
"In accordance with my instructions," continued the Kapitan. "Gold is of no use to you. Instead, you will be furnished with Notes to its equivalent as soon as we arrive."
"You may as well get your purser to write out a receipt," said O"Hara.
"It will come in handy when the _Zwaan_--if that"s her proper name--is captured."
Von Riesser laughed boisterously.
"Captured?" he repeated. "Ach! I don"t think there is much danger now. South of the Line there is not a solitary British cruiser that can touch us in speed. There are plenty of them, I admit, but that is your English all over. Three swift vessels would be worth all your East India fleet put together, yet you pack highly-trained crews into slow and out-of-date tubs."
"Possibly the captain of the _Emden_ thought the same as you do,"
remarked Stirling.
"Muller had difficulties that I have not," replied von Riesser. "He was known to be in the Indian Ocean and swift cruisers were dispatched from England and Australia to hunt for him. Our presence on the High Seas will not be known to your Admiralty until it is too late. So, gentlemen, I must ask you to seriously consider the possibility of finding yourselves prisoners of war in our well-defended Colony of German East Africa."
CHAPTER IV
Threatened
That night, according to their pre-arranged plans, the captive sub-lieutenants avoided taking any of the wines that were placed before them.
They dined alone in a small cabin placed at least fifty feet from their sleeping quarters.
As it was now after sunset the porthole was closed and locked. The door, too, was shut, but not secured. Outside, a sentry paced to and fro.
"Look here, you fellows!" exclaimed Denbigh after the man deputed to attend to their needs had gone. "It"s all very well knocking off the fizz, but they"ll notice we haven"t drunk any."
"Pour it into the grate," suggested Pat O"Hara recklessly.
Denbigh shook his head.
"Won"t do," he objected, giving a glance in the direction of the small "bogie" stove. "I suppose there isn"t any possibility of prizing open the port-lid?"
"You"d be spotted even if you could. There are plenty of men on deck,"
said O"Hara, glad of the opportunity of countering Denbigh"s objection with another. "Come along, old bird; what do you suggest?"
Stirling, to whom the invitation was addressed, thrust his hand into the breast pocket of his coat.
"What would you do if I weren"t here to look after you?" he enquired, at the same time producing three sponges. "I took them from our cabin."
"For dessert?" queried O"Hara, lifting his eyebrows in surprise.
"Yes, if you are a goat," said Stirling with asperity. "Goats are, I believe, rather partial to this sort of tack."
Coolly the Scot poured out a winegla.s.sful of sherry--it was from the same decanter that they had taken some the previous evening--and slowly spilt the liquid on the sponge.
"Fill your gla.s.s first," cautioned Stirling. "Then they"ll think we have had some of the poisonous stuff. Slip your sponge into your pocket, Denbigh. Don"t squeeze it. I am presuming you"ll want it again later. Of course if Pat wishes, he can chew his."
Dinner over, the chums retired to their sleeping cabin. In fact they had no option, since they were forbidden to go on deck after sunset.
Here they talked and looked at the ill.u.s.trations of some old Spanish newspapers until lights out; then, turning in, they lay awake awaiting possible developments. Eight bells struck. The _Pelikan_ was no longer moving through the water. Outside the cabin men were talking.
Springing from his bunk Denbigh approached the door, putting his ear to the covered jalousie.
"I suppose those English swine are sound asleep," said a voice which the sub recognized as that of Kapitan von Riesser. "I cannot hear them grunting--we did last night."
"Nor can I, sir," replied Unter-leutnant Klick, who as officer of the watch was accompanying the captain on his rounds. "But they must be.
They went for that doctored sherry like fishes."
"Himmel! That is good news," exclaimed von Riesser. "It will be quite safe to settle that vessel. When she first answered our call she was only forty kilometres away. In twenty minutes----"
The listener fancied he could hear the kapitan rubbing his hands with glee.
"It is much the better way," continued von Riesser: ""Lost with all hands" is quite a plausible theory. I am almost sorry we didn"t wait until night when we tackled the j.a.panese ship. We run a good risk of being made a quarry for a dozen or more of those accursed cruisers.
Those English may even send some swift destroyers on our track. You are sure those fellows are quite insensible?"
"As quiet as the grave, sir," a.s.sured the unter-leutnant. "They will hear nothing. Even that terrific explosion when our torpedo took the Frenchman by surprise never disturbed them. But, of course, sir, I"ll make doubly sure. We"ll squirt some chloroform into the cabin."
"Then be sharp about it," said von Riesser. "There"s no time to be lost. That English vessel ought to be in sight within the next quarter of an hour."
The German officer moved away. In a trice Denbigh communicated the news to his companions.
"Oh for a respirator!" whispered O"Hara.
"Don"t worry," said Stirling. "The electric fan will carry off the fumes as quickly as they pump them in."
Even as he spoke the fan ceased to revolve. The current actuating the ventilating gear had been switched off. Already Unter-leutnant Klick was putting his scheme into effect.
"Those voice tubes," hissed Denbigh.