CHAPTER XV

Armstrong's Part

Restraining his curiosity, the mate of the _Myra_ poured out some water into a tin bowl, and handed Denbigh a small piece of yellow soap.

"There'll be just time to scrub your figureheads," he remarked. "You'll have to turn in pretty sharp, or you'll be bowled out. They're getting a little bit excited on deck."

Realizing that it would be as well to act on Armstrong's advice, the subs, by dint of hard scrubbing and plenty of soap, succeeded in removing the burnt cork from their faces, necks, and hands. This done they donned their pyjamas and scrambled into their bunks, while the mate obligingly unpacked their bundles and laid out the garments with methodical precision.

Armstrong was not far wrong in his surmise. The excitement on deck bordered on a state of panic. Every man of the prize crew turned out. Unter-leutnant Klick, having heard a muddled version of what had taken place, ordered the man who had been jumped upon to state what he knew.

The seaman, still shaken and frightened, could only affirm that he was pacing the deck as conscientiously as a sentry should do, when the black figure leapt upon him from behind and felled him.

"From behind, say you?" repeated Unter-leutnant Klick. "How, then, could you see that he was black?"

"I must have spun round, sir, as I fell," replied the fellow. "I distinctly remember seeing that he was black and without clothing. He may be a native."

"Where did he go after taking you unawares?" asked the prize-master of the _Myra_.

"Over the side, sir, I think. I believe I heard the splash."

Kaspar Klick, however, had his suspicions. Not for one moment did he imagine that anyone would be so utterly reckless as to attempt to swim ashore and back again. The river, teeming with hippopotami and crocodiles, offered too formidable an obstacle. On the other hand, the mysterious assailant of the sentry might be one of several of the English prisoners, intent upon recapturing the ship. Had the faithful sentry been felled without uttering a sound, the plot may have succeeded; but when the seaman made enough bellowing to awaken the Seven Sleepers, the daring Englishmen probably thought better of it, and had retired speedily and discreetly.

Ordering half a dozen armed men to accompany him, Unter-leutnant Klick went for'ard. Over the hatchway leading to the forehold, where the _Myra's_ deck hands were under lock and key, he found a sentry on duty. The man was most emphatic that no one had attempted to come on deck. The state of the padlock proved that.

Still dubious, the unter-leutnant descended the main hold. Making his way over a pack of miscellaneous cargo, he came to the for'ard bulkhead. A careful examination showed that no effort had been made to cut through the partition separating the two holds. He could, therefore, feel reassured that the original crew of the _Myra_ had not attempted to put into execution a plot to recover the ship.

"Perhaps it is those harebrained officers we took from the Japanese liner," soliloquized Klick. "I'll go the rounds now I am about it, and see if those fellows have been up to any tricks."

Had the unter-leutnant gone aft as soon as he commenced his investigations, he might have noticed the tell-tale prints of wet feet, left by Denbigh and his chum as they scurried to the cabin. By this time the marks had almost vanished. The slight traces of dampness that remained were hardly noticeable in the gloom, for it was still dark, and 'tween decks the lantern gave but a feeble glimmer.

Klick inserted his key into the lock and threw open the door. The cabin was in darkness, until one of his men flashed a lantern into it. The unter-leutnant sniffed suspiciously.

"Anyone awake?" he asked.

"Yes," replied Armstrong.

"You haf been a lamp burning," said Kaspar Klick accusingly. "It is again der regulations."

Armstrong's reply told the listening subs that he was "up to snuff". The prize-master had sniffed the odour of burnt cork; but since he had suggested that it was the smell of an extinguished oil-lamp, the mate did not contradict.

"Yes," he replied. "Mr. O'Hara hasn't been very well. I had to give him some quinine, and a fellow must have a light to see that he is giving the right dose."

"Ach! Is dat so?" asked the unter-leutnant. "Now, tell me dis. Herr O'Hara, did he go on deck since last hour ago?"

"No," replied Armstrong with perfect truthfulness. "I am certain he didn't. I'm a very light sleeper, and if he had moved I should have heard. Besides, how could he get out without a key?" asked the mate with well-feigned innocence.

"I tell you dis----" began Klick; but before he could carry out his intention a loud shout of "Wer da?" came from the deck, followed by an unintelligible hail, coming from some distance down the river.

Kaspar Klick waited no longer. Hurriedly he left the cabin, slamming and locking the door, and rushed on deck. Aft, a sentry at the ready was repeating his challenge. The first blush of the short tropical dawn revealed the presence of a four-oared galley speeding up with the tide.

"We're from the _Pelikan_, sir," announced the petty officer in charge, as the boat ran alongside. Without attempting to board the man delivered his message.

In spite of the closed dead-light Denbigh and his companions could hear all the fellow was saying.

"Herr Kapitan von Riesser sends his compliments," continued the coxswain. "He is anxious to know whether any of the English prisoners have escaped."

"No, certainly not," replied Kaspar Klick with righteous indignation in his voice, "our precautions are too elaborate to give the dogs a chance of that. But why has Kapitan von Riesser sent you with that question?"

"We've been in action, sir," declared the man.

"We heard the firing," remarked Klick. "And the result?"

"One English cruiser sunk, another driven on to the rocks," announced the coxswain, allowing his imagination to kick over the traces. "There were others. We would have captured or destroyed those, only----"

"Only what?" asked the unter-leutnant sharply.

"Someone cut our field telegraph. 'B' battery could not get in touch with the observation officer and so the rest of the enemy escaped."

"How do you know that the wire has been cut?" asked the unter-leutnant. "It might have carried away."

"A whole length of it has been removed, sir," reported the coxswain.

"Then it was the natives. They'll steal anything in the metal line. Kapitan von Riesser ought to have known that," replied Klick with asperity. "We look after our prisoners here. None of them has the faintest chance of getting out of the ship. Anything more to report?"

"Only that Major von Eckenstein is missing. He left the observation station to go to the _Pelikan's_ landing stage and never arrived. Search parties were out when I left."

Unter-leutnant Kaspar Klick made no audible comment. Inwardly he rejoiced, after the manner of mean-minded men when they hear of misfortune overtaking those they dislike; for there was no love lost between the two representatives of the Kaiser's forces.

"Very well; carry on back," he ordered. "You can reassure 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 assistance if necessary.

Returning on deck the prize-master gave back to the coxswain 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 class 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 assist 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 niggers, 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 passivity was desirable; on the other hand, having heard of Armstrong's little plan, it would not do to show unwonted eagerness to assist 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."