Percy F. Westerman

“ Claverhouse knew how to handle a high-horse-powered engine, and before the car had traversed the length of the crowded High Street, and had adroitly negotiated the narrow Bargate, both Villiers and Beverley had abandoned the mental visions of finding themselves either in a mortuary or in an infirmary. ”

“ Dick remained on deck. Even the strong desire to go below, to see if he could prevail upon the engineer to allow him to enter the engine-room, was not enough to tear him from the sight of the receding shores of Kent and the constant stream of shipping passing to and fro on one of the main arteries of the world's maritime trade.
He was a high-spirited youth, no better and no worse than the average British schoolboy. He had received his colours at "footer", was a moderate bat, could swim and box, and could ride almost any make of motor-cycle and understand its mechanism as well. ”

“ A dense column of smoke was pouring from her funnel, and, judging by the size of the "bone in her teeth", she was chugging through the water at a pace that threatened overheated bearings and sundry other troubles in the engine-room.
"I reckon she's doing a good couple of knots more than the old Titania," declared Villiers, who, having been busy with the stowing of canvas, had strolled aft to watch the overhauling craft. "It's a wonder that they don't open fire on us through sheer force of habit." ”

“ The Zug was steering due south, and, therefore, on a slightly diverging course from the eastern side of the island; but when immediately abeam of the entrance to the lagoon, she ported helm as if to approach the narrow gap in the coral reef.
"Either von Giespert's mad or he doesn't know the risk he's running," said Harborough. "Make him a signal, Villiers. Say 'bar unsafe'."
"He's flying some sort of signal, sir," reported Jack. "Can't make out the flags; they're dead to windward."
"If we can't see his, he can't see ours," observed Harborough. "But we'll risk it, and give him a chance." ”

“ The instinct of self-preservation, coupled with the fact that he yet had a faint chance of escape, rallied the semi-torpid Swaine sufficiently to enable him to take action.
He dropped the knife and groped for the release-valve of the compressed-air reservoir. Half a turn, and he felt the buoyant air rushing into the double folds of his diving-suit. Even as he realized that he was parting company with the bottom of the lagoon he found himself looking at his late antagonist, who was writhing in agony, with a ruddy stream mixed with air-bubbles rising from the clean-cut stump of his severed arm. ”

“ On that momentous Saturday night one of the crew of the Zug—ex. Geier—who was a past master in the art of speaking colloquial English, hailed from the wharf-wall, fully expecting that Sir Hugh Harborough was one of the two persons on board the Titania. The pseudo messenger was not alone. Skulking behind a rusty and condemned ship's boiler were three powerful men, one armed with a length of rubber pipe filled with sand, and the others holding ropes and a gag in readiness should the persuasive methods of the loaded india-rubber pipe fail. ”

“ Von Giespert assumed an air of injured dignity. Up to the present he had played his part well, for, the moment the approaching Titania had been sighted, he had sent a boat ashore and had quickly scuttled the Cormorant by the simple expedient of smashing the floats.
"Your request is an insult, sir," he replied. "As such I can only refuse it. To accede would be throwing away my dignity. Remember, that ship flies the German flag, and England is now at peace with Germany. Virtually, the Zug is German territory, and should you persist——"
"You would resist by force of arms, eh?" added Harborough. ”

“ She was lying in a mud-berth, and, the tide being low, a considerable part of her weed- and barnacle-covered bottom showed above the mud. Her tapering pole-masts, once resplendent in all the glories of varnish, were coated with battle-ship grey paint; her standing rigging was in a deplorable condition. An unsightly deck-house built above the original saloon added to the picture of neglect, for most of the sheet-glass panes were broken. In her present state no man intent upon the joys of yachting would have looked at her twice.
But Harborough was nothing if not practical. ”

“ Both von Giespert and Strauss turned a sickly yellow hue when Jack Villiers, cool and unperturbed, stepped briskly out of the chart-house. The Huns had up to that moment imagined that he had been drowned after he took his flying leap from the deck of the Zug.
"You've lost, Herr Giespert," said Harborough. "A charge of attempted murder would land you in a very tight corner. That, however, is Mr. Villiers' affair." ”

“ Trevear. Dick!"
"Sir?"
"Any good with a rifle?"
"First-class marksman in the Cadet Corps, sir."
"Then act up to it," said Harborough, with his whimsical smile. "You'll be on ration fatigue, which means that whenever Pete wishes to give us pork for dinner, you've got to shoot a pig. No indiscriminate slaughter, mind. That I most strongly object to. We want enough for our needs and no more."
It was quite a long time before Dick got to sleep that night. He imagined himself a mighty hunter, on whom his fellow-adventurers depended for the filling of the flesh-pot. ”

“ And a handful wouldn't last a whole day with a boy on his own for the first time with a real rifle."
For nearly twenty minutes they proceeded in silence, following a track recently made through the dense undergrowth.
"Trouble is," remarked Beverley, "we've been acting like bulls in a china-shop on the previous stunt. If Dick left a trail we've obliterated it."
"We have," admitted Villiers. "S'pose we weren't born trackers, any of us. It's like collaring a skilled woodcraft man and sending him afloat. He would be all at sea in a double sense." ”

“ Harborough waved dismissal. Pete, pulling his woolly forelock, pattered away towards the fore-hatch.
"They didn't have a nigger on board the Zug, I suppose?" inquired Harborough.
"No," replied Villiers. "This fellow seems quite above board."
"He may be a blessing in disguise," commented the baronet. "I don't envy the fellows who volunteered for the galley when we get down the Red Sea, and they'll be jolly glad to get out of it." ”

“ Luckily all hands managed to gain the yacht by means of ropes thrown them from the Titania's bows.
Satisfying himself that his comrades late of the gig were safe, Villiers held on, encouraging the crew by word and gesture, and skilfully handling the boat to meet every dangerously-crested wave.
It was grim, desperate work. Sometimes the boat would lose ground in spite of the efforts of the rowers, who, with cracking sinews and aching backs, stuck gamely to their task. ”

“ At Aden we might be held up. Hallo! There she goes."
The French liner Cité d'Arras was on the point of disappearing. With the Titania's searchlights flashed upon the scene, her stricken hull looked as though it were fashioned of silver. Her stern was high out of the water, and, after the Titania had pushed off, she had developed a terrific list to starboard.
A hush fell upon the crowd on the Titania's deck. All eyes were directed upon the sinking vessel, even the Mussulmans abandoning their hitherto impassive attitude to gaze upon the scene. ”

“ While Villiers and Beverley set to work to restore their comrade to consciousness, Harborough, O'Loghlin, and Trevear did a like office for the German. They were puzzled as to the cause of the loss of the man's hand, for the amputation had been performed as cleanly as if by a knife, while the pressure of his rubber wrist-band had checked what would have been a dangerous haemorrhage. Applying a tourniquet before cutting away the diving-dress, the three amateur surgeons felt that they had succeeded in saving the German's life unless he sank under the effect of shock to the system. ”

“ Say, Claverhouse, do crabs climb trees out here?"
He pointed to a felled palm. Out of the crushed foliage a large crab ambled awkwardly.
"Looks like it," replied Claverhouse. "Wonder what a fellow would do if one of those beauties climbed into the fuselage of a bus and began nibbling the bloke's toes. He'd wonder what was wrong with the rudder-bar."
"There's another, making off with a coco-nut," said Griffiths. "And I volunteered to sleep ashore," he added, with the air of a man who had made a bad bargain. ”

“ Long before the waters of the lagoon returned to their usual state of tranquillity, Harborough, Villiers, and Dick Beverley came ashore. They, too, bore traces of the night's ordeal, for every man on board had momentarily expected the Titania to part her cables and come up on the beach. ”

“ Everything within fifty yards was indistinct, like a badly-focused photograph, while for a mile behind the car a dense cloud of dust eddied in the back-draught of the swiftly-moving vehicle.
"Look out, old man," cautioned Villiers. "There's a cyclist ahead."
"Yes, I see him," replied Alec, gently retarding the terrific momentum. "'Fraid he's spoiled my record."
"Motor-cyclist," corrected Jack, as the approaching machine breasted one of the intervening ridges and disappeared in a dip of the road. "Wonder if anything would happen if a bike going at, say, forty, passed a big car doing seventy? ”

“ Every man was soaked to the skin; most bore cuts or bruises, while Bell and Merridew were both badly knocked about by one of the packing-cases as the barricade gave way before the blast.
"Think the Titania stood it?" asked Merridew.
There was no reply. Every man had his doubts. Bobby was regretting the fact that he had refused to let Dick come ashore the previous afternoon.
For another hour the men sheltered in the palm grove. Here it was comparatively calm, although the trunks were trembling with the effect of the gale upon their verdant tops. ”

“ As a Hun, von Giespert knew that "his name was mud" in almost every important seaport on the Atlantic and Pacific shores. A nation cannot "run amok" and institute a policy of "sink everything without trace" and then expect to be treated on a pre-war footing by the States whose flags she has wantonly flouted and insulted. So von Giespert, quick to realize that as a German he was "down and out", had no qualms about renouncing, temporarily at all events, his nationality and becoming Kristian Borgen, a Swede. ”

“ Volumes of water poured in over her bows and under she went, leaving her crew struggling to clear each other.
Almost before the men in the dinghy could grasp the situation properly, there was a terrific swirl in the water and a large greenish-white object shot up to the surface.
It was a ship's boat, green with weed. Its copper air-tanks still retained their buoyancy, and the additional strain imparted by the grapnel had wrenched the boat from the lashings that secured it to the chocks. Fortunately, in its violent ascent to the surface the boat missed the evicted crew of the cutter. ”

“ Villiers, Beverley, and Claverhouse, who with the skipper formed the party on deck, gazed steadfastly upon the distant peaks of Ni Telang. Each man wanted to study the expressions on his companions' faces, but somehow every one hesitated to do so. The admission of indecision coming from the hitherto somewhat despotic skipper of the Titania rather took the wind out of their sails.
"What's your opinion on the matter, Villiers?" inquired Harborough abruptly.
"You wish to satisfy yourself that our rivals are slogging away on the wrong spot?" ”

“ Keeping within a distance of two miles from the reef, the Titania skirted the south-eastern sides of the island. Although a careful watch was maintained there were no signs of human habitation ashore, except a ruined hut that might have been built by the crew of a trading-vessel during their search for bêche-de-mer.
"Good thing there are no natives," remarked Harborough "They'd only tend to complicate matters. We wouldn't dare leave any stores on the beach; they'd vanish. Right-o, Swaine; up aloft with you." ”

“ Personally, I'd like to have five minutes with the gentleman who sand-bagged me, but I'm quite content to let the rival crush have a run for its money."
"There's something in that," agreed Harborough, who, in common with the rest of the members of the expedition, had a strong partiality for the element of chance and a liking for sport. "They're interlopers, it's true, but rivalry adds a zest to life. But you must be tired with your long journey, Villiers."
"I am," replied Jack, stifling a yawn. "I'll turn in. I suppose there'll be time for me to nip ashore to-morrow and get a new kit." ”

“ True, wild pigs charged frantically through the undergrowth, stolid penguins broke up their military formation and ambled awkwardly to less noisy haunts, but no human native gave sight or sound of his presence, nor, during their brief visit, did the Titania's people find trace of human habitation.
"We'll start by establishing a shore-station tomorrow," decided Harborough, as they rowed back to the yacht. "It will give us more room on board, and save the old boat from a lot of knocking about. You might look round to-morrow, Mr. Claverhouse, and fix up a secure berth for the sea-planes. ”

“ They could distinguish what looked like the sea-plane, floating head to wind, at about a quarter of a mile from the Zug's berth. Even as they looked a wreath of haze drifted down and hid a considerable portion of the island from view.
"Wonder if von Giespert's spotted us?" said Harborough, as the three men regained the deck, leaving Swaine to perform the task of conning the yacht through the passage between the reefs. "They've got the Cormorant right enough, unless our eyesight's very much at fault. Let's only hope that Claverhouse is safe." ”