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“Y–e–s,” agreed Oldroyd, doubtfully; “y–e–s. But you’ll admit it’s a pretty desperate plan, with plenty of holes in it, any one of which may cause failure. And the biggest of the lot seems to me to be that the scheme is based upon the supposition that the Seeadler will remain at anchor in the lagoon for several days. Now, let us suppose for a moment that she doesn’t—that, on the contrary, she fills up her water tank to-morrow, and goes to sea again before sunset. How then?”

“In that case,” said I, “there is nothing for it but to adopt my alternative plan, which is to attack her in canoes to-night, or rather, in the early hours of to-morrow morning. But it will be a desperate adventure, and is certain to result in great loss of life, even if we should succeed in taking the Germans by surprise, which I do not believe possible; for unless their officers are born idiots they will see to it that a strict watch is maintained during this, their first night in a strange anchorage.”

“Are you dead sure of that?” demanded Oldroyd. “Why should they keep a more strict watch to-night than, say, two or three nights hence? From the scraps of conversation passing between the two men we followed, I got the impression that they were convinced that this island is uninhabited. And, if so, what have they to fear? Why should they keep a watch at all?”

“Simply because it is customary even in port, to keep an anchor watch,” I replied. “And even if we assumed—as you do—that those two men are convinced that the island is uninhabited, you may bet your last dollar that an anchor watch will be kept aboard the Seeadler to-night.”

“How many men usually constitute an anchor watch?” asked my companion. “Half the crew as when at sea?”

“Oh, dear, no,” I replied. “I don’t know what the custom is in the German navy, or in the British navy, for that matter, but aboard a merchantman a couple of hands are usually considered sufficient, and they are relieved every two hours. It is not unlikely that half-a-dozen hands, distributed about various parts of the ship, will be as many as the Germans may consider necessary, anchored as they are in the middle of a lagoon, with never a sign of a canoe, or of human presence anywhere.”

“Precisely,” agreed Oldroyd, with animation. “You and I are beginning to see the situation through the same coloured glasses. Here is a ship, moored in a safe harbour. The weather is fine, with not the slightest sign of danger from it. Also, as you say, no canoes in sight, and no sign of inhabitants, savages or otherwise. What is there to fear? Nothing! An anchor watch will be kept, you say. All right: I’ll take your word for it; and I’ll concede that for the first few hours, the men on watch may keep fairly on the alert. But the hours pass and nothing happens. What is the result? The watchers grow careless; the night air makes them sleepy; why shouldn’t they sleep? There is nothing to fear, no earthly reason why they should remain awake; they take a good look round at sea and sky; everything is serene—and ten minutes later they are tucked up in some snug corner, sound asleep. Now, is not that a quite possible state of affairs on board the Seeadler to-night?”

“Possible,” I admitted, “but hardly probable, I should say. So much will depend upon the character of the discipline maintained. If it is good—that is to say, strict—your picture is not in the least likely to be realised. If on the other hand it is bad, well, it may be; that is all I can say.”

“Of course,” agreed Oldroyd. “At what time will the moon set to-night? About ten-thirty, isn’t it?”

“There or thereabout, within a few minutes,” I replied.

“Very well,” continued Oldroyd. “Now, what is likely to happen on board the German? I guess it will be something like this. Up to about midnight the watchers will remain fairly alert. After that, nothing happening to keep them on the alert, they will gradually get slack, until, about two or three o’clock in the morning, all pretence at keeping a watch will be at an end, and it ought to be a comparatively easy matter for a dozen or two of us to steal on board, surprise and overpower the watch, help a hundred savages to climb the side, and then capture the crew in detail, either in their cabins or as they come out on deck.”

“Exactly,” I agreed. “You have got the hang of one of my plans to a nicety; and while we have been talking the conclusion has been steadily forcing itself upon me that it is the right one. The other might answer very well if we could be certain the Germans will remain here for a few days, as I still think they will. But, as you have put it—suppose they don’t. In that case we lose our chance, for to attack her openly in broad daylight would be madness. And we must not lose our chance, Paul; no; we mustn’t risk it. The proper thing to do is to attack to-night, and we’ll do it. I’ll get hold of Kilau Minga at once and discuss the matter with him. I wonder what sort of a show his people will make in a fair and square stand-up fight!”

* * *

* * *

Chapter Eighteen: The Canoe Expedition.

As we passed through the village, on our way to the hulk, we called at Kilau Minga’s house, and broke ground by informing him that the ship, of whose arrival he had already been apprised, was an enemy, and that her crew had already proclaimed their intention of seizing the island, by planting their flag on the margin of the big lagoon.

“I will send a man to pluck it out and bring it to me,” remarked the chief, simply.

“That will do no good,” observed Oldroyd. “They will put another there. Besides, it is not merely the planting of a flag in the soil of your island that is the trouble. They will take possession of the island, send a number of their own people here to occupy the land, and those people will either drive you away or make slaves of you.”

“They shall not do that,” asserted Kilau Minga. “I and my people will kill them.”

“You can’t, there will be too many of them; they will fill the island,” said Oldroyd. “No, if you do not want your island to be taken from you, and yourselves enslaved, there is only one thing for you to do. Jack and I have been talking it over, and we have made a plan. This is it,”—and Paul proceeded to outline the scheme which we had decided upon while returning to the Basin.

The chief listened with profound attention, and when Oldroyd had finished Kilau Minga just nodded his head approvingly. “Yes,” he remarked, “the plan is good, very good. It shall be done.”

“Are you sure that your people will fight—that they will not be afraid and run away when they hear the noise of the firearms?” demanded Oldroyd.

My blood-brother laughed heartily at the suggestion. “We might have been, had we never seen or heard firearms before,” he acknowledged; “but, not now. My brother,”—indicating me—“has shown me what they are, and what they can do, and we shall not be afraid. It is the enemy who will have reason to be afraid.”

“Right, old man!” exclaimed Oldroyd. “That’s the proper spirit to show at a moment like this. Now, you must muster your men; tell them what we have told you, and order them to get their weapons and canoes in order—and see that they do it. When you are satisfied that everything is ready, come to the hulk, and we will tell you exactly what is to be done. We shall have completed our plans by then.”

When we reached the hulk, we found the rest of the party impatiently awaiting our return, anxious to obtain the fullest particulars of what we had seen and done. Even the Doctor was shaken out of his abstraction, for once in a way, and was alert and eager. When we explained that we had arranged to attack the ship that night, he became positively chirpy.

“All right, boys,” he said; “then I’ll go with you. I confess that I am not much of a fighter, and should probably be a hindrance rather than a help if I were to attempt to join in the tussle; but from what you have said I calculate that a few heads will be broken in the course of the scrimmage, and that is where I shall be found useful.”

As the rest of us talked with growing animation, Anthea became silent and lost her colour; but now, when her father announced his intention to accompany us, she brightened up again, exclaiming with a smile—

“That’s right pop; I’m glad to hear you say that; you’ll sure be wanted. And I’ll go with you. I can help too.”

“You’ll come with me!” exclaimed the Doctor, in consternation. “But, my child, you can’t. The deck of a ship upon which a fight is raging is no place for a woman.”

“Will you be there while the fight is raging?” demanded his daughter.

“Well—er—no—not exactly,” stammered the Doctor. “But I shall be close at hand, with all my paraphernalia, in a canoe, a few yards away from the actual fighting.”

“Sure!” agreed ’Thea; “and I shall be there with you.”

The Doctor flung up his hands in despair. “Explain to her, Jack, that what she proposes is impossible,” he besought. “She’ll not listen to me.”

“Did you ever know her listen to me, sir, or pay the slightest regard to my wishes?” I retorted.

The little witch came to my side and slid her hand coaxingly under my arm. “Oh, Jack, how can you say so?” she exclaimed. “I do as you bid me—sometimes. Let me have my way just this once—please.”

“You will have it, I guess, whatever I may say to the contrary,” I retorted. “But, please listen. If you are determined to carry out this mad proposal, it must be on the clear understanding that you keep well away from the ship until the fighting is over, and don’t come alongside before I give you permission.”

“I will see to that, Jack, you needn’t be afraid,” struck in Lucy, at this juncture. “I shall be going, too.”

“You, too!” I reiterated, with a gasp. “Well, you girls are simply past understanding, that’s all I can say.”

“True, Jack, you don’t understand us now—but you will, some day,” whispered ’Thea, as she gave my arm a little squeeze before leaving me to rejoin her father.

We sat down to dinner, and in the intervals of eating and drinking continued to discuss our plans until we had got them exactly to our liking; then I insisted that everybody should turn in and get a few hours’ rest and sleep to fit them for our great adventure. They all protested that they were much too excited to sleep, but I was firm in my insistence, and at length I managed to get rid of the Doctor and the two girls, Oldroyd and Mason keeping me company for an hour longer, which time we spent overhauling and oiling our revolvers and making them ready for action. While we were thus engaged Kilau Minga turned up to report that, so far as his people were concerned, everything was ready, and all that he now required was our final instructions, which we gave him, describing our plan of action, explaining the character of the resistance we expected to meet with, and generally putting the situation in its entirety as clearly as possible before him. Fortunately for our prospects of success we were now able to understand each other pretty well, and I was glad to see that this savage chief, albeit quite unaccustomed to fighting, displayed a remarkably intelligent comprehension of our plans; his determination to carry them out was patent to us all.

When at length Kilau Minga rose to leave us, Oldroyd, Mason and I accompanied him out on deck and saw him over the side, after which the two Americans left me to my own devices, and retired to their respective cabins.

It was a perfect night for our purpose. There was little wind, and the trifle that was stirring was off the land; thus we should have smooth water for our canoe trip round from the one lagoon to the other, while any slight unavoidable sounds which we might make when approaching our quarry would be swept away from instead of toward her. The moon, in her first quarter, hung large and yellow within a finger’s breadth of the western horizon, casting a long, thin, wavering reflection across the water from the horizon to within a few fathoms of the hulk’s side, while the innumerable stars shed a soft mellow radiance over the scene that afforded us all, and indeed more than all the light we needed. Not a sound was to be heard save the deep thunder of the surf on the reef, a mile and a half away, and the gentle swish of the ripples on the beach. It was a night picture of perfect peace that met my gaze, whichever way I turned, and quite naturally, as it seemed to me, I contrasted it with the scene which was to be enacted in the big lagoon a few hours later.

As I stood there smoking meditatively, leaning with crossed arms upon the hulk’s poop rail, the moon’s lower edge touched the distant horizon line, dipped behind it, and in a few minutes the planet had sunk out of sight, leaving behind her a curious sense of chill and loneliness. I straightened myself, gently knocked the ashes out of my pipe, and started pacing the main deck to and fro.

The minutes seemed to drag themselves out to an unconscionable length, but at long last the moment arrived for which I had been waiting, and, walking noiselessly on slippered feet, I entered the store room, lighted the ship’s riding lantern, and carried it up on the poop, depositing it upon the rail where it could be seen by every eye in the village. This was the signal to indicate that the hour for action had arrived, and a few minutes later moving forms were beginning to muster on the beach abreast the hulk. Going to Oldroyd’s, Mason’s and the Doctor’s cabins, I touched each sleeper on the shoulder and whispered in his ear that it was time to rise.

Moving silently and stealthily as ghosts, that we might not awaken the girls—whose mad project to accompany us we were determined to defeat, if possible—we four men assembled, a few minutes later, in the main cabin, from whence we crept out on deck and descended into the canoes, which by now were waiting for us alongside; Oldroyd, Mason and I going in one of the big canoes full of fighting men, while the Doctor, with a big bundle under his arm, entered a smaller and lighter craft. Kilau Minga was in command of the canoe which carried us three white men, and upon learning from him that everything was in order and ready I instructed him to give the signal to start, which he did, by paddling ahead as leader of the flotilla.

This flotilla numbered, in all, twenty canoes, ranging in size from craft of forty feet in length, carrying crews of twenty paddlers, down to the Doctor’s canoe paddled by six lads who were too young to fight. The weapons with which the natives had armed themselves consisted of a single long spear with a multi-barbed point and a formidable war club, its heavy head closely set with sharks’-teeth spikes, one weapon of each kind being carried by every native; and as I estimated that our force must consist in all of fully two hundred fighting men the thought occurred to me that the Germans were in for a pretty rough time.

We crossed the lagoon and passed out through the gap in the reef in single file, the natives paddling so silently that not a sound was to be heard save the lap of the water against the sides of the canoes, and the deep breathing of the paddlers. We progressed at a good pace, although I had so timed the start that we should arrive alongside the ship about three o’clock in the morning without needing to call upon the natives for undue exertion, for I was anxious they should reach their destination fresh and in good fighting condition.