第 26 页

The wind, which, earlier in the night, had been a mere breathing, had strengthened to about a four-knot breeze, but this was an advantage to us, rather than otherwise, for it slightly cooled the air while, still blowing off the land, it made a fair wind for us across the smaller lagoon to the open water outside, upon reaching which it became possible for us to slip along close under the lee of the cliffs until we should reach the reef forming the outer boundary of the lagoon in which the German’s ship lay at anchor. The weather still held beautifully fine, and the water was smooth, save for the long, low undulations of the Pacific swell, over which the canoes rode buoyantly. The sky was unclouded and the stars, beaming down upon us with that soft lustre which is never to be seen outside the tropics, afforded us all the light we needed, if not indeed rather more than would be quite welcome when the moment came for us to steal up alongside our quarry.

Outside the smaller lagoon our flotilla formed itself in column of fours ahead, and in this fashion headed southward, close under the shadow of the western cliffs. The distance we had to travel was some fourteen miles, and we were no sooner in open water than I saw that we should be in ample time. The journey was uneventful, excepting that for about half of the distance we were joined by a school of porpoises which played around the canoes, darting along beside us, shooting ahead, rushing athwart our bows and occasionally leaping to a height of some six or eight feet out of the water, their antics affording us an agreeable diversion, for the water was brilliantly phosphorescent—to my great regret—and it was interesting to look over the side of the canoe down into the black depths of the water and see the creatures, their bodies gleaming like molten silver, speeding along beneath us.

As we drew up abreast the barrier reef of the big lagoon, the porpoises left us, alarmed, perhaps, by the thunderous roar of the surf upon it, and their departure was a relief to me, for I was beginning to fear lest they should accompany us into the lagoon, in which case their gambols could scarcely fail to attract the attention of a wakeful look-out—should there be such an individual—on board the German, and thus render it impossible for us to approach undetected.

Passing in through the entrance in single file, the canoes ranged themselves close up alongside the inner edge of the reef, affording us an opportunity to reconnoitre the enemy before proceeding to the attack. By the phosphorescent light emitted by the surf breaking on the outer edge of the reef, and streaming over it in shimmering swirls of luminous foam, I was just able to distinguish that it was now a few minutes past two o’clock in the morning, which was the moment of arrival that I had planned; thus far, therefore, all had gone well; but the critical time was still to come. A mile and a half away from the spot where we now lay, as it were in ambush, the dark form of the Seeadler stood out indistinctly from the almost equally dark background of the hills beyond her, and bringing my telescope to bear I saw that she was lying stern-on to us, which might or might not be an advantage according to circumstances. There was no glimmer of light to be discovered anywhere aboard her, but that was only what might be expected at that early hour of the morning. She was not even showing a riding light; which meant nothing, under the circumstances. We were too far distant from her for human forms to be distinguished on her deck by the starlight; but I looked long and intently in search of such a faint spark as might indicate that a look-out was endeavouring to keep himself awake by the stimulus of a pipe or a cigar, but I could see nothing; we could only hope, therefore, that under the influence of the quietude of the night and the apparent absence of danger from any source, the watch—if such had been set—was calmly and soundly sleeping.

There seemed to be nothing to wait for, no reason for hesitation; the moment appeared to be propitious; I therefore gave the word to advance, and, in accordance with a previous arrangement, the natives in our canoe faced about, by this simple action converting from stern to bow the end of the canoe in which I and my companions sat. We headed straight for the ship in single column of line ahead, our canoe leading, and the others following close enough in each other’s wake for an order to be passed along the line without raising the voice much above a whisper, and now that the moment had arrived for the most profound silence and the utmost caution it was wonderful to note how noiselessly the natives handled their paddles; not the faintest splash threatened betrayal, but silently as shadows we slid athwart the smooth, starlit surface of the lagoon until, about a quarter of an hour after leaving the inner edge of the reef, our canoe floated into and was absorbed by the deep shadow cast by the Seeadler’s overhanging counter, with the other canoes grouped about but not touching her.

Thus far all had gone well with us; I had kept my gaze immovably fixed upon the ship from the moment when I gave the word to advance, and had failed to discover a sign of movement or of life aboard her; and now, while I was wondering by what means we could climb the high, smooth side of the ship, we discovered that, by a most lucky chance, somebody aboard had been doing a little washing on the previous day, and had dropped over the stern a pair of trousers and a shirt, attached to a rope’s end, to rinse in the water all night.

Here was the means provided ready to my hand, and I lost not an instant in availing myself of it. Up I went, and in a few seconds was somewhat breathlessly scrambling in over the taffrail, to find myself standing on the spacious poop of the ship. I was in my stocking-feet, having left my boots behind in the hulk, and was therefore able to move freely and noiselessly about the deck; but Oldroyd, Mason and Kilau Minga were following me, so before proceeding to reconnoitre I turned to help them, and a minute or two later all three stood beside me. A gun—apparently a 6-inch—with its shield and other paraphernalia was mounted amidships, some twenty feet away; and beyond it a big skylight occupied the middle of the poop, up to which we crept and crouched behind it for a moment to consult, and arrange our next movement. Of one thing we were already certain; there was nobody on watch at this end of the ship, or we must at once have seen him; and this encouraged me to hope that the watch on the other portions of the ship might be equally lax. This was the next point to determine and accordingly, leaving Kilau Minga to get the rest of his people out of the canoes, and to conceal them as best he could abaft the skylight, the two Americans and I crawled forward toward the fore end of the poop and the ladder which we counted upon finding there.

Moving rapidly but noiselessly, we traversed the length of the poop and, peering over its forward edge, found ourselves looking down upon the after well deck, with the saloon superstructure as its forward boundary. The middle of this well deck was occupied by the after hatchway, with the mainmast springing from the deck about midway between it and the saloons. Accustomed as our eyes now were to the starlight it was plain there was no one moving on the deck below us, we therefore crept down the poop ladder and looked about us.

My first glance was directed to the bulkhead forming the front, so to speak, of the poop, and here I found, as I had expected, a door. It was open and, feeling my way cautiously along a passage some ten or twelve feet long, I found myself in a fairly spacious cabin, the darkness of it just relieved by the starlight filtering down through the skylight in the deck above. There were staterooms on both sides of the cabin, and they were occupied, for I could hear snoring, deep breathing, and restless movements. That afforded me all the information I needed for the moment; therefore I groped my way out on deck again, briefly informed my companions of what I had discovered, and returned to Kilau Minga, who was rapidly getting his people out of the canoes and up on deck. I explained that I wanted twenty men to stand guard over one of the cabins, and these I led forward, directing them to arrange themselves equally on either side of the passage leading to the cabin, and on no account to allow anyone to pass out on deck. Then I rejoined Oldroyd and Mason, who had usefully employed the interval in assuring themselves that no sleeper occupied any of the shadowy corners of this part of the ship.

Leaving the after well deck, we ascended to the upper deck, upon which the saloon staterooms were built, and devoted ourselves to a scrutiny of these. There were sixteen of them—eight on either side of the structure—with what we afterward discovered to be a bar, with a snug little smoke room forward of that. The staterooms were two-berth rooms, and, the doors being open, it did not take us long to discover that every one was occupied. Passing on to the smoke room, we discovered how it was that we had been permitted to get aboard unchallenged, for here, coiled up on the cushions, sound asleep and snoring, were two seamen who obviously constituted the anchor watch. To slip out on deck while Oldroyd and Mason mounted guard over the pair, secure a couple of belaying pins to serve as gags, and enough rope to bind the pair hard and fast was the work of a few minutes; and upon my return the two Americans tackled the bigger of the twain while I attended to the other. It was no time for standing upon ceremony. I therefore drew one of my revolvers, gave my man a smart enough tap on the head with the butt of it to stun him, and then proceeded to gag and lash him up as scientifically as I knew how, the two Americans proceeding on similar lines. My next act was to return aft to Kilau Minga, obtain from him forty men to mount guard over the staterooms we had just scrutinised, including two to watch the pair in the smoke room, and then, with my two companions, go on to the captain’s cabin on the navigating bridge, taking care to provide ourselves, on the way, with the wherewithal to render harmless anyone there.

Thus far we had found sleepers wherever we went, but as we entered the captain’s cabin—a little incautiously, perhaps, our success up to the present having rendered us a trifle careless—a figure clad in pyjamas rose up on the couch opposite the door and demanded in German—

“Hullo! Who is it? What do you want?”

By way of answer the three of us leapt at him, and while I gripped the man tightly by the throat to prevent him from raising an outcry and giving the alarm. Mason caught him in a bear-like embrace about the shoulders, effectually restraining his efforts to get to his feet, and Oldroyd pressed the cold muzzle of a revolver barrel to his head as he muttered—also in German—

“Silence, as you value your life! Will you surrender, or must I blow your brains out?”

I relaxed my grip upon the fellow’s throat sufficiently to permit him to reply, and he gasped out—

“Surrender? What do you mean? Who are you? Have the prisoners risen and taken the ship?”

“You shall know everything in good time, old chap,” answered Oldroyd. “Meanwhile the question is—Do you surrender?”

“You are American!” exclaimed the man, in English. “There are no Americans among—”

“My good man,” remonstrated Oldroyd, relapsing into his mother-tongue, “will you stick to the point and answer my question, or must we adopt rougher measures with you.”

“But who are you?” persisted the German. “Surely—”

“Clap the belaying pin into his mouth and gag him,” exclaimed I. “We have no time to spare for this sort of business. And, Mason, pass the bight of that rope over his head and—”

“Stop! stop!” gasped the man. “I surrender, since it appears that there is nothing else for it. But—Himmel!—tell me who you are, and what it all means.”

“Yes, yes; by and bye; all in good time,” answered Oldroyd, soothingly. “What you have to do just now is to be a good boy, and keep a quiet tongue in your head. Now, Jack,”—turning to me—“what is the next thing to be done?”

“If Mason will kindly remain with this gentleman and see that he does nothing foolish, you and I will finish our explorations,” said I.

Mason readily agreed to mount guard over Captain Traub—for such our prisoner proved to be—adding a kindly word of warning to the man to behave himself if he did not desire to be summarily knocked on the head; and Oldroyd and I thereupon proceeded by way of the fore-deck to the forecastle, where we found the crew sleeping peacefully. A strong guard of the natives was posted at the door of this apartment, with instructions to permit no one to leave the place before I gave the word; and we were then ready to complete the operation of taking possession of the ship.

* * *

* * *

Chapter Nineteen: Capture of the “Seeadler,” and End of the Adventure.

My first act now was to return to Traub’s cabin, and question him as to who were the prisoners, mention of whom had escaped him during our first interview; how many of them there were; and where were they confined? The man at first manifested a disposition to be sulky and uncommunicative, but we quickly demonstrated to him that we were in no mood to waste time, or to put up with any nonsense; and he presently informed us that there were one hundred and twenty-six Englishmen on board who had been taken out of four British ships which had been captured, plundered and sunk by the Seeadler during her cruise, and that these men were now confined below in a part of the after-hold which had been converted into a sort of strong room for their accommodation. The key of the strong room he now handed over to me.

Our next proceeding was to return to the cabin under the poop, light the lamp which hung in the skylight, arouse the inmates of the staterooms adjoining, and acquaint them with the fact that they were prisoners, at the same time affording them a glimpse of the native guard, with their formidable spears and war clubs, which we had placed over them. We carefully searched those staterooms for weapons, but found none, one of the party, a sub-lieutenant, informing us that it was the practice to deposit all arms in the big dining saloon down below; which was the reason, he ruefully explained, why they surrendered without attempting a blow in self-defence.

We crowded these people, twenty in all, into five of the staterooms, locked them in, and returned to the staterooms on the upper deck amidships, the occupants of which we secured in a similar manner, bidding them dress, and then marching them all aft to the poop cabin, locking as many as we could into the staterooms, and confining the remainder in the main cabin. Finally, we entered the forecastle—the atmosphere of which was poisonous—and ordered the crew to come out on deck, one at a time, when each man was taken into custody by a couple of natives. As in the case of the officers, we warned these men of the extremely serious consequences which would attend any attempt at resistance, but they were a ruffianly crowd and when they were all out on deck one of them shouted to the rest to make a fight for it. A few of them were foolish enough to respond to this call, and for two or three minutes the fore-deck became a scene of considerable confusion. It was soon over, however; but the result of the brief scrimmage was a tale of five killed and fourteen more or less seriously wounded, all Germans. The remainder, completely cowed by the sight of the casualties and the fierce looks and threatening gestures of the natives, marched aft as quietly as lambs, several of them begging to be put beyond the reach of the savages.