Rounding up the Raider Part 5

"They lead nowhere," protested Stirling. "They are blocked. I tried them some time ago."

The cabin had previously been used as the purser's office, and from it voice-tubes had communicated with the captain's cabin, the head steward's quarters, and the clerk's office. The metal pipes had been removed, but three lengths of flexible tubing had been left.

With a sharp tug Denbigh wrenched one of the tubes from the f.l.a.n.g.e securing it to the bulkhead. The second gave more trouble. As he was straining at it a sharp rasping sound fell upon his ear. In the adjoining cabin someone was at work drilling a hole through the metal part.i.tion.

Smearing the bell-shaped mouth-pieces of two of the detached pipes with soap from the wash-basin, Denbigh clapped them together.

"Hold on here, Pat," he whispered. "Press 'em tightly."

O'Hara obeyed unhesitatingly. Instinctively he realized that this was Denbigh's pigeon, and once Denbigh undertook a task he was pretty certain of the result.

Stirling was then told to hold one end of the second and third sections. The united length of tubing was now nearly nine feet. One end Denbigh wedged into the opening in the ceiling for the electric fan. The other he held in his hand in readiness.

At length, after a tedious wait, Denbigh saw the tip of the drill emerging from the bulkhead. Marking the spot he instantly switched off the light. A dull thud announced that the boring tool had made a complete perforation and that the handle had struck home against the steelwork.

The drill was withdrawn. In its place a small metal tube was inserted.

Deftly and noiselessly Denbigh slipped the lower end of the flexible piping over the projecting nozzle. Then he waited. He could hear the Irishman breathing heavily. The portion of the tube that he was holding quivered in his excitable grasp. Stirling, cool and collected, gave no sign of the potential alertness that possessed him.

A gentle hissing sound, repeated at short intervals, announced that the Germans were injecting the stupefying fumes by means of a bellows. A faint, sickly odour a.s.sailed Denbigh's nostrils. He had to fight hard to refrain from gasping. Grimly he stood by until the hissing noise ceased.

His plan had been successful. Save for a slight leakage the fumes had travelled through the pipe and had been carried through the louvres of the ventilator, while the hot air of the cabin was sufficient to create an up-draught to disperse the noxious vapour.

Denbigh removed his end of the tube. As he did so he heard a voice exclaim:

"It is enough. More will kill them. You had better enter the cabin, Herr Doktor, and see that they are still breathing."

The sub drew the piping from his companions' grasp.

"Turn in and pretend you're insensible," he whispered, fearful lest the sound should be heard through the newly-made hole in the bulkhead.

It was less than five minutes later when the door was unlocked and a dim figure cautiously entered.

"Not half so bad as I expected," said a guttural voice. The smell of the anaesthetic had almost dispersed. "Where is the switch?"

"Here, Herr Doktor," replied a petty officer.

The next instant the cabin was bathed in brilliant light. In spite of their efforts to the contrary the three supposed sleepers twitched their eyelids.

The ship's surgeon bent over O'Hara. A short scrutiny confirmed his suspicions. He turned to the bunk on which Stirling was lying, and, lifting the sub's eyelid, placed the tip of his forefinger upon the eyeball.

"Ach, is it so?" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the German, for Stirling had been compelled to contract his eyelids.

A similar test bore the same result in Denbigh's case; then, without another word, the doctor hurried from the cabin.

"The old pillbox has tumbled to it," muttered Denbigh. "Now what will their little game be?"

The sub was not left long in doubt. Ober-leutnant von Langer, who had followed the doctor into the cabin, made his presence known by bawling out an order to half a dozen of the crew who were waiting without:

"Come! Out mit you!" he exclaimed, addressing the sham sleepers. "It is that I know your little pretend. Ach! you tink you smart?"

Yet Denbigh and his companions kept still, half-hoping that the doctor's test had not been successful and von Langer was trying his hand.

The ober-leutnant gave another order. Unceremoniously the three British officers were hauled out of the bunks by the seamen, who seemed to take a delight in roughly handling anyone of commissioned rank.

Perhaps, if von Langer did but know it, his men would have been only too pleased to use him in the same way, for the ober-leutnant was a Prussian and a Junker, while the crew were for the most part from Schleswig-Holstein.

With as much dignity as their dishevelled appearance would permit, Denbigh and his companions allowed themselves to be taken on deck, where they had to cool their heels at the pleasure of their captors.

It was a bright moonlight night. The air was decidedly chilly for the Tropics. A heavy dew was falling. The lightly-clad men--for the sub-lieutenants were in pyjamas--realized that there was a grave risk of tropical fever.

The ship was once more under way. With a true seaman's instinct Denbigh glanced aloft. By the relative position of the moon--since no stars were visible--he was able to fix the approximate course of the vessel. She was steering roughly sou'-sou'-east. Far away to the nor'ard a masthead lamp was blinking--calling in Morse to know why they had been summoned.

Denbigh gave a grunt of satisfaction. For once von Riesser's plan had gone awry. He had feared to treacherously torpedo an unsuspecting merchantman since there were hostile eye-witnesses on board the _Pelikan_.

Presently the kapitan, clad in a greatcoat over his white uniform, appeared at the head of the bridge-ladder.

"You there, von Langer?" he called.

"Yes, sir," replied the ober-leutnant. "Shall I bring the prisoners to you?"

"No, I'll see them in my cabin," replied von Riesser. "Tell off a couple of hands to guard the prisoners and another half-dozen to wait outside in case there is any trouble. I'll be there in a few minutes."

The kapitan's quarters were situated aft on the upper deck. They comprised a large cabin, used for meals and recreation, and a sleeping cabin opening from it. Denbigh and his companions were marched into the outer cabin and told to take up a position facing von Riesser's empty arm-chair and separated from it by a long mahogany table.

The cabin was plainly furnished. In addition to the arm-chair and table there were two sideboards, a large book-rack, and half a dozen cane chairs. On the table lay a pile of Dutch charts. Books for navigation and sailing directions in the same language occupied the shelves in company with a few American novels.

Everything German, with one exception, had been studiously eliminated, in order to baffle the curiosity of a British boarding-officer in the event of the supposed _Zwaan_ being held up. The exception was a large oil painting of the Kaiser in the uniform of a German Admiral of the Fleet. The portrait was framed in a ma.s.sive oak frame securely fixed to the bulkhead between the two cabins. The only other picture was a sepia-toned photograph of the Queen of Holland, in a narrow, plain gilt frame. When it became necessary to hide the features of the All Highest War Lord from the eyes of the strafed English, who had practically contrived to drive the War Lord's battleships from the face of the five oceans, von Riesser took the risk of committing lese majeste by placing the portrait of Queen Wilhelmina over that of the Emperor Wilhelm II. Then, to all appearances, the captain's cabin of the _Zwaan_ was loyally adorned by a photograph of the Queen of the Netherlands in a deep oak frame with a thin gold slip.

In the circ.u.mstances, however, it was not considered necessary to eclipse the All Highest War Lord, so the three British subs found themselves confronted by the painted features of the modern Attila.

The door was thrown open. Von Langer and the two seamen clicked their heels and saluted as von Riesser entered with the dramatic effect of which Prussians are so fond. Gravely saluting the Emperor's portrait and then returning his subordinates' mark of respect the kapitan took his seat.

"You know why you are here?" asked von Riesser abruptly, lowering his brows and looking sternly at the three British officers.

"We do not," replied Denbigh. "In fact, it is rather unusual to turn a fellow out of his bunk at one in the morning."

"Do not bandy words, Herr Denbigh," snapped the kapitan. "You have been causing trouble."

"Is it causing trouble to take steps to avoid being ga.s.sed or chloroformed?" asked O'Hara.

"Yes," almost shouted the kapitan. "If we think it desirable that our prisoners should be put to sleep it is not for them to resist."

"In that case there's no more to be said," declared the Irishman. "You are top-dog----"

"You call me a dog, you English swine!" almost howled the now infuriated Prussian.

O'Hara burst out into violent laughter. Denbigh smiled broadly, while around Stirling's firm lips hovered the suspicion of a grim smile.

Their utter indifference to the ravings of their captor took von Riesser by surprise.

"I may as well tell you," began Denbigh, seizing his opportunity, "that I can speak German perhaps as well as you can speak English. I overheard your conversation outside our cabin an hour or so ago, and we know what you proposed to do to the ship which you were luring. I suppose you call those tactics frightfulness. I call them low-down, skulking treachery. How a man who professes to be a sailor, who has lived a free and healthy life upon the sea, could belittle himself to act as you propose to do, and possibly have done, pa.s.ses my understanding. I give you fair warning, Kapitan von Riesser, that, should we be set free by an English cruiser, you will have a grave indictment to answer."