The Wireless Officer Part 41

After distinguishing herself by knocking out her Arab a.s.sailant and making herself useful until Peter was able to resume control, Mrs.

Shallop had drifted back into her old style. For hours at a stretch she remained in the cabin a.s.signed to her. When she did appear she indulged in outbursts of complaints against everything in general.

Peter now suffered her in silence. He could afford to do so, knowing that within the next few days he would be relieved both of her company and his responsibility.

On the fifth day following the acquisition of the dhow, the Comoro Islands were sighted on the starboard bow. There were now plenty of craft to be seen, from tramp steamers to dhows. Mostyn let them pa.s.s without attempting to communicate. A sort of spirit of independence possessed him. Having gone thus far without outside a.s.sistance he was determined to see the business through. Had urgent necessity arisen he would have stopped a large vessel and requested medical attention, but Mahmed was making good progress, and was so emphatic in his desire to remain with his master, that any thwarting of his wishes in that direction would have more than counterbalanced any good that a doctor might have done.

It was not until the morning of the eighth day that land was sighted on the port bow. Once again, after days of adventure, Mostyn was gazing upon the African mainland.

"You'll have to be jolly careful how you approach Pangawani Harbour, old son," cautioned Preston for the twentieth time. "For goodness sake don't put the old hooker on the bar and kipper the show."

"I don't intend to," replied the cautious Peter. "The Arab chart isn't much good. It's on too small a scale. I'll bring up and signal for a pilot, unless there's another vessel making the port. If so, I'll follow her in."

As ill luck would have it the wind dropped about midday, and Mostyn had the mortification of seeing the entrance to Pangawani Harbour at less than five miles away, without being able to gain a hundred yards through the water. At times the dhow was appreciably drifting away from the desired haven. Until close on sunset she was becalmed. Then a stiff off-sh.o.r.e breeze sprang up.

There was no help for it. Throughout the night the dhow was under way close hauled, pa.s.sing and repa.s.sing the entrance without being able to cross the bar. Even after the wind had freed her, Peter would not have risked the intricate entrance in the darkness. So, with the roar of the surf borne to his ears, Peter kept watch during the darkness, until dawn revealed the fact that the dhow was immediately abreast of and less than a mile from the actual fairway.

Yet the harbour was denied him. The sea breeze gave place to another calm, and it was not until the sun was high in the heavens that the customary onsh.o.r.e wind began to make itself felt.

There were other craft making the harbour. Several dhows were in sight, their crews, tired of waiting for the breeze, laboriously sweeping the ponderous craft. Farther away was a gunboat, her white-painted sides looking strangely unfamiliar to people accustomed to the "battleship grey" of warships in home waters.

"She's down from Zanzibar," declared Preston. "She's got a soft job nowadays, but those fellows had a sticky time when I was on the coast.

No, I don't think she's coming in here, otherwise we might have had a tow in."

The dhow was now gathering way under the fair breeze. A cable's length astern was another dhow, the crew of which had just relinquished their sweeps and were preparing to hoist sail. Mostyn noticed that the white-robed skipper was intently watching him, and that the curiosity was shared by the rest of the Arab crew.

"P'raps he recognizes the old hooker," he remarked to Olive, who was standing with him on the p.o.o.p. "He'll be puzzling his brains to know what we're doing on board."

Even as he spoke a distinct splash astern attracted his attention.

Stepping aft he was just in time to see a brown figure diving into the water in the wake of another who was swimming a good ten feet beneath the surface.

Then there was another splash and the performance was repeated.

"By Jove!" exclaimed Mostyn. "We've been done. Our prisoners are escaping."

"Have escaped," corrected Olive as five heads, appeared above the surface.

One of the Arabs was swimming strongly, at the same time shouting to his compatriots on the nearest dhow. Two others were making slower progress for the reason that each was enc.u.mbered by supporting a disabled man.

Without let or hindrance the escaped prisoners gained the dhow astern and were hauled upon deck. Then, putting her helm down, the succouring craft went about and headed for the open sea.

"They've done us in the eye," declared Peter.

"I'm rather glad," said Olive.

"So am I in a way," agreed Mostyn. "Saved us a lot of trouble, handing 'em over, attending their trial, and all that sort of thing. But it's a bit of a mystery how they managed to break out of the ship."

Leaving the lascar at the helm, Peter went below and examined the hatch of the after-hold. It was intact and secured. Raising it he peered below. The mystery was a mystery no longer. Unknown to him there were two square ports right aft and just above the waterline, which, when in harbour, were used to facilitate stowage of cargo. Seizing their opportunity, the prisoners had kept observation until they saw a friendly dhow within easy distance, and had made their escape through one of the ports.

"And I'm also very glad," continued Peter, "that there's a gunboat within sight, otherwise we might have had to try conclusions with a dozen armed Arabs."

He turned to the second lascar.

"Hoist the pilot flag," he ordered.

The pilot flag--S International--was quickly forthcoming. In the absence of a set of signal flags on board, Olive, under Peter's direction, had made the required flag out of some white linen and a square of blue cloth from the Arab skipper's wardrobe.

The signal was answered with far greater dispatch than at Bulonga, and within half an hour the Pangawani pilot boat was alongside.

"h.e.l.lo!" was the greeting of the dapper clean-shaven official, as he came over the side and regarded with undisguised astonishment the bedraggled and somewhat battered crew of the dhow. "h.e.l.lo! You look as if you've been in the wars. Where are you from?"

Before Mostyn could reply Preston broke in:

"Davis, old son!" he exclaimed. "Cut the cackle and get us in. I'm dying for a whisky and soda."

"Great Scott!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the pilot in astonishment. "Preston, by the powers! We heard that you were lost in the _West Barbican_."

"All you hear isn't gospel, my bright youth," rejoined the Acting Chief sententiously, as he took a cigarette from the case offered by the port official. "Hardly expected to see you here, if it comes to that."

"They transferred me from Zanzibar in November last," exclaimed Davis.

"It's a move up. Here I'm practically my own boss."

He walked towards the tiller, turned on his heel, and glanced sh.o.r.ewards.

"You can tell your fellows to stow sail," he continued. "We'll tow you in."

"By the by," inquired Peter. "What is the date? We seem to have lost count."

"The eleventh of January," was the reply.

CHAPTER x.x.xVI

A Round of Surprises

During the rest of the day the picking up of dropped threads was a continual source of astonishment to Peter Mostyn, although it was not the first time that he had been cut off from the outside world.

The dhow was berthed alongside the newly constructed wharf, fronting the modest building which housed the customs and port officials of Pangawani. The two lascars were sent to a native merchant seamen's compound, until they could be shipped back to Bombay in accordance with the terms of their engagement. Mahmed, greatly against his wish, was transferred to a native hospital, on the promise given by Mostyn Sahib that he would be allowed to accompany his master as soon as he was able to do so. Mrs. Shallop, declining offers of hospitality from the wife of a Customs officer, betook herself to a small hotel close to the railway station from which the line, broken only at the as yet unspanned Kilembonga Gorge, starts on its eight-hundred-mile run to the provisional capital of the Kilba Protectorate.

Olive Baird, on the other hand, gratefully accepted Davis's offer to stay with his wife until an opportunity occurred for her to take pa.s.sage home--the opportunity being determined by Peter's ability to accompany her, and thus carry out his promise.

d.i.c.k Preston st.u.r.dily declined to go into hospital. Already he had arranged to share rooms with Peter at the Pangawani branch of the Imperial Mercantile Marine Club of which both officers were members.

Before Peter relinquished his command, certain formalities had to be gone through, amongst which was the examination of the vessel by the port officials.

The dhow's cargo was small and comparatively worthless. There were no papers to prove her ident.i.ty or of where she came.