CHAPTER x.x.x.

CAPTURED.

An hour after sunrise the "Aphrodite" came to the surface. The rain had ceased, the mists had rolled away, and the slanting rays of the sun, already powerful, beat fiercely down upon the coffee-coloured surface of the river. There was no sign of the "Pride of Rhodesia." She had taken herself off betimes.

"I hope she has continued her investigations down stream," said Captain Restronguet. "It was a lucky chance that Jones mentioned to you about not considering the Zampa worthy of his notice. We'll just have a look round and see if the 'Vorwartz' has found room enough to stow herself away in that little ditch."

"A wireless message has just come through, sir," said Devoran. "The 'Swallow,' 'Puffin,' and 'Sandpiper,' three stern-wheeler gunboats from Lake Nya.s.sa, have descended the Shire and were reported to the Admiralty as having reached Sena yesterday."

"The more the merrier," commented his superior grimly. "They ought to be here this afternoon if they kept under way all last night. We must bestir ourselves. I think before we do anything else we ought to put Kenwyn ash.o.r.e. You see that knoll on our left, Devoran? It stands fairly high, and should be pretty healthy; in daytime, at all events.

We'll land him and his two nurses and pick them up on our return."

Captain Restronguet spoke as calmly as if he were going on an excursion instead of about to engage in a desperate encounter with his implacable foe. Hythe understood his manner better by this time. He knew that when Captain Restronguet meant business he always adopted a resolute bearing. The magnetic personality of the man more than half won his battles.

An awning was rigged in the whaler, and under this, Kenwyn, lying in his cot, was placed. Mylor and Lancarrow accompanied him, while the boat's crew, thoroughly disinfected to prevent contagion, rowed them to the steep bank of the isolated hill the captain had pointed out. The ascent took some time, and the boat's crew had received instructions to rig up a tent and make everything snug for the patient before returning.

Looking through their binoculars Captain Restronguet and Hythe watched the tedious procession. At length Kenwyn was carried to the summit and placed in the shade of a solitary tree. Apparently this site did not suit, for Mylor was observed to be pointing to a clump of densely-foliaged trees on the north side of the knoll. The boat's crew raised objections, since time was precious, and the argument ended by Mylor and two others carrying the tent across to the clump and leaving the others with the sick man. Before Mylor gained the desired position the rest picked up the cot and followed.

"I can see the objection to Mylor's plan," remarked Captain Restronguet.

"They will be hidden from the river everywhere except from this bearing.

However, it is well to windward, and ought to be fairly pleasant under the shade of the trees. But I wish those fellows would bestir themselves a little more."

Presently Mylor disappeared from view behind the trees. He had not been gone very long before he returned to his companions running as hard as he could go. A few words pa.s.sed and the whole crowd, leaving Kenwyn lying in the shade, doubled off behind the clump.

"Now what's up," muttered the captain impatiently. "I wish I had sent Devoran with them to keep them together. They are like a pack of schoolboys out of bounds."

Back came the men, never pausing till they reached the brink of the hill on the river side. Here Mylor, standing well apart, began to "call-up"

the "Aphrodite" by semaph.o.r.e.

"Acknowledge, Mr. Devoran," said Captain Restronguet.

Clambering on to the top of the conning-tower the first officer signalled that attention was being paid to the message.

"'Vorwartz' is lying on the other side of the hill," semaph.o.r.ed Mylor.

"What's that? Impossible!" exclaimed the captain, for both he and Hythe had read the message correctly. "Ask them to explain more fully."

"'Vorwartz' is in a river flowing behind this hill."

"Boat's crew to return instantly," ordered Devoran at Captain Restronguet's request. "Leave Kenwyn and his two men."

"I hope they didn't let those on the 'Vorwartz' see them," said Captain Restronguet. "If it be the 'Vorwartz'--and I have no reason to suppose that there is another submarine beside her and the 'Aphrodite' on the Zambezi--we have just saved ourselves from being nicely fooled. We might have been searching the tributaries on the right bank till Doomsday."

"And the 'Pride of Rhodesia' is devoting her attentions to the right bank also," added the sub.

"Let her," said Captain Restronguet with a hearty laugh. "This seems almost too good to be true."

Bending to their oars and heedless of the blazing sun the whaler's crew brought the boat back at breakneck speed. Almost before her way was checked as she came alongside Captain Restronguet, Hythe, and five of the crew leapt on board. They had taken the precaution to arm themselves, for it was quite possible that some of Karl von Harburg's men had gone ash.o.r.e and had already sighted the "Aphrodite" lying in mid-stream.

Up the hill the landing party toiled, and crossing the plateau gained the clump of trees on the landward side. Here they hid, while Captain Restronguet and the sub reconnoitred by means of the binoculars.

Yes, there was no longer any cause for doubt. The twin conning-towers and a portion of the upper deck of the "Vorwartz" were just visible above the reeds that fringed the narrow river. She was floating high, all her ballast tanks having been started. Two of the hatches were flung back but no signs of any of the crew were to be seen.

"She's hard aground, I think," observed Hythe. "The river has fallen in spite of the rains, and she's fairly caught."

"I wouldn't like to say that such is the case," replied Captain Restronguet. "It seems to me that they are lying low: shifting some of their booty to a safe hiding-place. At all events I don't feel inclined to take the 'Aphrodite' up the stream. I'll get Devoran to lie off the junction of this river with the Zambezi. If the 'Vorwartz' attempts to escape he can easily sink her in shallow water. Meanwhile I'll have the field gun landed. Firing capped sh.e.l.l she will be able to hull yonder craft through and through. All the same I cannot account for the lack of signs of life aboard."

Captain Restronguet left nothing to chance. In order to guard against a possible surprise he had outposts placed at proper distances from his main body. Hythe volunteered to superintend the landing of the field-gun, and in less than an hour that piece of ordnance was by dint of sheer hard work brought ash.o.r.e and hauled to the top of the hill.

Here it was placed in position, carefully screened by the trees, and its muzzle pointed menacingly upon the visible part of the "Vorwartz."

Another hour pa.s.sed. Still no signs of activity were noticeable on board the rival submarine.

"Would you mind taking two men with you and creeping down as near as you can get to the 'Vorwartz,' Mr. Hythe?" asked the Captain, who was beginning to get impatient. "Take every precaution to keep hidden from view and do not use your fire-arms save as a last resource."

"Very good, sir," replied Hythe.

"I need hardly remind you that I want evidence. Observe traces of footmarks on the banks. They ought to tell whether the crew have landed.

If they have put their precious cargo ash.o.r.e there must be traces of where the heavy chests and bags were hauled over the banks; the reeds will be trampled down, and so on."

Had Hythe not been a sailor he would have made an excellent backwoodsman. Knowing the risk of appearing on the skyline, he led his little band down by the remote side of the hill, and creeping through the bushes at the base gradually worked round in the direction of the river in which the "Vorwartz" lay.

It was risky work, for the lower ground was marshy. Poisonous snakes darted across their path, lizards, more repulsive than dangerous, lay basking in the sun right in their way, while myriads of flies of great size buzzed incessantly over the men's heads, till the tortured three could scarce resist the temptation to raise their arms and beat off their unwelcome attendants. Once a heavy body crashed through the brushwood, scattering the reeds in all directions and uprooting young saplings like ninepins. Hythe had just time to see that the creature was a huge rhinoceros.

Straight towards the "Vorwartz" the creature tore, then plunging into the opposite stream swam boldly across to the opposite bank. Although it made enough noise to be heard for half a mile away the crew of the "Vorwartz" showed no sign of activity. The submarine lay as deserted and silent as the city of the dead.

"Steady, there," cautioned Hythe as one of his companions started forward with disregard to caution. "They may be luring us on. We are near enough at present."

Concealing themselves in the long gra.s.s fringing the river, even at the risk of fever, the three waited and watched. The "Vorwartz" was lying close to the bank, the channel evidently trending close to the eastern side of the stream, and there being a total absence of mud in the vicinity, the submarine could not have found a better landing-place.

She was secured fore and aft with ropes made fast to the trunks of trees growing close to the water's edge. No anchor had been run out into the stream and consequently the submarine had swung well in. A fall in the level of the river had left her fairly hard aground with a slight list to port.

That men had landed during the heavy rains was quite evident by the fact that the stiff clay, now burned to the hardness of a brick, was covered with footprints pointing in all directions, but although Hythe made a semi-circular patrol almost from the brink of the stream past the "Vorwartz" and back to the river again he could find no trace of human beings having strayed more than fifty yards from the submarine.

"Strange," he muttered. "The craft looks deserted and there are no signs of the rascals making off by land. They couldn't very well travel by air, so the only solution is, unless they are still on board, that they have gone by water. How? By boat or walking in their diving dresses? By boat, I suppose, since if they decided to abandon the vessel they would naturally take part if not all of their precious booty with them."

At length so convinced did the sub become that the "Vorwartz" was in truth deserted that he felt sorely tempted to take possession of her.

But his sense of discipline prevailed. He realized that temporarily he was under Captain Restronguet's orders and to Captain Restronguet alone ought the honour to be given to be the first to board.

He was on the point of ordering the men to retire when a violent rustling in the reeds attracted his attention. Either a human being or an animal was approaching. He motioned to his companions to be on the alert. Holding their rifles at the ready the two men waited.

Suddenly a man lurched forward from the edge of the reeds. He was literally in rags, fragments of blue clothing scarcely concealing his ma.s.sive limbs. He was hatless, a strip of dirty white linen alone protecting his head from the pitiless rays of the sun. In the holster of his belt was a revolver, while his right hand grasped a magazine carbine.

"One of the villains; shall we nab him unawares, sir?" asked one of Hythe's men in a whisper.

The sub shook his head. The fellow was armed; he might not be alone, while the discharge of a fire-arm might give the alarm to a still unsuspecting foe. Better to watch and see what the fellow was up to.