XXVII. The Luck of the Stowaway
AT Esens Station I reversed my Norden tactics, jumped out smartly,and got to the door of egress first of all, gave up my ticket, andhung about the gate of the station under cover of darkness. Fortunesmiled still; there was no vehicle in waiting at all, and there wereonly half a dozen passengers. Two of these were the cloaked gentlemenwho had been so nearly left behind at Norden, and another was vonBr?ning. The latter walked well in advance of the first pair, but atthe gate on to the high road the three showed a common purpose, inthat, unlike the rest, who turned towards Esens town, they turnedsouthwards; much to my perplexity, for this was the contrarydirection to Bensersiel and the sea. I, with my bundle on myshoulder, had been bringing up the rear, and, as their faithfulshadow, turned to the right too, without foreseeing the consequence.When it was too late to turn back I saw that, fifty yards ahead, theroad was barred by the gates of a level crossing, and that the fourof us must inevitably accumulate at the barrier till the train hadsteamed away. This, in fact, happened, and for a minute or two wewere all in a group, elaborately indifferent to one another, silent,but I am sure very conscious. As for me, 'secret laughter tickled allmy soul'. When the gates were opened the three seemed disposed tolag, so I tactfully took my cue, trudged briskly on ahead, andstopped after a few minutes to listen. Hearing nothing I wentcautiously back and found that they had disappeared; in whichdirection was not long in doubt, for I came on a grassy path leadinginto the fields on the left or west of the road, and though I couldsee no one I heard the distant murmur of receding voices.
I took my bearings collectedly, placed one foot on the path, thoughtbetter of it, and turned back towards Esens. I knew without referenceto the map that that path would bring them to the Benser Tief at apoint somewhere near the timber-yard. In a fog I might have followedthem there; as it was, the night was none too dark, and I had mystrength to husband; and stamped on my memory were the words 'thetide serves'. I judged it a wiser use of time and sinew to anticipatethem at Bensersiel by the shortest road, leaving them to reach it byway of the devious Tief, to examine which was, I felt convinced, oneof their objects.
It was nine o'clock of a fresh wild night, a halo round the becloudedmoon. I passed through quiet Esens, and in an hour I was close toBensersiel, and could hear the sea. In the rooted idea that I shouldfind Grimm on the outskirts, awaiting visitors, I left the road shortof the village, and made a circuit to the harbour by way of thesea-wall. The lower windows of the inn shed a warm glow into thenight, and within I could see the village circle gathered over cards,and dominated as of old by the assertive little postmaster, whosehigh-pitched, excitable voice I could clearly distinguish, as he satwith his cap on the back of his head and a 'feine schnapps' at hiselbow. The harbour itself looked exactly the same as I remembered ita week ago. The post-boat lay in her old berth at the eastern jetty,her mainsail set and her twin giants spitting over the rail. I hailedthem boldly from the shore (without showing them who I was), and wastold they were starting for Langeoog in a few minutes; the wind wasoff-shore, the mails aboard, and the water just high enough. 'Did Iwant a passage?' 'No, I thought I would wait.' Positive that my partycould never have got here so soon, I nevertheless kept an eye on thegalliot till she let go her stern-rope and slid away. One contingencywas eliminated. Some loiterers dispersed, and all port businessappeared to be ended for the night.
Three-quarters of an hour of strained suspense ensued. Most of it Ispent on my knees in a dark angle between the dyke and the westernjetty, whence I had a strategic survey of the basin; but I was drivenat times to relieve inaction by sallies which increased in audacity.I scouted on the road beyond the bridge, hovered round the lock, andpeered in at the inn parlour; but nowhere could I see a trace ofGrimm. I examined every floating object in the harbour (they werevery few), dropped on to two lighters and pried under tarpaulins,boarded a deserted tug and two or three clumsy rowboats tied up to amooring-post. Only one of these had the look of readiness, the restbeing devoid of oars and rowlocks; a discouraging state of things fora prospective boat-lifter. It was the sight of these rowboats thatsuggested a last and most distracting possibility, namely, that theboat in waiting, if boat there were, might be not in the harbour atall, but somewhere on the sands outside the dyke, where, at this highstate of the tide, it would have water and to spare. Back to the dykethen; but as I peered seaward on the way, contingencies evaporatedand a solid fact supervened, for I saw the lights of a steamboatapproaching the harbour mouth. I had barely time to gain my coign ofvantage before she had swept in between the piers, and with a fitfulswizzling of her screw was turning and backing down to a berth justahead of one of the lighters, and not fifty feet from myhiding-place. A deck-hand jumped ashore with a rope, while the man atthe wheel gave gruff directions. The vessel was a small tug, and theman at the wheel disclosed his identity when, having rung off hisengines, he jumped ashore also, looked at his watch in the beam ofthe sidelight, and walked towards the village. It was Grimm, by theheight and build--Grimm clad in a long tarpaulin coat and asou'wester. I watched him cross the shaft of light from the innwindow and disappear in the direction of the canal.
Another sailor now appeared and helped his fellow to tie up the tug.The two together then went aft and began to set about some job whosenature I could not determine. To emerge was perilous, so I set abouta job of my own, tearing open my bundle and pulling an oilskin jacketand trousers over my clothes, and discarding my peaked cap for asou'-wester. This operation was prompted instantaneously by the garbof two sailors, who in hauling on the forward warp came into thefield of the mast-head light.
It was something of a gymnastic masterpiece, since I was lying--or,rather, standing aslant--on the rough sea-wall, with crannies ofbrick for foothold and the water plashing below me; but then I hadnot lived in the _Dulcibella_ for nothing. My chain of thought, Ifancy, was this--the tug is to carry my party; I cannot shadow a tugin a rowboat, yet I intend to shadow my party; I must therefore gowith them in the tug, and the first and soundest step is to mimic hercrew. But the next step was a hard matter, for the crew havingfinished their job sat side by side on the bulwarks and lit theirpipes. However, a little pantomime soon occurred, as amusing as itwas inspiriting. They seemed to consult together, looking from thetug to the inn and from the inn to the tug. One of them walked a fewpaces inn-wards and beckoned to the other, who in his turn calledsomething down the engine-room skylight, and then joined his mate ina scuttle to the inn. Even while I watched the pantomime I wassliding off my boots, and it had not been consummated a second beforeI had them in my arms and was tripping over the mud in my stockingfeet. A dozen noiseless steps and I was over the bulwarks between thewheel and the smoke-stack, casting about for a hiding-place. Theconventional stowaway hides in the hold, but there was only astokehold here, occupied moreover; nor was there an emptyapple-barrel, such as Jim of _Treasure Island_ found so useful. As faras I could see--and I dared not venture far for fear of theskylight--the surface of the deck offered nothing secure. But on thefarther or starboard side, rather abaft the beam, there was a smallboat in davits, swung outboard, to which common sense, and perhaps avague prescience of its after utility, pointed irresistibly. In anycase, discrimination was out of place, so I mounted the bulwark andgently entered my refuge. The tackles creaked a trifle, oars andseats impeded me; but well before the thirsty truants had returned Iwas settled on the floor boards between two thwarts, so placed that Icould, if necessary, peep over the gunwale.
The two sailors returned at a run, and very soon after voicesapproached, and I recognized that of Herr Schenkel chatteringvolubly. He and Grimm boarded the tug and went down a companionwayaft, near which, as I peeped over, I saw a second skylight, no biggerthan the _Dulcibella_s', illuminated from below. Then I heard a corkdrawn, and the kiss of glasses, and in a minute or two theyre-emerged. It was apparent that Herr Schenkel was inclined to stayand make merry, and that Grimm was anxious to get rid of him, andnone too courteous in showing it. The former ur
ged that to-morrow'stide would do, the latter gave orders to cast off, and at lengthobserved with an angry oath that the water was falling, and he muststart; and, to clinch matters, with a curt good-night, he went to thewheel and rang up his engines. Herr Schenkel landed and strutted offin high dudgeon, while the tug's screw began to revolve. We had onlyglided a few yards on when the engines stopped, a short blast of thewhistle sounded, and, before I had had time to recast the future, Iheard a scurry of footsteps from the direction of the dyke, first onthe bank, next on the deck. The last of these new arrivals pantedaudibly as he got aboard and dropped on the planks with an unelasticthud.
Her complement made up, the tug left the harbour, but not alone.While slowly gathering way the hull checked all at once with a sharpjerk, recovered, and increased its speed. We had something intow--what? The lighter, of course, that had been lying astern of us.
Now I knew what was in that lighter, because I had been to see, halfan hour ago. It was no lethal cargo, but coal, common household coal;not a full load of it, I remembered--just a good-sized moundamidships, trimmed with battens fore and aft to prevent shifting.'Well,' thought I, 'this is intelligible enough. Grimm was ostensiblythere to call for a load of coal for Memmert. But does that mean weare going to Memmert?' At the same time I recalled a phrase overheardat the dep?t, 'Only one--half a load.' Why half a load?
For some few minutes there was a good deal of movement on deck, andof orders shouted by Grimm and answered by a voice from far astern onthe lighter. Presently, however, the tug warmed to her work, the hullvibrated with energy, and an ordered peace reigned on board. I alsorealized that having issued from the boomed channel we had turnedwestward, for the wind, which had been blowing us fair, now blewstrongly over the port beam.
I peeped out of my eyrie and was satisfied in a moment that as longas I made no noise, and observed proper prudence, I was perfectlysafe _until the boat was wanted_. There were no deck lamps; the twoskylights diffused but a sickly radiance, and I was abaft theside-lights. I was abaft the wheel also, though thrillingly near itin point of distance--about twelve feet, I should say; and Grimm wassteering. The wheel, I should mention here, was raised, as you oftensee them, on a sort of pulpit, approached by two or three steps andfenced by a breast-high arc of boarding. Only one of the crew wasvisible, and he was acting as look-out in the extreme bows, the raysof the masthead lights--for a second had been hoisted in sign oftowage--glistening on his oilskin back. The other man, I concluded,was steering the lighter, which I could dimly locate by the pale foamat her bow.
And the passengers? They were all together aft, three of them,leaning over the taffrail, with their backs turned to me. One wasshort and stout--B?hme unquestionably; the panting and the thud onthe planks had prepared me for that, though where he had sprung fromI did not know. Two were tall, and one of these must be von Br?ning.There ought to be four, I reckoned; but three were all I could see.And what of the third? It must be he who 'insists on coming', theunknown superior at whose instance and for whose behoof this secretexpedition had been planned. And who could he be? Many times,needless to say, I had asked myself that question, but never tillnow, when I had found the rendezvous and joined the expedition, didit become one of burning import.
'Any weather' was another of those stored-up phrases that were_? propos._ It was a dirty, squally night, not very cold, for the windstill hung in the S.S.W.--an off-shore wind on this coast, causing noappreciable sea on the shoal spaces we were traversing. In the matterof our bearings, I set myself doggedly to overcome that paralysingperplexity, always induced in me by night or fog in these intricatewaters; and, by screwing round and round, succeeded so far as todiscover and identify two flashing lights--one alternately red andwhite, far and faint astern; the other right ahead and ratherstronger, giving white flashes only. The first and least familiarwas, I made out, from the lighthouse on Wangeroog; the second, wellknown to me as our beacon star in the race from Memmert, was thelight on the centre of Norderney Island, about ten miles away.
I had no accurate idea of the time, for I could not see my watch, butI thought we must have started about a quarter past eleven. We weretravelling fast, the funnel belching out smoke and the bow-wavecurling high; for the tug appeared to be a powerful little craft, andher load was comparatively light.
So much for the general situation. As for my own predicament, I wasin no mood to brood on the hazards of this mad adventure, ahundredfold more hazardous than my fog-smothered eavesdropping atMemmert. The crisis, I knew, had come, and the reckless impudencethat had brought me here must serve me still and extricate me.Fortune loves rough wooing. I backed my luck and watched.
The behaviour of the passengers struck me as odd. They remained in arow at the taffrail, gazing astern like regretful emigrants, andsometimes, gesticulating and pointing. Now no vestige of the low landwas visible, so I was driven to the conclusion that it was thelighter they were discussing; and I date my awakening from the momentthat I realized this. But the thread broke prematurely; for thepassengers took to pacing the deck, and I had to lie low. When next Iwas able to raise my head they were round Grimm at the wheel,engaged, as far as I could discover from their gestures, in anargument about our course and the time, for Grimm looked at his watchby the light of a hand-lantern.
We were heading north, and I knew by the swell that we must be nearthe Accumer Ee, the gap between Langeoog and Baltrum. Were we goingout to open sea? It came over me with a rush that we _must,_ if wewere to drop this lighter at Memmert. Had I been Davies I should havebeen quicker to seize certain rigid conditions of this cruise, whichno human power could modify. We had left after high tide. The watertherefore was falling everywhere; and the tributary channels in rearof the islands were slowly growing impassable. It was quite thirtymiles to Memmert, with three watersheds to pass; behind Baltrum,Norderney, and Juist. A skipper with nerve and perfect confidencemight take us over one of these in the dark, but most of the runwould infallibly have to be made outside. I now better understood theprotests of Herr Schenkel to Grimm. Never once had we seen a lighterin tow in the open sea, though plenty behind the barrier of islands;indeed it was the very existence of the sheltered byways that createdsuch traffic as there was. It was only Grimm's _m?tier_ and theincubus of the lighter that had suggested Memmert as our destinationat all, and I began to doubt it now. That tricky hoop of sand hadbefooled us before.
At this moment, and as if to corroborate my thought, the telegraphrang and the tug slowed down. I effaced myself and heard Grimmshouting to the man on the lighter to starboard his helm, and to thelook-out to come aft. The next order froze my very marrow; it was'lower away'. Someone was at the davits of my boat fingering thetackles; the forward fall-rope actually slipped in the block andtilted the boat a fraction. I was just wondering how far it was toswim to Langeoog, when a strong, imperious voice (unknown to me) rangout, 'No, no! We don't want the boat. The swell's nothing; we canjump! Can't we, B?hme?' The speaker ended with a jovial laugh.'Mercy!' thought I, 'are _they_ going to swim to Langeoog?' but Ialso gasped for relief. The tug rolled lifelessly in the swell for alittle, and footsteps retreated aft. There were cries of 'Achtung!'and some laughter, one big bump and a good deal of grinding; and onwe moved again, taking the strain of the tow-rope gingerly, and thenfull-speed ahead. The passengers, it seemed, preferred the lighter tothe tug for cruising in; coal-dust and exposure to clean planks and awarm cuddy. When silence reigned again I peeped out. Grimm was at thewheel still, impassively twirling the spokes, with a glance over hisshoulder at his precious freight. And, after all, we _were_ goingoutside.
Close on the port hand lay a black foam-girt shape, the east spit ofBaltrum. It fused with the night, while we swung slowly round towindward over the troubled bar. Now we were in the spacious deeps ofthe North Sea; and feeling it too in increase of swell and volleys ofspray.
At this point evolutions began. Grimm gave the wheel up to thelook-out, and himself went to the taffrail, whence he roared backorders of 'Port!' or 'Starboard!'
in response to signals from thelighter. We made one complete circle, steering on each point of thewind in succession, after that worked straight out to sea till thewater was a good deal rougher, and back again at a tangent, till inearshot of the surf on the island beach. There the manoeuvres, whichwere clearly in the nature of a trial trip, ended; and we hove to, totransship our passengers. They, when they came aboard, went straightbelow, and Grimm, having steadied the tug on a settled course andentrusted the wheel to the sailor again, stripped off his drippingoilskin coat, threw it down on the cabin skylight, and followed them.The course he had set was about west, with Norderney light a coupleof points off the port bow. The course for Memmert? Possibly; but Icared not, for my mind was far from Memmert to-night. _It was thecourse for England too._ Yes, I understood at last. I was assistingat an experimental rehearsal of a great scene, to be enacted,perhaps, in the near future--a scene when multitudes of seagoinglighters, carrying full loads of soldiers, not half loads of coals,should issue simultaneously, in seven ordered fleets, from sevenshallow outlets, and, under escort of the Imperial Navy, traverse theNorth Sea and throw themselves bodily upon English shores.
Indulgent reader, you may be pleased to say that I have been veryobtuse; and yet, with humility, I protest against that verdict.Remember that, recent as are the events I am describing, it is onlysince they happened that the possibility of an invasion of England byGermany has become a topic of public discussion. Davies and I hadnever--I was going to say had never considered it; but that would notbe accurate, for we had glanced at it once or twice; and if anysingle incident in his or our joint cruise had provided a semblanceof confirmation, he, at any rate, would have kindled to that spark.But you will see how perversely from first to last circumstancesdrove us deeper and deeper into the wrong groove, till the ideabecame inveterate that the secret we were seeking was one of defenceand not offence. Hence a complete mental somersault was required,and, as an amateur, I found it difficult; the more so that the methodof invasion, as I darkly comprehended it now, was of such a strangeand unprecedented character; for orthodox invasions start from bigports and involve a fleet of ocean transports, while none of ourclues pointed that way. To neglect obvious methods, to draw on theobscure resources of an obscure strip of coast, to improve andexploit a quantity of insignificant streams and tidal outlets, andthence, screened by the islands, to despatch an armada oflight-draught barges, capable of flinging themselves on acorrespondingly obscure and therefore unexpected portion of theenemy's coast; that was a conception so daring, aye, and so quixoticin some of its aspects, that even now I was half incredulous. Yet itmust be the true one. Bit by bit the fragments of the puzzle fellinto order till a coherent whole was adumbrated. [The reader willfind the whole matter dealt with in the Epilogue.]
The tug surged on into the night; a squall of rain leapt upon us andswept hissing astern. Baltrum vanished and the strands of Norderneybeamed under transient moonlight. Drunk with triumph, I cuddled in myrocking cradle and ransacked every unvisited chamber of the memory,tossing out their dusty contents, to make a joyous bonfire of some,and to see the residue take life and meaning in the light of thegreat revelation.
My reverie was of things, not persons; of vast national issues ratherthan of the poignant human interests so closely linked with them. Buton a sudden I was recalled, with a shock, to myself, Davies, and thepresent.
We were changing our course, as I knew by variations in the whirl ofdraughts which whistled about me. I heard Grimm afoot again, and,choosing my moment, surveyed the scene. Broad on the port-beam werethe garish lights of Norderney town and promenade, and the tug, Iperceived, was drawing in to enter the See Gat. _[See Chart B.]_
Round she came, hustling through the broken water of the bar, tillher nose was south and the wind was on the starboard bow. Not a milefrom me were the villa and the yacht, and the three persons of thedrama--three, that is, if Davies were safe.
Were we to land at Norderney harbour? Heavens, what a magnificentclimax!--if only I could rise to it. My work here was done. At astroke to rejoin Davies and be free to consummate our designs!
A desperate idea of cutting the davit-tackles--I blush to think ofthe stupidity--was rejected as soon as it was born, and instead, Iendeavoured to imagine our approach to the pier. My boat hung on thestarboard side; that would be the side away from the quay, and thetide would be low. I could swarm down the davits during the stir ofarrival, drop into the sea and swim the few yards across thedredged-out channel, wade through the mud to within a short distanceof the _Dulcibella_, and swim the rest. I rubbed the salt out of myeyes and wriggled my cramped legs ... Hullo! why was Grimm leavingthe helm again? Back he went to the cabin, leaving the sailor at thehelm. . . We ought to be turning to port now; but no--on we went,south, for the mainland.
Though one plan was frustrated, the longing to get to Davies, onceimplanted, waxed apace.
Our destination was at last beyond dispute. _[See Chart.]_ Thechannel we were in was the same that we had cut across on our blindvoyage to Memmert, and the same my ferry-steamer had followed twodays ago. It was a _cul-de-sac_ leading to one place only, thelanding stage at Norddeich. The only place on the whole coast, now Icame to think of it, where the tug could land at this tide. There thequay would be on the starboard side, and I saw myself tied to myeyrie while the passengers landed and the tug and lighter turned backfor Memmert; at Memmert, dawn, and discovery.
There was some way out--some way out, I repeated to myself; some wayto reap the fruit of Davies's long tutelage in the lore of thisstrange region. What would _he_ do?
For answer there came the familiar _frou-frou_ of gentle surf ondrying sands. The swell was dying away, the channel narrowing; duskyand weird on the starboard hand stretched leagues of new-risen sand.Two men only were on deck; the moon was quenched under the vanguardclouds of a fresh squall.
A madcap scheme danced before me. The time, I _must_ know the time!Crouching low and cloaking the flame with my jacket I struck a match;2.30 a.m.--the tide had been ebbing for about three hours and a half.Low water about five; they would be aground till 7.30. Danger tolife? None. Flares and rescuers? Not likely, with 'him who insists'on board; besides, no one could come, there being no danger. I shouldhave a fair wind and a fair tide for _my_ trip. Grimm's coat was onthe skylight; we were both clean-shaved.
The helmsman gazed ahead, intent on his difficult course, and thewind howled to perfection. I knelt up and examined one of thedavit-tackles. There was nothing remarkable about it, a double and asingle block (like our own peak halyards), the lower one hooked intoa ring in the boat, the hauling part made fast to a cleat on thedavit itself. Something there must be to give lateral support or theboat would have racketed abroad in the roll outside. The support, Ifound, consisted of two lanyards spliced to the davits and rovethrough holes in the keel. These I leaned over and cut with mypocket-knife; the result being a barely perceptible swaying of theboat, for the tug was under the lee of sands and on an even keel.Then I left my hiding-place, climbing out of the stern sheets by theafter-davit, and preparing every successive motion with exquisitetenderness, till I stood on the deck. In another moment I was at thecabin skylight, lifting Grimm's long oilskin coat. (A second'syielding to temptation here; but no, the skylight was ground glass,fastened from below. So, on with the coat, up with the collar, andforward to the wheel on tiptoe.) As soon as I was up to theengine-room skylight (that is to say, well ahead of the cabin roof) Iassumed a natural step, went up to the pulpit and touched thehelmsman on the arm, as I had seen Grimm do. The man stepped aside,grunting something about a light, and I took the wheel from him.Grimm was a man of few words, so I just jogged his satellite, andpointed forward. He went off like a lamb to his customary place inthe bows, not having dreamt--why should he?--of examining me, but inhim I had instantly recognized one of the crew of the 'Kormoran'.
My ruse developed in all its delicious simplicity. We were, Iestimated, about half-way to Norddeich, in the Buse Tief, a channelof a navigable breadth,
at the utmost of two hundred yards at thisperiod of the tide. Two faint lights, one above the other, twinkledfar ahead. What they meant I neither knew nor cared, since the onlyuse I put them to was to test the effect of the wheel, for this wasthe first time I had ever tasted the sweets of command on asteamboat. A few cautious essays taught me the rudiments, and nothingcould hinder the catastrophe now.
I edged over to starboard--that was the side I had selected--andagain a little more, till the glistening back of the look-out gave aslight movement; but he was a well-drilled minion, with implicittrust in the 'old man'. Now, hard over! and spoke by spoke I gave herthe full pressure of the helm. The look-out shouted a warning, and Iraised my arm in calm acknowledgement. A cry came from the lighter,and I remember I was just thinking 'What the Dickens'll happen toher?' when the end came; a _euthanasia_ so mild and gradual (for thesands are fringed with mud) that the disaster was on us before I wasaware of it. There was just the tiniest premonitory shuddering as ourkeel clove the buttery medium, a cascade of ripples from either beam,and the wheel jammed to rigidity in my hands, as the tug nestled upto her resting-place.
In the scene of panic that followed, it is safe to say that I was theonly soul on board who acted with methodical tranquillity. Thelook-out flew astern like an arrow, bawling to the lighter. Grimm,with the passengers tumbling up after him, was on deck in an instant,storming and cursing; flung himself on the wheel which I hadrespectfully abandoned, jangled the telegraph, and wrenched at thespokes. The tug listed over under the force of the tide; wind,darkness, and rain aggravated the confusion.
For my part, I stepped back behind the smoke stack, threw off my robeof office, and made for the boat. Long and bitter experience ofrunning aground had told me that that was sure to be wanted. On theway I cannoned into one of the passengers and pressed him into myservice; incidentally seeing his face, and verifying an oldconjecture. It was one who, in Germany, has a better right to insistthan anyone else.
As we reached the davits there was a report like a pistol-shot fromthe port-side--the tow-rope parting, I believe, as the lighter withher shallower draught swung on past the tug. Fresh tumult arose, inwhich I heard: 'Lower the boat,' from Grimm; but the order wasalready executed. My ally the Passenger and I had each cast off atackle, and slacked away with a run; that done, I promptly clutchedthe wire guy to steady myself, and tumbled in. (It was not far totumble, for the tug listed heavily to starboard; think of our course,and the set of the ebb stream, and you will see why.) The forwardfall unhooked sweetly; but the after one lost play. 'Slack away,' Icalled, peremptorily, and felt for my knife. My helper above obeyed;the hook yielded; I filliped away the loose tackle, and the boatfloated away.