CHAPTER X--UNDER EXAMINATION
"I'm all right, I tell you. Hang it all, can't a fellow know when he'sall right?"
Thus Kenyon rather resentfully resisted all efforts on the part of themen to keep him in his bunk. He came from an indomitable stock thatnever readily admits defeat, and on this occasion he steadfastly refusedto recognise the fact that his physical strength had been well-nighsapped.
Donning his leather coat, he made his way to the navigation-room,staggering slightly as he passed along the narrow alley-way.
"Wireless message just received, sir," reported Jackson. "'From T.B.D._Zeebrugge_ to 'Golden Hind.' Am proceeding in search of you. Showposition lights. Will tranship Sir Reginald Fosterdyke and Mr. Bramsdeanas soon as possible. Make necessary arrangements.' We're steering N.by W. 1/4 W., but we haven't sighted the destroyer yet."
"Very good," concurred Kenyon. "Carry on."
He consulted the altimeter and the speed indicator. The former showedthat the airship had descended to two thousand feet, and the speed wastwo thousand revolutions, or approximately thirty miles an hour. The"Golden Hind" had by this time retraced a good portion of her drift, andwas now three or four miles from Ceuta.
Ten minutes later a masthead flashing lamp was seen blinking at adistance of about six miles. The light came from the destroyer_Zeebrugge_, which, pelting along at twenty-five knots, was on thelookout for the errant airship.
Kenneth Kenyon was now on his mettle. For the first time he was incommand of a large airship about to make a descent. As officer of thewatch he had already had opportunities of observing the handling of thehuge vessel, but now he found himself confronted with the problem ofbringing her close to the surface of the sea so as to enable thedestroyer to manoeuvre sufficiently enough to establish directcommunication.
"Hope I don't make a bog of it," he soliloquised. "I must admit I feela bit rotten after that little jamboree just now. Still, I'll stick it."
Although he was not aware of the fact, Leading Hand Jackson was keepinga sharp eye on his superior officer, ready at the first sign to "takeon" should Kenyon's physical strength fail him.
For the next ten minutes the greatest activity prevailed. Gongs wereclanging, crisp orders were issued through various voice-tubes, gas wasbeing withdrawn from various ballonets, the motors were constantly beingeither accelerated or retarded according to the conditions demanded. Thewhite flashing lamp signals were being exchanged with the T.B.D., whichhad now circled sixteen degrees to starboard and was steaming slowlydead in the eye of the wind.
In the floor of the bow compartment of the "Golden Hind" the largetrap-hatch had been opened. Close by crouched men ready to lower away awire rope, at the end of which a small electric bulb glowed to enablethe destroyer's crew to locate the line in the dark. Throughout themanoeuvre neither the "Golden Hind" nor the _Zeebrugge_ made use oftheir searchlights, since the dazzling rays might baffle the respectivehelmsmen and result in a collision.
Slowly and gracefully the airship dropped until her fuselage was thirtyfeet from the surface of the sea. She was now dead in the wake of thedestroyer, and the task that confronted Kenyon was to bring her aheadsufficiently for the bows to overlap the _Zeebrugge's_ stern. An errorof judgment at that low height would result in the airship's bowsfouling the destroyer's mast.
Foot by foot the "Golden Hind" gained upon the destroyer until a shoutfrom the latter's deck announced that the wire rope had been made fast.
Instantly the airship's six motors were declutched. She was now movingmerely under the towing action of the _Zeebrugge_, which was forgingahead at a bare four knots.
From the trap-hatch in the airship's bows a rope-ladder was lowered, itsend being held by a couple of bluejackets on the T.B.D. Without loss oftime Fosterdyke swarmed up the swaying ladder, and was followed byBramsdean.
"Cast off, and thank you!" shouted the baronet.
"All gone," came an answering voice from the _Zeebrugge_, followed by ahearty "Best of luck to you!"
Released, the "Golden Hind" leapt a full five hundred feet into the airbefore the propellers began to revolve.
"Cheerio, Kenyon!" exclaimed Fosterdyke, as he joined Kenneth in thenavigation-room. "All's well that ends well, but you gave me a prettybad turn. What happened?"
"Hardly know, sir," replied Kenyon. "Our wire rope didn't part.Possibly the shackle on the buoy gave. But we found a man hanging onthe end of the wire."
"You did, eh?" exclaimed the baronet, sharply. "What sort of man?"
"You'll see him, sir," replied Kenneth. "He's laid out below."
"H'm!" ejaculated Fosterdyke, and relapsed into silence.
He was deep in thought for some moments, then turned to Kenyon again.
"We're making an official start in a few minutes' time," he announced."We have to pass over the Rock and display three red and three whitelights to the official observer on Signal Hill. When we see a similarsignal made from the Rock that will be the actual starting time. Passthe word for Jackson to get the lamps in position."
At an altitude of three thousand feet, or fifteen hundred feet above thesummit of the Rock of Gibraltar, the "Golden Hind" received her officialsend-off at 3.35 A.M., eighteen hours after the Hun-owned Z64.
Evidently there was not a minute to be wasted. The contest haddeveloped not merely into a voyage round the world within the space oftwenty days, but a race in which the British competitor had to make goodher formidable handicap of eighteen hours or approximately threethousand five hundred miles.
With the wind abeam on the port side the "Golden Hind" opened out to onehundred and forty miles an hour. During the earlier stages of the raceFosterdyke rather wisely decided to keep below the maximum speed, ratherthan overtax the motors by running "all out." Within a few minutes ofreceiving her official permit to depart the airship lost sight of thelights upon the Rock of Gibraltar. She was now steering E. by S.--acourse that would take her over the northern part of Algeria and Tunisand within a few miles of Malta.
At 4 A.M. Kenyon, who had modestly refrained from giving any details ofthe part he had taken in the rescue of Enrico Jaures, and had concealedthe fact that he had been temporarily out of action, was relieved byPeter Bramsdean.
As he turned to go to his cabin Kenneth saw that the baronet wasstanding in a corner of the navigation-room and studying a nauticalalmanac.
"Sleep well, Kenyon," exclaimed Fosterdyke. "You've some arrears to makeup."
"Rather, sir," agreed Kenyon. "But we've forgotten something."
"Eh, what?"
"That fellow we found hanging on to the wire rope, we didn't put him onboard the destroyer."
"No," agreed Fosterdyke, grimly. "We didn't. I saw to that. UnlessI'm much mistaken our unwanted supernumerary can and must give uscertain information that will rather astonish us. I'll see him lateron, by Jove!"
Kenyon nodded knowingly. Evidently Fosterdyke had learnt something.However, as far as he, Kenyon, was concerned, other things of a morepressing nature demanded his attention--food and sleep.
At eight o'clock Fosterdyke ordered his involuntary guest to be broughtbefore him.
"There's something fishy about the breaking adrift business," heobserved to Bramsdean as the two sat at a table in the after-cabinawaiting Enrico's appearance.
"Where's Jackson? We'll want him. No, don't disturb Kenyon; he had apretty sticky time."
"More than you imagine, sir," added Peter, and proceeded to tell thebaronet the part Kenneth had played in the aerial rescue of theimperilled Rock Scorpion.
"Kenyon didn't say a word about it," he added on the conclusion of thenarrative. "He was as mute as an oyster over it all. Frampton andCollings told me. It was----"
A knock on the cabin door interrupted Bramsdean's explanation.
"Come in!" exclaimed Fosterdyke.
In answer to the invitation entered Leading Hand Jackson, followed insingle file by one of the crew, Enrico Jaures, and two other members ofthe "Go
lden Hind's" company.
The Scorp was still labouring under the effects of his narrow escape.He looked, to quote Bramsdean's words, "as if the stuffing had beenknocked out of him."
Fosterdyke's handling of the situation was a bold one. Without anypreliminaries, without even asking the fellow's name, he demandedsternly:
"How much did Count Karl von Sinzig promise you for last night's work?"
Jaures gave an involuntary start, but almost immediately relapsed intohis imperturbably passive attitude. Then with a slight shrug of hisshoulders he replied:
"Me no spik Englis."
"Try again," said Fosterdyke, contracting his bushy eyebrows and lookingstraight at the man. "All I can say is that if you don't speak Englishit's a case of won't, not can't."
"Me no spik Englis," reiterated Jaures.
Without speaking, Fosterdyke looked straight at the fellow for a fullthirty seconds. During that period Enrico attempted three times to meetthe searching gaze of his inquisitor.
"Now!" exclaimed the baronet at length.
Enrico Jaures maintained silence.
Fosterdyke slowly and deliberately unstrapped his wristlet watch andplaced it on the table.
"I give you thirty seconds," he said in level tones. "Thirty seconds inwhich to make up your mind either to answer or refuse to answer myquestion. Might I remind you that we are now eight thousand feet abovethe sea, and it is a long drop. Jackson, will you please remove thathatch?"
"Of course the Old Man was only kiddin'," remarked Jackson when herelated what had transpired to his companions after the affair was over;"but, bless me, even I thought he meant to do the dirty sweep in. Helooked that stern, that it put the wind up the bloke straight away."
Absolutely disciplined, the Leading Hand obeyed orders promptly.Throwing back the aluminium cover in the centre of the cabin floor, herevealed to the gaze of the thoroughly terrified Jaures a rectangularopening six feet by four. Far below, glittering in the sunshine, wasthe blue Mediterranean.
"Five seconds more!" announced Fosterdyke, calmly.
Of the occupants of the after cabin Enrico Jaures now seemed to be theleast interested in the proceedings. His furtive glances had givenplace to an expression of lofty detachment, as if he were utterly boredby the whole transaction. Bramsdean found himself deciding that eitherthe fellow was an imbecile or else he was a past master in the art ofdissimulation.
"Time!" declared Fosterdyke.
Enrico Jaures positively beamed.
"Me no spik Englis," he babbled.
Sir Reginald eyed the accused sternly, but even his piercing glanceseemed of no avail. The Rock Scorp continued to smile inanely.
"Take him away," ordered Fosterdyke with asperity.
He waited till the door had closed upon the involuntary guest, and thengave a deprecatory shrug.
"The fellow's scored this time, Bramsdean," he remarked, "but I'll getto windward of him yet."