CHAPTER XXI
CHECKMATE
THE "Nordby" was an hour after her scheduled time in casting off fromthe quay. Slowly she threaded the tortuous channel until clear of thedangerous sandbanks off the Danish coast. Here the pilot, withill-concealed relief, handed over the wheel, bade the skipperfarewell, and took to the boat that was being towed alongside.Thanking his lucky stars that his duty did not require him tonavigate the vessel through the mine-strewn, submarine-infested NorthSea, he rowed back to Esbjerg, while the "Nordby," increasing speed,shaped a south-westerly course.
Keeping Otto Oberfurst well under observation, although they tookcare to render themselves as inconspicuous as possible, Tressidar andFuller remained on the qui vive.
Their compatriot, meanwhile, paced the deck betwixt the mainmast andthe taffrail, maintaining a well-assumed indifference to hissurroundings. He was aware that the spy had already made himselfacquainted with the fact that an interned British officer on parolewas amongst the passengers, and Oberfurst was likely to be keeping astealthy watch on him. So from the moment he had seen the spy boardthe ship Holloway had kept aloof from Tressidar and his chum.
The "Nordby" was well beyond the three-mile limit when the look-outreported a submarine on the starboard bow. Instantly there was a rushon the part of the passengers and crew to see the strange under-watercraft. Speculation ran high as to her nationality and whether shewould attempt to destroy the neutral vessel with the ruthlessnesspeculiar to the Huns.
"She's one of our 'S' class," declared Tressidar to his chum. "That'sall right. Now for friend Oberfurst."
The spy was no longer on deck. Down the companion ladder the twoBritish officers hastened and cautiously took up a position justoutside the German's cabin. They could hear him fumbling with thelocks of his portmanteau.
Then the door was opened, and Oberfurst appeared, with a smallleather wallet resembling a camera case slung from his shoulder witha strap.
"Hands up!" ordered Tressidar sternly, the muzzle of his revolver,held by a steady hand, within a foot of the spy's head.
"What for?" demanded the spy in English. "You're talking in your hat,old sport. This is a neutral ship." Then, recognising his formerofficer he asked, "So you think you've got me, eh? Guess desertion isnot an extradictable offence, so you're kippered, Mr. Tressidar."
"We'll see about that, Jorkler," rejoined the sub. "Collar him, oldman. We'll see what's in this case."
The spy, still grinning insolently, offered no resistance. DeftlyFuller unbuckled the strap and opened the wallet. Within was afolding camera--nothing more.
While Tressidar still kept his prisoner covered with the revolver,Fuller quickly overhauled the contents of his cabin effects. Thesearch, as far as incriminating objects were concerned, wasfruitless. Oberfurst, although he had not previously recognisedTressidar, had seen the two supposed Danish artisans in conversationwith Holloway when he had boarded the "Nordby." Quick to act upon thefaintest warning, he had thrown overboard the infernal machine,relying upon his forged passports to clear himself from suspicionwhen the "Nordby" arrived in a British port.
Tressidar and his companion exchanged glances. Both realised thatthere had been an awkward hitch. Having gone thus far it wasimpossible to cry halt; while, owing to the lack of direct evidence,there was hardly likely to be sufficient reason for convincing the"Nordby's" skipper of the spy's sinister intentions. Nor could thesub. signal to the British submarine and get her commander forciblyto remove the spy. That in itself would be a gross breach ofinternational neutrality, and as long as Oberfurst remained on board,under the protection of the Danish flag, he was immune from arrest.To do otherwise the British Government would be transgressing its ownprinciples which were stoutly maintained: the historic "Trent" caseduring the American Civil War. Unless it could be proved up to thehilt that Oberfurst had intended to place a charge of explosive inthe hold of the "Nordby," the chances were that the Danish skipperwould decline to place the passenger under arrest.
Suddenly a tremendous crash shook the ship from stem to stern. Almostimmediately she took a pronounced list to starboard. Tressidar,losing his balance, brushed against his prisoner. Fortunately for thelatter, the sub.'s finger was not resting on the trigger of therevolver, otherwise the British Government might have been saved amountain of trouble.
Taking advantage of the temporary confusion, Otto Oberfurst made arush for the companion and gained the deck.
Tressidar made no effort to detain him.
"By Jove!" he exclaimed; "that must be a strafed Hun submarine afterall. Here's a pretty kettle of fish. If they've had the tip thatwe're on board it's a moral cert. that they are keen on recapturingus."
"And if we stick here we'll be booked for Davy Jones' locker,"declared Fuller. "Let's get on deck."
On gaining the poop they found that the "Nordby" was rapidly settlingby the head. She had recovered somewhat from her list to starboard,and as the explosion had occurred for'ard, the boats were intact.These were being lowered without undue haste or confusion. There wasno sign of the spy. Lieutenant Holloway, imperturbably smoking acigar, was standing under the bridge.
"Deuced rum business!" he remarked as Tressidar and Fuller rejoinedhim. "Thought at first that the spy had succeeded in his attempt,until I saw that the explosion was an external one and rightfor'ard."
"But the submarine?" asked Fuller.
"Had nothing to do with it," declared Holloway with conviction."She's a British one. I was watching her up to the moment of theexplosion. There was no track of a torpedo."
The submarine, with her conning-tower just awash, was lying hove-toat a couple of cable's length on the starboard quarter of thefoundering vessel. Two officers and three seamen were visible, theformer keeping the "Nordby" under observation with their binoculars.
"She'll give the boats a pluck to the lightship," declared Fuller."And we can get them to take us on board before we get there. Howabout you, sir? You'll be rescued by a British craft and consequentlyyour internment----"
Lieutenant Holloway shook his head.
"I'll play the game," he declared. "Any hitch and the Danes won't beso keen on letting our compatriots off for short periods on leave onparole. Hulloa! What's the game now?"
As he spoke the officers and men on the superstructure of thesubmarine disappeared below, the watertight hatches were closed andsecured, and the vessel slid with hardly a ripple beneath thesurface.
Shouts of execration arose from some of the passengers and crew ofthe "Nordby" as they saw what they took to be the cause of thedisaster steal away, until the Danish skipper emphatically assuredthem that the explosion had occurred by the ship coming in contactwith a derelict mine, which, in fact, was the case.
By this time only five or six persons remained on board, the skipperbeing still on the bridge. Two boats had already pushed off. It wasmerely a question of minutes before the "Nordby" made her finalplunge.
"What's that fellow up to, by Jove!" suddenly exclaimed LieutenantHolloway.
Otto Oberfurst had mounted the main-mast shrouds and wasgesticulating violently in the direction of an object broad on theport-beam. The object was a German submarine of the most modern type,running on the surface at a good eighteen or twenty knots.
The Danish skipper saw her too. Whatever his feelings were towardssubmarines in general, his action showed that he had no love forthose sailing under the Black Cross Ensign--the modern counterpart ofthe "Jolly Roger."
He shouted an order. Three seamen sprang into the rigging and with nolittle force compelled the spy to descend. Not content with that,they bundled him unceremoniously into the last boat that was rubbingher gunwale against the "Nordby's" starboard side.
They were not feelings of humanity that prompted the German submarineto speed to the vicinity of the sinking ship. Slowing down withinhailing distance, her officers and crew came on deck to gloat overthe sinking of a helpless neutral merchantman. More than likely theywere anxious to ascertain her name so that they c
ould strengthen theclaim for the award of Iron Crosses--the highly prized reward for"frightfulness" as practised by the degenerate descendants of Attila.
The Danish skipper enjoined strict silence. He had now jumped intothe boat--the last to leave the stricken ship. Otto Oberfurst, lyingat full length on the gratings, with two brawny seamen holding himdown, was helpless to give another warning. In breathless silencethey waited.
"Good!" ejaculated Tressidar as an ever-diverging feather of ripplesmarked the track of a 24-in. torpedo. Passing within fifty yards ofthe boat in which he sat, the deadly weapon sped unerringly towardsits quarry.
Amidst a tremendous upheaval of water, mingled with smoke andfragments of metal, the unterseeboot vanished for ever; while like ahuge whale the British submarine that had dealt the fatal blow shookherself clear of the water.
The appearance was little more than momentary, for without checkingher way the vessel dived again and was lost to sight.
"Wonder why?" remarked Fuller.
"I suppose she knows that the lightship isn't so very far off,"replied Tressidar, concealing his disappointment at not being pickedup by a British craft. "The sea's calm, the boats are by no meansovercrowded, and----"
A warning shout from one of the Danes interrupted the sub.'s words.Looking in the direction indicated by the man's outstretched fingers,the British officers made out the form of a huge Zeppelin. Althoughfive miles away when first sighted by the "Nordby's" crew, it wasrapidly approaching. With the wind and driven by five propellers, itwas travelling at considerably more than a mile a minute.Nevertheless the alert lieutenant-commander of the British submarinehad spotted the airship and had promptly dived.
Attention on the part of the passengers and crew of the "Nordby" wasdivided between the ship, now on the point of foundering, and theZeppelin.
The former was now so deep down by the head that the hawse-pipes weresubmerged, while correspondingly her twin propellers were clear ofthe water. For a few moments she hung thus; irresolutely, as if lothto make her final plunge. Then, amidst a smother of foam and thegurgling sound of inrushing water, she slid completely from sight,leaving a pall of steam and smoke to mark her ocean grave.
The Zeppelin, finding that the destroyer of the "U" boat hadsubmerged, descended with considerable rapidity until she was withinfive hundred feet of the level of the sea. Thrice she circled overthe spot where the "Nordby" had disappeared, and then, havingapparently discovered some signs of the British submarine, she toreaway to the north-westward. For nearly an hour she remained in sight,but since she dropped no bombs Tressidar came to the conclusion thather quarry had eluded pursuit.
A little later the "Nordby's" boats parted company. Acting undersemaphored instructions from the skipper, two of them made for thelightship, while the third, containing the Danish captain and theGerman spy, rowed with long, steady strokes towards the Jutlandshore.
"The fellow's given us the slip," declared Fuller. "I wonder whetherthe skipper of the 'Nordby' smells a rat and means to hand him overto the authorities. Pity we didn't make a charge against him."
"What are you fellows going to do?" inquired Lieutenant Holloway. "IfI were you I'd lie low and say nothing while you are on Danish soil.If you don't they'll want you to give evidence at a court of inquiryand all that sort of fuss. That can keep till you arrive in England.The sooner the better, as I'll warrant the Huns will make a fine songout of the sinking of the 'Nordby.' That rogue Oberfurst will pitchit in for all he's worth. Yes, I agree with Fuller, in fact, I gofarther: it's a pity you didn't settle his hash once and for all."
"Well, there's one thing," rejoined Tressidar. "He won't dare to setfoot in Great Britain again."
Wherein the sub. was grievously mistaken, for Otto Oberfurst'sactivities as a spy within Britannia's gates were by no means at anend.