"Captain Hooge," he said, "in confirmation of this gentleman's story I find that you have two concealed guns on board, and there are other suspicious circumstances which my boatswain has pointed out, which confirm my own impressions about you. I am signalling for a prize crew and shall take you to Harwich." The captain sprang to his feet. His eyes were red with fury. "You damned, meddlesome Englishmen!" he cried. "If you keep me here another hour, you will hear of it! My Government will protest. It is contrary to the accepted principles of maritime law." "It is very much against the principles of maritime law, as I read it," the lieutenant answered coolly, "for you to blow to pieces, with a concealed gun, a tug which simply came up to ask you questions. Now be a sensible man, Captain Hooge. I shall have your ship searched from top to bottom. If the young lady is found, you will have to stand your trial in an English court on an extremely serious charge." "If there is any young lady on board," the captain declared sullenly, "it is without my knowledge. I will go and see the purser." "We will come, too," the lieutenant said dryly. They passed down a little companion-way. The captain opened the door of a small stateroom and talked for some time in Norwegian to a bearded and spectacled man. The latter, after some time, turned towards the two men and spoke in English. "There is a young lady here. She must have boarded us by accident. We were on the point of starting, and we could not land her. Come this way." They followed the man down a long gloomy passage. He knocked at the door of a stateroom at the end of it. A faint voice answered. The door was thrown open. Henriette, white and eager, stood shrinking back against the wall. There was a rush of cold air into the place. "Aaron!" she exclaimed in blank astonishment. "Aaron Rodd!" Words failed her altogether. It seemed too wonderful. She peered into his face, shook him by the shoulders, and finally, almost collapsed in his arms. "It's all right, Henriette," he cried, his own voice shaking. "You're quite safe." "But where did you come from? How did you get here?" she gasped. "I followed in a tug," he told her. "These pleasant people blew us up." "I heard the gun!" she cried. "I saw the tug. I saw it go down! I saw the men swimming in the water. It was horrible." "I was one of them," Aaron continued. "The master and I were picked up by an English destroyer. This is one of the officers. I managed to make them believe my story and we overhauled and boarded your steamer. We are going to take it into Harwich. You are safe, Henriette." She began to sob. The tears stood in Aaron's own eyes as he saw thrust through the open porthole the umbrella on which she had tied various fragments of clothing. "I have been waving this out of the porthole," she explained hysterically. "I thought they might see. I was locked in until a moment ago."