"Remove your clothing," said the mate, as he seized a sponge and soap
and began washing the blackened oil from the hands and face of the
unconscious Admiral. "We must dress him in your uniform. The Commander
of the Lock has orders to take you off the vessel. We must pass the
Admiral off for you. He will never be recognized. The Commander has
never seen you."
Obeying, without fully comprehending, I helped to quickly dress the
unconscious man in my own clothing. We had barely finished when we heard
voices outside.
"Quick, under the bunk," whispered the mate. As I obediently crawled
into the hiding place, the mate kicked in after me the remainder of the
oiler's clothing which I had been trying to put on and pulled the
disarranged bedding half off the bunk the better to hide me. Then he
opened the door and several men entered.
"I had to drug him," said Grauble's voice, "because he was so violent
with fear when I had him manacled that I thought he might attempt to
beat out his brains."
"Let me see his papers," said a strange voice.
After a brief interval the same voice spoke again--"These are identical
with the description given by His Majesty's secretary. There can be no
doubt that this is the man they want, but I do not see how an enemy spy
could ever pass for a German, even if he had the clothing and
identification. He does not even look like the description in the
folder. The chemists must be very stupid to have accepted him as one
of them."
"It is strange," replied the voice of Capt. Grauble, "but this man was
very clever."
"It is only that most men are very dull," replied the other voice. "Now
I should have suspected at once that the man was not a German. But he
shall answer for his cleverness. Let him be removed at once. We have
word from the vessel outside that they are short of oxygen, and you must
be locked out and clear the passage."
With a shuffling of many feet the form of the third bearer of Karl
Armstadt's pedigree was carried from the cabin, and the door was
kicked shut.
I was still lying cramped in my hiding place when I felt the vessel
moving again. Then a sailor came, bringing a case from which I took
fresh clothing. As I was dressing I felt my ear drums pain from the
increased air pressure, and I heard, as from a great distance, the roar
of the water being let into the lock. From the quiet swaying of the
floor beneath me I soon sensed that we were afloat. I waited in the
cabin until I felt the quiver of motors, now distinguished by the lesser
throb and smoother running, from the drive on the wheeled trucks through
the tunnel.
I opened the cabin door and went out. Grauble was at the instrument
board. The mate stood aft among the motor controls; all men were at
their posts, for we were navigating the difficult subterranean passage
that led to the open sea.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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