Hello, what's this? The _Avenger_, with her 15,000 tons driven by 100,000-horsepower engines, was racing straight at us. Huge streams of smoke and great flames like torches poured out of her three funnels as her safety valves blew out from the over-pressure of her boilers. Just as she got on top of us she swerved off. At her stern flew a signal. I did not need a code book. I knew that signal by heart--Happy Voyage. We raised the signal--thanks--and dipped our Norwegian flag three times. The British had behaved like gentlemen toward us. I think the way they pointed their guns at us when they came up to us was a bit of a joke. The hour they made us wait was, I think, to enable them to make wireless inquiries about the story we told of German cruisers and submarines. The search officer did his work courteously and well. No seaman should try to make another seaman ridiculous. We were disguised so well that he could have suspected nothing. In his place, I should have been fooled exactly as he was, and so would any other officer. "And now, boys, let's celebrate Christmas!" We dumped our deck load of lumber into the sea, and cleared the deck for a big time. I had a Christmas tree that I had brought from home. We set it up. Before the _Seeadler_ left port, Fraulein Bertha Krupp had sent us a huge box full of Christmas presents, something for every man. We opened it and found clothing, cigars, pipes, cigarettes, cigar holders, knives, liquor, soft drinks, and musical instruments. It was the merriest Christmas of our lives. Singing "Yo-ho" and cheered up with many good bottles of rum, we headed south to play our rôle as buccaneers. XIV WE CAPTURE THE _GLADYS ROYAL_ AND THE _LUNDY ISLAND_ "All hands on deck!" Aloft my boys flew, into the rigging and up the ratlines like monkeys. "Loose the fore-taups'l!" boomed up from the quarter deck. "All gone, the fore-taups'l," they sang out. "Loose the ga'nts'ls and stays'ls!" The sails were sheeted home and were filling out. We didn't lose much time in getting her away. Lying over on her beam ends and running before the wind, we set our course for Madeira. We knew that just off Gibraltar would be one of our best hunting grounds, so we cleared away the remains of our Norwegian camouflage, and after a few days we were as spick and clean and orderly as a German auxiliary cruiser should be. We were the _Irma_ no longer, but the _Seeadler_ now, although I felt a pang of regret at letting go the name that had served us so well and brought us luck.