The message the seaplane had brought back had evidently been a reassuring one, and we heard a long time afterwards that the _Wolf_ had picked up a wireless from a Japanese cruiser, presumably looking for the _Hitachi_, only thirty miles away. Hence the alarm! Unfortunately for us, if this report were true, the cruiser did not turn aside to look in the most obvious place where a ship like the _Wolf_ would hide, so once more the _Wolf_ was safe. If only there had been a couple of cruisers disguised, like the _Wolf_, as tramps, each one carrying a seaplane or two, in each ocean free from submarine attentions, the _Wolf_ could have been seen and her career brought to an end long before. The same end would probably have been attained on this occasion if a wireless message had been sent from Delagoa Bay to Colombo saying that the _Igotz Mendi_ had left the former port for the latter with 5,000 tons of coal on board. The strong wireless installation on the _Wolf_, which picked up every message within a large radius, but of course never sent any, would have picked up this message, and the _Wolf_ would probably have risen to the bait, with the result that she could have been caught by an armed vessel sent in search of her on that track. For it must have been known that a raider was out in those waters, as the disappearance of the _Hitachi_ could only have been due to the presence of one. Coaling proceeded without cessation till the morning of the 17th, when the _Wolf_ moved off a short distance. Passengers on mail-boats familiar with the process of coaling ship at Port Said, Colombo, or any other port, can imagine the condition of these ships, after three or four days' incessant coaling day and night. The appearance of the _Igotz Mendi_ was meanwhile undergoing another change. When captured she was painted white and had a buff funnel with her company's distinguishing mark. She was now painted the Allied grey colour, and when her sides and funnel had been transformed the two ships sailed away, and on the evening of the 17th, after final orders and instructions had been given, parted company. For some days after this, painting was the order of the day on the Spanish ship, which was now grey on every part visible. The Captain of the Spanish ship was now relieved of his duties--and also of his cabin, which the German Captain had annexed, leaving the owner thereof the chartroom to sleep in--and was naturally very chagrined at the course events had taken, especially as he said he had been informed by the Consul at Lourenco Marques that the course between there and Colombo was quite clear, and had not even been informed of the disappearance of the _Hitachi_, though she had been overdue at Delagoa Bay about a month. Consequently he had been showing his navigation lights at sea, and without them the _Wolf_ would probably not have seen him, as it was about 1 a.m. when the _Wolf_ picked him up.