Once more we were all alone on the sea. This was a cat-and-mouse game with a vengeance. In order to put an end to the business I now signalled, 'May I proceed?' The answer was 'Wait.' While the cruisers slowly approached again, I signalled, 'Please inform me why.' This time there was a long pause before the reply came. And a very unpleasant reply it was: 'Follow me to Queenstown; course, south, 63° east.' Curse it--they had got suspicious! Our fate was now decided. With a prize crew on board, which would have been dealt with according to plan, we might have gained the high seas during the night; but with an escort of armed fast steamers this was out of the question. Even in thick fog and the darkness of night it is very doubtful if we could have broken away from our escort. Now, as in the case of all the other signals, I answered first with, 'Don't understand,' for my only aim now was to gain time and try to get them to put a prize crew on board. In that case an escort would have been unnecessary. The cruiser really made every effort to make his signal intelligible. But the more trouble he took the less understanding we showed. We seemed to have lost every shred of intelligence on board the _Aud_. In justice to them, I must confess that the crew of the _Bluebell_ did their best to help us; they tugged like mad at the signal halliards, and altered course over and over again, in order to let their flags blow out in the wind. But all in vain! Nothing could make us understand what they wanted! The English did not appear to notice that we were fooling them, for (greatly daring) they came so close to us that the most shortsighted could have read the message. But I only shook my head, held the signal-book aloft, and pointed to it with my finger, to indicate that this signal was not given in our book. Then the _Bluebell_ plucked up courage and approached very, very carefully to within fifty yards of us. While this ridiculous exchange of signals was going on it had gradually become dark, so that it really was difficult now to read the signals. The _Bluebell_ noticed this, for we now saw a man with a huge megaphone preparing to shout something to us from the bridge. In order to forestall him, I shouted, 'Shall I let down a ladder for your prize crew?' Instead of answering my question, the _Bluebell_ sheered off about forty yards from us, and her officers showed us by all sorts of pantomime that they had no intention of sending a boat. My very friendly invitation had failed.