Mr. Sabin broke off suddenly in the midst of his sentence, and turning round looked out of the open port-hole. Mrs. Watson had dropped her knife and fork and was holding her hands to her ears. The saloon itself seemed to be shaken by the booming of a gun fired at close quarters. "What is it?" she exclaimed, looking across at him with frightened eyes. "What can have happened! England is not at war with anybody, is she?" Mr. Sabin looked up with a quiet smile from the salad which he was mixing. "It is simply a signal from another ship," he answered. "She wants us to stop." "What ship? Do you know anything about it? Do you know what they want?" "Not exactly," Mr. Sabin said. "At the same time I have some idea. The ship who fired that signal is a German man-of-war, and you see we are stopping." Of the two Mrs. Watson was certainly the most nervous. Her fingers shook so that the wine in her glass was spilt. She set her glass down and looked across at her companion. "They will take you away," she murmured. "I think not," Mr. Sabin answered. "I am inclined to think that I am perfectly safe. Will you try some of my salad?" A look of admiration flashed for a moment across her face, "You are a wonderful man," she said softly. "No salad, thanks! I am too nervous to eat. Let us go on deck!" Mr. Sabin rose, and carefully selected a cigarette. "I can assure you," he said, "that they are powerless to do anything except attempt to frighten Captain Ackinson. Of course they might succeed in that, but I don't think it is likely. Let us go and hear what he has to say." Captain Ackinson was standing alone on the deck, watching the man-of-war's boat which was being rapidly pulled towards the _Calipha_. He was obviously in a bad temper. There was a black frown upon his forehead which did not altogether disappear when he turned his head and saw them approaching. "Are we arrested, Captain?" Mr. Sabin asked. "Why couldn't they signal what they wanted?" "Because they're blistering idiots," Captain Ackinson answered. "They blither me to stop, and I signalled back to ask their reason, and I'm dashed if they didn't put a shot across my bows. As if I hadn't lost enough time already without fooling." "Thanks to us, I am afraid, Captain," Mrs. Watson put in. "Well, I'm not regretting that, Mrs. Watson," the captain answered gallantly. "We got something for stopping there, but we shall get nothing decent from these confounded Germans, I am very sure. By the bye, can you speak their lingo, Mr. Sabin?" "Yes," Mr. Sabin answered, "I can speak German. Can I be of any assistance to you?" "You might stay with me if you will," Captain Ackinson answered, "in case they don't speak English."