"By Jove, no!" replied Denbigh. As a matter of fact he had. The excitement of their discoveries had banished all thought of anything else. Even the perils of their return journey to the _Myra_ had been lightly brushed aside. "Hang it all, there's that confounded mist again." At a distance of a quarter of a mile from the searchlight position the path bent obliquely towards the lagoon. Here the trees grew right to the water's edge, the cliff at this point being roughly twenty feet above the sea. "What's that?" whispered O'Hara. A cable's length from shore, and just visible through the mist, was a large indistinct shape. At first sight it looked like a small island thickly covered with coco-nut palms. "The cunning blighters!" ejaculated Denbigh. "That's the _Pelikan_." It was the raider. Her masts and funnels were decked with branches; the whole tops of trees festooned her sides. The outlines of her bow and stern were concealed by trailing masses of vegetation. Viewed from seaward, against the tree-clad hillocks, the _Pelikan_ could not be distinguished from her natural background. A short distance along the shore there was a gap in the line of cliffs. Here a boat was lying, with her crew standing about on shore. "They're expecting someone," whispered Denbigh. "Let's move." Not until the subs were a safe distance from the shore did they exchange opinions. "The _Pelikan_ is expecting an attack," said O'Hara. "So she is disguised. Some of her guns are taken ashore." "Why not all?" asked Denbigh. "I should not think so," was the reply. "They would be almost certain to keep those in position on the port side. They haven't abandoned the ship, otherwise the boat wouldn't be waiting to take somebody off to her. Hulloa, there they go!" Two brilliant arcs of light swept across the lagoon. The searchlights had been unmasked and were directed towards the narrow gap in the coral reef. "They've spotted something," continued O'Hara. "Not necessarily," replied Denbigh. "Those lights are tantamount to a challenge. Our fellows will go for the searchlight, thinking that they are being worked from the _Pelikan_. Then the ship's guns and those of the masked battery will be able to open a converging fire. We'll have to stop their little game, old man." "Can't see how," said O'Hara. "No more can I at present," added his companion. "We've about three hours to daylight. We must allow an hour and a half at the very outside to work our way back to the _Myra_." "If our fellows put the hat on the _Pelikan_, we may as well hang on and get them to pick us up. You can bet your bottom dollar they'll take good care to see that the _Pelikan_ is properly done in." "My dear fellow," protested Denbigh, "are we fit to introduce ourselves as British officers, even suppose the cruisers send a landing party ashore?"