"No, certainly not," replied Kaspar Klick with righteous indignation in his voice, "our precautions are too elaborate to give the dogs a chance of that. But why has Kapitan von Riesser sent you with that question?" "We've been in action, sir," declared the man. "We heard the firing," remarked Klick. "And the result?" "One English cruiser sunk, another driven on to the rocks," announced the coxswain, allowing his imagination to kick over the traces. "There were others. We would have captured or destroyed those, only----" "Only what?" asked the unter-leutnant sharply. "Someone cut our field telegraph. 'B' battery could not get in touch with the observation officer and so the rest of the enemy escaped." "How do you know that the wire has been cut?" asked the unter-leutnant. "It might have carried away." "A whole length of it has been removed, sir," reported the coxswain. "Then it was the natives. They'll steal anything in the metal line. Kapitan von Riesser ought to have known that," replied Klick with asperity. "We look after our prisoners here. None of them has the faintest chance of getting out of the ship. Anything more to report?" "Only that Major von Eckenstein is missing. He left the observation station to go to the _Pelikan's_ landing stage and never arrived. Search parties were out when I left." Unter-leutnant Kaspar Klick made no audible comment. Inwardly he rejoiced, after the manner of mean-minded men when they hear of misfortune overtaking those they dislike; for there was no love lost between the two representatives of the Kaiser's forces. "Very well; carry on back," he ordered. "You can reassure Kapitan von Riesser on the points he mentioned." "There's something else, sir," reported the petty officer, producing a linen envelope from under a cushion in the stern-sheets. "I had to deliver this to you personally." The German officer took the envelope and went below to read its contents. It was to the effect that the _Pelikan_ had been lightened still more and that at high water she would attempt the bar. The _Myra_ was to return down stream and stand by to render assistance if necessary. Returning on deck the prize-master gave back to the coxswain the order, to which was added a notation that it would be complied with, and dismissed the boat. Then, grumbling at being turned out so early in the morning, Kaspar Klick retired to his cabin. "Is that right about the sinking of one of our cruisers?" asked Armstrong, when Denbigh had translated the gist of the conversation, for in spite of the port-hole being closed every word had been audible. "Hardly," replied Denbigh. "The Germans have a funny habit of magnifying the size and class of any and every vessel they sink. Unfortunately they sent one of our destroyers to the bottom. By Jove! doesn't this burnt cork take a lot of shifting?"