I then ordered the four long boats that had been kept in readiness ever since our approach to Perim, to be lowered, and my men got into them. The Captain of the _Choising_ received written orders to take his ship farther out to sea, to spend the next two days in the vicinity of a given point outside of the usual steamship course, and on each of the succeeding nights to return to the place where my men and I had left the ship, and await us there. If we did not return, he was to proceed to Massowa. My reason for wishing the _Choising_ to return during the next two nights, was our total lack of any definite knowledge as to who was in control in South Arabia. Our latest information in regard to the war was over three months old, and although it had told of battles between the Turks and the English, the outcome of these battles was unknown to us. It was therefore quite possible that Hodeida was now in the hands of the English. In that event, it was my intention to return to the _Choising_ on one of the following nights, and to continue our journey aboard her. The days, I meant to spend somewhere in the desert, in hiding. At the same time, I arranged for signals by rockets to be given the _Choising_ in case I should learn of the proximity of hostile ships that might prove dangerous to her. There was one special signal that meant: "Enemy's ships near. Proceed at once to Massowa." I wanted to avoid exposing the ship unnecessarily to the danger of capture while returning for us. Soon the _Choising_ had vanished in the darkness of the night, and my little flotilla of long boats was being vigorously rowed toward the shore. The ship's boats, like all boats that have been out of the water for some time, leaked badly, although days before we left the _Choising_ they had been wet both inside and out, had been freshly painted, and kept half filled with water. Our chief effort for the time being was therefore directed toward bailing out the boats. As soon as the day dawned, all sails were set in the boats of our flotilla, and a goodly regatta in the direction of the shore developed. On our supposed dock the lights were extinguished, and at sunrise we discovered that it had two masts and three smoke stacks, carried guns, and bore the name of _Desaix_. It was a French armored cruiser. The other part of the dock revealed itself to be an Italian ship called _Juliana_. We had little desire to tie up at this dock, and so directed our course toward land.