On 22nd September the _Emden_ was off Madras, that great straggling seaport which fronts a strand on which the sea foams in unceasing billows. One of the _Emden's_ crew had worked in Madras, and he pointed out to the captain the position of the oil tanks at the entrance to the harbour. At 9.30 that night the _Emden_ crept in, turned her searchlights on the tanks, and fired two broadsides to find the range. Then the searchlights were turned off, and salvos were fired which set the tanks on fire. While great flames were shooting skyward and making the night as bright as day, the _Emden_ retired full speed northward. The shore batteries opened fire, but their shells fell short. [Illustration: The Emden, the famous German Commerce-raider. _Photo, Central News._] Next day the _Emden_ turned her nose north-east, to give the impression that she was sailing for Calcutta, but when out of sight of land turned southwards. Off Pondicherry[139] she paused, but perceiving that the town was defenceless, refrained from firing a gun. She then ran past the east coast of Ceylon to the island of Diego Garcia, in the Chagos Archipelago, a group of low coral islands between Mauritius and Ceylon. Diego Garcia was reached on 10th October. The few European families on the island had not yet heard of the war, as they are only visited by a steamer once in three months. The _Emden_ coaled at Diego Garcia, and took on board supplies of cocoa-nuts and fish. About the middle of October she lost her attendant collier, and with it her reserve of ammunition, coal, and food. By this time it was clear that her course was practically run, and that she had better do what mischief she could to the warships and war material of the enemy before meeting her doom. Early on the morning of 28th October the _Emden_ was ten miles outside Penang, in the Straits Settlements,[140] and the carpenters were set to work rigging up a dummy funnel, to make her look like a British cruiser. She then hoisted British colours and entered the harbour, in which several ships could be seen, with an unknown cruiser well in front of them. When the _Emden_ entered the harbour she discovered that this cruiser was the Russian ship _Jemtchug_. Mistaking the _Emden_ for a British man-of-war, the _Jemtchug_ did not attempt to prevent the German cruiser from getting between her and the land. The _Emden_ then let fly two torpedoes, the first of which struck the Russian cruiser just under the after funnel. The other torpedo, fired at closer range, struck her below the bridge, and caused a terrible explosion. Meanwhile the _Emden_ was firing salvo after salvo at the _Jemtchug_, which made but a feeble reply; all of her shots missed, but some of them hit ships in the harbour behind.