"Now what’s up," muttered the captain impatiently. "I wish I had sent Devoran with them to keep them together. They are like a pack of schoolboys out of bounds." Back came the men, never pausing till they reached the brink of the hill on the river side. Here Mylor, standing well apart, began to "call-up" the "Aphrodite" by semaphore. "Acknowledge, Mr. Devoran," said Captain Restronguet. Clambering on to the top of the conning-tower the first officer signalled that attention was being paid to the message. "’Vorwartz’ is lying on the other side of the hill," semaphored Mylor. "What’s that? Impossible!" exclaimed the captain, for both he and Hythe had read the message correctly. "Ask them to explain more fully." "’Vorwartz’ is in a river flowing behind this hill." "Boat’s crew to return instantly," ordered Devoran at Captain Restronguet’s request. "Leave Kenwyn and his two men." "I hope they didn’t let those on the ’Vorwartz’ see them," said Captain Restronguet. "If it be the ’Vorwartz’--and I have no reason to suppose that there is another submarine beside her and the ’Aphrodite’ on the Zambezi--we have just saved ourselves from being nicely fooled. We might have been searching the tributaries on the right bank till Doomsday." "And the ’Pride of Rhodesia’ is devoting her attentions to the right bank also," added the sub. "Let her," said Captain Restronguet with a hearty laugh. "This seems almost too good to be true." Bending to their oars and heedless of the blazing sun the whaler’s crew brought the boat back at breakneck speed. Almost before her way was checked as she came alongside Captain Restronguet, Hythe, and five of the crew leapt on board. They had taken the precaution to arm themselves, for it was quite possible that some of Karl von Harburg’s men had gone ashore and had already sighted the "Aphrodite" lying in mid-stream. Up the hill the landing party toiled, and crossing the plateau gained the clump of trees on the landward side. Here they hid, while Captain Restronguet and the sub reconnoitred by means of the binoculars. Yes, there was no longer any cause for doubt. The twin conning-towers and a portion of the upper deck of the "Vorwartz" were just visible above the reeds that fringed the narrow river. She was floating high, all her ballast tanks having been started. Two of the hatches were flung back but no signs of any of the crew were to be seen. "She’s hard aground, I think," observed Hythe. "The river has fallen in spite of the rains, and she’s fairly caught."