Von Mueller now put the prow of the _Emden_ to sea again, for he feared that both the _Yarmouth_ and the French cruiser _Dupleix_ had by then been summoned by wireless. Luck was with him. Half an hour after leaving the harbor he sighted a ship flying a red flag, which showed him at once that she was carrying a cargo of powder. He badly needed the ammunition, and he prepared to capture her. But this operation was interrupted by a mirage, which caused the small French destroyer _Mosquet_ to appear like a huge battleship. When he discovered the truth, Von Mueller closed with the Frenchman, who came to the rescue of the _Glenturret_, the powder ship. Destroyer and cruiser closed for a fight, the former trying to get close enough to make work with torpedoes possible, but the long range of the _Emden's_ guns prevented this, and the _Mosquet_ was badly damaged by having her engine room hit. Soon she was in a bad way, and Von Mueller ordered his guns silenced, thinking the destroyer would now give up the fight. But the Frenchman was valiant and refused to do so; he let go with two torpedoes which did not find their mark, and was immediately subjected to a withering fire, which caused his ship to sink, bow first. One of the destroyers which had been in the harbor now came out to take issue with the _Emden_, but it was the business of the latter to continue destroying merchant ships and not to run the risk of having her career ended by a warship, so she immediately put off for the Indian Ocean. A storm which then came up permitted her to make a better escape. It was not until the 9th of November that the world at large heard more of her, and it proved to be the last day of her reign of terror. There was a British wireless and cable station on the Cocos (Keeling) Isles, southwest of Java, and Von Mueller had determined to interrupt the communication maintained there connecting India, Australia, and South Africa. Forty men and three officers, with three machine guns, were detailed by him as a landing party to destroy instruments and cut the cables. But such a thing had been partially forestalled by the British authorities, who had set up false cable ends. These were destroyed by the deceived Germans. When the _Emden_ had first made her appearance the news had been sent out by the wireless operator on shore, not knowing what ships would pick up his calls.