mith. I'm not
inclined for climbing poles in this storm. I have to consider my
heart."

Smith stepped forward and followed him. It is interesting to notice
that the sailors who guarded him made no attempt to stop him. It is
unlikely that they understood English well enough to know what Donovan
said to von Moll. But they were somehow aware that their captain's
authority was failing.

At the door of the hall Donovan stopped and turned to von Moll.

"Things seem to be happening," he said, "right up to expectation, only
more so. I own I didn't look for that British ship quite so soon."

He stood in the doorway and pointed out to sea. Gorman hurried across
the hall, passed Donovan and went out. The Queen left her chair and
ran to her father's side. Konrad Karl followed her. Von Moll looked
round him, astonished, slightly dazed. Then he, too, went out, pushing
his way past Donovan.

Outside the reef, plunging and rolling heavily, was a small steamer.
She was stumpy, high bowed, low waisted, with a short black funnel.
Her bridge and single deck-house were disproportionately high. She was
shabby and rusty. She looked insignificant. She was swept frequently
with showers of white spray. On her bow and on her funnel could be
seen the white letters and numbers which proclaimed her proper
business. She was a trawler. In peace times she cast nets for fish in
the North Sea. Now she flew the white ensign and on her fore-deck,
above the high blunt bows, she carried a gun.

There were men handling the gun amid a smother of spray and the swirl
of water round their legs. The deck on which they stood was the worst
of all possible gun platforms. In the course of each few minutes it
was set at a dozen angles as the little steamer plunged and rolled.
But the men fired. Their shot went wide of the submarine which lay in
the harbour, and spluttered against the side of the cliff. The trawler
staggered on towards the end of the reef. Out of the welter of grey
water to windward came another trawler, then a third appeared and a
fourth.

Gorman edged up close to von Moll and caught him by the elbow.

"I say, von Moll," he said, "it's jolly lucky for you that you didn't
have time to shoot Smith. That ship of yours is a goner, you know.
It'll be a jolly sight pleasanter for you to be a prisoner of war than
to be dangling about on the end of a rope in this beastly wind. And
Donovan would have seen to it that you did swing if you'd shot Smith.