CHAPTER XVIII
CLEARING UP THE MYSTERY
The Patrol-leader could only surmise that the searchlight came from a British warship. It was impossible to discern the source of that blinding beam or to form any idea of the distance from which it came.
Then through the night came a crisp order:
"Away sea-boat's crew!"
The steady plash of oars and the creaking of crutches announced the approach of the warship's boat. Presently she swung athwart the dazzling beam, the crew outlined in silver as they bent to the pliant oars.
"Way 'nough—in bow."
Right alongside the Marie-Celeste swung the boat. Lithe, active bluejackets swarmed up the drifter's rusty sides. Loud, excited protests on the part of the foreigners were checked by a stern order that they were under arrest.
"Smack ahoy!" hailed an unmistakable English voice.
"Ay, ay, sir!" shouted Old Negus in reply
"Are you foul of this fellow's trawl?"
"Ay," replied the old fisherman grimly. "'Twas what I meant to do."
"Righto! Clear your gear and carry on. When do you think you'll make Aberstour?"
"Soon as we can," declared Old Negus.
"Shout when you're clear, then," continued the boarding officer. "We want to haul in this fellow's trawl and be taken in tow."
It was a tricky job disentangling the Frolic's anchor from the beam of the trawl, but, aided by the smack's winch, the task was accomplished.
With a fair tide and steady head wind the Frolic beat homeward. Before long the destroyer overtook her with the Marie-Celeste in tow.
"I'll be gettin' a new otter trawl out o' she," remarked Old Negus, jerking his thumb in the direction of the captured drifter. "T'old 'un was a bit shaky," he added with a grin. "But it fair beats me to know 'ow that there destroyer came up just when she were wanted."
* * * * *
It was not until the following day that the question was answered.
Brandon and Old Negus had to attend court as witnesses against the crew of the Marie-Celeste. Then it came out that the coastguards had picked up Brandon's signals, but very wisely they refrained from answering them lest the poachers should take alarm.
The coastguards immediately telephoned to the Divisional Headquarters at Aberstour. The fishery protection gunboat was away, her position by wireless being given as eighty miles sou'-sou'-west of her port.
Clearly she was too far away, even at her speed of twenty-two knots, to be on the scene in time; so Aberstour sent out a general wireless call, which was picked up by the destroyer Seagull, which was on her way from Portsmouth to Sheerness, and at the time was only eleven miles from the Silverknoll Bank. Thirty-five minutes after receiving the message the Seagull had captured the Marie-Celeste.
Caught red-handed the Belgians were fined £200 and their gear confiscated. Old Negus received £50 compensation for the deliberate destruction of his trawl, and Patrol-leader Brandon was highly complimented for his part in the capture of the poachers:
More than that, the mystery of the scarcity of fish on the Silverknoll Bank was satisfactorily cleared up, since foreign drifters no longer run the risk of trawling within the three-mile limit off that part of the coast.