CHAPTER XI
Villiers' Return
The yacht Titania lay at anchor about three hundred yards west of the Old Mole at Gibraltar. The first stage of her long voyage was accomplished, not without difficulties and dangers, for she had encountered bad weather in the Bay, which had continued until she passed Cape St. Vincent. In a way the gale was a blessing in disguise, for it enabled Harborough to put his crew to a severe test in seamanship, and to their credit they came out of the ordeal in quite a praiseworthy manner. The yacht had been able to hold on her course under close-reefed canvas, and had made a fairly-quick passage without having been compelled to use her engines when once clear of the Needles.
Beyond the necessity of having to replenish fresh water, provisions, and consumable stores, the Titania was fully equipped. Each member of the crew responsible for his particular department had carried out his duties thoroughly. Everything necessary for salvage operations was on board—patent, self-contained diving-dresses which enabled their wearers to work independently of air-tubes and pumps, demolition charges, pneumatic drills, tools of various sorts, and chains, ropes, shackles, and blocks, ample for the work, were methodically stored in the holds. The two dwarf seaplanes, which, when packed for transport, took up very little room, had been stowed away under the charge of Claverhouse and Trevear. Griffiths and Bell, the only ex-army men, were responsible for the provisioning of the ship; O'Loghlin and Vivian for the engines, each man working "watch and watch" with an assistant. The rest of the crew formed the amateur deck-hands, Harborough heading the starboard and Beverley the port watch.
Once at sea all hands followed sea routine. A state of discipline prevailed while on duty, although in the "watch below" every man was Tom, Dick, and Harry to his comrades. The system worked well. Every member of the crew had been in a position of more or less authority during the war, and each realized the absolute necessity of discipline. They knew the value of initiative; but initiative, important though it is, must ever be subservient to discipline if success is to be attained.
Harborough was certainly a "tough nut". On duty he was autocratic. His idea was: "I'm in charge; carry out my orders and I'll do my level best in your interests. If anything goes wrong, then I take all the responsibility." Off duty he was affability personified, and was always ready and even eager to listen to suggestions, and should Beverley be in charge of the deck he would never interfere.
Originally it had been the intention to place Villiers in charge of one watch, while Harborough, except for actual navigation duties, acted as general supervisor; but Villiers' mysterious disappearance had altered that plan, and Harborough did not appoint a substitute. He shared a belief with Beverley that Jack Villiers would put in an appearance before the Titania reached Singapore, and so firm was his conviction that he had the missing officer's kit on board instead of placing it ashore when the yacht left Southampton.
"Bit of a change from the good old North Sea," remarked Merridew, gazing at the towering Rock, bathed in the rosy tints of the setting sun. "This time last year we were perambulating bales of wool: three sweaters, a muffler, monkey-jacket, pilot-coat, and two pairs of thick trousers, and none too warm at that. Now, here we are feeling quite warm in flannels."
"And I'm on anchor watch," added Fontayne. "I'm rather looking forward to it, 'cause it's full moon to-night, and the Rock will look splendid in the moonlight. I remember when I was an A.B. in the R.N.V.R. keeping middle watch when we were lying just inside Inchkeith. It was New Year's night, and there was a buzz going round that a Fritz was nosing about just outside the boom. Sleeting, snowing, and blowing like billy-ho. Absolute fact; I had to go below and thaw before I could get my clothes off. Hallo, there's a boat pulling off."
[Illustration: UNMASKED HE WAS NO LONGER AN AMIABLE SWEDE
(missing from book)]
The boat, manned by a couple of "Rock Scorps" ran alongside the gangway, and presently the crew of the Titania were bargaining for quantities of luscious fruit at a price that, although affording a handsome profit to the vendors, was so ridiculously cheap that the purchasers could hardly believe it.
Then another boat ran alongside, and others, until the Titania looked like a swan surrounded by her cygnets. There were bumboatmen, ship's store-dealers, washermen, butchers, purveyors of insipid rain-water—Spaniards, Genoese, Moors, and representatives of every country bordering on the Mediterranean—all clamouring to do business with the newly-arrived vessel.
"Allow no one to come on board," ordered Harborough.
"No exception?" inquired a hearty voice, and to the surprise of everyone on deck Jack Villiers appeared from behind a pile of fruit-cases in the stern-sheets of a whaler.
For once, at least, Harborough went back on his word. He almost went back and down an open hatchway, for, although he was convinced that Villiers would put in an appearance, that worthy's sudden return took the usually cool and collected Sir Hugh by surprise.
"Good heavens, Villiers, dear old thing!" he exclaimed. "How in the name of all that's wonderful——!"
Running up the accommodation-ladder and saluting the quarter-deck as he came over the side, Villiers grasped his chief's extended hand.
"'Fraid I haven't much of a kit," he remarked apologetically; "but this, I think, sir, is your property."
He held out the attaché-case. Harborough gazed at it with mingled surprise and amusement.
"You've a yarn to spin about that," he observed. "Come below. We're about to have dinner. You'll be able to have a word with Beverley before he goes on watch."
"I won't say that I've nothing to tell," remarked Jack, "because I have."
For the next three quarters of an hour he was hard at it, his audience listening in almost unbroken silence. Following his plunge from the deck of the Zug, he was in the water forty minutes before he was picked up by a Portuguese "mulutta"—a fishing-boat whose chief characteristic is the large number of fantastically-shaped sails she carries. It was doubtless the presence of the fishing-boat that deterred the Zug's crew from putting about and opening fire upon the swimmer; but Villiers had not observed the presence of his rescuers until the tramp was hull down.
The fishermen treated him very kindly, and eventually landed him at Figuera, a Portuguese harbour about one hundred miles north of Lisbon. A hospitable merchant rendered him every possible assistance and provided him with money sufficient to enable him to reach Algeciras, which he did after a long and circuitous railway journey which, in Villiers' opinion, embraced the greater part of Portugal and Spain. At Algeciras he was fortunate in catching the last ferry-boat for that day across to the Rock, and during the six-mile passage across the Bay of Gibraltar he saw, to his unbounded delight, the Titania putting in and dropping anchor off the Old Mole.
"I'm afraid," observed Harborough, when Villiers had finished his narrative, "that you expended a lot of unnecessary zeal over that attaché-case."
"Oh!" exclaimed Jack doubtfully. "Why?"
"Because it was a fake," explained Harborough. "I did not mention it at the time, because it was my secret. I intended doing so immediately we left England. These plans and charts are false. I knew that someone was after the real charts, and I took precautions accordingly. I expected they would be stolen, and they were. In order to make sure that they were stolen and not accidentally lost, you remember, I offered a substantial reward. But they were not returned—hence it was reasonable to assume that they were deliberately stolen by our rivals. You have proved that such was the case. I only hope your late host, Herr Strauss, acts upon them."
"I believe the fellow is identical with Kristian Borgen," said Villiers. "In fact, I chucked it in his teeth."
"And he denied it?"
"He did."
"Then he told the truth," declared Harborough. "He is acting under the fellow Borgen's orders, but Borgen was in Southampton when we left; consequently he couldn't have been on the Zug when she sailed. And we've enough evidence now to get the Zug detained and her crew put under arrest at the first port she touches."
"Don't do that," said Villiers. "It would spoil a lot of sport. Just fancy those fellows thinking they're doing us, and all the while acting on faked information. Their punishment will be found in their disappointment. Personally, I'd like to have five minutes with the gentleman who sand-bagged me, but I'm quite content to let the rival crush have a run for its money."
"There's something in that," agreed Harborough, who, in common with the rest of the members of the expedition, had a strong partiality for the element of chance and a liking for sport. "They're interlopers, it's true, but rivalry adds a zest to life. But you must be tired with your long journey, Villiers."
"I am," replied Jack, stifling a yawn. "I'll turn in. I suppose there'll be time for me to nip ashore to-morrow and get a new kit."
"Plenty of time to go ashore," replied Harborough, "but I don't think you'll need a fresh rig-out. Your kit's stowed away in the locker under your bunk."