CHAPTER XXII
Von Giespert hears News
"Gott in Himmel!" exclaimed Kaspar von Giespert. "Don't say that you've had no luck."
"Ach, Herr Kapitan," replied Strauss, in the tone of a man repeating a venerable formula, "no luck at all."
For fifteen evenings almost the same exchange of words had taken place. For fifteen days, without respite, even when the sun was directly overhead, the crew of the Zug had laboured, at first with a remarkable display of energy, in their efforts to locate the wreck of the Fusi Yama in the lagoon of Ni Telang. Almost every square yard of the enclosed sheet of water had been swept by means of drags, grapnels, and bighted ropes. Divers had gone down whenever any obstruction had given rise to the hope that the object of the quest had been found, only to ascend with the disconcerting report that the grapnel had fouled a lump of coral rock.
Von Giespert took very little active part in the operations. He was content to leave the "donkey work" to Strauss, and spent most of the day living in a hammock-chair under double awnings.
He had counted upon finding the wreck with the minimum of trouble. As the days passed and Harborough's time-limit grew nearer, von Giespert began to feel anxious, and anxiety soon began to give place to feelings of desperation.
Up to a certain point the rough chart, which Harborough had purposely allowed his rivals to filch, had proved accurate. To a certain extent it would have served equally well for Ni Telang or Nua Leha, for in either case there was a strong geographical resemblance between the two lagoons, their entrances, and the islands themselves, even to the triple peaks. The latitude and longitude of the former island as stated on the chart agreed to a second with the results of von Giespert's readings of the sextant and chronometer. The only flaw—a very important one—was the fact that the wreck obstinately refused to allow itself to be found.
Von Giespert often wondered what the "schweinhund Englander" was doing. Self-complacently he pictured his rival going south and putting into Brisbane or some other Australian port to kill time until, according to the mutual agreement, Harborough would return and claim the right to search the lagoon of Ni Telang. It was only in the earlier stages of the operations that the German was self-satisfied. He firmly believed that by the time the Titania put in an appearance the gold would be safe in the strong-room of the Zug. Now he was not feeling so optimistic about it. On the contrary, he was the victim of jumpiness, which did not improve his temper.
The men, too, were showing signs of unrest. Strauss was a hard taskmaster. He drove but he could not lead; his education as a ruler of men missed one important fact: to get men to work properly it is essential that they should be well fed. On board the Zug the provisioning arrangements were far from good. Had von Giespert given one tenth of the time he had lavished upon the mechanical and scientific appliances on board the Zug to the personal comfort of the crew, much of the trouble that subsequently occurred might have been avoided.
"What report have you to make?" asked von Giespert, in continuance of his previous question.
"We worked northward of a line east of point G for a distance of seven hundred metres," replied Strauss. "That practically covers the whole of the lagoon where there is a depth of five metres or more."
"Then the lagoon has been twice examined?"
"Twice—carefully," said Strauss with conviction. "Schrang made three descents; Woeber, two. In every case it was rock."
"But the wreck must be somewhere here," exclaimed von Giespert petulantly, embracing the greater part of the lagoon with a swirl of his jewelled fingers. "The men must have been careless. To-morrow let them start it again."
It was an easy thing to say, but even Strauss foresaw difficulties in carrying out the order.
"There is another matter, Herr Kapitan," he said. "We are getting short of water. The only spring we have found on the island has failed. It was but a small one. I put two hands on the task of sinking a well, but they found no water at four metres. The conden——"
"Yes, I know all about the condensers," interrupted von Giespert irritably, and since it was his fault that the work of repairing them had not been undertaken at Batavia—the last port they touched where work of that kind could be performed—his subordinate's reference to the faulty apparatus was unwelcome.
"I would suggest," continued Strauss, finding boldness in the fact that he, too, was experiencing inconvenience from the shortage of drinking-water, "that four of the hands take the whaler and run across to the island where we lay when the English vessel discovered us. There is water in abundance. We could get three small tanks into the boat, and the men could fill them by means of barricoes."
"Very well," agreed von Giespert. "Pick four men who can best be spared. How is the glass?"
"Steady, Herr Kapitan."
"I suppose there is a possibility of the numskulls missing the island entirely? If so, we shall lose a valuable boat."
"I can give them the compass course. It is usually a favourable wind both ways," said Strauss reassuringly. "All being well, they ought to be back in a couple of days."
"Send them," rejoined von Giespert curtly; then in an undertone he added: "It was a happy thought when I laid in that stock of Pilsener at Batavia, Herr Strauss. Shall we split a bottle now?"
At daybreak the whaler set off on its voyage to Nua Leha. Barely were the boat's sails out of sight when one of the Huns who had been employed ashore came off with the news that he had discovered an ample supply of water.
Von Giespert showed no signs of thankfulness at the intelligence. Instead, he cursed the man for not finding the spring earlier, and upbraided Strauss for sending away the whaler on an unnecessary errand.
For the greater part of the day the sweeping-operations were resumed, the men working sullenly and taking advantage of every opportunity to skulk. About three in the afternoon one of the grapnels fouled something, and a diver descended to examine and report upon the nature of the obstruction.
He came to the surface with the information that the grapnel had caught in the fluke of a large stockless anchor to which was shackled a heavy studded chain. He had traced the latter for a distance of ten metres, at which point it had sunk deeply into the ooze.
This was the one promising incident of the fortnight's operations. Von Giespert, shaking off his lethargy, showed tremendous interest in the find.
"They would, of course, have anchored the prize before they scuttled her, Strauss," he observed, "or she might have drifted into very shoal water. Tell that fool of a diver to go down again. What's the use of half doing a job? If he takes a crowbar with him he can trace the whole length of the cable, even if it is under mud."
While the diver was engaged upon his task von Giespert departed from his usual routine by getting out of his hammock-chair and going to the rail, from whence he could watch the operations.
When, after an interval of forty minutes, the man reappeared, von Giespert hailed a boat to fetch him off. Into this he jumped, not waiting until it was alongside the accommodation-ladder, and ordered the rowers to pull their hardest.
The report was a most disappointing one. The diver had succeeded in finding the free end of the cable. There were only four links buried in the mud. In order to confirm his statement he had bent a rope to the last link and had brought the line up with him.
That evening von Giespert was a prey to alternate hopes and fears. He upbraided Strauss when the latter suggested that the anchor might have belonged to a vessel that had put into the lagoon and had either parted or had been compelled to slip her cable; and he raved incoherently when Strauss hinted that the British or the Australian Government might have already recovered the treasure and blown up the wreck.
Ten hours after the time of her expected arrival the whaler returned from Nua Leha, deeply laden with water obtained at considerable risk and by dint of hard work.
"We have found the English ship, Titania, Herr Kapitan," reported the man in charge of the watering-party.
"Where?" demanded von Giespert.
"At the island where we were sent to get water, Herr Kapitan."
"What is she doing there?" demanded von Giespert.
"She was lying at anchor in the lagoon, Herr Kapitan. All her boats were out, and they had buoys placed round a certain spot."
Von Giespert uttered a round oath.
"Did they see you?" he asked.
"No, Herr Kapitan," replied the man. "We thought it best to be prudent, so directly we sighted the vessel we rowed away and landed on the opposite side of the island. There was water there——"
"Never mind about the water," interrupted the owner of the Zug. "Is that all you saw?"
"We made our way round the island and climbed a hill overlooking the lagoon. Max had his glasses with him. They were diving for something. On the beach were tents and huts, and a pile of boxes. Early next morning we went there again, but the Englishmen were ashore playing cricket. So we did not stop, but filled up with water and set sail. The breeze fell light on our way back——"
Von Giespert asked several more questions, then curtly dismissed the man.
"Come to my cabin, Strauss," he said abruptly.
Behind locked doors the two Huns discussed the disconcerting news.
"Huts, tents, and diving in the lagoon," quoted von Giespert. "It's quite certain that Harborough is not killing time there. He's tricked us—tricked us, Strauss."
"It looks like it, Herr Kapitan," remarked his second in command. "He must have known when he lured us here."
For once von Giespert accepted his subordinate's suggestion without either flatly contradicting or scoffing at him.
"That cursed Englishman has been grossly deceiving me," he exclaimed. "It is a breach of good faith, but I'll be quits with him yet."
It was a typically German and consequently one-sided view to take. Not for one moment did von Giespert consider that he had not hesitated to employ underhand methods beside which Harborough's ruse was simple in the extreme. The Hun had commenced operations by stealing what he took to be the genuine charts and plans; he had not hesitated to employ physical force in his attempts to cripple the British expedition, and now, like a boomerang, his villainy had come back upon himself. His mind was filled with feelings of rage at the fact that his rival had scored heavily.
"What do you propose to do, Herr Kapitan?" asked Strauss, after the climax of his employer's temper had been passed.
"Do?" exclaimed von Giespert. "Something desperate. I will stick at nothing. Listen; how will this do?"
His subordinate's eyes gleamed as he listened to the hastily-outlined scheme.
"It is indeed colossal, Herr von Giespert," declared Strauss, his sense of proportion swept away by the magnitude of his employer's powers of imagination. "Carried out in its entirety it will be simply perfection."
"It will be," agreed von Giespert grimly. "We must see to that."