The Brazilian was right. As Topham grasped the officer’s hand Rutile caught Lillian by the arm and darted with her toward the rail, only half a dozen feet away, beyond which lay the Watson. The German sailors sprang to intercept them, but Rutile, leaving Lillian to scramble over by herself, turned at bay and struck out savagely twice. Then, before he could be grasped, he vaulted over the side of the deck of the Watson.
Metternich saw it all over Topham’s shoulder, and with a cry of rage, he tried to jerk free from the American’s grasp. But Topham laughed and chattered on for a moment longer. Then releasing the man he sprang back to the rail.
The crew of the Watson, arms in hand, were swarming up the sides to his rescue, but he waved them back. One of the German sailors was about to spring down, and him Topham caught by the shoulders and flung aside. Then he threw up his hand.
“Stop!” he thundered.
A pause followed, brief but sufficient. Topham did not let it slip.
“Call back your men, commander,” he ordered, sternly. “Are you mad?”
The German hesitated. Wild with rage as he was at the trick that had been played upon him, he was not so frantic as not to realize the consequences of forcibly boarding a warship of a friendly nation. To do so would mean war; or if the Emperor did not want war, it would mean disgrace for himself. He was only a subordinate, though an able one, and he had no reason to suppose that Wilhelm did want war. Besides, his force, though perhaps sufficient to prevent an escape was clearly not enough for a recapture. Finally he sheathed the sword he had drawn. “You will wait here till I consult Captain Vreeland,” he declared positively.
But Topham only laughed. “Your pardon, Commander,” he said. “I have been delayed too long already. Take your prize into port if you will. I will content myself with taking the chief witness. Good-night.”
Courteously he lifted his cap; then, turning, he climbed slowly over the side of the yacht down to the deck of the Watson.
As he went, Metternich caught up a megaphone and bellowed a torrent of guttural German across the waters toward the Kaiserland. Topham did not hear the answer that came back, for the moment he had touched the deck of the Watson she glided away into the night.