“How did I hear it? Why, the first message I tapped was a Press Association special to Sydney. They began cursing me for having been held up for half an hour while we were cutting the cable. They thought we were Sydney. They don’t know the cable is cut yet. They’re still jabbering. Anyhow, there it is—war! And war spells ruin to the business we were on.”
“We must cut losses,” said Wolff, who was walking up and down. “The expedition is off. We must get to a Chile port at once—Valparaiso for choice.”
“And my bonus?” said the Captain.
“I guess you may whistle for your bonus,” said Shiner. “Can’t you see we are bust—B-U-S-T?”
“But we can do one thing,” said Wolff. “We can hit the cursed English; we can haul in twenty, forty miles of the cable and cut. The thing is cut, in any case; but a long break like that will make it the worse for them; then Sydney will have one cable the less to talk to her mother with. Yes, we can do that.”
“Curse them!” said Shiner. “Yes, we can do that.”
“So my bonus is gone?” said the Captain. “Well, may I ask one question of you: Who’s fighting who? Is it France and England against Germany?”
“It is Germany against France and England,” said Wolff.
“And you are Germans, and this is a German-owned vessel?”
“Precisely,” said Wolff. “You have touched the matter on the head.”