Commander Lang himself appeared on the bridge, and this was a surprisingly early hour for him. Other officers gathered, and there began a somewhat excited conference. The boatswain’s mates failed to pipe the clothes lines triced up. Half an hour earlier than usual the hammocks were ordered stowed. Ikey Rosenmeyer, who loved to sleep till the last minute, was tumbled out unceremoniously and had to stow his hammock in his shirt!
The hammock stowers likewise stopped down the hammock cloths early, and the whole crew had their mess gear served out long before the galley was ready to pipe breakfast. During the meal hour word was passed to shift into uniform instead of work clothes.
“It’s extra drill, I bet,” declared one of the boys pessimistically. “More work for the wicked.”
“There is something doing, sure enough,” Phil Morgan declared. “I think we shall be piped to stations before long.”
He had not seen George Belding then. When the latter reported what he had heard at the radio room Whistler was more than ever confident that there was something of importance about to take place. It was some time, however, before the real fact went abroad among the members of the crew.
The radio had indeed brought news at last of the raider. She was supposed to be lurking near a point not more than two hours’ run ahead of the Colodia. A report from a cattleship had been caught, stating that she was chased just at daybreak by a steamship that was heavily armed with deck guns, and that she surely would have been overtaken by the enemy had fog not shut down and given the cattle boat a chance to zig-zag away on a new course.
The description of the attacking vessel fitted that of the raider, Sea Pigeon. Commander Lang and his officers believed that there was a chance of meeting the German—of approaching her, indeed, unheralded.
There was a good deal of fog about; but overhead the sky was clear and there was the promise of a hot day before noon. Having the approximate latitude and longitude of the cattleship when she sighted the raider, Commander Lang believed the Colodia had a good chance of overtaking the German ship while she was lingering about on the watch for her prey.
The fog was growing thinner, but had by no means entirely disappeared even in the vicinity of the destroyer, when her wireless began to chatter. Sparks sent a messenger on the run to the bridge. This incident visibly increased the excitement of both officers and crew. Word was passed in whispers from the petty officers stationed near the bridge that the call was another S O S.
A second message followed almost immediately. The Colodia’s engines were speeded up. The crew was piped to quarters. The gun crews made ready their initial charges. Everything about the decks was properly stopped down and the destroyer was quickly put into battle trim.