"What are they up to?" was the question expressed or implied. "Tell them we understand, Julius." "Ting, ting" went the telegraph to the engine.
The man at the signal halyards and myself sent the bunting aloft. The flags said, "We have stopped"; and again we waited, lopping and rolling, as the anchor plashed away into the blue sea at eleven fathoms.
"I say, are we prisoners?" I asked the mate when he came back amidships, having seen the anchor let go.
"Looks like it," he replied crossly. "Must wait the Japs' convenience, I see."
The Chinese generals then began to plague the captain with demands which the German officer translated and repeated. There was great confusion.
"That ship's the Naniwa," I heard someone say.
"She's returning. All right, we may proceed, I presume."
"She is only going to confer with her mates," said the engineer, who had come up. "But the captain is asking something."
I made out the signal as directed, and it spelt "May we proceed?" The engineers anxiously awaited the reply, and the crew expected the order to weigh.
But to my dismay, and certainly to the disappointment of all on board our steamer, the reply came from the Japanese, sharply—