'Of course,' I can hear the little man below grumbling to himself, 'another of these idiots of captains who can speak no civilised language!'
Nevertheless, he had another try, shouting at me through the megaphone in a rasping tone, 'Where are you from? Can't you answer?'
Again I relentlessly shook my head, though it was all I could do not to laugh outright when I recognised the speaker's voice. I had talked to him in the streets of Kiel a couple of days before.
'Nothing doing! 'he growled angrily to himself, and said something to a signalman, who thereupon ran aft, and returned accompanied by a lieutenant, who had obviously been awakened from his siesta.
'Hallo, capt'n,' he shouted to me in fluent English,[3] 'where are you coming from?'
'Danzig,' I answered shortly.
'Where are you bound for?'
'Christiania.'
In the ensuing pause I turned round and pretended to play with the dog, by way of showing that I had no use for any further conversation with the destroyer.
Meanwhile, I could hear the little sub saying crossly, 'I'll be hanged if the fellow's on the square. I'll swear there's something fishy about the business.'