They obeyed in sulky silence, though they appreciated the reason of the order. Hence, when, the Cigno stopped her panting engines abreast of the Aphrodite, there were many more pairs of eyes watching from the yacht than the Italian captain reckoned on.
The warship lowered a boat. Something went wrong with the gear, the after block jammed, the boat fell and dangled from her davits bows first, and an officer and half a dozen men were thrown into the sea. They were soon rescued, but the mishap did not tend to sweeten the temper of the Cigno's commander. A dry officer and crew were requisitioned, and the boat was pulled alongside the yacht.
Stump, with a malicious grin on his face, leaned over the starboard rail.
"Wot is it?" he demanded. "Have you lost yer bearin's?"
The officer replied in Italian, greatly to Stump's disgust.
"I s'pose the chap they chucked overboard was the on'y Dago among 'em who could speak English," he grunted, but Mrs. Haxton explained that the officer was asking for the gangway to be lowered. Stump nodded to a couple of sailors, and the ladder dropped so smartly that the boat nearly came to grief a second time.
The officer bowed very politely when he reached the deck. Probably he was surprised to find himself in the presence of two such beautiful women. Though Irene spoke Italian, Mrs. Haxton took on herself the role of interpreter. The Cigno carried two letters from the Governor of Massowah, she said. One was addressed to Signor Fenshawe, the other to the signor captain of the British yacht Aphrodite. Would the two gentlemen kindly read and acknowledge receipt of the Governor's epistles?
Both were purely formal documents. They set forth the official demand that the Aphrodite should not attempt to land any of her occupants on Italian territory at other than a recognized port, and warned her owner and commander that the Cigno would enforce observance of the request.
At first, Mr. Fenshawe refused angrily to give a written reply, but von
Kerber prevailed on him, and he wrote:
"Mr. Hiram Fenshawe begs to inform the Governor of Erythrea that his prohibition of the landing of a British scientific expedition in the colony he rules is arbitrary and unwarranted. Mr. Hiram Fenshawe is further of opinion that the said prohibition is part of the lawless treatment to which he and other members of the yacht's company were subjected during their visit to the 'recognized port' of Massowah. Finally, Mr. Hiram Fenshawe intends to lay the whole matter before the British Foreign Office."