The fourth officer returned to the bridge and reported the result of his brief interview.
"Very good, Mr. Aubyn," was Captain Ramshaw's only comment.
The "old man" was disappointed but not nettled by McBride's message. H e had great faith in the old Scotsman, and only sheer anxiety had prompted him to obtain a report of the progress of operations from the chief engineer. There was nothing to do but to wait patiently.
The rest of the day passed almost without incident, except that Grant, the wireless operator, reported a partial "jamming" of the aerial waves. Messages were received in a very disjointed form, and in spite of the fact that Grant requested the unknown disturber to release the "jamb," owing to the receipt of unintelligible reports, his efforts were in vain. Some vessels on shore-stations using a differently "tuned" installation were literally holding the air. The curious part of the business was that the "Saraband" received several messages in which the words "neutrality of Belgium" figured largely, but beyond that no enlightening context was obtainable.
During the afternoon Terence Aubyn had to exercise the gun-crews at drill with one of the two 4.7's that had recently been fitted to the ship. These weapons, mounted aft, one on each quarter, were for the purpose of keeping up a running fight in the event of the outbreak of war. They would enable the ship to beat off the possible attack of a hostile commerce-destroyer, or at any rate prolong the action until the arrival of a British cruiser.
Aubyn was very keen on this part of his duties. It was, until he had undergone his training in the Royal Navy, a purely honorary task. Later on he might hope to draw a modest ten pounds a year from the National Exchequer for his ability to perform a combatant duty. From a pecuniary point of view it did not seem very promising, but the fourth officer was used to meagre pay for much work. He had to be able to "read the heavens," to use at least a dozen highly complicated nautical instruments, to undergo a strenuous scientific training, and to take sole charge of a ship during his watch. Lives and property of incalculable value were in his hands, yet his pay was an amount at which many a sleek, discontented clerk would turn up his nose in utter disgust.
For half an hour Terence kept his gun's crew hard at it, going through imaginary loading exercises and training the docile weapon at imaginary targets, to the great interest of most of the passengers and to the ill-bred scorn of others who derided the whole business as idiotic make-believe.
This done the fourth officer was at leisure for rest and sleep until turned out at 4 a.m. to take his watch.
At the hour agreed upon Aubyn met Raeburn outside the engineers' mess. It was now pitch dark, for in the Tropics there is little or no twilight. The sky was overcast, although the glass was steady, and not a star shed its light on the waste of waters. The "Saraband," brilliantly lighted, still floated idly, drifting at the rate of fifteen miles a day under the influence of the weak Counter Equatorial Current.
Selecting a hiding-place in a corner thrown into deep shadow by the glare of a powerful lamp, the churns waited. Half an hour passed without result. They began to feel stiff and cramped in their confined quarters.