"It's full of gummy string, sir ."
"Powerful explosive, Saunders, enough to blow a big hole in the old 'Saraband.' There are fuses and detonators, too. I wonder the fool hadn't more sense than to stow this stuff in a cabin trunk."
"What shall I do with it, sir?" asked the steward, eyeing the box of latent death and destruction with undisguised apprehension.
"Overboard with it," decided the "old man" promptly.
Before Captain Ramshaw could proceed further with his investigations a messenger brought the news that a strange vessel, apparently a warship, was bearing down in the direction of the "Saraband."
The skipper broke all records in his dash for the bridge. Bringing his binoculars to bear in the direction indicated by the chief officer he saw that a large grey-painted cruiser was shaping a course to cut him off.
"If she's a German we're nabbed, Lymore," said the captain. "She's heavily armed, and we are within range of her guns. Unless I'm much mistaken, she can give us points in speed."
"Will you alter our course and run for it, sir?" asked the chief officer.
"Useless," decided Captain Ramshaw, with a shrug of his shoulders. "If she were a hostile armed merchantman I'd engage her in a running fight, but she'd blow us out of the water in two minutes. There are the passengers to consider."
Rapidly the cruiser approached. She made no attempt to communicate with wireless, but when within signalling distance she hoisted the letters E.C. meaning, in the International Code, "What ship is that?"