Meanwhile Denbigh could not help noticing the marked difference in the demeanour of the British and German seamen, who by this time were up to their knees in water, and were soon, unless help were forthcoming, to be swept off their feet by the rush of the flood-tide.
The Huns were shouting dolorously for aid; the Myra's men were either stoically silent or else inclined to indulge in grim jests at the expense of the bellowing Teutons.
Denbigh looked in the direction of the Pelikan. The crew were engaged in lowering boats, and taking an extraordinarily long time about it, owing to the pronounced list of the raider and also to the fact that her decks were encumbered with her disguise of vegetation.
Unter-leutnant Klick was trembling violently. He, of all the officers taking refuge on the side of the tramp, had managed to procure a life-belt. Even the contemptuous glances of the Myra's skipper failed to shame him.
Presently the first of the Pelikan's boats came tearing up-stream. It required all the strength of the oarsmen to check her way. An ironical cheer from the British seamen greeted her arrival.
"Women and children first!" they yelled derisively as the unter-leutnant and the surviving German seamen made a frantic rush for the boat.
Two of the Huns jumped short. Although good swimmers they were swirled away like pieces of straw, until, drawn into the vortex of the whirlpool, they disappeared.
The second boat, backing towards the deadly whirlpool, awaited the men's reappearance, but in vain. Then, attempting to run alongside the wreck, the frail craft bumped heavily upon a submerged part of the vessel and stove in a couple of planks. While two of the crew began to bale, the boat was swept several hundred yards up the river, for the remaining rowers were helpless against the flood.
Meanwhile the first boat, having rescued the unter-leutnant and the surviving German seamen, began to approach the wreck again; until Klick, in an agony of terror lest she, too, would meet with disaster, ordered the men to push off.
A third boat—a whaler—came upon the scene. Acting with great caution her coxswain brought her alongside and motioned to Denbigh and his companions to leap.