"Cast off and out paddles!" ordered Denbigh.
Five minutes later willing hands assisted the three British officers and the German sailor to the ladder leading to the superstructure.
With feelings of thankfulness Denbigh, mustering his remaining energies, saluted the diminutive quarter-deck. It seemed almost heavenly to be once more under the shadow of the White Ensign. As he raised his hand to the brim of his weather-worn helmet a well-known voice exclaimed:
"Cheer oh! old man."
CHAPTER XXI
Von Eckenstein's Surprise
The speaker was Charles Stirling, now lieutenant and Acting-commander of H.M.S. Crustacean.
Stirling had literally fallen on his feet after he had been rescued by H.M.S. Actæon. Owing to his intimate knowledge of the East Coast of Africa and the Mozambique Channel, and having more than a nodding acquaintance with the troublesome raider now known to be in hiding in the Mohoro River, he had been given temporary command of the smallest of the three monitors sent from England to assist in the operations against German East Africa.
Notwithstanding his natural anxiety to learn how his former shipmates came to be adrift in a canoe in the Indian Ocean, Stirling insisted on Denbigh, O'Hara, and Armstrong being put into the sick-bay. All three men were almost exhausted. Even Denbigh's indomitable spirit had outworn his physical strength, while the Irishman was found to be affected with partial indistinctness of vision owing to prolonged exposure to the glare of the sun.