The kapitan smiled grimly.
"There is a certain amount of latitude in that," he replied. "I suppose you will then say nothing of last night's business."
"Since we have no direct evidence of what you have done, we cannot very well state a case," said Denbigh. "The thing is this: are you going to torpedo any merchantmen without warning?"
"No," replied von Riesser.
"Very well. We have forgotten last night," declared Denbigh. "Should occasion arise we will give you the required certificate."
"And should occasion not arise," thought von Riesser, "I will make it pretty hot for these young cubs. Once safely in port in our African colony, I will show them what it means to thwart a Prussian officer."
With these sentiments in his mind and a smile on his face the kapitan dismissed his prisoners.
During the afternoon there was a thick haze. It was impossible to distinguish anything beyond a distance of about a mile from the ship. Sea and sky were merged into an ill-defined blurr. The glass, too, was falling rapidly. That and the presence of the mist betokened an imminent change in the weather.
Suddenly there was a rift in the curtain of vapour. At less than two miles away on the Pelikan's port bow were two vessels, one being in tow of the other.
The subs were quick to recognize the leading craft. She was a British cruiser of the "Eclipse" class—a vessel of 5600 tons, and with a nominal speed of 19 knots. But the craft in tow was a puzzle to them. She was low-lying, with a raised superstructure amidships, one funnel, and a tall mast fitted with a fire-control platform. From her for'ard turret two huge guns, seemingly out of all proportion to the rest of the ship, protruded. The muzzles, instead of being inclined upwards, were depressed. Although Denbigh and his companions could not distinguish details owing to the distance of the vessel, the German officers, by means of their telescopes and binoculars, could see that the muzzles of the guns were resting on large chocks bolted to the deck, while the protruding part of the weapons were additionally secured by stout hawsers. The mysterious craft was apparently deserted. Everything was battened down, for the decks were swept by the long Atlantic waves.