Without being sighted by any of the British patrol vessels the Pelikan and her prize arrived off the entrance to the Mohoro River. Here the two ships slowed down until there was sufficient water for them to cross the outer bar.
During the interval Denbigh and O'Hara were peremptorily ordered to leave the Pelikan and take up their quarters on the Myra, the reason being that von Riesser was terribly afraid of illness, and in spite of the doctor's assurances he had a firm belief that O'Hara was suffering from yellow fever, malaria, black-water fever, and every tropical disease under the sun.
"Let him jolly well think so," said the Irishman joyfully. "I feel as fit as a fiddle now; and I'm not sorry for the change."
All the same O'Hara acted the invalid to perfection as he was rowed from the raider to her prize. Denbigh accompanied him, taking good care to bring all their scanty personal property that they had been permitted to save from the Nichi Maru, excepting the gold that von Riesser had ordered to be confiscated.
The Myra was in charge of Unter-leutnant Kaspar Klick and fifteen men. There were also the skipper, officers, and crew of the tramp, numbering thirty-two persons. The officers were given a fair amount of liberty, but the men were kept under hatches, to their no small discomfort in the tropical heat.
"Sorry I'm not able to make your acquaintance under more favourable auspices," was the greeting of Captain Pennington, the master of the captured Myra, when the two subs introduced themselves. "But I hope before many hours that we will be set at liberty."
"We've been hoping that for weeks," said Denbigh. "The luck those fellows get is astonishing."
"So I should imagine," agreed Captain Pennington. "I learnt at Cape Town that the Pelikan was given up as lost, as some wreckage and one of her boats were picked up in the South Atlantic. That is why our cruisers relaxed their patrol, and were ordered to rendezvous at Zanzibar. There'll be a dozen or more on their way up."
"And any monitors?" asked O'Hara.
"Four, as far as I know," replied the Myra's skipper. "One was detained for repairs at Simon's Bay. The others must be at Zanzibar by this time. They will be invaluable for work inside the coral reefs."