Apparently the Germans had a good knowledge of the lagoon, for boldly closing with the land, the Pelikan dropped anchor within three hundred yards of the highest part of the shore, where a cliff rose abruptly to the height of thirty or forty feet. On the summit the ground shelved gently. There were several native huts to be seen in the clearing between the mangroves, while farther back was a galvanized-iron shed with a whitewashed roof.
Acting under von Riesser's instructions the Myra's anchor was let go, the tramp bringing up at a cable's length from her captor, and so close to the shore that when she swung her stern was within forty yards of the cliff. The water here was ten fathoms deep, the shore being steep-to, but in spite of the depth the bottom could be clearly seen.
"Suppose you vant to go 'shore, hein?" asked Unter-leutnant Klick. "No tricks. Plenty of shark about."
The German was right. Already the surface of the lagoon in the vicinity of the two ships was furrowed with diverging lines of ripples as the black dorsal fins of numerous tigers of the deep cleft the water.
"No, I don't think I want to bathe, lieutenant," remarked Captain Pennington. "It hardly looks tempting."
Kaspar Klick laughed boisterously.
"You see even der shark is der ally of Zhermany," he said.
"The information does not astonish me one little bit," rejoined the master of the Myra.
"Vot you mean?" demanded the under-leutnant, instinctively guessing that he had made a verbal blunder.
At that moment, when the German was beginning to exhibit signs of anger, another signal was made from the Pelikan, ordering the Myra to ship as much additional cargo from her captor as she could carry.