The torpedoed craft lay well over to starboard and well down by the stern. Clouds of smoke and steam were issuing from amidships. Three pairs of davits were empty, while from a fourth a boat hung vertically, crashing against the hull with the long sluggish movements of the sinking ship. The rest of the boats on the windward side were still hoisted, the captain evidently deciding that to attempt to lower in such a sea was a matter of impossibility, with certain risk of disaster. How the boats on the port side fared the felucca's people were unable to see, although bearing to leeward they stood a better chance of pulling clear of the foundering transport.
Upon the steeply sloping decks of the heeling vessel, numbers of khaki-clad figures could be discerned, drawn up in rigid lines. At frequent intervals a part of the line would break and disperse as the superbly disciplined troops were ordered to take their places in such of the boats that were still available.
"Makes you feel proud that you are British, sir," remarked the gunner. "Steady as a rock, those chaps, and not much of a chance for a boat in that turmoil. Shall we drop to lee'ard of her, sir?"
Before the sub could reply two dark grey poles showed upon the crest of a wave. A moment later the long sinister hull of the U-boat that had dealt the transport the mortal blow shook itself clear of the water.
Swept from end to end by the waves the U-boat's deck looked as if it afforded no foothold for any of her crew, but presently the conning-tower hatchway was thrown open, and half a dozen figures in black oilskins and seaboots made their way for'ard, hanging tenaciously the while to a wire lifeline.
Upon the platform surrounding the conning tower a tall figure, evidently that of the kapitan-leutnant, stood watching the approaching felucca through his binoculars. Cautiously Farrar removed his cap and crouched behind the plunging bulwarks, the while returning the compliment by keeping the U-boat under observation by means of his glasses.
The submarine's for'ard gun was raised, in spite of the fact that the gunners were frequently waist-deep in the surging waves. A flash and a shell hurtled through the air within a hundred yards of the bows of the "Georgeos Nikolaos."
It was an inhuman and peremptory order for the felucca to keep her distance, and not to attempt the rescue of any of the torpedoed transport's troops or crew.
Wishing to reduce the range and also to enable both guns to be brought to bear upon the unhallowed pirate craft, the sub ordered the helm to be starboarded, until the U-boat bore slightly ahead of the felucca's beam.
"Ready there?" shouted the young officer.