"No," replied Cain, with a sardonic smile. "Let 'em batter the hatch down when they find we're gone. A little extra damage won't signify."
Returning to the Alerte, the pirate captain signed to the two engineers of the tanker to cast off the hawsers; then, backing clear of the Mendez Nunez, the Alerte made off at full speed in a nor'easterly direction, towards the Irish coast.
Forty-five minutes later, having dropped the tanker beneath the horizon, the pirate submarine altered her course for the distant African shore, secure in the knowledge that when assistance did come to the disabled tanker, the Spaniards would declare that their attacker was making in a direction far different to the course she eventually took.
Just before eight bells in the first dog watch, the bo'sun came up to Pengelly, who was in charge of the bridge.
"Two men missing, sir," he reported.
"Who are they?"
"Broadmayne and Vyse, sir."
"Then make a search for them. They didn't smuggle themselves on board yon tanker by any chance?"
"Oh no, sir," declared Barnard. "They were seen some time after we sheered off."
But the bo'sun had made a genuine mistake. At that precise moment Broadmayne and his chum were having a very lively time on board the Spanish tanker Mendez Nunez.