Little guessing what reception awaited her, the boat approached. She was a roughly-built craft of about thirty feet in length, bluff bowed and with a high, ungainly stern. Her rig resembled that of a felucca, but with a boom in place of the loose-furled sail usually affected by craft of the type to be met with in the Mediterranean. it could be seen that there were three men on board. One, dressed in a loose garment of white, including a burnous, was at the long, curved tiller. The others, darker skinned, wore loincloths only.
While the Alerte was yet a quarter of a mile from her, the felucca ported helm, close-hauled, and stood off in a nor' nor'-westerly direction.
"What's her little game, I wonder?" remarked Pengelly. "I thought she was coming off to us."
"So did I," agreed Captain Cain. "But now I think she's a Moorish fishing vessel homeward bound. She had to stand out towards us to avoid running on the shoals. We'll collar her, Pengelly. If the old boy in the cotton nightgown is reasonable we'll pay him and let him go when he's piloted us in."
In obedience to an order from the bridge, the Alerte's Diesel engines slowed down, till at a modest three and a half knots the pirate submarine gained position between the felucca and the shore. Having thus cut off the latter's retreat, the Alerte starboarded helm and, working up to twelve knots, began to overhaul the native craft with ease.
A cast of the lead gave nine fathoms, and since the chart showed that the soundings were remarkably even on this course, Captain Cain had no apprehensions of running his vessel aground.
The crew of the felucca seemed quite apathetic when they saw the Alerte in pursuit. At a sign from the white-robed Moor the two blacks lowered the sails, one of them standing by to heave a line.
Declutching her propellers, the pirate submarine gradually lost way, coming to a dead stop alongside the felucca.
By means of a conversation conducted chiefly by signs, Captain Cain imparted his request for a pilot, and without the faintest display of hesitancy the Moor scrambled on board the Alerte, leaving his two men to drop the felucca astern. Nor did he betray any sign of fear when he saw the pirate crew armed with automatic pistols. Calmly, and in a dignified manner, he proceeded to find out the draught of the ship. This he did by producing a piece of cord about a yard in length and then drawing the rough profile of a steam vessel. With a much smaller piece of string he then measured off the draught on his plan, and then pointing first to the longer cord and then to the Alerte he managed to make his meaning clear.
Captain Cain replied by indicating the longer cord and then holding up six fingers. The Moor nodded gravely and motioned to the pirate skipper to order the ship to forge ahead.