"Come now," he exclaimed. "You know the saying, 'Honour amongst thieves?' Aren't we sworn comrades under the Jolly Roger?"
Pengelly nodded.
"I'd like to remind him of another saw," he soliloquised. "'When thieves fall out.' But perhaps I'd better not."
[1] King of Prussia: soubriquet of John Carter, a noted Cornish smuggler, who in the latter part of the eighteenth century held and fortified Porth Leah, a few miles east of Marazion, as a smuggling base. On one occasion he fired the guns at a revenue cutter. On another he broke into the Custom-House at Penzance and recovered various contraband goods which the Excise people had seized, taking only "his own" and no more. Carter was a sort of Cornish maritime Robin Hood. Porth Leah is now called Prussia Cove in memory of this daring smuggler.
CHAPTER III
THE ALERTE SAILS
THAT same afternoon, there being a full moon on the previous day, the spring tide was at its highest at about six o'clock. The conditions being favourable, R 81 was moved into the covered-in slip, while the shell of R 67 was placed in the berth vacated by her practically intact sister.
When employed as active units under the white ensign, these boats had a surface displacement of 420 tons; submerged, this displacement was increased to the extent of 80 tons. Their speed when on the surface was 15 knots; while submerged, this was reduced to nine. The propelling machinery consisted of semi-Diesel engines for surface work, 13 tons of oil being carried for that purpose. In diving-trim this class relied upon electric motors, the "juice" being kept in numbers of storage batteries that had frequently to be recharged.
In her present state, R 81 retained her engines. To get these tuned up was not a difficult matter. The batteries had deteriorated to such an extent as to be useless.