Up to a certain point the rough chart, which Harborough had purposely allowed his rivals to filch, had proved accurate. To a certain extent it would have served equally well for Ni Telang or Nua Leha, for in either case there was a strong geographical resemblance between the two lagoons, their entrances, and the islands themselves, even to the triple peaks. The latitude and longitude of the former island as stated on the chart agreed to a second with the results of von Giespert's readings of the sextant and chronometer. The only flaw—a very important one—was the fact that the wreck obstinately refused to allow itself to be found.
Von Giespert often wondered what the "schweinhund Englander" was doing. Self-complacently he pictured his rival going south and putting into Brisbane or some other Australian port to kill time until, according to the mutual agreement, Harborough would return and claim the right to search the lagoon of Ni Telang. It was only in the earlier stages of the operations that the German was self-satisfied. He firmly believed that by the time the Titania put in an appearance the gold would be safe in the strong-room of the Zug. Now he was not feeling so optimistic about it. On the contrary, he was the victim of jumpiness, which did not improve his temper.
The men, too, were showing signs of unrest. Strauss was a hard taskmaster. He drove but he could not lead; his education as a ruler of men missed one important fact: to get men to work properly it is essential that they should be well fed. On board the Zug the provisioning arrangements were far from good. Had von Giespert given one tenth of the time he had lavished upon the mechanical and scientific appliances on board the Zug to the personal comfort of the crew, much of the trouble that subsequently occurred might have been avoided.
"What report have you to make?" asked von Giespert, in continuance of his previous question.
"We worked northward of a line east of point G for a distance of seven hundred metres," replied Strauss. "That practically covers the whole of the lagoon where there is a depth of five metres or more."
"Then the lagoon has been twice examined?"
"Twice—carefully," said Strauss with conviction. "Schrang made three descents; Woeber, two. In every case it was rock."
"But the wreck must be somewhere here," exclaimed von Giespert petulantly, embracing the greater part of the lagoon with a swirl of his jewelled fingers. "The men must have been careless. To-morrow let them start it again."
It was an easy thing to say, but even Strauss foresaw difficulties in carrying out the order.
"There is another matter, Herr Kapitan," he said. "We are getting short of water. The only spring we have found on the island has failed. It was but a small one. I put two hands on the task of sinking a well, but they found no water at four metres. The conden——"