Behind locked doors the two Huns discussed the disconcerting news.
"Huts, tents, and diving in the lagoon," quoted von Giespert. "It's quite certain that Harborough is not killing time there. He's tricked us—tricked us, Strauss."
"It looks like it, Herr Kapitan," remarked his second in command. "He must have known when he lured us here."
For once von Giespert accepted his subordinate's suggestion without either flatly contradicting or scoffing at him.
"That cursed Englishman has been grossly deceiving me," he exclaimed. "It is a breach of good faith, but I'll be quits with him yet."
It was a typically German and consequently one-sided view to take. Not for one moment did von Giespert consider that he had not hesitated to employ underhand methods beside which Harborough's ruse was simple in the extreme. The Hun had commenced operations by stealing what he took to be the genuine charts and plans; he had not hesitated to employ physical force in his attempts to cripple the British expedition, and now, like a boomerang, his villainy had come back upon himself. His mind was filled with feelings of rage at the fact that his rival had scored heavily.
"What do you propose to do, Herr Kapitan?" asked Strauss, after the climax of his employer's temper had been passed.
"Do?" exclaimed von Giespert. "Something desperate. I will stick at nothing. Listen; how will this do?"
His subordinate's eyes gleamed as he listened to the hastily-outlined scheme.
"It is indeed colossal, Herr von Giespert," declared Strauss, his sense of proportion swept away by the magnitude of his employer's powers of imagination. "Carried out in its entirety it will be simply perfection."