"Either von Giespert's mad or he doesn't know the risk he's running," said Harborough. "Make him a signal, Villiers. Say 'bar unsafe'."
"He's flying some sort of signal, sir," reported Jack. "Can't make out the flags; they're dead to windward."
"If we can't see his, he can't see ours," observed Harborough. "But we'll risk it, and give him a chance."
"I've got it, sir," declared Beverley. "It signifies short of provisions '."
Harborough shrugged his shoulders.
"What's wrong with the pigs and the bread-fruit trees at Ni Telang?" he remarked pointedly. "If I were von Giespert, I would tighten my belt a notch before I'd tackle the entrance to the lagoon. There's one thing, the wind's moderating, but look at the broken water on the bar."
"It doesn't look so bad from seaward," said Merridew. "He'll feel sorry for himself when he's in the thick of it, I fancy."
With a following wind, the Zug was rolling heavily and frequently obscured from view by the thick cloud of smoke from her funnel. When quite a mile from the reef, she suddenly fell off her course, vast quantities of steam issuing from her engine-room. She lost way, and was now rolling excessively in the trough of the seas.
"Looks like a boiler-explosion," exclaimed Harborough, glancing over the side at the still tumultuous water within the reef. "We'll have to get the boats ready for lowering, Mr. Villiers. They'll be wanted pretty badly, I expect."
The Zug was doomed. Von Giespert had again overreached himself, although the crew of the Titania had no suspicion of his desperate move. Von Giespert's orders to his chief engineer had been carried out only too well. The main steam-pipe, unable to withstand the abnormal internal pressure, had burst, the explosion killing everyone in the boiler-room, while the escaping steam had severely injured the chief engineer and his assistants.