Several of the lightship's crew gazed stolidly at the unfamiliar rig of the Diomeda, and, in response to a wave of Hamerton's arm, gravely raised their caps.
Ten minutes later the long-sought-for sea mark was lost to sight.
Hamerton missed an opportunity. He could have signalled or hailed the lightship with the news that he had rescued a sailor from a German destroyer, The intelligence would then have been sent by wireless to the mainland. But he did not, and subsequent events brought home to him the error he had made in omitting to do so.
"All plain sailing now," he remarked. "Keep as we are; we'll soon pick up the Norderney Gat lightship, and then the Elbe. I'm jolly glad we made Borkum Flat light-vessel, for, as I said before, I've no wish to find myself amidst the sandbanks to leeward."
"The Germans are fortifying Borkum very heavily, I believe," said Detroit. "In fact, they are turning the whole of the Frisian Islands that belong to them into fortresses. Guess they'll take the rest of the islands as well before long. John Bull is asleep, I guess, or he would demand an explanation."
"John Bull sleeps with one eye open, old man. Take my word for it. Besides, the Germans are at perfect liberty to defend their coasts."
"Admitted; but it is not a question of defence. These naval bases are also for offence, and, what is more, they exist solely for a torpedo raid on British ports when 'The Day', as they call it, comes. There can only be one predominant race in the world, and that ought to be the Anglo-Saxon."
"Because you are a member of our branch of the family."
"Guess you've hit it, Hamerton. Imagine an offensive and defensive alliance between Great Britain and the United States! Nothing could stand against it. Other European and Asiatic countries, realizing the impossibility of continuing in the race for world supremacy, would climb down. Reduction of armaments would follow automatically, and we should be entering into a state that the most ardent delegate to the Conference at The Hague never dreamt of."
"Until Great Britain and the United States quarrelled," said Hamerton.