"Sire, I give you my solemn word—the word of a soldier—that neither the English officer, Hamerton, nor the American, Detroit, is in the Island of Heligoland."
Therein he spoke truthfully, for before leaving for Berlin the commandant had ordered the removal of the prisoners to the adjacent island of Sandinsel.
CHAPTER XVII
The Sandinsel Tunnel
After their recapture Hamerton and Detroit were shut up in separate cells, the former in the same place as before, while the American was lodged in a disused casemate of the Bucket Horn Battery.
Their captors left nothing undone to guarantee the safety of the prisoners. Hamerton's cell had been recemented over the original floor to a depth of four inches of solid concrete. The bars of his window had been removed and others of considerably greater thickness securely let into the stonework. An observation hole had been cut in the doorway, and the jailers were given instructions to visit the prisoners' cells every two hours, day and night.
Every few hours wireless messages came from Torpedo-boat-destroyer S174. They brought slight consolation to Von Wittelsbach's peace of mind. The long-sought-for yacht still remained alongside the quay at Delfzyl.
Then came the news that an English newspaper had published the information that the spies were Sub-Lieutenant John Hamerton and Oswald Detroit, an American subject.
Von Wittelsbach was for the time being speechless with rage and mortification. He anticipated the order to proceed to Berlin to give an explanation, and ere he set out he gave instructions that the prisoners should be removed to Sandinsel.
It was late at night when a file of marines entered Hamerton's cell. The sergeant in charge roughly ordered him to get up and dress. Although still weak with the effects of his brief spell of liberty, the Sub was rapidly recovering. Two days' rest was sufficient to banish the pain in his neck caused by his involuntary dive into the secret gunpit of the Breit Horn battery. His bruised fingers gave him considerable inconvenience, so that he took a long time over his dressing operations.