"We've made a mess of it, sir," said Cardyke, who contrived to raise himself into a sitting posture.
"And all my fault," groaned the sub. "I fell asleep at my post. I ought to be——"
"We were drugged, or something like that," interrupted the mid. "I can't see that any blame can be attached to you. What's done cannot be helped, although it may be undone, in spite of the proverb."
Fielding sat up, and found that his ankles and wrists were secured by leather straps. His head seemed to spin round like a top for a few moments, but gradually the sensation of nausea left him. It did not take him long to discover that the Independencia had altered her course. By the position of the sun the sub. concluded that the direction in which she was heading was approximately N.W. by N. As far as he could command the horizon there were no other ships in sight—only a vast expanse of Atlantic rollers.
"Here comes that scoundrel," exclaimed Cardyke, and turning his head Fielding saw Juan Cervillo approaching.
The Spaniard, who never could boast of good looks, had his appearance somewhat disfigured from the result of the blow he had received in the sortie from the conning-tower, while his greasy features were sallow from the effects of the chloroform which he had inhaled.
With a supercilious grin Juan Cervillo stood in front of his prostrate captives, gloating over their plight. He could, he imagined, subject them to indignity with impunity now, but he had yet to learn caution.
Mukyima was stealthily regarding the Spaniard out of the corners of his narrow eyes. Slowly the lithe body and limbs of the Japanese contracted. Then like a stone from a catapult, Mukyima, bound as he was, hurled himself upon his foe.
Juan Cervillo saw the human thunderbolt flying towards him just in the nick of time. He gave a hurried leap aside, caught his foot in a ring-bolt, and subsided in a most undignified manner upon a particularly aggressive fairlead. As for the Japanese, he had taken the precaution of tucking his head well forward. His shoulders came in contact with a canvas "storm-dodger," and, rebounding, he, too, flopped on the deck.
Juan Cervillo did not wait for a second spring from the wiry Jap, but regaining his feet rushed away shouting for assistance. Half-a-dozen of the strongest of the pirate crew had a tough struggle ere they overpowered Mukyima; but they did it at length, lashing the Asiatic to a capstan-bar so that he was as helpless as a log.