CHAPTER XXV
An Unknown Antagonist
Lieutenant Osborne's first step was to take the captured felucca in tow. Leaving one man on board to attend to the helm, he steered the patrol-boat ahead, with a hawser made fast to the bitts of the prize. A wireless message was then sent to the Fleetwing announcing the successful issue of the enterprise, and requesting further instructions. After a brief interval the sea-plane carrier replied:
"Under urgent orders for Salonika. Take prize into Mudros and report to Senior Naval Officer."
"Hallo, something in the wind," soliloquized Osborne. "Urgent orders for Salonika. That looks like business. Meanwhile we're entirely on our own, and confronted with the task of navigating the felucca into Mudros. Well, I suppose there are worse jobs knocking around."
Yet the order involved work of no mean skill. Osborne was a stranger to the waters in the vicinity of the Cyclades. Once clear of that dangerous locality he was in well-known "ground", but there was the always present danger of a hostile submarine. In ordinary conditions the swift patrol-boat was more than a match for the U-boat, but, hampered by her tow, No. 0916's superiority in speed and manoeuvring was eliminated.
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