Reunited
"That's all very well," confided Webb, when the destroyer had taken charge of the captured felucca; "but I fancy we'll find out all about our mystery craft. She seemed mighty keen on recapturing our prize. Having, as she thought, driven us off, she paid us no further attention until we pitched into her. It is just possible that her object was to rescue our friend Georgeos Hymettus."
Upon No. 0916's arrival at Mudros, the skilful and dangerous spy was conveyed ashore under a strong guard. Placed upon his trial he made a full and abject confession of his misdeeds. Totally lacking in honour and esprit de corps, he unhesitatingly denounced his accomplices. As an intermediary between the German Government and the Greek king he had caused immense harm to the Allies, apart from the damage done with his assistance by the U-boats in Mediterranean waters. On his escape from Alexandria, Hymettus had undertaken a secret mission on behalf of the so-called Royalist faction of Greece. This was with the idea of dealing a counter-stroke against the Venezelists, who held most of the islands in the Archipelago. Should he fail to accomplish the principal object, he was to furnish a list of names of Greeks favourably inclined to the Allies. This document was found on him when he was rescued from the sea. For safety's sake he had hidden it in a fold of his skirt, for he was in the old national Greek dress when on board the felucca, and unaccountably he had forgotten to destroy the paper during the period of captivity in the patrol-boat's forepeak.
During the court martial it also transpired that the vessel which had attacked Osborne's command and had attempted the recapture of the felucca was the Pyrgos, a steam yacht belonging to a strong adherent to the Germanized royal family of Greece. It was not with the sole desire of rescuing Hymettus that the daring attempt was made. The spy would have been ruthlessly abandoned by his employers but for the fact that he bore incriminating documents. Hence the mysterious tactics of the Pyrgos that had led to her destruction, and to the failure to regain the written evidence of Tino's treachery.
The confession of Georgeos Hymettus did not save his miserable life. Condemned to be shot, the sentence was confirmed and duly carried out—not with the idea of vengeance, but as a deterrent to other cosmopolitan rogues who infest the shores of the Levant.
Two days later, Osborne and Webb were making their way from their temporary shore quarters to the harbour, where they suddenly ran up against Captain M'Bride.
"Well met, Osborne!" exclaimed the genial skipper. "We only arrived last night, and I was on my way to look you up. About that dog of yours. No, don't get excited. What a fellow you are! I have a letter from my chum on the Tarbox, but nothin' doin'. I hear you've been given a command. Well, hearty congratulations!"
"Yes, a patrol-boat," replied the Lieutenant. "She's quite a decent little craft." He was too bashful to refer to his achievement. "We're laid up for repairs. Strained the connecting-rods while we were towing some old hooker. But about Laddie, sir?"
M'Bride gripped Osborne's arm and turned him in the direction of the harbour.
"Come along," he said. "Let's see what we can do by making enquiries of the destroyer flotilla. They've only just arrived from Salonika. And you too, Mr. Webb. I believe you are almost as keen about the animal as Osborne."