At midnight a wireless operator handed the kapitan of the Kondor a message, the text of which caused the officer to issue a string of orders. Quickly the hawsers securing the submarine to the depot-ship were cast off, and U99, forging slowly ahead, picked up her station in line with the rest of the flotilla. Then, at a given signal, the submarines proceeded in a north-westerly direction, while the Kondor steamed toward the invisible German battleships.
At this stage of the proceedings, Sefton and his brother were ordered below, and placed in a cell on the orlop deck, twelve feet or more below the waterline. In utter darkness, for even the luxury of a single light was denied them, they sat, listening to the plash of the waves against the side, until sleep came as a welcome relief to the strain of the day.
Several times the sub awoke with a start. A nightmare gripped him. Normally strong nerved, the cramped and dark cell, and the almost certain fate that awaited him should the Kondor be sunk, filled him with vague terrors. In vain he tried to rally himself. The ordeal of the shell-swept bridge of the Calder seemed as naught compared with the gruesome atmosphere of the below-water-line prison.
The hours wore on, but the unexpected torpedo attack was not forthcoming. No thunder of guns broke the almost uncanny silence. No longer the waves dashed themselves against the side plating of the hull. Only a sullen, rolling motion and the faint tremor of the twin propeller shafting betokened the fact that the vessel was still under way.
[CHAPTER XXII--The British Submarines at Work]
A succession of long-drawn hoarse cheering aroused both Seftons from their light sleep. Leslie's outstretched hands came in contact with his brother's face, for, in the utter darkness, only the senses of touch and speech made the twain aware of each other's presence.
"What's that noise, Jack?"
"Only the crew getting excited about something," replied the sub inconsequently. At the same time, he felt pretty certain that something in the nature of a successful naval engagement had been responsible for the outburst of noisy enthusiasm on the part of the German crew.
He was not left long in doubt, for the door of the cell was thrown open and a seaman bearing a lantern ordered the prisoners to follow him.
Arriving on the upper deck, the sub discovered that the Kondor had undergone a transformation. Everything that denoted her part as a fleet auxiliary had disappeared. Aft she flew Swedish colours, and a distinctive band encircled her wall sides, with the words: "Gefle--Sverige" conspicuously displayed. Most of the crew had discarded their German uniform, and were rigged out in the cosmopolitan gear usually favoured by merchant seamen.