And in the stated time the Marconi aerials were at work.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE SUPPLY SHIP.
The British cruiser which Max Hilliger had seen through the periscope of the U50 was H.M.S. Dauntless. She had been on coast patrol duty for some days in northern waters, watching for neutral ships and boarding them to examine their papers and inquire into the nature of their cargoes.
Most of them had given a satisfactory account of themselves, and had been allowed to pass on to their intended destinations. But one of them, an old green-painted barque flying the Swedish flag, had at once aroused suspicion by the fact that she was fitted with wireless aerials.
A shot was fired across her bow, and she shortened sail. Captain Damant sent a boat aboard of her in charge of a second lieutenant, who was accompanied by Midshipman Rodney Redisham.
Rodney Redisham read the name Olaf Triggvason on the vessel's side, but he did not take any great interest in her while he waited for the lieutenant's return into the boat. The examination seemed to take an unusually long time, and he wondered if anything contraband had been discovered.
Presently the lieutenant appeared in the open gangway, and began to signal back by semaphore to the Dauntless. Rodney understood the message that was sent. It was that a quantity of naphtha and benzine had been discovered in the barque's cargo; that the captain was a German, and that his secret purpose was to supply a German submarine, which he confessed that he expected.
An answer came back from the cruiser:
"Stay where you are, and we will come alongside."