On came the great liner, and now her bow was right atop of the bow at the forward end of the submarine's platform deck. There was just an instant to spare, but the "Farnum" shot past the oncoming, hostile-looking bows. In another moment the little craft, now more than awash, was out of harm's way.
None the less, the alarm had been passed on to those aboard the liner. That great craft, bound up from South Africa, carried diamonds and gold coin, in the purser's vaults in the hold, amounting in value to more than four million dollars.
All the way from Cape Town the passengers had been chaffing each other about the chance of meeting modern, up-to-date pirates.
"The only up-to-date pirate would be one that came in a submarine boat," Captain Coster had laughingly told his passengers. "A submarine boat could get away again, without leaving a trail. In these days no other kind of pirate craft could long escape."
So the passengers had joked each other about the submarine boat that would meet them, and rob the liner of its precious cargo. Bets had laughingly been offered that the submarine pirate would be encountered off the coast of the United States.
Now, when the little craft shot up in the path of the big one, the bow watch of the "Greytown," and a dozen passengers standing up in the bow, saw the little boat at the same time.
"There's the pirate!" shouted one nervous woman, leaping up and down, and pointing. "Oh, Captain! Captain! Save us from all being murdered!"
Two or three young children, who also saw the floating, queerly-shaped little craft dancing on the waves just off the steamship's starboard bow, began to scream in terror.
Even several of the men, who should have known better, experienced a shock of fright for a moment.
The "submarine pirate" that had been joked about for so many days, now seemed a thing of reality.