The count was not satisfied. He did not share the optimism of Captain Scott.
With a curt bow he returned to his boat and swiftly rowed toward the Herzovinian cruiser. As he stepped upon the deck, an officer and several sailors of the watch met him. They saluted with deep respect.
“I wish to see your captain upon important business,” he announced. He was conducted at once to the cabin.
He remained in consultation only a few minutes. When he returned accompanied by the captain, a war-ship’s boat was manned, a young officer in command. Count Rosen bowed graciously to the attentive captain and entered the boat, sending ashore his own after paying the helmsman liberally.
The boat pulled close under the bows of the American cruiser, on its way to the schooner. The count noticed a war-ship’s boat ready manned at the gangway. From the schooner came faint sounds of men laboring. They had already begun to open the hatches.
Half-way to the schooner a noise as of a swimmer caught the count’s attentive ear.
“What is that?” he asked the young officer. At the word of command the men stopped rowing. Scarcely fifty yards away appeared a man’s head; he was making rather feeble progress through the water. The boat was quickly brought alongside the swimmer and the man hauled on board.
A lantern was held up to his face. It was pale and haggard. The man was almost exhausted. The count noticed that the swimmer’s face was much swollen and discolored, as if from a blow. Even in the tropical air his teeth chattered and speech was nearly impossible. The count took off his own cape and wrapped it about the trembling figure. Then the boat pulled for the schooner, several hundred yards away.
The officer and three men scrambled on board. Two small lighters were lying alongside the “Talofa,” and a score of “blacks” were making ready to discharge her cargo.
The count asked a hurried question. The young officer in his party saluted and answered in the affirmative, pointing to a bundle under his arm. The boat waited until a fluttering flag rose slowly to the peak of the main gaff. It was too dark to distinguish the markings, but the count knew that the situation had been saved. The “Talofa” was under the protection of his navy’s flag.