Part 31 (1/2)
”I am Captain Ackinson, Cunard ss. Calipha,” he answered. ”What do you want with me?”
”I am Captain Von Dronestein, in command of the Kaiser Wilhelm, German Navy,” was the reply. ”I want a word or two with you in private, Captain Ackinson. Can I come on board?”
Captain Ackinson's reply was not gus.h.i.+ng. He gave the necessary orders, however, and in a few moments Captain Von Dronestein, and a thin, dark man in the dress of a civilian, clambered to the deck. They looked at Mr. Sabin, standing by the captain's side, and exchanged glances of intelligence.
”If you will kindly permit us, Captain,” the newcomer said, ”we should like to speak with you in private. The matter is one of great importance.”
Mr. Sabin discreetly retired. The captain turned on his heel and led the way to his cabin. He pointed briefly to the lounge against the wall and remained himself standing.
”Now, gentlemen, if you please,” he said briskly, ”to business. You have stopped a mail steamer in mid ocean by force, so I presume you have something of importance to say. Please say it and let me go on. I am behind time now.”
The German held up his hands. ”We have stopped you,” he said, ”it is true, but not by force. No! No!”
”I don't know what else you call it when you show me a bounding thirty guns and put a shot across my bows.”
”It was a blank charge,” the German began, but Captain Ackinson interrupted him.
”It was nothing of the sort!” he declared bluntly. ”I was on deck and I saw the charge strike the water.”
”It was then contrary to my orders,” Captain Dronestein declared, ”and in any case it was not intended for intimidation.”
”Never mind what it was intended for. I have my own opinion about that,” Captain Ackinson remarked impatiently. ”Proceed if you please!”
”In the first place permit me to introduce the Baron Von Graisheim, who is attached to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs at Berlin.”
Captain Ackinson's acknowledgment of the introduction was barely civil. The German continued-- ”I am afraid you will not consider my errand here a particularly pleasant one, Herr Captain. I have a warrant here for the arrest of one of your pa.s.sengers, whom I have to ask you to hand over to me.”
”A what!” Captain Ackinson exclaimed, with a spot of deep colour stealing through the tan of his cheeks.
”A warrant,” Dronestein continued, drawing an imposing looking doc.u.ment from his breast pocket. ”If you will examine it you will perceive that it is in perfect order. It bears, in fact,” he continued, pointing with reverential forefinger to a signature near the bottom of the doc.u.ment, ”the seal of his most august Majesty, the Emperor of Germany.”
Captain Ackinson glanced at the doc.u.ment with imperturbable face.
”What is the name of the gentleman to whom all this refers?” he inquired.
”The Duc de Souspennier!”
”The name,” Captain Ackinson remarked, ”is not upon my pa.s.sengers' list.”
”He is travelling under the alias of 'Mr. Sabin,'” Baron Von Graisheim interjected.
”And do you expect me,” Captain Ackinson remarked, ”to hand over the person in question to you on the authority of that doc.u.ment?”
”Certainly!” the two men exclaimed with one voice.
”Then I am very sorry indeed,” Captain Ackinson declared, ”that you should have had the temerity to stop my s.h.i.+p, and detain me here on such a fool's errand. We are on the high seas and under the English flag. The doc.u.ment you have just shown me impeaching the Duc de Souspennier for 'lese majestie' and high treason, and all the rest of it, is not worth the paper it is written on here, nor, I should think in America. I must ask you to leave my s.h.i.+p at once, gentlemen, and I can promise you that my employers, the Cunard ss. Company, will bring a claim against your Government for this unwarrantable detention.”
”You must, if you please, be reasonable,” Captain Dronestein said. ”We have force behind us, and we are determined to rescue this man at all costs.”
Captain Ackinson laughed scornfully.
”I shall be interested to see what measures of force you will employ,” he remarked. ”You may have a tidy bill to pay as it is, for that shot you put across my bows. If you try another it may cost you the Kaiser Wilhelm and the whole of the German Navy. Now, if you please, I've no more time to waste.”
Captain Ackinson moved towards the door. Dronestein laid his hand upon his arm.
”Captain Ackinson,” he said, ”do not be rash. If I have seemed too peremptory in this matter, remember that Germany as my fatherland is as dear to me as England to you, and this man whose arrest I am commissioned to effect has earned for himself the deep enmity of all patriots. Listen to me, I beg. You run not one shadow of risk in delivering this man up to my custody. He has no country with whom you might become embroiled. He is a French Royalist, who has cast himself adrift altogether from his country, and is indeed her enemy. Apart from that, his detention, trial and sentence, would be before a secret court. He would simply disappear. As for you, you need not fear but that your services will be amply recognised. Make your claims now for this detention of your steamer; fix it if you will at five or even ten thousand pounds, and I will satisfy it on the spot by a draft on the Imperial Exchequer. The man can be nothing to you. Make a great country your debtor. You will never regret it.”
Captain Ackinson shook his arm free from the other's grasp, and strode out on to the deck.
”Kaiser Wilhelm boat alongside,” he shouted, blowing his whistle. ”Smith, have these gentlemen lowered at once, and pa.s.s the word to the engineer's room, full speed ahead.”
He turned to the two men, who had followed him out.
”You had better get off my s.h.i.+p before I lose my temper,” he said bluntly. ”But rest a.s.sured that I shall report this attempt at intimidation and bribery to my employers, and they will without doubt lay the matter before the Government.”
”But Captain Ackinson----”
”Not another word, sir.”
”My dear----”
Captain Ackinson turned his back upon the two men, and with a stiff, military salute turned towards the bridge. Already the machinery was commencing to throb. Mr. Watson, who was hovering near, came up and helped them to descend. A few apparently casual remarks pa.s.sed between the three men. From a little lower down Mr. Sabin and Mrs. Watson leaned over the rail and watched the visitors lowered into their boat.
”That was rather a foolish attempt,” he remarked lightly; ”nevertheless they seem disappointed.”
She looked after them pensively.
”I wish I knew what they said to--my husband,” she murmured.
”Orders for my a.s.sa.s.sination, very likely,” he remarked lightly. ”Did you see your husband's face when he pa.s.sed us?”
She nodded, and looked behind. Mr. Watson had entered the smoke-room. She drew a little nearer to Mr. Sabin and dropped her voice almost to a whisper.
”What you have said in jest is most likely the truth. Be very careful!”
CHAPTER XLV.
MR. SABIN IN DANGER.
Mr. Sabin found the captain by no means inclined to talk about the visit which they had just received. He was still hurt and ruffled at the propositions which had been made to him, and annoyed at the various delays which seemed conspiring to prevent him from making a decent pa.s.sage.
”I have been most confoundedly insulted by those d---- Germans,” he said to Mr. Sabin, meeting him a little later in the gangway. ”I don't know exactly what your position may be, but you will have to be on your guard. They have gone on to New York, and I suppose they will try and get their warrant endorsed there before we land.”