Part 7 (2/2)

He was lying on his bed, smoking, turning his position over in his mind, when he was surprised to hear the drifter's engines slow down, and finally stop, while the clang of bells and shouted orders told him that something was happening. He knew that they could not yet have reached any of the German ports on the Baltic, for it was still twilight -about six o'clock as near as he could judge (his watch had been taken from him when he was searched), so he wondered what was happening. And it was with the object of trying to find out that he crossed again to the porthole. At first he could see nothing but water, but as the drifter slowly swung round he was astonished to see the hull of a big liner come into view. Nor was his surprise in any way diminished when he recognized it for the Leipzig.

What business the drifter had with the big s.h.i.+p he could not imagine, but he was soon to know. His door was unlocked. An escort appeared, and he was invited peremptorily to follow it. He had no alternative but to accept.

Across the deck of the drifter, up a gangway, and through a door in the side of the huge s.h.i.+p he was led, and finally halted outside the door of a stateroom. A brief delay, and in response to a sharp order he was marched inside.

He saw at once from the a.s.sembled company, and the manner in which it was disposed, that something in the nature of a court, or tribunal, had been convened ; and he had no doubt as to the part he was to play. Facing him, seated at a long table, were four officers in German naval uniform. Between them sat an elderly man with iron-grey hair and piercing blue eyes who regarded the prisoner with more than pa.s.sing interest. It was clear that he was the President of the court. At the end of the table sat von Stalhein, with some papers in front of him, and from one of these he now began to read so fast, in German, that Biggles had difficulty in following what was being said. However, he made no protest, for there was good reason to suppose that the result of the so-called trial was a foregone conclusion.

Von Stalhein finished reading and sat down. 'You understand ?' said the President in English, looking at Biggles with frigid hostility.

'More or less,' returned Biggles ; 'but before we go any farther I must protest against this court and the charges Hauptmann von Stalhein has enumerated. I am an officer of His Britannic Majesty's Forces, on active service, and under the rules of war I claim the privileges of a prisoner of war.'

The President smiled grimly, an unpleasant smile which told Biggles at once that his protest was a waste of time. He had expected as much, but still he had felt compelled to make it.

The President looked at the men seated on either side of him. 'I don't think we need waste any more time over this,' he said harshly in German. 'We have heard of this man Bigglesworth before ; he is one of the best men in the British Intelligence Service; we have reason to know him, for he has given us a lot of trouble in the past.'

A man dressed in the military uniform of his own country can hardly be called a spy, I think, if that is what you are trying to make out,' put in Biggles coldly.

'Pahl What is a mere uniform ? Can you deny that since the outbreak of war you have been into Reich territory ?'

I don't deny it, but I was in the uniform I am now wearing. If that makes me a spy, then by the same token every German soldier in Poland is a spy, and the French troops in your country on the Western Front are also spies. Are they to stand trial for espionage if they are captured?'

It is not the same thing,' said the President roughly, although he did not explain where the difference lay. 'You know, of course, the price a spy must pay when he is caught ?' he added.

'Yes, of course I know,' replied Biggles bitterly.

The President nodded and made a note on a slip of paper. 'Then the sentence of this court is that you be shot to death in-' He broke off short, in a listening att.i.tude. 'What 's that ?'

he asked sharply.

Von Stalhein had jumped to his feet and hurried to a porthole. Simultaneously anti-aircraft and machine-guns broke into violent action. Above the din came the high-pitched scream of an aeroplane diving at terrific speed under full throttle.

Von Stalhein turned back swiftly into the room. 'You had better take cover, sir,' he said tersely. Then his eyes turned on Biggles, and his hand dropped to the revolver that he wore in a holster on his hip.

What he intended doing was not revealed, for at that moment the s.h.i.+p heeled over under the impact of an explosion so violent that every one in the room was hurled off his feet.

With it came a blinding sheet of flame, followed a split second later by swirling clouds of black, oily, high-. explosive smoke.

CHAPTER XII.

A COLD SWIM.

BIGGLES, coughing convulsively as the acrid fumes bit into his lungs, pushed aside a limp body that lay across him and staggered to his feet. He tried to see what had happened, but the lights had gone out and the room was black with smoke which made his eyes smart unbearably ; from the angle of the floor, though, he knew that the s.h.i.+p had taken a heavy list to starboard, a list that was rapidly becoming more p.r.o.nounced. The air was filled with an appalling medley of sounds-shouts, the hiss of escaping steam, the vicious chatter of a machine-gun, a series of explosions deep down in the s.h.i.+p, and the gurgle of rus.h.i.+ng water; somewhere not far away a man was groaning. A sickening smell of scorching mingled with the fumes.

Trying to beat the smoke away from his face with his hands, Biggles groped for the door; he found it, only to discover that it was jammed tight and half buried under collapsed girders. Clearly, there was no escape that way, so in desperation he turned to where he judged the nearest porthole to be. At the same time the smoke began to disperse somewhat, and through a grimy haze several things were revealed. The first thing he noticed was that it was nearly dark outside. Then he saw that a great jagged hole had been torn in the s.h.i.+p's side, and that owing to the list water was already pouring through it in an ever-increasing flood. Instinctively he made towards the hole, and looked out upon a fearful spectacle.

He had seen much of war, but never anything on quite such a scale as this, and the deep twilight only served to make it more terrible. The water was full of debris of all sorts, among which at least a hundred men were swimming or splas.h.i.+ng. Many were shouting, either from fear, or to make their position known to others. A splintered lifeboat hung vertically by its bows from a single davit, while over all lay a cloud of smoke and steam.

With the water now threatening to sweep him off his feet, Biggles turned back into the room to see what had become of the members of the court, not from mere curiosity, but with the deliberate object of helping any who were unable to help themselves, for it was obvious that it was only a matter of minutes before the stateroom would be submerged.

He was only just in time, for in the deepening gloom he saw von Stalhein on his knees, taking aim at him with his revolver. Biggles sprang aside an instant before the weapon blazed, and the bullet ricochetted through the yawning hole in the s.h.i.+p's side.

Biggles s.n.a.t.c.hed up a broken chair and flung it at the German. At the same time he shouted, 'Don't be a fool, man; let's get out of this.

We can argue afterwards.'

Von Stalhein ducked and the chair missed its mark; but it served its purpose, for his next shot hit the ceiling.

Biggles waited for no more. It seemed to him that it was neither the time nor place for such a display of venom, so with a curt, 'All right ; have it your own way,' he ran to the hole and dived into the sea.

For two or three minutes he put his entire energy into getting away from the s.h.i.+p ; then, finding a piece of wreckage capable of supporting his weight, he rested, and took the opportunity of looking back. The sight that met his eyes remained engraved indelibly on his mind. The great liner was so far over on her side that her upper works still projected over his head. On its bulging side men were running about seemingly in an aimless fas.h.i.+on, although a few were jumping into the sea. He could no longer see the hole through which he had escaped-the hole which had wrought the havoc; but standing on a wrecked lifeboat he could see the lithe figure of von Stalhein, revolver in hand, looking out over the frothy water, apparently trying to see him.

'My goodness, how that fellow must hate me,' thought Biggles, for he could not imagine any normal-minded person behaving in such a way at such a time. 'Well, I suppose he can't help it,' he mused, and dismissed the German from his mind, for he had more urgent matters to attend to. He was still much too close to the s.h.i.+p for his liking, for he knew what a tremendous vortex would be created when it went down.

Aware that he would not be able to swim very far in his clothes, he proceeded to divest himself of everything except his vest and pants, and he had just completed this operation when he discovered that he had a companion. He recognized him for the officer who had been in charge of the escort when he had been marched before the tribunal. He saw, too, that he was in a bad way, so he asked him, 'What 's the matter ?'

I can't see ; the oil has got into my eyes,' was the answer.

Biggles pulled off his silk vest and thrust it into the man's hands. 'See what you can do with that,' he suggested.

Hanging on to the wreckage with his left hand, the man lost no time in following the advice. 'That 's better,' he said presently. 'I seem to know your voice. Aren't you the Englishman ?'

'That 's me,' admitted Biggles cheerfully, as he began paddling the wreckage farther away from the sinking s.h.i.+p.

The man went on wiping his eyes, clearing them of the heavy oil which had clung to the lashes. 'Thanks,' he said, handing the vest back.

Biggles smiled and put it on again.

'Your fellow who did this made a good job of it,' declared the German.

'You're dead right; he certainly did,' agreed Biggles, spitting out a mouthful of sea water.

'What sort of aeroplane was it-did you see ?'

'Yes, I saw it,' answered the sailor, and gave Biggles all the description he needed for him to realize that it must have been either Ginger or Algy who had dropped the torpedo.

'What were you doing round here, anyway ?' was Biggles's next question.

'We were hove to at the mouth of the channel, waiting for the tide.'

'Channel ?' The word made Biggles p.r.i.c.k up his ears, for if it was the channel that separated the mainland from the sandbank on which he had landed with Algy and Ginger, then it gave him a rough idea of his bearings.

'How far are we from land ?' he inquired, for it was now too dark to see anything.

About a kilometre-more or less.'

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