Part 7 (2/2)

along the coast for the Outer Elbe Lightshi+p about fifty knots off

Here it all is, you see' (He showedfor his boat, of course, a safe, powerful old tub, forging through the sea as steady as a house I kept up with her easily at first My hands were pretty full, for there was a hard wind onworse cah I also knew that I was a fool to have come

[Illustration: Chart A to Illustrate the Stranding of the 'Dulcibella,' etc]

'All ell till ere off wangeroog, the last of the islands--_here_--and then it began to blow really hard I had half a mind to chuck it and cut into the Jade River, _down there_,' but I hadn't the face to, so I hove to and took in my last reef' (Simple words, simply uttered; but I had seen the operation in calm water and shuddered at the present picture) 'We had been about level till then, but with my shortened canvas I fell behind Not that that mattered in the least I knew my course, had read up my tides, and, thick as the weather was, I had no doubt of being able to pick up the lightshi+p No change of plan was possible now The Weser estuary was on my starboard hand, but the whole place was a lee-shore and a mass of unknown banks--just look at the her level best, but we had so pooped I was about _here_, say six htshi+p, _[See Chart A]_ when I suddenly saw that the 'Medusa' had hove to right ahead, as though waiting till I caain on the course as I drew level, and ere alongside for a bit Dollmann lashed the wheel, leaned over her quarter, and shouted, very slowly and distinctly so that I could understand; ”Follow h sands--save six e the tiller, but I knehat he ht before _[See Map A]_ You see, the whole bay betangeroog and the Elbe is encued chunk of it runs out from Cuxhaven in a north-westerly direction for fifteenin a pointed spit, called the _Scharhorn_ To reach the Elbe frohtshi+p, which is off the Scharhorn, and double back Of course, that's what all big vessels do But, as you see, these sands are intersected here and there by channels, very shallow and winding, exactly like those behind the Frisian Islands Now look at this one, which cuts right through the big chunk of sand and comes out near Cuxhaven The _Telte_ _[See Chart A]_ it's called It's miles wide, you see, at the entrance, but later on it is split into two by the Hohenhorn bank: then it gets shallow and very complicated, and ends in a mere tidal driblet with another name It's just the sort of channel I should like to worry into on a fine day or with an off-shore wind Alone, in thick weather and a heavy sea, it would have been folly to attempt it, except as a desperate resource But, as I said I knew at once that Dolluidethings fortold the sea was too bad for me, which it certainly was Yet the short cut did save several miles and a devil of a tumble off the Scharhorn, where two tides meet I had complete faith in Dollmann, and I suppose I decided that I should be a fool not to take a good chance I hesitated I know; but in the end I nodded, and held up ain Soon after, she shi+fted her course and I followed You asked me once if I ever took a pilot That was the only ti himself back, and felt his dralimpse of still another Davies--a Davies five years older throbbing with deep e above my plane, of sterner stuff, wider scope Intense as my interest had become, I waited almost timidly while he mechanically rammed tobacco into his pipe and struck ineffectual matches I felt that whatever the riddle to be solved, it was no mean one He repressed hilance at the clock, baroht, and then resu of the Telte channel All round you could hear the breakers on the sands, though it was too thick to see theot shorter and steeper There was ale I should say

'I kept dead in the wake of the 'Medusa', but toon ranted, when he said he would lead me in, that he would slon and keep close tohis men up to check his sheets or drop his peak Instead of that he was busting on for all he orth Once, in a rain-squall, I lost sight of hih to do with h the scud after a runaway pilot I was all right so far, but ere fast approaching the worst part of the whole passage, where the Hohenhorn bank blocks the road, and the channel divides I don't knohat it looks like to you on the chart--perhaps fairly simple, because you can follow the twists of the channels, as on a ground-plan; but a stranger co to a place like that (where there are no buoys,certain by the eye--unless perhaps at dead loater, when the banks are high and dry, and in very clear weather--he must trust to the lead and the compass, and feel his way step by step I knew perfectly well that what I should soon see would be a wall of surf stretching right across and on both sides To _feel_ one's way in that sort of weather is impossible You must _know_ your way, or else have a pilot I had one, but he was playing his own game

'With a second hand on board to steer while I conned I should have felt less of an ass As it was, I knew I ought to be facing thebrokeninto this confounded short cut It was givingthat you can't do in single-handed sailing

'By the tier it was far too late to turn and haht of the sands, ja host of a chance I had the hours in my head, and kneas about two-thirds flood, with two hourswater Thatwhen I reached them, and harder than ever to locate; but it also ht over the worst of them if I hit off a lucky place' Davies thuust 'Pah! Itto trust to an accident like that, like a lubberly cockney out for a boozy Bank Holiday sail Well, just as I foresaw, the wall of surf appeared clean across the horizon, and curling back to shutlike thunder When I last saw the 'Medusa' she see it like a horse at a fence, and I took a rough bearing of her position by a hurried glance at the coht_ she seemed to luff and show soave me hell with the tiller After that she was lost in the whiteas well as I could, but I was already out of the channel I knew that by the look of the water, and as we neared the bank I saas all awash and without the vestige of an opening I wasn't going to chuck her on to it without an effort; so, more by instinct than with any particular hope, I put the hele on the chance of spotting a way over She was buried at once by the beam sea, and the jib flew to blazes; but the reefed stays'l stood, she recovered gah I knew it could only be for a few htful leeway towards the bank

'I was half-blinded by scud, but suddenly I noticed what looked like a gap, behind a spit which curled out right ahead I luffed still more to clear this spit, but she couldn't weather it Before you could say knife she was driving across it, buain, and--ripped on in deeper water! I can't describe the next few minutes I was in some sort of channel, but a very narrow one, and the sea broke everywhere I hadn't proper command either; for the rudder had crocked up so for his life down a dark alley, barking hi, and finally ent crash on to so So ended that little trip under a pilot

'Well, it was like this--there was really no danger'--I opened my eyes at the characteristic phrase 'I mean, that lucky stuled through a ainst the gale They were covered, of course, and seething like soapsuds; but the force of the sea was deadened The Dulce was buh tide, and at half ebb she would be high and dry

'In the ordinary way I should have run out a kedge with the dinghy, and at the next high water sailed farther in and anchored where I could lie afloat The trouble was now that hy stove in, not to mention the rudder business It was the first bue There was a heavy swell there, and e struck, the dinghy, which was towing astern, came home on her painter and doith a crash on the yacht's weather quarter I stuck out one hand to ward it off and got it nipped on the gunwale She was badly stove in and useless, so I couldn't run out the kedge'--this was Greek to o on--'and for the present my hand was too painful even to stow the boo about anyhow There was the rudder, too, to be mended; and ere several miles from the nearest land Of course, if the wind fell, it was all easy enough; but if it held or increased it was a poor look-out There's a liht have happened

'In fact, it was precious lucky that Bartels turned up His galliot was at anchor a mile away, up a branch of the channel In a clear between squalls he saw us, and, like a brick, rowed his boat out--he and his boy, and a devil of a pull they h to see theust and shah to say I didn't want help, if he hadn't just nipped on board and started work He's a terror to work, that little mouse of a chap In half an hour he had stowed the sails, unshackled the big anchor, run out fifty fathoms of warp, and hauled her off there and then into deep water Then they towed her up the channel--it was dead to leeward and an easy job--and berthed her near their own vessel It was dark by that tiht It blew a howling gale that night, but the place was safe enough, with good ground-tackle

'The whole affair was over; and after supper I thought hard about it all'

VIII The Theory

DAVIES leaned back and gave a deep sigh, as though he still felt the relief from some tension I did the same, and felt the same relief

The chart, freed froh to say, 'What do you think of that?' I have straightened out his sentences a little, for in the exciterown more and more jerky and elliptical

'What about Dollmann?' I asked

'Of course,' said Davies, 'what about hiht It was all so sudden The only thing I could have sworn to from the first was that he had purposely left me in the lurch that day I pieced out the rest in the next few days, which I'll just finish with as shortly as I can Bartels ca hard still we ed to shi+ft the 'Dulcibella' to a place where she dried safely at the et at her rudder The lower screw-plate on the stern post had wrenched out, and we botched it up roughly as ato , as I had two spare ones The dinghy was past repair just then, and I lashed it on deck

'It turned out that Bartels was carrying apples from Bremen to Kappeln (in this fiord), and had run into that channel in the sands for shelter from the weather To-day he was bound for the Eider River, whence, as I told you, you can get through (by river and canal) into the Baltic Of course the Elbe route, by the new Kaiser Wilhelm shi+p Canal, is the shortest The Eider route is the old one, but he hoped to get rid of so, the town at its mouth Both routes touch the Baltic at Kiel As you know, I had been running for the Elbe, but yesterday's ed my mind--I'll tell you why presently--and decided to sail to the Eider along with the 'Johannes' and get through that way It cleared fro hands down, left hi, and in three days was in the Baltic It was just a week after I ran ashore that I wired to you You see, I had come to the conclusion that _that chap was a spy_

In the end it came out quite quietly and suddenly, and left me in profound amazement 'I wired to you--that chap was a spy' It was the close association of these two ideas that hit me hardest at the moment For a second I was back in the dreary splendour of the London club-roo out that crabbed scrawl froht of a holiday

Holiday! What was to be its issue? Chilling and opaque as the fog that filtered through the skylight there flooded ination a mist of doubt and fear

'A spy!' I repeated blankly 'What do you mean? Why did you wire to me? A spy of what--of whom?'

'I'll tell you hoorked it out,' said Davies 'I don't think ”spy” is the right word; but Ipretty bad