ADVENTURE WITH GERMAN PIRATES 



imprisoned crew in a craft so strange ; but the Ger- 

 mans did not take risks, and accordingly each of the 

 eight held a big revolver read}' for use, and from 

 each man's belt hung a glittering axe. 



The captives were ordered to go to the after part 

 of the submarine, and the}^ obeyed, but not without 

 difficult}-, as it was dark and they discovered that 

 the crews of two other destroyed fishing vessels 

 were on board, making a score of fishermen in all. 

 The skipper crouched beneath a powerful gun which 

 the submarine carried on her deck. 



An order was now given to cast off the lashings, 

 but in the night there arose the cry, "Are you going 

 to leave me behind?" 



It was soon found that this appeal came from 

 Hastie, who, still hoping for the salvation of his 

 clothing, had remained on board the drifter. 



Some spasm of humanity apparently possessed 

 one of the Germans, who, like so many of his fellows 

 operating in these submarines, understood English 

 well, and he replied, "No, daddy!" There was 

 something of a commotion, resulting in the sprawl- 

 ing of Hastie on the deck of the submarine and the 

 bruising of his legs. 



The skipper did the good service of carefully ex- 

 amining all that he could see on board the sub- 

 marine, noticing, amongst other details, the height 

 and position of the conning-tower, the calibre of the 

 gun and the apparent dimensions of the deck. He 

 observed that the commander was in the conning- 

 tower and that during the whole of the time the 



141 



