The time had now arrived to renew our coal reserves, and so we went
in quest of our first prize, the _Corbridge_, which the reader will
remember was in charge of a prize-crew, and had parted from us on
January 12th. We expected her now to have reached the appointed spot
where we intended taking over her cargo of coal. Late in January we met
a three-masted sailing-ship, the _Edinburgh_, one thousand four hundred
and seventy-three tons, on her way from India to Liverpool, carrying
two thousand tons of cattle food in the shape of rice-flour. This ship,
whose unlucky star placed her in our way, had already been twenty-one
months at sea, and for an incredibly long time had lain becalmed in
windless latitudes, waiting for a propitious breeze. Now, when the wind
had actually risen and the _Edinburgh_ could at last escape from the
broiling heat and the inexpressible dullness of endless waiting, the
_Moewe_ appeared and shattered all her hopes!
We pitied the poor old captain, who was sixty-seven years old; but war
is war! He and his crew had to take up their quarters with us, and
their ship had to bid a hasty adieu to this world. The cattle will wait
for their food in vain.
The following day, on January 28th, precisely at the appointed time,
the _Corbridge_ loomed in sight and joined us where we were lying at
anchor. The transfer of the coal took fully three days. Heat, noise
and coal-dust were everywhere; there was no getting away from it. But
it was glorious to watch the zeal with which the crew toiled away.
The unloading of a cargo of coal is never a small affair, and the
_Corbridge_ lacked everything that might have made the task easier.
Every moment we were confronted with new difficulties, but they were
always solved by some obscure inventive genius from among the crew.
Ingenuity coupled with good will can achieve much. Night and day the
men labored unremittingly, until the precious black stuff was stored
carefully in every available corner on our boat.
As a last souvenir of the _Corbridge_ we appropriated the pigeons and
the pigeon-house erected on the bridge. Subsequently, these delightful
birds helped us to while away many a pleasant hour, when, on perfectly
calm days, they fluttered about the ship.
As for the _Corbridge_, we had got out of her all we wanted, and she
was presently sunk in the usual way.
Now that the _Moewe_ had once more a supply of coal we felt like
different beings, and pined for fresh deeds.
Yet we had to be more cautious than ever, for, surely, the
disappearance of so many vessels within a few weeks would serve as a
hint to our enemies that all was not as it should be in the Atlantic.
That this was so was proved to us, if only by the fact that the game we
were hunting was now conspicuously rare. In vain did we search the zone
usually overrun by ships. Not a single cloud of smoke came in sight!
At last we decided to leave the beaten track and seek for our quarry
elsewhere. After much patience, and a certain amount of good luck, we
finally succeeded in making fresh victims. As ships were evidently
taking every precaution against us, and were attempting by all possible
means to evade us, we retaliated by resorting to new stratagems--the
continual repainting of the Moewe, in order to vary her aspect as much
as possible, being the most frequent one we adopted.