"To that I agree," replied von Langer, and stiffly refusing the invitation to have a glass of wine the German officer went over the side.
Von Langer's steam cutter was barely out of sight when a couple of German officers belonging to the land forces appeared on the bank, bearing a white flag.
Their business was quickly transacted. They desired to surrender forthwith and unconditionally the remaining troops under their command. Within an hour eighty-five men, many of them badly wounded, were shipped on board the sea-plane parent ship _Simplicita_. Out of the three hundred reservists who had transhipped from the _San Matias_ to the _Pelikan_ but thirty-three were untouched by the British fire.
Well before sunset the first of the conditions of the _Pelikan's_ surrender was carried out. The steam cutter returned towing a whaler in which were the crew of the _Myra_. British reticence went by the board when they hove in sight. They cheered frantically like delighted children. Having been under the talons of the German Eagle, they realized more than ever before the world-wide power of Britain's sea-power.
Amongst them was Captain Pennington, who was warmly greeted by the officers of the _Crustacean_.
He reported that the _Pelikan_ was being prepared for surrender; that her garb of palms was being removed, but as far as he knew no attempt had been made to throw overboard the remaining guns, or to destroy the stores and munitions.
"And to-morrow," remarked Stirling to his chum--"to-morrow we will redeem these."
And he held out Kapitan von Riesser's receipt for the gold that he had taken from the three subs when they were captured on the _Nichi Maru_.
As soon as darkness set in the monitors switched on their searchlights, the _Crustacean_, which was farthest up-stream, training her projectors on the channel in the direction of the distant _Pelikan_, while the _Paradox_ swept both banks with her powerful beams. In the lagoon the _Eureka_ and the _Simplicita_ directed their searchlights upon the shore.
About one bell in the middle watch the look-out on the _Crustacean_ noticed two dark objects drifting down-stream. At first he thought them to be a pair of hippopotami, but as their relative distance seemed constant and there was no sign of propulsion, he reported the matter to the officer of the watch.