d again:

"Take the crew off!"

The wind had increased during the last few hours and the sea began to
run higher and was washing over our deck. It was impossible for us to
use our guns--the crew would have been swept away without any chance of
being saved--and we were, for that reason, unable to emphasize our
commands in a desirable manner, but we knew what to do when the
commander on the "bulldog" did not display any inclination to comply
with our ten-times repeated order. I had a revolver handed to me from
below and let a bullet whistle close to the head of the stubborn rascal.
The Englishman seemed to understand this language better. He abandoned
his careless slouch, blew the tug's siren, and yelled loud, sharp
commands to the crew. Then he turned for the first time towards me, put
his hand to his cap with a short salute, and next lifted his right hand
vertically in the air, which, according to the international language of
sailors, meant:

"I understand and will obey."

The crew on the "bulldog," which in reality bore the name _Ormea_, had,
however, cast off the hawser and were now standing idly all around the
deck with their hands in their pockets and looked at us curiously. The
captain went to the engine telegraph and signaled "Half speed ahead."

"Ha," we thought, "now he'll turn and lay himself alongside the sailing
ship."

What happened next took only a minute.

When the _Ormea_ had gathered speed, it certainly turned--but not to
port, which would have been the nearest way, but towards us. At the same
time the skipper signaled to his engine room:

"Full speed ahead!"

The sturdily built, speedy tug rushed at us, pushing aside the waves
with her prow.

We had, of course, been keenly observing every move made on the tugboat,
but suspected nothing until that moment when he headed straight for us.

"The man is crazy!" I yelled. "He intends to ram us. Full speed with
both engines. Hard a-starboard!"

But it looked as if we had grasped the situation too late. The tug had
gotten a start on us in speed and came at us, smoking copiously, like a
mad bulldog. The distance between us, which to begin with had been two
hundred meters, decreased with great rapidity. Now the prow was hardly
fifty meters from us. Our hair stood on end.

"Bring up pistols and guns," I called down.

These weapons, which were hanging always loaded, were quickly handed up
to us, and we opened a quick fire on our onrushing enemy. A