"Because from what I've observed of him, he is a rather hot-tempered man and he might feel inclined to throw you out of his cabin--and it's quite a drop from there to the promenade deck."
"You will hear more of this," snarled the infuriated man; but at Jack's parting shot he made off, looking very uncomfortable.
Poffer regarded Jack with a look in which admiration and awe were oddly blended.
"I dink you haf for yourself made idt troubles," he remarked.
"Trouble! In what way?" demanded Jack. "The fellow is an arrant coward. He----"
"Ah yah, dot is so, but den he is Herr----"
"Gracious, have you got hair on your brain, too?"
"Yah," was the innocent response. "He is a big Professor at a Cherman War College. He is a great man in Germany, der Herr Professor Radwig."
"Well, Mr. Earwig, or whatever his name is, may be a great man as you say, Hans, my boy, but he is also a great coward. As for his threat to make trouble with the captain, that does not bother me in the least. To begin with, I'm only a volunteer, as it were, and in the second place, I'll bet you a cookie or one of those big red apples you're so fond of, that Mr. Earwig will avoid discussing the events of last night as much as he can. I've heard the last of him."
But in this Jack was wrong. In days that lay ahead of the boys, they were to find that Herr Professor Radwig was ordained to play no unimportant part in their lives.
Late that afternoon Jack, who had just come on deck, was in time to notice an unusual thrill of excitement among the already overwrought passengers. On the northern horizon was a smudge of smoke, and a dark hull bearing down on them. Those who had glasses had already announced the other craft to be a warship, although, of what nation, it was as yet impossible to say.
Jack hurried to the wireless room. Young Poffer declared that he had received no wireless, nor intercepted any message which might have any bearing on the identity of the strange ship. On the bridge, the ship's officers were in excited consultation. The warship was drawing closer every moment. She was black and squat, with two fat funnels from which volumes of dark smoke rolled. At her bow was a smother of white foam showing the speed at which she was being pushed.