



Produced by Al Haines









[Illustration: Cover art]





[Frontispiece: DENBIGH AND HIS COMPANIONS ARE RESCUED BY A MONITOR
_Page_ 207.  _Frontispiece_]





ROUNDING UP

THE RAIDER


A Naval Story of the Great War



BY

PERCY F. WESTERMAN

Author of "The Fight for Constantinople"
  "Sea Scouts All"
      &c. &c.



_Illustrated by E. S. Hodgson_



BLACKIE & SON LIMITED

LONDON AND GLASGOW

1916




  By Percy F. Westerman

  Haunted Harbour.
  His Unfinished Voyage.
  Midshipman Webb's Treasure
  Winged Might.
  Captain Flick.
  Tireless Wings.
  His First Ship.
  The Red Pirate.
  The Call of the Sea.
  Standish of the Air Police.
  Sleuths of the Air.
  Andy-All-Alone.
  The Westow Talisman.
  The White Arab.
  The Buccaneers of Boya.
  Rounding up the Raider.
  Captain Fosdyke's Gold.
  In Defiance of the Ban.
  The Senior Cadet.
  The Amir's Ruby.
  The Secret of the Plateau.
  Leslie Dexter, Cadet.
  All Hands to the Boats.
  A Mystery of the Broads.
  Rivals of the Reef.
  Captain Starlight.
  On the Wings of the Wind.
  Captain Blundell's Treasure.
  The Third Officer.
  Unconquered Wings.
  Pat Stobart in the "Golden Dawn".
  Ringed by Fire.
  Midshipman Raxworthy.
  Chums of the "Golden Vanity".
  Clipped Wings.
  Rocks Ahead.
  King for a Month.
  The Disappearing Dhow.
  The Luck of the "Golden Dawn".
  The Salving of the "Fusi Yama".
  Winning his Wings.
  The Good Ship "Golden Effort".
  East in the "Golden Gain".
  The Quest of the "Golden Hope".
  The Wireless Officer.
  The Submarine Hunters.
  The Thick of the Fray at Zeebrugge.
  With Beatty off Jutland.
  The Dispatch Riders.
  A Cadet of the Mercantile Marine.
  With the Last of the Buccaneers.
  A Lively Bit of the Front.

  The Westerman Omnibus Book




_Printed in Great Britain by Blackie & Son, Ltd., Glasgow_




Contents


CHAP.

     I.  THE CAPTURED LINER
    II.  THE LAST OF THE _NICHI MARU_
   III.  ON BOARD THE RAIDER
    IV.  THREATENED
     V.  THE PURSUIT OF THE _PELIKAN_
    VI.  THE DECOY
   VII.  FOILED BY A COLLIER
  VIII.  REINFORCEMENTS
    IX.  THE MIDNIGHT LANDING
     X.  THE LAGOON
    XI.  DENBIGH'S PLAN
   XII.  A PERILOUS JOURNEY
  XIII.  NOCTURNAL INVESTIGATIONS
   XIV.  A NEGLECTED WARNING
    XV.  ARMSTRONG'S PART
   XVI.  THE DISASTER TO THE _MYRA_
  XVII.  A BID FOR FREEDOM
 XVIII.  DISAPPOINTMENT
   XIX.  "OUR LUCK'S OUT"
    XX.  ADRIFT IN THE INDIAN OCEAN
   XXI.  VON ECKENSTEIN'S SURPRISE
  XXII.  THE MONITORS IN ACTION
 XXIII.  HOW THE _PELIKAN_ SURRENDERED
  XXIV.  THE LANDING PARTY
   XXV.  ACCOUNTED FOR




Illustrations


DENBIGH AND HIS COMPANIONS ARE PICKED UP BY A
  MONITOR.................... _Frontispiece_

"BY JOVE!" EJACULATED O'HARA. "SHE MUST BE ONE OF OUR MONITORS"

THE 'LOG' WAS A HEALTHY SPECIMEN OF A CROCODILE

"UNLESS THE GERMAN ENSIGN is HAULED DOWN ON BOARD THE _PELIKAN_ WITHIN
AN HOUR, I OPEN FIRE"




ROUNDING UP THE RAIDER



CHAPTER I

The Captured Liner

"Fifteen days more and then Old England once again!" exclaimed Frank
Denbigh.

"And bonnie Scotland for me!" added Charlie Stirling.

"You'll not be forgettin' 'tis Ould Oireland I'm bound for,"
remonstrated Pat O'Hara, purposely dropping into the brogue.

The three chums had just been reading the "miles made good"
announcement that, printed in English and Japanese, was daily exhibited
in various parts of S.S. _Nichi Maru_.

"Hostile submarines permitting," remarked Denbigh with a laugh, after
he had taken good care that no lady passengers were within earshot.

"Rot!" ejaculated Stirling.  "We've cleared them out of the Channel
pretty well.  It's part of the work of the British Navy under----"

"Stop it!" interrupted O'Hara good-humouredly.  "I know what you were
going to say: that old tag from the Articles of War.  I propose that
every time the word submarine is mentioned by anyone of us while on
board this vessel the delinquent shall be suitably punished as soon as
the sun's over the fore-yard."

"Hear, hear!  I second that," agreed Stirling.  "No more'shop'.  We'll
get plenty of that in a few weeks' time.  I fancy My Lords won't let us
kick our heels in idleness for long, and honestly, the sooner we settle
down to business the better."

The three chums were Sub-lieutenants, homeward bound from a portion of
a certain group of islands off the coast of New Guinea, having till
recently the high-sounding title of the Bismarck Archipelago.  The
youthful but none the less glorious Australian Navy had quickly changed
the colour of that portion of the map, but the climate was a more
formidable foe than the former German garrison.  Thus the three young
officers, who had been "lent" to the recently-formed navy, had the
misfortune to be stricken with fever.

After a long convalescence, which by a pure coincidence lasted almost
exactly the same time in each of the three cases, Denbigh, Stirling,
and O'Hara were ordered to return to England and to resume their duties
with the navy of the Motherland.

They had travelled by an intermediate boat to Singapore, whence, in
order to save delay, they had proceeded by a Japanese liner, the _Nichi
Maru_, bound from Nagasaki to London.  It was a case of misdirected
zeal, for, owing to the torpedoing of a large Japanese liner in the
Mediterranean, the _Nichi Maru_ had been ordered to take the longer
passage round the Cape instead of the usual route via the Suez Canal.

"Hulloa!  What's the excitement?" enquired Denbigh, pointing in the
direction of the bridge.  The chums had gained the promenade deck,
whence most of the navigating bridge of the liner could be seen.  There
was evidently something to warrant his exclamation, for the dapper
little Japanese officer of the watch was steadily