noon
I suppose half of them were drunk or else in a state of semi-mutiny , for one hears strange tales of affairs in Russia these days . The whole incident was quite humorous , but I realized that I had hardly been wise , as without doubt the English will hear of this , and these trawlers of theirs will turn up , and I 'm certainly not going to try any heroics with John Bull , who is as tough a fighter as we are . Meanwhile , what of the supply ship , for I 'm supposed to meet her here , and it 's already twenty-four hours since yesterday 's epoch-making battle and I expect the English any moment . * * * * * My doubts were removed for me since I received special orders at noon by high-power wireless from Nordreich , and on decoding them found that , for some reason or other , we are ordered to proceed to Muckle Flugga Cape , and thence down the coast of Shetlands to the Fair Island Channel , where we are directed to cruise till further orders . Special warning is included as to encountering friendly submarines . It appears to me that a special concentration of U-boats is being ordered round about the Orkneys , and that some big scheme is on hand . We are now steering south-westerly to make Muckle Flugga , which I hope to do in four days ' time if the weather holds .