But
this operation was interrupted by a mirage, which caused the small
French destroyer _Mosquet_ to appear like a huge battleship. When
he discovered the truth, Von Mueller closed with the Frenchman, who
came to the rescue of the _Glenturret_, the powder ship. Destroyer
and cruiser closed for a fight, the former trying to get close
enough to make work with torpedoes possible, but the long range
of the _Emden's_ guns prevented this, and the _Mosquet_ was badly
damaged by having her engine room hit. Soon she was in a bad way,
and Von Mueller ordered his guns silenced, thinking the destroyer
would now give up the fight. But the Frenchman was valiant and
refused to do so; he let go with two torpedoes which did not find
their mark, and was immediately subjected to a withering fire,
which caused his ship to sink, bow first.
One of the destroyers which had been in the harbor now came out
to take issue with the _Emden_, but it was the business of the
latter to continue destroying merchant ships and not to run the
risk of having her career ended by a warship, so she immediately
put off for the Indian Ocean. A storm which then came up permitted
her to make a better escape.
It was not until the 9th of November that the world at large heard
more of her, and it proved to be the last day of her reign of terror.
There was a British wireless and cable station on the Cocos (Keeling)
Isles, southwest of Java, and Von Mueller had determined to interrupt
the communication maintained there connecting India, Australia,
and South Africa.
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