The Goddess of Atvatabar

by William Richard Bradshaw

  CHAPTER XLIII.

  VICTORY.

  The enemy, finding we were not disposed to leave Atvatabar, began tomove down upon us once more in battle array. The royal fleet consistedof seventy ships, the former thirty having been either sunk ordisabled by us. As for ourselves, the hurricane-deck, masts andrigging had been hammered to pieces, but the hull was sound, thesailors enthusiastic, and the terrorite guns unharmed and our spearsinvincible.

  As the enemy approached us their ships began to move wider apart, witha view no doubt of circumnavigating us, and then close in upon the_Polar King_ as before. Another squeeze of this kind might provefatal, consequently our plan was to keep the enemy at a safe distanceand on one side of us, and destroy his ships one by one with our gunswhile out of range of his fire, if possible.

  The admiral did us the favor of keeping around his ship half a dozenvessels by way of protection, and in this manner drew near. We weredetermined to bring the engagement to a close as soon as possible bystriking the enemy a terrible blow. As soon as their vessels drewwithin range we struck the central group with a shell from the giantgun. The explosion worked a tremendous havoc among the congregatedvessels, but without waiting to learn its full effect I ordered twentyshells to be fired into the central mass in quick succession.

  The result was appalling. The great want of gravity caused a vastirregular mountain of ships and water to be piled high in the air. Wecould hear the shrieks of drowning and dismembered fletyemings.Volumes of water shot to tremendous heights, became detached from themain mass, and floated in the air for a time in liquid globes.

  It was some time before the whirl of wrecked ships and angry water,filled with perhaps thousands of wing-jackets, subsided to the levelof the ocean again. The ships sank beneath the water, on which floatedhundreds of dead bodies. Those fletyemings who had escaped accident ordeath, headed by Admiral Jolar, who was still alive, formed themselvesinto a compact mass as they hovered over the scene of the disaster fora final hand-to-hand attack. Re-enforced by thousands of fletyemingsfrom the then unharmed vessels, they approached with yells of"Bhoolmakar!" Finding their ships useless, they were determined tofling themselves in heroic sacrifice upon us in such numbers as tocrush us.

  This was precisely their most dangerous form of attack, but we couldonly await their coming. As the living mass of men approached wesaluted them with another discharge of shells, which exploded in thevery heart of the unfortunate host. The carnage was dreadful, andhundreds of dead bodies fell into the sea. Admiral Jolar was killed,and without their leader the fletyemings became demoralized. Ere theycould rally again, we were about to fire another round of shells, whenRear Admiral Gerolio, with a few fletyemings, left the main mass undera flag of truce and approached us.

  We were nothing loath to receive their message. Alighting on deck, therear admiral informed me that owing to the loss of their admiral theywere disposed to cease fighting provided I would leave the countryforthwith.

  "Then," said I, "you wish to report that you defeated us by driving usfrom the country?"

  "I shall report that it was a mutual cessation of hostilities," saidhe.

  "It has cost us too much to give up the fight now," I said. "One of usmust surrender."

  "Do you surrender, then, to His Majesty Aldemegry Bhoolmakar, King ofAtvatabar?" eagerly inquired the rear admiral.

  "Do you surrender to Her Majesty Lyone, Queen of Atvatabar?" Ireplied.

  "We make no such surrender," said he, very much surprised to know thatLyone had been proclaimed queen. "If we cannot conquer you by force ofarms we have ships enough to starve you into submission."

  "We care nothing for your ships," I replied, "we will destroy them oneby one."

  "You may sink our ships," said the rear admiral, "but you will neverconquer our fletyemings. We will begin a hand-to-hand conflict thatwill not cease until you and your entire crew are killed or are ourprisoners."

  "The truce is at an end," I replied. "Return to your shipsimmediately."

  The rear-admiral and his staff rose on their wings, and in a shorttime regained the cloud of naval warriors that hung in the air half amile away.

  During the truce the ships of the enemy had drawn nearer and at onceopened fire upon us.

  A well-aimed shot struck us under the water-line, penetrating ourarmor, and going clean through the side of the vessel. The centralcompartment rapidly filled with water. It was a fatal blow, foralthough the fore and aft compartments would keep the ship fromsinking, yet it soon put out our boiler fires and left us a helplesshulk upon the water. The main deck, containing our terrorite guns, wason a level with the water, and a quantity of terrorite and gunpowderrendered useless. We were in a terrible position, for our small stockof available ammunition would be soon exhausted. The enemy soondiscovered the effect of their blow, and closed around us likevultures hastening to their prey. We suffered a terrible bombardment,that killed more of our men, and finally the fletyemings closed aroundus in swarms to annihilate us.

  Resolved to sell our lives dearly, we received them with a dischargeof our magazine guns. They quickly rallied and renewed their attack,but as long as our ammunition lasted were afraid to come to closequarters. At last we drew our revolvers and the hand-to-hand conflictbegan. Some of the sailors used their cutlasses with good effect. Wehad proof that the magnetic spears in close quarters were terribleweapons. As I saw my men falling around me I felt that the game wasup. I thought of Lyone, and the thought would not let me surrender. Iwas already wounded in the shoulder and body, and stunned, while theenemy was swarming in greater numbers than ever. Must we surrender?

  Suddenly, at that moment, a shell came screaming through the air andexploded above the ship, right among the wayleals, killing twenty ormore.

  Merciful heavens! Can the enemy, after all, fire shells at us? But whyuse them when the fight is practically over, and why fire them amonghis own wayleals? Another and another shell exploded among thewayleals around us, and finally a regular tornado of them exploded allaround the _Polar King_, putting the enemy completely to flight.

  As soon as the air was cleared around us, I saw to my intenseastonishment two friendly vessels, one of which bore the flag of theUnited States and the other the flag of England, firing shells at theenemy. I then knew the cause of our deliverance, and shouted for joy.My men--all that were alive--rose and cheered our comrades from theouter world! The excitement was overpowering! We could only, amidtears of joy, salute them and signal them to keep up the fight. Wewere saved!

  A well-aimed shot from the Englishman sank still another vessel. Thisfresh disaster received from the strangers seemed to completelyunnerve the enemy, for, strange to say, every ship afloat struck itscolors in surrender! It was well that the rear-admiral did so, for itwould have been only a question of time until his whole fleet wouldhave been destroyed.

  The fletyemings retreated to their ships, and in a short time thegold-plated ship of Rear-Admiral Gerolio, under the flag of truce,came alongside our vessel. The rear-admiral and his staff came onboard, and delivered up his sword in token of surrender.

  "You surrender to me as admiral of Her Majesty Lyone, Queen ofAtvatabar?" I said.

  "I do," said the rear-admiral, "and am willing to devote my servicesto the cause of her majesty."

  "Will your fletyemings as well as yourself swear allegiance to QueenLyone and her cause?"

  "We swear it!" yelled the fletyemings of the rear-admiral's ship, and,at a signal from their leader, the flag of the new queen took theplace of the flag of his deposed majesty, King Aldemegry Bhoolmakar.

  In a moment the entire fleet exhibited the flag of her holiness as thesymbol of their new allegiance. This was a gratifying victory, as itprocured for our cause more than sixty fully manned vessels of war andtwenty-five thousand fletyemings.

  Lyone was mistress of the seas!

  "How came you to surrender at this juncture?" I inquired of therear-admiral.

  "Well, sir," he replied, "we have already lost more m
en and ships thanif we had been engaged with an enemy similarly armed and having asmany vessels as ourselves, and when the strange vessels came to yourassistance we saw it was useless to prolong the fight. We saw thatwith your terrible weapons you were invincible. You can destroy us andwe cannot destroy you, therefore I concluded, as rear-admiral of thefleet and successor to Admiral Jolar, who was killed in battle, thatit was throwing life away to continue the fight. I saw, furthermore,that with you as the champion of the goddess her cause would succeed,and I wanted to be the first to render homage to her majesty."

  "You have acted well," I replied, "and to reward your action, I now,in the name of her majesty, appoint and proclaim you rear-admiral ofthe fleet of Lyone, Queen of Atvatabar."

  This announcement was received with frantic cheers by the sailors ofboth vessels.

  Now that I was master of the sea, I intended to immediately extend myoperations to the cause of the queen on land, and assuming the dignityof admiral, appointed Captain Wallace of the _Polar King_ alsorear-admiral of the fleet.

  This announcement was received with the firing of guns and tremendouscheers.

  "Rear-Admiral Wallace, Rear-Admiral Gerolio, and myself," I said tothe sailors, "will determine the question of who will become theremaining high naval officers, and now that the battle is over, let ussee that our wounded are properly cared for and all ships afloat putin proper repair."

  It was a glorious victory!

  All this time the two cruisers who so fortunately arrived in time toturn the tide of battle in our favor were rapidly approaching us,firing guns in honor of our victory. I acknowledged their arrival, aswell as their valuable services, by having the royal fleet drawn up indouble file, between which lay the _Polar King_, and ordering everyvessel to give the strangers a salute of one hundred guns.

  My anxiety to learn more of our allies was so great that I despatchedtwo of my most active wing-jackets to the strange vessels to procureaccurate information concerning them and their object in visiting theinterior world. The wayleals returned with the information that thevessels were the United States ship of discovery _Mercury_, commandedby Captain Adams, and the English ship of discovery _Aurora Borealis_,commanded by Sir John Forbes. Both were fitted out by their respectivegovernments to explore the interior world consequent on the report ofBoatswain Dunbar and Seaman Henderson, the only survivors of thetwelve men who left the _Polar King_ when in the Polar Gulf. Therespective commanders, officers and men of the incoming vessels weredelighted to know that the _Polar King_ was not only safe, but haddiscovered Atvatabar, and that its commander was at present king ofthe realm. This was the substance of the despatches sent me by CaptainAdams and Commander Forbes, and addressed, "To Lexington White, Esq.,Commander of the _Polar King_." Captain Adams stated that BoatswainDunbar was on board his vessel as pilot, accompanied by SeamanHenderson.

  Owing to the waterlogged condition of the _Polar King_, we could onlywait the arrival of the vessels. When near at hand, a simultaneoussalute of guns reverberated upon the sea, which must have been heardin all Atvatabar. Amid the smoke and noise of the roaring guns, steamlaunches had put off from the _Mercury_ and _Aurora Borealis_, and ina very short time the commanders of both vessels stood upon the deckof the _Polar King_, accompanied by their respective officers. Iembraced Captain Adams and Commander Forbes, and introduced thestrangers to Rear-Admiral Wallace, Rear-Admiral Gerolio and staff, whowere no less delighted and surprised than myself to receive visitorsfrom the outer world. When the commanders reached the deck of the_Polar King_ the cheers of the American and British sailors, mingledwith the shouts of our fletyemings, made a soul-stirring scene.

  In fact, I was already beginning to think the outer world a more orless mythical place, and thought the doctrine of reincarnation had anillustration or proof in myself. After all, the outer world reallyexisted, and, strange as it seemed to the Atvatabarese, there wasreally an outer sun and live beings like themselves, only physicallymore vigorous.

  It was necessary to set out at once for Kioram, as the _Polar King_was in a sinking condition.

  Every man had been either killed or wounded. We made a total loss ofsixty men, including the ten who left the ship in the Polar Gulf, thusmaking the entire company of the _Polar King_ but fifty souls.

  As for the ship, her plating was burst apart in many places and fullof started bolts, caused by missiles of the enemy. The centralcompartment was filled with water, and the masts, sails, smoke-stackand hurricane-deck were practically destroyed.

  Many of the guns were not struck once in the entire fight, and wereready for active service any moment. The terrorite battery waspartially submerged, but still in good condition.

  Captain Adams and Sir John Forbes both craved the honor of towing the_Polar King_ into port, to which I willingly assented.

  As admiral, I at once assumed command of the fleet, which I ordered tomake sail for Kioram without delay. The fleet fell behind in goodorder, and followed the _Polar King_, bearing the victorious flag ofthe queen.