CHAPTER XXVI
THE FIRST BOMBARDMENT OF LONDON
When Lennard got out of the train at St Pancras that evening, he foundsuch a sight as until a day or so ago no Londoner had ever dreamed of.But terrible as the happenings were, they were not quite terrible enoughto stop the issue of the evening newspapers.
As the train slowed down along the platform, boys were running along ityelling:
"Bombardment of London from the air--dome of St Paul's smashed by ashell--Guildhall, Mansion House, and Bank of England in ruins--orfulscenes in the streets. Paper, sir?"
He got out of the carriage and grabbed the first newspaper that wasthrust into his hand, gave the boy sixpence for it, and hurried awaytowards the entrance. He found a few cabmen outside the station; hehailed one of the drivers, got in, and said:
"Downing Street--quick. There's a sovereign; there'll be another for youwhen I get there."
"It's a mighty risky job, guv'nor, these times, driving a keb throughLondon streets. Still, one's got to live, I suppose. 'Old up there--myGawd, that's another of those bombs! You just got out of there in time,sir."
Even as though it had been timed, as it might well have been, a torpedodropped from a ghostly shape drifting slowly across the grey Novemberclouds. Then there came a terrific shock. Every pane in the vast roofand in the St Pancras Hotel shivered to the dust. The engine which haddrawn Lennard's train blew up like one huge shell, and the carriagesbehind it fell into splinters.
If that shell had only dropped three minutes sooner the end of the Worldwar of 1910 would have been very different to what it was; for, asLennard learned afterwards, of all the porters, officials andpassengers, who had the misfortune to be in the great station at thatmoment, only half a hundred cripples, maimed for life, escaped.
"I wonder whether that was meant for me," said Lennard as the frightenedhorse sprang away at a half gallop. "If that's the case, John Castellanknows rather more than he ought to do, and, good Lord, if he knows that,he must know where Auriole is, and what's to stop him taking one ofthose infernal things of his up to Whernside, wrecking the house and theobservatory, and taking her off with him to the uttermost ends of theearth if he likes?
"There must be something in it or that shell would not have dropped justafter I got outside the station. They watched the train come in, andthey knew I was in it--they must have known.
"What a ghastly catastrophe it would be if they got on to that scheme ofours at the pit. Fancy one of those aerial torpedoes of his droppingdown the bore of the cannon a few minutes before the right time! Itwould mean everything lost, and nothing gained, not even for him.
"Ah, good man Erskine," he went on, as he opened the paper, and readthat every cruiser, battleship and transport that had forced theentrance to the Thames and Medway had been sunk. "That will be a bit ofa check for them, anyhow. Yes, yes, that's very good. Garrison Fort,Chatham and Tilbury, of course, destroyed from the air, but not a shipnor a man left to go and take possession of them."
While he was reading his paper, and muttering thus to himself, the cabwas tearing at the horse's best speed down Gray's Inn Road. It took asudden swing to the right into Holborn, ran along New Oxford Street, andturned down Charing Cross Road, the horse going at a full gallop thewhole time.
Happily it was a good horse, or the fate of the world might have beendifferent. There was no rule of the road now, and no rules againstfurious driving. London was panic-stricken, as it might well be. As faras Lennard could judge the aerial torpedoes were being dropped mostly inthe neighbourhood of Regent Street and Piccadilly, and about GrosvenorPlace and Park Lane. He half expected to find Parliament Street andWestminster in ruins, but for some mysterious reason they had beenspared.
The great City was blazing in twenty places, and scarcely a minutepassed without the crash of an explosion and the roar of flame thatfollowed it, but a magic circle seemed to have been drawn roundWestminster. There nothing was touched, and yet the wharves on the otherside of the river, and the great manufactories behind them, were blazingand vomiting clouds of flame and smoke towards the clouds as though theearth had been split open beneath them and the internal fires themselveslet loose.
When the cabman pulled up his sweating and panting horse at the door ofNumber 2 Downing Street, Lennard got out and said to the cabman:
"You did that very well, considering the general state of things. Idon't know whether you'll live to enjoy it or not, but there's afive-pound note for you, and if you'll take my advice you will get yourwife and family, if you have one, into that cab, and drive right outinto the country. It strikes me London's going to be a very good placeto stop away from for the next two or three days."
"Thank 'ee, sir," said the cabman, as he gathered up the five-pound noteand tucked it down inside his collar. "I don't know who you are, butit's very kind of you; and as you seem to know something, I'll do asyou say. What with these devil-ships a-flyin' about the skies, anddropping thunderbolts on us from the clouds, and furreners a-comin' upthe Thames as I've heard, London ain't 'ealthy enough for me, nor themissus and the kids, and thanks for your kindness, sir, we're movin'to-night, keb an' all.
"Oh, my Gawd, there's another! 'Otel Cecil and Savoy this time, if I'vegot my bearin's right. Well, there's one thing, t'ain't on'y the porewhat's sufferin' this time; there'll be a lot of rich people dead aforemornin'. A pal of mine told me just now that Park Lane was burnin' fromend t' end. Good-evenin', sir, and thenk you."
As the cab drove away Lennard stood for a few moments on the pavement,watching two columns of flame soaring up from the side of the Strand.Perhaps the most dreadful effects produced by the aerial torpedoes werethose which resulted from the breaking of the gas mains and thedestruction of the electric conduits. Save for the bale-fires of ruinand destruction, half London was in darkness. Miles of streets underwhich the gas mains were laid blew up with almost volcanic force. Theelectric mains were severed, and all the contents dislocated, and ifever London deserved the name which James Thompson gave it when hecalled it "The City of Dreadful Night," it deserved it on that eveningof the 17th of November 1909.
Lennard was received in the Prime Minister's room by Mr Chamberlain,Lord Whittinghame, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Lord Milner and GeneralLord Kitchener.
It was perhaps the strangest meeting that had ever taken place in thatroom, not even saving the historic meeting of 1886. There was verylittle talking. Even in the House of Commons the flood of talk had ebbedaway in such a fashion that it made it possible for the nation'sbusiness to be got through at a wonderful speed. The fact of the matterwas that the guns were talking--talking within earshot of Palace Yarditself, and so men had come to choose their words and make them few.
After the introductions had been made the man who really held the fateof the world in his hands took a long envelope out of the breast-pocketof his coat, and proceeded to explain, somewhat as a schoolmaster mightexplain to his class, the doom which would overwhelm humanity on the12th May 1910.
He was listened to in absolute silence, because his hearers were men whohad good reason for believing that silence is often worth a good dealmore than speech. When he had finished the rustle of his papers as hehanded them to the Prime Minister was distinctly audible in the solemnsilence. The Prime Minister folded them up, and said:
"There is no necessity for us to go into the figures again. I think weare prepared to take them on the strength of your reputation, MrLennard.
"We have asked you here to-night as an adviser, as a man who in moreways than one sees farther than we can. Now, what is your advice? Youare aware, I presume, that the German Emperor, the Czar of Russia andthe French President landed at Dover this morning, and have issued anultimatum from Canterbury, calling upon us to surrender London, anddiscuss terms of peace in the interests of humanity. Now, you occupy aunique point of view. You have told us in your letters that unless amiracle happens the human race will not survive midnight of the 12th ofMay next. We believe that you are right, and now, p
erhaps, you will begood enough to let us have your opinions as to what should be done inthe immediate present."
"My opinion is, sir, that for at least forty days you must fight, nomatter how great the odds may appear to be. Every ditch and hedgerow,every road and lane, every hill and copse must be defended. If Londonfalls, England falls, and with it the Empire."
"But how are we to do it?" exclaimed Lord Kitchener. "With theseinfernal airships flying about above it, and dropping young earthquakesfrom the clouds? There are no braver men on earth than ours, but itisn't human nature to keep steady under that kind of punishment. Lookwhat they've done already in London! What is there to prevent them, forinstance, from dropping a shell through the roof of this house, andblowing the lot of us to eternity in little pieces? It's not theslightest use trying to shoot back at them. You remember what happenedto poor Beresford and the rest of his fleet in Dover Harbour. If youcan't hit back, you can't fight."
"That certainly appears to be perfectly reasonable," said Sir HenryCampbell-Bannerman. "Personally, I must confess, although with thegreatest reluctance, that considering the enormous advantage possessedby the enemy in this combination of submarine and flying machine, wehave no other alternative but to surrender at discretion. It is apitiful thing to say, I am well aware, but we are fighting forces whichwould never have been called into being in any other war. I agree withLord Kitchener that you cannot fight an enemy if you cannot hit himback. I am afraid there is no other alternative."
"No," added Lord Whittinghame, "I am afraid there is not. By to-morrowmorning there will be three millions of men on British soil, and wehaven't a million to put against them--to say nothing of these horribleairships: but, Mr Lennard, if the world is only going to live about sixmonths or so, what is the use of conquering the British Empire? Surelythere must be another alternative."
"Yes, my lord," replied Lennard, "there is another. I've no doubt yourlordship has one of your motors within call. Let us go down toCanterbury, yourself, Lord Kitchener and myself, and I will see if Ican't convince the German Emperor that in trying to conquer Britain heis only stabbing the waters. If I only had him at Whernside, I wouldconvince him in five minutes."
"Then we'd better get hold of him and take him there," said LordKitchener. "But I'm ready for the Canterbury journey."
"And so am I," said Lord Whittinghame, "and the sooner we're off thebetter. I've got a new Napier here that's good for seventy-five miles anhour, so we'd better be off."
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