Great War Syndicate
Page 5
andfell upon the waves.
In obedience to orders from the repeller, each crab took hold of one ofthe disabled vessels, and towed it near the mouth of the harbour, whereit was left.
The city was now in a state of feverish excitement, which wasintensified by the fact that a majority of the people did notunderstand what had happened, while those to whom this had been madeplain could not comprehend why such a thing should have been allowed tohappen. Three of Her Majesty's ships of war, equipped and ready foraction, had sailed out of the harbour, and an apparently insignificantenemy, without firing a gun, had put them into such a condition thatthey were utterly unfit for service, and must be towed into a dry dock.How could the Government, the municipality, the army, or the navyexplain this?
The anxiety, the excitement, the nervous desire to know what hadhappened, and what might be expected next, spread that evening to everypart of the Dominion reached by telegraph.
The military authorities in charge of the defences of the city were asmuch disturbed and amazed by what had happened as any civilian couldpossibly be, but they had no fears for the safety of the place, for theenemy's vessels could not possibly enter, nor even approach, theharbour. The fortifications on the heights mounted guns much heavierthan those on the men-of-war, and shots from these fired from anelevation might sink even those "underwater devils." But, more than onthe forts, they relied upon their admirable system of torpedoes andsubmarine batteries. With these in position and ready for action, asthey now were, it was impossible for an enemy's vessel, floating on thewater or under it, to enter the harbour without certain destruction.
Bulletins to this effect were posted in the city, and somewhat allayedthe popular anxiety, although many people, who were fearful of whatmight happen next, left by the evening trains for the interior. Thatnight the news of this extraordinary affair was cabled to Europe, andthence back to the United States, and all over the world. In manyquarters the account was disbelieved, and in no quarter was itthoroughly understood, for it must be borne in mind that the methods ofoperation employed by the crabs were not evident to those on board thedisabled vessels. But everywhere there was the greatest desire to knowwhat would be done next.
It was the general opinion that the two armoured vessels were merelytenders to the submerged machines which had done the mischief. Havingfired no guns, nor taken any active part in the combat, there was everyreason to believe that they were intended merely as bomb-proofstore-ships for their formidable consorts. As these submerged vesselscould not attack a town, nor reduce fortifications, but could exercisetheir power only against vessels afloat, it was plain enough to seethat the object of the American Syndicate was to blockade the port.That they would be able to maintain the blockade when the full power ofthe British navy should be brought to bear upon them was generallydoubted, though it was conceded in the most wrathful circles that,until the situation should be altered, it would be unwise to riskvaluable war vessels in encounters with the diabolical sea-monsters nowlying off the port.
In the New York office of the Syndicate there was great satisfaction.The news received was incorrect and imperfect, but it was evident that,so far, everything had gone well.
About nine o'clock the next morning, Repeller No. 1, with her consorthalf a mile astern, and preceded by the two crabs, one on either bow,approached to within two miles of the harbour mouth. The crabs, aquarter of a mile ahead of the repeller, moved slowly; for between themthey bore an immense net, three or four hundred feet long, and thirtyfeet deep, composed of jointed steel rods. Along the upper edge ofthis net was a series of air-floats, which were so graduated that theywere sunk by the weight of the net a few feet below the surface of thewater, from which position they held the net suspended vertically.
This net, which was intended to protect the repeller against theapproach of submarine torpedoes, which might be directed from theshore, was anchored at each end, two very small buoys indicating itsposition. The crabs then falling astern, Repeller No. 1 lay to, withthe sunken net between her and the shore, and prepared to project thefirst instantaneous motor-bomb ever used in warfare.
The great gun in the bow of the vessel was loaded with one of thelargest and most powerful motor-bombs, and the spot to be aimed at wasselected. This was a point in the water just inside of the mouth ofthe harbour, and nearly a mile from the land on either side. Thedistance of this point from the vessel being calculated, the cannon wasadjusted at the angle called for by the scale of distances and levels,and the instrument indicating rise, fall, and direction was then put inconnection with it.
Now the Director-in-chief stepped forward to the button, by pressingwhich the power of the motor was developed. The chief of thescientific corps then showed him the exact point upon the scale whichwould be indicated when the gun was in its proper position, and thepiece was then moved upon its bearings so as to approximate as nearlyas possible this direction.
The bow of the vessel now rose upon the swell of the sea, and theinstant that the index upon the scale reached the desired point, theDirector-in-chief touched the button.
There was no report, no smoke, no visible sign that the motor had leftthe cannon; but at that instant there appeared, to those who were onthe lookout, from a fort about a mile away, a vast aperture in thewaters of the bay, which was variously described as from one hundredyards to five hundred yards in diameter. At that same instant, in theneighbouring headlands and islands far up the shores of the bay, and inevery street and building of the city, there was felt a sharp shock, asif the underlying rocks had been struck by a gigantic trip-hammer.
At the same instant the sky above the spot where the motor haddescended was darkened by a wide-spreading cloud. This was formed ofthat portion of the water of the bay which had been instantaneouslyraised to the height of about a thousand feet. The sudden appearanceof this cloud was even more terrible than the yawning chasm in thewaters of the bay or the startling shock; but it did not remain long inview. It had no sooner reached its highest elevation than it began todescend. There was a strong sea-breeze blowing, and in its descentthis vast mass of water was impelled toward the land.
It came down, not as rain, but as the waters of a vast cataract, asthough a mountain lake, by an earthquake shock, had been precipitatedin a body upon a valley. Only one edge of it reached the land, andhere the seething flood tore away earth, trees, and rocks, leavingbehind it great chasms and gullies as it descended to the sea.
The bay itself, into which the vast body of the water fell, became ascene of surging madness. The towering walls of water which had stoodup all around the suddenly created aperture hurled themselves back intothe abyss, and down into the great chasm at the bottom of the bay,which had been made when the motor sent its shock along the great rockbeds. Down upon, and into, this roaring, boiling tumult fell thetremendous cataract from above, and the harbour became one wild expanseof leaping maddened waves, hissing their whirling spray high into theair.
During these few terrific moments other things happened which passedunnoticed in the general consternation. All along the shores of thebay and in front of the city the waters seemed to be sucked away,slowly returning as the sea forced them to their level, and at manypoints up and down the harbour there were submarine detonations andupheavals of the water.
These were caused by the explosion, by concussion, of every torpedo andsubmarine battery in the harbour; and it was with this object in viewthat the instantaneous motor-bomb had been shot into the mouth of thebay.
The effects of the discharge of the motor-bomb astonished and evenstartled those on board the repellers and the crabs. At the instant oftouching the button a hydraulic shock was felt on Repeller No. 1.This was supposed to be occasioned the discharge of the motor, but itwas also felt on the other vessels. It was the same shock that hadbeen felt on shore, but less in degree. A few moments after there wasa great heaving swell of the sea, which tossed and rolled the fourvessels, and lifted the steel protecting net so high that for aninstant pa
rts of it showed themselves above the surface like glisteningsea-ghosts.
Experiments with motor-bombs had been made in unsettled mountainousdistricts, but this was the first one which had ever exerted its powerunder water.
On shore, in the forts, and in the city no one for an instant supposedthat the terrific phenomenon which had just occurred was in any way dueto the vessels of the Syndicate. The repellers were in plain view, andit was evident that neither of them had fired a gun. Besides, thefiring of cannon did not produce such effects. It was the generalopinion that there had been an earthquake shock, accompanied by acloud-burst and extraordinary convulsions of the sea. Such acombination of elementary disturbances had never been known in theseparts; and a great many persons were much more frightened than if theyhad understood what had really happened.
In about half an hour after the discharge of the motor-bomb, when thesea had resumed its usual quiet, a boat carrying a white flag leftRepeller No. 1, rowed directly over