Great War Syndicate
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a motor-bomb into the harbour, a mile or moreabove where the first one had fallen. This was done in order toexplode any torpedoes which might have been put into position since thedischarge of the first bomb.
There were very few people in the city and suburbs who were at thathour out of doors where they could see the great cloud of water arisetoward the sky, and behold it descend like a mighty cataract upon theharbour and adjacent shores; but the quick, sharp shock which ran underthe town made people spring from their beds; and although nothing wasthen to be seen, nearly everybody felt sure that the Syndicate's forceshad begun their day's work by exploding another mine.
A lighthouse, the occupants of which had been ordered to leave when thefort was evacuated, as they might be in danger in case of abombardment, was so shaken by the explosion of this motor-bomb that itfell in ruins on the rocks upon which it had stood.
The two crabs now took the steel net from its moorings and carried itup the harbour. This was rather difficult on account of the islands,rocks, and sand-bars; but the leading crab had on board a pilotacquainted with those waters. With the net hanging between them, thetwo submerged vessels, one carefully following the other, reached apoint about two miles below the city, where the net was anchored acrossthe harbour. It did not reach from shore to shore, but in the courseof the morning two other nets, designed for shallower waters, werebrought from the repellers and anchored at each end of the main net,thus forming a line of complete protection against submarine torpedoeswhich might be sent down from the upper harbour.
Repeller No. 1 now steamed into the harbour, accompanied by Crab A, andanchored about a quarter of a mile seaward of the net. The otherrepeller, with her attendant crab, cruised about the mouth of theharbour, watching a smaller entrance to the port as well as the largerone, and thus maintaining an effective blockade. This was not adifficult duty, for since the news of the extraordinary performances ofthe crabs had been spread abroad, no merchant vessel, large or small,cared to approach that port; and strict orders had been issued by theBritish Admiralty that no vessel of the navy should, until furtherinstructed, engage in combat with the peculiar craft of the Syndicate.Until a plan of action had been determined upon, it was very desirablethat English cruisers should not be exposed to useless injury anddanger.
This being the state of affairs, a message was sent from the office ofthe Syndicate across the border to the Dominion Government, whichstated that the seaport city which had been attacked by the forces ofthe Syndicate now lay under the guns of its vessels, and in case of anyovert act of war by Great Britain or Canada alone, such as the entranceof an armed force from British territory into the United States, or acapture of or attack upon an American vessel, naval or commercial, by aBritish man-of-war, or an attack upon an American port by Britishvessels, the city would be bombarded and destroyed.
This message, which was, of course, instantly transmitted to London,placed the British Government in the apparent position of being held bythe throat by the American War Syndicate. But if the BritishGovernment, or the people of England or Canada, recognized thisposition at all, it was merely as a temporary condition. In a shorttime the most powerful men-of-war of the Royal Navy, as well as a fleetof transports carrying troops, would reach the coasts of North America,and then the condition of affairs would rapidly be changed. It wasabsurd to suppose that a few medium-sized vessels, however heavilyarmoured, or a few new-fangled submarine machines, however destructivethey might be, could withstand an armada of the largest and finestarmoured vessels in the world. A ship or two might be disabled,although this was unlikely, now that the new method of attack wasunderstood; but it would soon be the ports of the United States, onboth the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, which would lie under the guns ofan enemy.
But it was not in the power of their navy that the British Governmentand the people of England and Canada placed their greatest trust, butin the incapacity of their petty foe to support its ridiculousassumptions. The claim that the city lay under the guns of theAmerican Syndicate was considered ridiculous, for few people believedthat these vessels had any guns. Certainly, there had been no evidencethat any shots had been fired from them. In the opinion of reasonablepeople the destruction of the forts and the explosions in the harbourhad been caused by mines--mines of a new and terrifying power--whichwere the work of traitors and confederates. The destruction of thelighthouse had strengthened this belief, for its fall was similar tothat which would have been occasioned by a great explosion under itsfoundation.
But however terrifying and appalling had been the results of theexplosion of these mines, it was not thought probable that there wereany more of them. The explosions had taken place at exposed pointsdistant from the city, and the most careful investigation failed todiscover any present signs of mining operations.
This theory of mines worked by confederates was received throughout thecivilized world, and was universally condemned. Even in the UnitedStates the feeling was so strong against this apparent alliance betweenthe Syndicate and British traitors, that there was reason to believethat a popular pressure would be brought to bear upon the Governmentsufficient to force it to break its contract with the Syndicate, and tocarry on the war with the National army and navy. The crab wasconsidered an admirable addition to the strength of the navy, but amine under a fort, laid and fired by perfidious confederates, wasconsidered unworthy an enlightened people.
The members of the Syndicate now found themselves in an embarrassingand dangerous position--a position in which they were placed by theuniversal incredulity regarding the instantaneous motor; and unlessthey could make the world believe that they really used such amotor-bomb, the war could not be prosecuted on the plan projected.
It was easy enough to convince the enemy of the terrible destructionthe Syndicate was able to effect; but to make that enemy and the worldunderstand that this was done by bombs, which could be used in oneplace as well as another, was difficult indeed. They had attempted toprove this by announcing that at a certain time a bomb should beprojected into a certain fort. Precisely at the specified time thefort had been destroyed, but nobody believed that a bomb had been fired.
Every opinion, official or popular, concerning what it had done andwhat might be expected of it, was promptly forwarded to the Syndicateby its agents, and it was thus enabled to see very plainly indeed thatthe effect it had desired to produce had not been produced. Unless theenemy could be made to understand that any fort or ships within tenmiles of one of the Syndicate's cannon could be instantaneouslydissipated in the shape of fine dust, this war could not be carried onupon the principles adopted, and therefore might as well pass out ofthe hands of the Syndicate.
Day by day and night by night the state of affairs was anxiouslyconsidered at the office of the Syndicate in New York. A new andimportant undertaking was determined upon, and on the success of thisthe hopes of the Syndicate now depended.
During the rapid and vigorous preparations which the Syndicate were nowmaking for their new venture, several events of interest occurred.
Two of the largest Atlantic mail steamers, carrying infantry andartillery troops, and conveyed by two swift and powerful men-of-war,arrived off the coast of Canada, considerably to the north of theblockaded city. The departure and probable time of arrival of thesevessels had been telegraphed to the Syndicate, through one of thecontinental cables, and a repeller with two crabs had been for somedays waiting for them. The English vessels had taken a high northerncourse, hoping they might enter the Gulf of St. Lawrence withoutsubjecting themselves to injury from the enemy's crabs, it not beingconsidered probable that there were enough of these vessels to patrolthe entire coast. But although the crabs were few in number, theSyndicate was able to place them where they would be of most use; andwhen the English vessels arrived off the northern entrance to the gulf,they found their enemies there.
However strong might be the incredulity of the enemy regarding thepowers of a repeller to bombard a city, the Syndicate felt sure th
erewould be no present invasion of the United States from Canada; but itwished to convince the British Government that troops and munitions ofwar could not be safely transported across the Atlantic. On the otherhand, the Syndicate very much objected to undertaking the imprisonmentand sustenance of a large body of soldiers. Orders were thereforegiven to the officer in charge of the repeller not to molest the twotransports, but to remove the rudders and extract the screws of the twowar-vessels, leaving them to be towed into port by the troop-ships.
This duty was performed by the crabs, while the British vessels, bothrams, were preparing to make a united and vigorous onset on therepeller, and the two men-of-war were left hopelessly tossing on thewaves. One of the transports, a very fast steamer, had already enteredthe straits, and could not be signalled; but the other one returned andtook both the war-ships in tow, proceeding very slowly until, afterentering the gulf, she was relieved by tugboats.
Another event of a somewhat different