Great War Syndicate
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captain of that vessel to evacuate his ship,the Syndicate had declined to exhibit the efficiency of their new agentof destruction upon a disabled craft crowded with human beings.
This course had been highly prejudicial to the claims of the Syndicate,for as Repeller No. 7 had made no use in the contest with the Adamantof the motor-bombs with which she was said to be supplied, it wasgenerally believed on both sides of the Atlantic that she carried nosuch bombs, and the conviction that the destruction at the Canadianport had been effected by means of mines continued as strong as it hadever been. To correct these false ideas was, now the duty of RepellerNo. 11.
For some time Great Britain had been steadily forwarding troops andmunitions of war to Canada, without interruption from her enemy. Onlyonce had the Syndicate's vessels appeared above the Banks ofNewfoundland, and as the number of these peculiar craft mustnecessarily be small, it was not supposed that their line of operationswould be extended very far north, and no danger from them wasapprehended, provided the English vessels laid their courses well tothe north.
Shortly before the sailing of Repeller No. 11, the Syndicate hadreceived news that one of the largest transatlantic mail steamers,loaded with troops and with heavy cannon for Canadian fortifications,and accompanied by the Craglevin, one of the largest ironclads in theRoyal Navy, had started across the Atlantic. The first business of therepeller and her attendant crabs concerned these two vessels.
Owing to the power and speed of the crabs which towed her, Repeller No.11 made excellent time; and on the morning of the third day out the twoBritish vessels were sighted. Somewhat altering their course theSyndicate's vessels were soon within a few miles of the enemy.
The Craglevin was a magnificent warship. She was not quite so large asthe Adamant, and she was unprovided with a stern-jacket or otherdefence of the kind. In sending her out the Admiralty had designed herto defend the transport against the regular vessels of the UnitedStates navy; for although the nature of the contract with the Syndicatewas well understood in England, it was not supposed that the AmericanGovernment would long consent to allow their war vessels to remainentirely idle.
When the captain of the Craglevin perceived the approach of therepeller he was much surprised, but he did not hesitate for a moment asto his course. He signalled to the transport, then about a mile to thenorth, to keep on her way while he steered to meet the enemy. It hadbeen decided in British naval circles that the proper thing to do inregard to a repeller was to ram her as quickly as possible. Thesevessels were necessarily slow and unwieldy, and if a heavy ironcladcould keep clear of crabs long enough to rush down upon one, there wasevery reason to believe that the "ball-bouncer," as the repellers werecalled by British sailors, could be crushed in below the water-line andsunk. So, full of courage and determination, the captain of theCraglevin bore down upon the repeller.
It is not necessary to enter into details of the ensuing action.Before the Craglevin was within half a mile of her enemy she was seizedby two crabs, all of which had cast loose from the repeller, and inless than twenty minutes both of her screws were extracted and herrudder shattered. In the mean time two of the swiftest crabs hadpursued the transport, and, coming up with her, one of them hadfastened to her rudder, without, however, making any attempt to injureit. When the captain of the steamer saw that one of the sea-devils hadhim by the stern, while another was near by ready to attack him, heprudently stopped his engines and lay to, the crab keeping his ship'shead to the sea.
The captain of the Craglevin was a very different man from the captainof the Adamant. He was quite as brave, but he was wiser and moreprudent. He saw that the transport had been captured and forced to layto; he saw that the repeller mounted two heavy guns at her bow, andwhatever might be the character of those guns, there could be noreasonable doubt that they were sufficient to sink an ordinary mailsteamer. His own vessel was entirely out of his control, and even ifhe chose to try his guns on the spring armour of the repeller, it wouldprobably result in the repeller turning her fire up on the transport.
With a disabled ship, and the lives of so many men in his charge, thecaptain of the Craglevin saw that it would be wrong for him to attemptto fight, and he did not fire a gun. With as much calmness as thecircumstances would permit, he awaited the progress of events.
In a very short time a message came to him from Repeller No. 11, whichstated that in two hours his ship would be destroyed by instantaneousmotor-bombs. Every opportunity, however, would be given for thetransfer to the mail steamer of all the officers and men on board theCraglevin, together with such of their possessions as they could takewith them in that time. When this had been done the transport would beallowed to proceed on her way.
To this demand nothing but acquiescence was possible. Whether or notthere was such a thing as an instantaneous motor-bomb the Craglevin'sofficers did not know; but they knew that if left to herself their shipwould soon attend to her own sinking, for there was a terrible rent inher stern, owing to a pitch of the vessel while one of thepropeller-shafts was being extracted.
Preparations for leaving the ship were, therefore,immediately begun. The crab was ordered to release the mail steamer,which, in obedience to signals from the Craglevin, steamed as near thatvessel as safety would permit. Boats were lowered from both ships, andthe work of transfer went on with great activity.
There was no lowering of flags on board the Craglevin, for theSyndicate attached no importance to such outward signs and formalities.If the captain of the British ship chose to haul down his colours hecould do so; but if he preferred to leave them still bravely floatingabove his vessel he was equally welcome to do that.
When nearly every one had left the Craglevin, a boat was sent from therepeller, which lay near by, with a note requesting the captain andfirst officer of the British ship to come on board Repeller No. 11 andwitness the method of discharging the instantaneous motor-bomb, afterwhich they would be put on board the transport. This invitation struckthe captain of the Craglevin with surprise, but a little reflectionshowed him that it would be wise to accept it. In the first place, itwas in the nature of a command, which, in the presence of six crabs anda repeller, it would be ridiculous to disobey; and, moreover, he wasmoved by a desire to know something about the Syndicate's mysteriousengine of destruction, if, indeed, such a thing really existed.
Accordingly, when all the others had left the ship, the captain of theCraglevin and his first officer came on board the repeller, curiouslyobserving the spring armour over which they passed by means of a lightgang-board with handrail. They were received by the director at one ofthe hatches of the steel deck, which were now all open, and conductedby him to the bomb-proof compartment in the bow. There was no reasonwhy the nature of the repeller's defences should not be known to worldnor adopted by other nations. They were intended as a protectionagainst ordinary shot and shell; they would avail nothing against theinstantaneous motor-bomb.
The British officers were shown the motor-bomb to be discharged, which,externally, was very much like an ordinary shell, except that it wasnearly as long as the bore of the cannon; and the director stated thatalthough, of course, the principle of the motor-bomb was theSyndicate's secret, it was highly desirable that its effects and itsmethods of operation should be generally known.
The repeller, accompanied by the mail steamer and all the crabs, nowmoved to about two miles to the leeward of the Craglevin, and lay to.The motor-bomb was then placed in one of the great guns, while thescientific corps attended to the necessary calculations of distance,etc.
The director now turned to the British captain, who had been observingeverything with the greatest interest, and, with a smile, asked him ifhe would like to commit hari-kari?
As this remark was somewhat enigmatical, the director went on to saythat if it would be any gratification to the captain to destroy hisvessel with his own hands, instead of allowing this to be done by anenemy, he was at liberty to do so. This offer was immediatelyaccepted, for if his shi
p was really to be destroyed, the captain feltthat he would like to do it himself.
When the calculations had been made and the indicator set, the captainwas shown the button he must press, and stood waiting for the signal.He looked over the sea at the Craglevin, which had settled a little atthe stern, and was rolling heavily; but she was still a magnificentbattleship, with the red cross of England floating over her. He couldnot help the thought that if this motor mystery should amount tonothing, there was no reason why the Craglevin should not be towed intoport, and be made again the grand warship that she had been.
Now the director gave the signal, and the captain, with his eyes fixedupon his ship, touched the button. A quick shock ran through therepeller, and a black-gray cloud, half a mile high, occupied the placeof the British ship.
The cloud rapidly settled down, covering the water with a glitteringscum which spread far and wide, and which had been the Craglevin.
The British captain stood for a