by Anthology
"Make it a score at least," put in Sir Harry, with a short laugh. "If they cost £40,000 a-piece, I'll see that the money's found for them."
"Very well," continued Mr. Austen, looking round at him with a smile. "A score let it be, and I can promise you that they shall be both faster and more powerful for destruction than the Volante, as we were going to have called her.
"But by the time we have built these,- and with the utmost expedition they will take at least six months to complete, even if we build them simultaneously,- we must expect that Renault and his accomplices, with an equal, if not greater, command of money, will have been able to build a fleet possibly as strong as this, and therefore, I am afraid, we shall have to prepare ourselves not only to hunt the anarchists out of the world, but to literally fight such battles as have never been fought before.
"In short, I am afraid we must take it that, within the scope of the air-ship's powers, and as soon as she has been properly armed, Renault is virtual master of the world. It seems an extravagant term to use, and yet it must be granted that he is so; and we shall have to fight him for that mastery, and take it away from him, or be destroyed in the attempt. There is nothing else for it, so far as I can see."
"No, there is nothing else; we must go," said Adams and Ambrose Miller, almost in a breath.
The result of this brief conference was that, that evening the colonists of Utopia assembled to the number of about a thousand souls on the beach beside the landing-stages, and heard from Adams's lips the gist of what had already been said in private. Everyone, of reasoning years, was compelled to admit that, mournful as such a step undoubtedly was, there was nothing for it but to forsake their beautiful southern home.
As long as Max Renault remained at liberty and in command of the air-ship, there was no chance of safety for anyone in Utopia, and therefore they must abandon it. Some day, perhaps, when the peace of the world should be restored, they might return and continue the work that had been so rudely interrupted; but for the present they must forsake it.
But when Adams had done speaking, Sir Harry jumped upon the block of coral upon which he had been standing, and, in a few well-chosen, hearty words, claimed the opportunity of making a return for the hospitality he and the company of the Calypso had received in Utopia, by placing a little seaside town in Yorkshire, which he owned from the foundation to the chimney-pots, at the disposal of all who chose to go and live there as his guests until they found opportunities of settling down again into English homes of their own.
The invitation was accepted in the same spirit in which it was given, and with the next sunrise the Utopians set to work, with heavy hearts, but a settled conviction that they were doing the best possible for themselves and their children, to make all preparations for leaving the island at the earliest possible date.
Of course, the work on the Nautilus was pushed on with the utmost speed. Everyone who could give any assistance was set to work, and relays of workers wrought night and day on her and the Calypso with such hearty goodwill that on the tenth day of the new year the Calypso was floated out of the dry dock, and, in the presence of all the assembled colonists, Miss Dora put her dainty fingers on the electric button connected with certain mechanism which, set in motion, sent the Nautilus gliding down the well-greased ways of the slips, and despatched her with a graceful plunge into the waters of the basin.
By noon the following day everything was ready for the exodus, and the colonists embarked on the three vessels that were to take them back to England. The Irene, the two-thousand-ton transport steamer which had originally brought them out, and the Calypso, which had also been fitted up as a transport, were to go by way of the Panama Canal, the Irene carrying the Mermaid as a tender. Ambrose Miller went in command of this portion of the expedition, and the Nautilus, in charge of Adams and Mr. Austen, and carrying Violet and the lieutenant, Sir Harry, Doctor Roberts, and Mrs. Merton and Dora, who had undertaken the care of Violet between them, was to go round the Horn in order to avoid the undesirable notice she would be bound to receive going through the Canal.
Though neither knew it, she actually passed the Destroyer, outward bound for Utopia, within ten miles of her, between the island of Trinidad and the coast of South America.
Travelling at an average speed of forty knots an hour, the Nautilus covered the fifteen thousand odd miles between Utopia and the Straits of Dover in the miraculous time of seventeen days. So far the voyage was eventless. The strange, low-lying craft, mastless save for a single signal pole, had crossed the world almost unobserved. The lieutenant's wound had healed, and he was so much stronger that he took a regular watch every day in the conning-tower, to familiarise himself with the working of the vessel; while Violet, though, of course, still almost helpless, had improved wonderfully in both health and general spirits.
They were running quietly and swiftly along through comparatively smooth grey sea, almost due east of the Admiralty Pier, at a distance of about eight miles, in the early night of the 27th, when the first interruption occurred. Without warning the long white blinding ray of a war-ship's searchlight flashed out of the gloom towards the land.
It fell for an instant on the platform of the swiftly-moving Nautilus, then came the short, flat-toned bang of a blank cartridge, conveying an unmistakable information to stop. The lieutenant happened to be in the conning-tower with Adams at that moment. Adams, who was at the wheel, looked at him inquiringly and said-
"What does that mean?"
Wyndham was silent for a moment, and then said very seriously-
"It may mean one of two things, and either of them is bad enough. Either these scoundrels in the Destroyer have been terrorising the Channel, or England is at war. However, I'll soon let them know who we are."
So saying, he put his hand on a switch, the forward searchlight of the Nautilus gleamed up from the water, and flashed the private signal, intimating that the strange craft was in charge of an officer of the fleet.
CHAPTER XV.
NEWS OF WAR.
AS the answering signal was flashed from the war-ship's searchlight, the Nautilus slowed down to ten knots and swung round to port, describing a three-quarter curve which brought her alongside a large, grey-painted armoured cruiser, which, with her attendant brace of torpedo-boats, was cruising under easy steam about six miles from the land.
As the Nautilus, with nothing of her showing above the water except her platform and conning-tower, and an expanse of plated turtle-back deck fore and aft of it, and with no funnels, and, consequently, no smoke or steam issuing from any part of her, ran up alongside the cruiser, all who were on the deck of the British vessel crowded to the bulwarks and portholes, and up into the rigging, to get a closer view of the strange craft.
The captain himself was at the gangway as she came alongside, looking with no less curious eyes than anyone else at this strange visitor, which seemed the nearest approach to an actual submarine vessel that he had ever heard of. By the time the gangway steps had been reached, Wyndham had come on deck dressed in his uniform as a lieutenant of the fleet, and returned the salute with which Her Majesty's cloth was immediately recognised.
"What craft is that, and where do you come from?" asked the commander of the cruiser. "And how long have you been in commission? I never heard of a thing like that in the Navy. Who are you?"
"Well, sir, I'm Herbert Wyndham, late lieutenant of the Sandfly, gunboat on the West African coast, invalided on sick-leave, picked up by a friend's yacht, and landed on an unknown island, where I found the craft that I am now temporarily in command of. If you'll allow me to come on board, I'll explain myself more fully."
"Certainly. Come on board by all means, Mr. Wyndham," replied the captain. "According to what you say, you ought to have some adventures to tell."
"Yes," said Wyndham, who by this time had got on to the gangway ladder, and was mounting slowly, with the assistance of one of his own crew. "You must excuse my coming rather slowly, for I was wounded again less
than a month ago, and am rather shaky still."
"Why on earth didn't you say so, man?" exclaimed the captain, as a couple of bluejackets ran down the ladder in obedience to a sign from him. "I could have sent a chair down for you if I had known that."
"Oh, I'm not quite bad enough for that, thanks," said Wyndham, as he accepted an arm from one of the bluejackets, and so arrived safely on the cruiser's deck. From the gangway he was at once taken straight down to the captain's cabin, and there told him all that it was necessary for him to know of the origin and mission of the Nautilus.
"And now," he said, in concluding his story, " we are going to run up to Elswick and get our armament on board. It was ordered months ago, and will no doubt be ready for us by the time we get there. When we've got it all on board, and I'm a little stronger, we are going out to hunt that blackguard of an anarchist down. In fact, I'm going to resign my commission in the navy on purpose to do it."
"I don't think you can do that," said the captain of the cruiser seriously. " At least, from what I have heard of you, I feel pretty certain you won't attempt to do so under present circumstances."
"Indeed?" asked Wyndham, lifting his eyebrows. "And why not? I hope I wasn't right in guessing, as I almost did when you fired the shot to tell us to heave to, that England's at war."
"Yes, I'm sorry to say we are," replied the captain; "and, between you and me, I am still more sorry to say we're not prepared for it."
"Oh," said Wyndham, "is that really so? I haven't heard anything about that. Who are we fighting?"
"Russia, at present," replied the captain. "And I'm afraid we shall be at loggerheads with France, too, before very long.
"I suppose you're a good way behindhand with the news now, but you'll remember that, after the compromise that ended the war between China and Japan by granting the Japanese, amongst other concessions, the suzerainty of Corea and the control of the Corean ports, we found it necessary to reoccupy Port Hamilton, in order to keep a check on the Russian naval developments in the East.
"Well, for the last year we've been quarrelling about that with Russia, who was very much sold because Lord Salisbury put his foot down and absolutely refused to give her an ice-free port in Corea when the Chino-Japanese quarrel was settled, and matters came to a crisis about a month ago, when the Russians attempted to occupy Port Lazaraff by force, and our China Squadron stopped them, also by force.
"They fired on us first, and there was a regular pitched battle, in which the Russians were soundly thrashed. Of course, that could only mean war, and so war it is. France is holding her hand for the present, in spite of the arrangement that most people think there is between her and Russia. The moment she draws the sword, Germany, Austria, and Italy will join us; and, for my own part, I fancy that she's just waiting, for the present, to see how the cat jumps between us and Russia.
"We've had no actual fighting here yet, but, of course, every one is on the qui vive. The Russian Baltic Fleet will be shut up in the ice until April, and the moment the Black Sea Fleet attempts to force the Dardanelles, Turkey is to join us, and there'll be a general row.
"Meanwhile, we are keeping one eye on Russia, and the other on France; the Mediterranean Squadron is being strengthened every day as fast as we can get the ships into commission, which is precious slowly, I can assure you, thanks to the normal torpidity of the Admiralty; but still, we are holding our own very fairly, and if we only have Russia to tackle, I think we shall be able to confine the war to the sea, and give her a good hammering when the ice breaks up and we get properly to work. By the way, I wish we had a dozen or so craft like that Nautilus of yours. Couldn't we get that one into commission, and have some more built, don't you think?"
Wyndham was silent for a moment, and then, with a shake of his head, he replied-
"I don't feel altogether sure of that. Of course, as there's war, it will be impossible for me to resign my commission, as I intended to do for private as well as public reasons, and, therefore, if I am ordered on service, when I am fit for it, I shall go; but, you see, the Nautilus is private property.
"She's been built outside British jurisdiction, by people who own no allegiance to Britain or any other country, and, more than that, she's driven by a motor-power of the composition of which I haven't the faintest notion. In fact, I've given my word of honour not even to ask what it is; and if you had fifty ships like her, they'd be very little use to you if you had to drive them by steam-engines in the ordinary way.
"I suppose you thought we were some new-fashioned sort of Russian torpedo ram trying to sneak through and do what damage we could in the narrow waters. Of course, we're nothing like that; but still, I ought to tell you that I am really only a sort of guest on board her, and those who actually do own her may have plans of their own that I should be sorry to interfere with."
"H'm!" said the captain. "That makes it a little awkward, doesn't it? Could I see one of these gentlemen, do you think? Perhaps we might be able to come to some arrangement, though, of course, you understand I have no power to treat on behalf of the Government; still, I have some interest at the Admiralty, and I daresay that a report from me might be favourably considered, especially as their lordships seem to be a little bit alarmed by the row that was kicked up when the declaration of war actually came, and they weren't able to put three-quarters of the ships into commission."
"If you'll send down and ask Mr. Austen to come on board," said Wyndham, "I think he'll be the best man for you to talk to. He is- well, practically the designer of the Nautilus, and I have no doubt his word would go a long way if he chose to give it."
The captain at once rang for an orderly, and sent him down to the Nautilus with an invitation to Mr. Austen to come on board the cruiser. The invitation was accepted, and within five minutes he was seated at the captain's table. Then a somewhat lengthy conversation ensued; the end of which was that Mr. Austen consented to a report, embodying a description of the Nautilus, being laid before the Admiralty, with a proposal that a dozen such vessels might be built at the expense of the country for the purposes of home defence, on condition that they should be furnished with motor fuel by Mr. Austen and his friends, who were to have sole control of the engine-rooms, and that no attempt was to be made to discover what the motor fuel was.
The ships might be commanded by British officers, and used as they thought best, but only for the duration of the war; after that they were to be given up to the Utopians, to be used according to their discretion. These conditions were taken down by the captain of the cruiser, to be embodied in his despatch, and then he was invited on board the Nautilus and shown over her without reserve. To say that he was amazed at what he saw would hardly be doing justice to his feelings by the time he had seen everything that was shown to him.
"For offensive or defensive purposes," he said, when he at length returned to her saloon, and had been introduced to the rest of her company, "I would rather command a craft like this, properly equipped, than the biggest battleship in the British Navy."
"Yes, I should think you would," said Wyndham, with a laugh. "I know more about her capabilities than you have been able to learn in such a short visit, and I can tell you I should be very sorry for you if you were in command of the Royal Sovereign or the Majestic, say, and I bad the Nautilus, and it was my business to send you to the bottom. You wouldn't have a chance against me. You might, perhaps, knock the platform into bits; but the next moment the ram would be into you, and you'd go down like a stone."
"Yes," replied the captain, with a perceptible shudder, "I suppose we should. Forty-four knots an hour, did you say you could make? Honestly, you know, that seems to me almost impossible. Why, even that scoundrel who has been terrorising the Atlantic wouldn't be in it in a race with you at that rate, and rumour says he can do nearly forty."
"Nevertheless, it's a fact," replied Wyndham. "We've just travelled over fifteen thousand miles in seventeen days and a half, and if you work that out, you'll find that it comes to
about forty knots an hour on the average, and if it was only daylight, you should see for yourself. Hullo, what's that?"
As he spoke; there came the dull boom of a gun out to sea, followed by a rattle of sharper reports. The captain of the cruiser jumped up from his seat at once and made towards the door of the saloon, followed by Wyndham, Sir Harry, Mr. Austen, and Adams.
When they reached the platform they saw searchlight beams darting out from a score of points at once, and signals were being flashed inland from the outer waters of the Straits. The captain of the cruiser, after one glance round, ran up on to the deck of his own vessel and had a hurried consultation with his first, officer; then he came to the gangway and called out-
"Now, then, Wyndham, there's a chance for your Nautilus. A couple of strange crafts, steaming like the very deuce, are running up under the French land to the north-west. They'll probably run inside the limit so we can't chase them, though our fellows are after them. You can do as you like. Suppose you overhaul them and see what you can make of them. They've got about a twenty-mile start of you now. Do you feel inclined to tackle them?"