I kissed Amalia’s hand with the devotion of a believer who touches with his lips the statue of a saint, and I went to meet the ship’s doctor. He had recovered his usual kindly but sad expression. Waiting until we were alone he whispered in my ear:
“Don’t go away from the private apartments until you have seen Senorita Dolores.”
He no sooner uttered these words than he disappeared and left me standing there alone feeling somewhat foolish. It was not until a door was partly opened and I caught sight of the handsome but scared face of Senorita Dolores herself, that I fully recovered my equanimity.
What did she want with me? And what new trouble did her frightened look betoken?
She beckoned me to come quickly to her and I hastened forward. She closed the door behind me.
I found myself in the little Oriental smoking-saloon in which I had seen Dolores and Gabriel for the first time. The young girl invited me in a trembling voice to sit on the divan where not so long before I watched her in a graceful pose discussing her pathetic and disconcerting experiences with Gabriel and the doctor.
She turned her gaze anxiously to the top of the little staircase. It was the one down which I came on that occasion and it led to the organ loft in the great dining-saloon.
I noticed that Gabriel was standing at the very spot from which I had listened to their conversation that evening. Leaning over the balusters he assured Dolores that he was keeping a sharp look-out and there was no danger for the moment. As might be imagined these precautions only served to raise my curiosity to an unwonted pitch, and I was eager to know what was the cause of them.
Dolores sat down beside me and observing my impatience at once said in a low voice:
“First of all promise me that what passes here will be treated as an absolute secret between us.”
“I swear it, Senorita,” I replied.
“Well, you must know that Gabriel and I feel the greatest sympathy for that poor woman and her children. In our opinion she is in no sense responsible for anything, and yet a terrible fate awaits her.”
“Heavens!” I exclaimed. “Can’t we rely on Captain Hyx’s promise?”
“You didn’t really understand Captain Hyx,” she replied, shaking her head sadly. “ The Captain promised ‘ to do nothing’ until Frau von Treischke had talked things over with her husband, and you immediately jumped to the conclusion that the Captain was going to allow her to join her husband for that purpose. But that’s absolutely untrue... it’s the very reverse of what is going to happen.... The Admiral is to come here...
“But how is he to come here?” I asked, entirely taken aback, for as yet I did not understand her meaning.
“He will be brought here by force. Then he can have as many talks with his wife as he pleases. They won’t be of the slightest consequence. And Captain Hyx will be able to say that he kept his promise ‘to do nothing’ until after they had met.”
“And what then?” I asked weakly, dismayed by the look of compassion and despair on Dolores’ face.
“Oh, then,” she said, lowering her eyes and unable to repress a shudder... “I don’t know.... I don’t want to know.... Must I tell you everything that goes on here?... You don’t expect that, do you?
.. That certainly doesn’t in any case concern me.
.. And then you are already partly aware of it since you live in this prison.... Then just think... there can be no real revenge so long as Admiral von Treischke is not here....”
“The horror of it.”
“Yes, the horror of it... because they know that he adores his wife and children.”
“What do you mean.... What do you mean?”
“Don’t you understand me even now?”
“I dare not.... Lord have mercy on me... dare not..
“You must dare everything when you have understood everything. So make haste and understand, for I tell you that he is expected.... I tell you that we’re going to fetch him....”
“It’s awful... awful....”
“Yes... yes, it’s awful... but not for him, not for him... he deserves every torment... but for her... for her....”
“Then you think they will make her suffer when he is here “Make her suffer.... Oh, my dear sir... there are so many martyrs to avenge... and one martyr in particular... one whose portrait I have seen in the little chapel. That one, it seems to me, is more to be feared for Frau von Treischke than even the memory of Miss Campbell’s assassination.”
I sat for some minutes unable to say a word, stifled with emotion and apprehension.... Already I saw Amalia irretrievably doomed, a prey to madmen, handed over to the sanguinary fury of these angels of the waters. It was not without reason that I had mistrusted Captain Hyx’s words and promises.... With what deadly and scarcely concealed delight had this felon deceived us and played in a phrase with Amalia’s credulity, and good faith, and mind and heart.... And now nothing was wanting but the Admiral’s presence for the awful “ceremony” to begin.
“My God,” I stammered, “ can such a crime be permitted?”
I took Dolores’ feverish hands in mine, for she seemed to share my agitation, and said:
“Since you have had the courage to...”
“Yes,” she interrupted quickly, shaking her head, “the dangerous courage if you will believe me, Senor........”
“Since you have had the courage to make me see and understand the hidden meaning of a phrase that seemed clear enough, you must have believed that this dangerous confidence would be of use to my poor friend.”
“Yes, that is so,” she admitted, throwing a rapid glance at the staircase.
Gabriel was still on guard. He signified by a gesture that all was well. And in a voice which sank so low that at times I had to guess her words, for I did not really catch them, she went on:
“Yes, it may be that you can do something. In any case, it is only through you that her safety can come.”
“Speak.... Tell me what I can do.,.. I will give my life if necessary.”
“Oh, I guessed that you were in love with her, believe me. Who would not love her?... She is so beautiful.... You will never know what a sacrifice I am making in telling you these things nor what risk I am running.... Oh, I am certainly risking my life.... If it were known in the little chapel that I said these things to you, my life would not be worth a moment’s purchase.... So, whatever you do, be careful... for your own sake, for hers, for mine, for everybody’s....”
“Oh, Senorita, I promise you I will... on my soul.”
“I am betraying at this moment a man who with all his violence is worthy of admiration. He has saved more men and women and children than all the declarations of universal brotherhood, and all the solemn appeals sent from one continent to the other, in telegrams and wireless, by the greatest and most independent nation in the world.... Mark what I say, Senor.... Not only am I betraying him, but I am betraying myself. And I am doing this to such an extent that if Gabriel, who is upstairs on guard, ever realised the recklessness of my treachery he would never forgive me.... Yes, Senor, for her sake... she is so beautiful, and because she is so beautiful I am depriving myself of every weapon of defence.... Never mind.... Never mind.... When she came and wept, and knelt with her young children in entreaty at the Captain’s feet, I swore by the blessed Virgin... I swore to do my utmost to save her... even if it meant that the other person had to be saved.”
I listened... how greedily I listened to her. At last I was beginning to perceive through so much that was ambiguous the clue that might enable us to find our way out of this maze of torments.... What was it that I had to understand? I had to understand that nothing was lost; that is to say, that everything was postponed until the other arrived here. I had therefore to save that other person.
Dolores saw that I was following her train of thought this time and she went on:
“The Captain has no reason to detain you here. You came here entirely by accident and you are a neutral. Moreover, he does not fear pu
blicity. On the contrary, he courts it with certain people. He organises it when necessary.... The only secret guarded by him is that of his movements at the time when he is getting ready to strike. But he is not at all keen on keeping the world in ignorance of what is happening here. So long as certain Huns are terrorised by it, he is satisfied. He does not seek the approbation of any one. His motto is ‘God and my black flag.’”
She paused for a moment, and then sighing and wiping away a tear, continued:
“Go and see the Captain and tell him that you want to be put ashore at the earliest possible moment... because I feel that we are on our way after the other person... and it is high time that he should be forewarned....”
“Do you think that the Captain will accede to my request?”
“I assure you that he has no reason to detain you here. And, besides, he is always respectful of right. You have the right to be put ashore, and he will put you ashore, and then...”
“And then?”
“Well, then you must not lose an instant. You must hasten to the place where the Admiral is....”
Dolores bent over my ear and whispered:
“And you must tell him to be on his guard against everything that can come from mid-air.... Tell him among other things that the six burgomasters who disappeared were captured during the night by persons who came from mid-air and threw them into an aerial prison, for the six towns were robbed of their burgomasters in one night.”
“The auto-hydro-aeroplane,” I interposed.
“Hush... let him beware of the auto-hydro-aeroplane.... Let him beware of all such machines... whether they spin along in the air or on land or under the seas.... But I won’t say anything more... not another word... certainly not another word.... Oh, I would rather die.... I’ve done enough in betraying others as well as myself.... Now everything depends on you, Senor, on your cleverness, on the manner in which you handle the Captain and what you say to him. After all, he is a man...” (how like a woman was Dolores’ last remark!)...”and there are words to which a man, even when he places himself above ordinary human nature, is always ready to listen.... I will not suggest to you... you are too shrewd, Senor, to need me to do so... to ‘humour his weakness’; the phrase in such a connection is enough to make one shudder; but I will say: have the courage to look his work in the face in the presence of the man. He likes people to take an interest in it even if only to censure it. Try to rise to his level and perhaps he will be grateful to you for it.... However, the main thing is to get ashore as soon as possible... as soon as possible.”
She rose to her feet after uttering these words and Gabriel quickly descended the stairs.
At that moment electric bells rang out on all sides.
“Make haste.... Don’t let them see you here with us,” rapped out Dolores as she helped me towards the door leading to Amalia’s loom.
Here I stumbled against the doctor and asked him the cause of the unusual tumult and the ringing of the electric bells.
“It’s nothing,” he replied. “They’re clearing for action.”
CHAPTER XXII
THE OTHER SHARK
“ARE THEY GETTING ready for drill-practice?” I asked.
“Not at all,” replied the doctor. “They’re going to have a fight. The electric bells are signalling the men to stand by. The Vengeance will be closed down completely, including the glass panels, on account of outside explosions.”
“And who and what are they going to fight?”
I will at once confess that this fresh incident, complicating everything else at a moment when my mind was immersed in a particularly grim problem, appeared to me to be anything but opportune. The doctor could not help noticing my furious agitation. I say furious because it was really anger rather than fear which made my soul rise against such maltreatment by fate.
Why did such ill-luck dog my footsteps? What in the world had I done that I should be compelled to take part, under the waters, in a fight which in no sense concerned me and which, of all fights, was the most perilous? At least, that was my opinion, and it was in vain for the doctor to declare in order to reassure me, that “ it would be nothing.”
“They must have sighted a German submarine and are giving chase. It won’t last long, I assure you. For that matter, if you wish to see it, the sight will be well worth while.”
I allowed myself to be piloted by him through the alley-ways. There was considerable activity on board. The electric bells were still ringing and we fell in with groups of the crew who were crowding one upon the other to take up their stations.
“Do you understand what’s happening? They’re going to put on their best Sunday clothes.”
But I did not understand at all. I saw no necessity for the crew who were getting ready to fight a submarine — each man must in consequence be thinking, above everything else, of reaching his own particular post — to waste time in putting on his best Sunday clothes.
An incident occurred more extraordinary still. As we went quickly past the prisoners’ quarters — my quarter — the door to this guarded part of the Vengeance opened, and we were obliged to step aside into another corridor in order to allow the German prisoners to march through. There was a considerable number of them. I counted over sixty who were able-bodied and free from any disability. Another thirty had lost an arm or a hand or a leg. The prisoners with crutches were in the forefront.
At the head of the procession marched half a dozen marines with their rifles at the support. In the rear was a guard of a dozen men with fixed bayonets.
“They are hostages and semi-hostages being brought out to see the result of the fight.... It is their one diversion except fishing occasionally with rod and line,” intimated the doctor gravely with a touch of commiseration in his voice.
I did not attempt to grasp the meaning of this new incoherence, especially as the doctor began to run ahead, exclaiming:
“Let’s try to be in time. It’s so quickly over.”
I climbed an accommodation ladder after him and we found ourselves outside the control room.
“May we come in?” he asked an officer with whom I had recently become acquainted and who was bending over the picture screen which I have already described.
“Why, certainly, doctor. Come in right away. I think we are going to see some sport.”
It was not the first time that I heard this officer speak in a similarly chaffing tone. That very morning as I was trying to find my way to Captain Hyx’s room for lunch, he came part of the way with me, and chatted in a lively manner about life on board ship now that Captain Hyx had discovered a method of preventing sea-sickness. He had the good-natured, ruddy, cheery, youthful face of a “ middy,” and was in striking contrast with any other person that I had met on the Vengeance.
He confessed that he was a deserter from the American navy and would likewise have deserted from all the navies of the world, for he had the misfortune, as a sailor, never to be able to set foot on a ship without “dying from seasickness.”
It was the chief engineer Mabell, a friend of his boyhood, who induced him to join the Vengeance by the Simple promise that he would “ never suffer from seasickness.” I seem to remember that he endeavoured to justify his presence and work on board, in my eyes, by telling me in confidence some vague story that one of his relatives had been done to death by the Huns, but I cannot vouch for it, and in any case he appeared to attach only slight importance to it. He was one of those persons who say off-hand: If you’re a man, you’ll hate them. That’s quite enough without any need of suffering personally from them.
With his free hand — the other was pressing some electric contact button — he beckoned me with an encouraging gesture, and I stepped forward after the doctor, no longer fearing to be too presumptuous.
We saw on the screen a small warship which was manoeuvring on the surface. It was a destroyer. She was whisking about with great speed and constantly altering her course as though hunting some prey.
“We’re not going to fight that torpedo-boat destroyer, I suppose?” I said. “Where are we now?”
“That’s an English destroyer,” replied the jovial “ middy”; “but as to our exact position I’m not at liberty to say. Still I can tell you that we are some two hundred and twenty-five feet below the level of the sea.”
“And whom are you going to fight?”
“Why, a German submarine which is being chased by that destroyer and dare not show her periscope.... But misfortunes never come singly. The German submarine must be feeling very sick just now because her microphones have certainly given warning of the presence of another submarine near her, and she must be doubtful by this time whether that submarine is a friend.”
“But she hasn’t seen you yet,” I said.
“No one can see us. Meanwhile, with the cold light of our searchlights, we shan’t lose sight of her as she ploughs her way under water.”
“What is the use of your searchlights if during the fight you are as blind as she?... I mean, if you are obliged to keep the shutters of your glass panels closed?”
“Well, how about our electric eyes?”
“But they are for seeing what passes on the surface.”
“Nonsense!... Why should they be?... They are equally for use above and below water.... You must be aware that the bed of the sea has been photographed. We... we cinematograph it.... For that matter, if you wait a bit you’ll see.”
The officer pointed to a second screen hanging on the riveted plates of the wall in front of him. I had at first taken it for a spare screen, but he gave an order through a speaking tube and it was at once illuminated. And on this film, to which a dozen electric wires converged, was the picture of a submarine navigating under water.
“That’s one of the latest German submarines,” declared the officer.
I was — why should I not confess it? — greatly disconcerted.
Collected Works of Gaston Leroux Page 348