CHAPTER XXV.
THE HERALDS OF DISASTER.
Another column in the same issue contained an account of the"Mysterious Disappearance of Lord Alanmere" and the doings of the_Ithuriel_ in the Atlantic. The account concluded as follows:--
"As the enemy's squadron came up in chase it was annihilated withoutwarning and with appalling suddenness by the air-ship, which musthave crossed the Atlantic in something like sixteen hours. After thisfearful achievement it descended to the _Aurania_, took off a saloonpassenger named Michael Roburoff, evidently, from his reception, aTerrorist himself, and then vanished through the clouds. For thepresent, and until we have fuller information, we attempt no detailedanalysis of these astounding events. We merely content ourselves withsaying in the most solemn words that we can use, that, awful anddisastrous as is the war that is now raging throughout the greatestpart of the old world, it is our firm belief that, behind thesmoke-clouds of battle, and beneath the surface of visible events,there is working a secret power, possibly greater than any which hasyet been called into action, and which at an unexpected moment maysuddenly put forth its strength, upheave the foundations of Society,and bury existing institutions in the ruins of Civilisation.
"One fact is quite manifest, and that is, that although the Leaguepossesses a weapon of fearful efficiency for destruction in theirfleet of aerostats, the Terrorists, controlled by no law save theirown, and hampered by no traditions or limitations of civilisedwarfare, are in command of another fleet of unknown strength, theair-ships of which are apparently as superior to the aerostats of theLeague as a modern battleship would be to a three-decker of the timeof Nelson.
"The power represented by such a fleet as this is absolutelyinconceivable. The aerostats are large, clumsy, and comparativelyslow. They do not carry guns, and can only drop their projectilesvertically downwards. Moreover, their sphere of operations has so farbeen entirely confined to the land.
"Very different, however, would seem to be the powers of theTerrorist air-ships. They have proved conclusively that they areswift almost beyond imagination. They have crossed oceans andcontinents in a few hours; they can ascend to enormous heights, andthey carry artillery of unknown design and tremendous range, whoseprojectiles excel in destructiveness the very lightnings of heavenitself.
"In the presence of such an awful and mysterious power as this eventhe quarrels of nations seem to shrink into unimportance, and almostto pettiness. Where and when it may strike, no man knows save thosewho wield it, and therefore there is nothing for the peoples of theearth, however mighty they may be, to do but to await the blow inhumiliating impotence, but still with a humble trust in that HigherPower which alone can save it from accomplishing the destruction ofSociety and the enslavement of the human race."
It may well be imagined with what interest, and it may fairly beadded with what intense anxiety, these words were read by hundreds ofthousands of people throughout the British Islands. Even the newsfrom the Seat of War began to pall in interest before such tidings asthese, invested as they were with the irresistible if terrible charmof the unknown and the mysterious.
By noon it was almost impossible to get any one in London or any ofthe large towns to talk of anything but the disappearance of LordAlanmere, the Terrorists, and their marvellous aerial fleet. But itgoes without saying that nowhere did the news produce greaterdistress or more utter bewilderment than it did among the occupantsof Alanmere Castle, and especially in the breast of her who had beenso quickly and so strangely installed as its new owner and mistress.
Everywhere the wildest rumours passed from lip to lip, growing insensation and absurdity as they went. A report, telegraphed by ananonymous idiot from Liverpool, to the effect that six air-ships hadappeared over the Mersey, and demanded a ransom of L10,000,000 fromthe town, was eagerly seized on by the cheaper evening papers, whichrushed out edition after edition on the strength of it, until the_St. James's Gazette_ put an end to the excitement by publishing atelegram from the Mayor of Liverpool denouncing the report as aninsane and criminal hoax.
The next edition of the _St. James's_, however, contained a telegramfrom Hiorring, in Denmark, _via_ Newcastle, which was of almost, ifnot quite, as startling and disquieting a nature, and which,moreover, contained a very considerable measure of truth. Thetelegram ran as follows:--
NAVAL DISASTER IN THE BALTIC.
_The Sound forced by a Russian Squadron, assisted by a Terrorist Air-Ship._
(_From our own Correspondent._)
Hiorring, _June 28th_, 8 A.M.
With the deepest regret I have to record the first naval disaster to the British arms during the present war. As soon as it became dark last night heavy firing was heard from Copenhagen to the southward, and before long the sound deepened into an almost continuous roar of light and heavy guns.
Our naval force in the Baltic was so strong that it was deemed incredible that the Russian fleet, which we have held imprisoned here since the commencement of hostilities, should dream even of making an attempt to escape. The cannonade, however, was the beginning of such an attempt, and it is useless disguising the fact that it has been completely successful. That this would have been the case, or, indeed, that the attempt would ever have been made by the Russian fleet alone, cannot be for a moment credited. But, incredible as it seems, it is nevertheless true that it was assisted, and that in a practically irresistible fashion, by one of those air-ships which have hitherto been believed to belong exclusively to the Terrorists, that is to say, to the deadliest enemies that Russia possesses.
As nearly as is known the Russian fleet consisted of twelve battleships, twenty-five armoured and unarmoured cruisers, and about forty torpedo-boats. These came charging ahead at full speed into the entrance to the Sound in spite of the overwhelming force of the Allied fleets, supported by the fortresses of Copenhagen and Elsinore. The attack was so sudden and so completely unexpected, that it must be confessed the defenders were to a certain extent taken unawares. The Russians came on in the form of an elongated wedge, their most powerful vessels being at the apex and external sides.
"On the water the results of the air-ship's attack were destructive almost beyond description."
_See page 191._]
The firing was furious and sustained from beginning to end of the rush, but the damage inflicted by the cannonade of the Russian fleet and the torpedo-boats, which every now and then darted out from between the warships as opportunity offered to employ their silent and deadly weapons, was as nothing in comparison with the frightful havoc achieved by the air-ship.
This extraordinary craft hovered over the attacking force, darting hither and thither with bewildering rapidity, and raining down shells charged with an unknown explosive of fearful power among the crowded ships of the great force which was blocking the Sound. Half a dozen of these shells were fired upon the seaward fortifications of Copenhagen in passing, and produced a perfectly paralysing effect.
On the water the results of the air-ship's attack were destructive almost beyond description, particularly when she stationed herself over the Allied fleet and began firing her four guns right and left, ahead and astern. Every time a shell struck either a battleship or a cruiser, the terrific explosion which resulted either sank the ship in a few minutes, or so far disabled it that it fell an easy prey to the guns and rams of the Russians. As for the torpedo-boats which were struck, they were simply scattered over the water in indistinguishable fragments.
Under these conditions maintenance of formation and effective fighting were practically impossible, and the huge iron wedge of the Russian squadron was driven almost without a check through the demoralised ranks of the Allied fleet. The Gut of Elsinore was reached in a little more than three hours after the first sounds of the cannonade were heard. Shortly before this the
air-ship had stationed itself about a thousand feet above the water, and a mile from the fortifications.
From this position it commenced a brief, rapid cannonade from its smokeless and flameless guns, the effects of which on the fortress are said to have been indescribably awful. Great blocks of steel-sheathed masonry were dislodged from the ramparts and hurled bodily into the sea, carrying with them guns and men to irretrievable destruction. In less than half an hour the once impregnable fortress of Elsinore was little better than a heap of ruins. The last shell blew up the central magazine; the tremendous explosion was heard for miles along the coast, and proved to be the closing act of the briefest but most deadly great naval action in the history of war.
The Russian fleet steamed triumphantly past the silenced Cerberus of the Sound with flashing searchlights, blazing rockets, and jubilant salvos of blank cartridge in honour of their really brilliant victory.
The losses of the Allied fleet, so far as they are at present known, are distressingly heavy. We have lost the battleships _Neptune_, _Hotspur_, _Anson_, _Superb_, _Black Prince_, and _Rodney_, the armoured cruisers _Narcissus_, _Beatrice_, and _Mersey_, the unarmoured cruisers _Arethusa_, _Barossa_, _Clyde_, _Lais_, _Seagull_, _Grasshopper_, and _Nautilus_, and not less than nineteen torpedo-boats of the first and second classes.
The Germans and Danes have lost the battleships _Kaiser Wilhelm_, _Friedrich der Grosse_, _Dantzig_, _Viborg_, and _Funen_, five German and three Danish cruisers, and about a dozen torpedo-boats.
Under whatever circumstances the Russians have obtained the assistance of the air-ship, which rendered them services that have proved so disastrous to the Allies, there can be no doubt but that her arrival on the scene puts a completely different aspect on the face of affairs at sea.
I have written this telegram on board first-class torpedo-boat, No. 87, which followed the Russian fleet from the Sound round the Skawe. They passed through the Kattegat in two columns of line ahead, with the air-ship apparently resting after her flight on board one of the largest steamers. We could see her quite distinctly by the glare of the rockets and the electric light. She is a small three-masted vessel almost exactly resembling the one which partially destroyed Kronstadt in the middle of March.
After rounding the Skawe, the Russian fleet steamed away westward into the German Ocean, and we put in here to send off our despatches. This telegram has, of course, been officially revised, and my information, as far as it goes, can therefore be relied upon.
The Angel of the Revolution: A Tale of the Coming Terror Page 26