The Stolen Cruiser

by Percy F. Westerman

  CHAPTER XV

  RAMMING AN ICEBERG

  UNSEEN, the _Independencia_ crossed athwart the great Atlantichighway without incident. No liner, or even a tramp, fell into herclutches, and for forty-eight hours after witnessing from afar theencounter betwixt the British and French cruisers, she pursued herway without let or hindrance, with ne'er a vessel to chase or to bechased by.

  At length she approached the southern limit of Arctic ice, where thecold current from off the west coast of Greenland, bringing down withit the mighty output of inexhaustible glaciers, meets the warmerwaters of the Atlantic. Here it was that the pirate-cruiser ran intoa belt of fog, so dense that from the fore-bridge the fo'c'sleappeared to terminate at the foremost turret, while the temperaturewas so low that the moisture-laden atmosphere froze and hung from allparts of the masts and deck like gigantic stalactites.

  Speed was reduced to seven and a half knots, and for the time beingthe keenest look-out was kept by the unacclimatised seamen. But, asFielding had surmised, the numbing cold made their energies dormant,and before many hours had passed the majority of the pirates wereperfectly indifferent to the dangers that threatened them.

  As far as the chart showed, the _Independencia_ was in open water,and well out of the track of steamers plying between Canada and GreatBritain, and as the hours slowly passed without anything untowardhappening, Cervillo, anxious to get clear of the fog-bank, orderedspeed to be increased to twelve knots. The sooner he drew clear ofthe blinding atmosphere of frozen mist the better it would be.

  Not one of the look-outs noticed a large "growler," or mass of almostsubmerged ice, which the cruiser passed at a distance of less thanfifty feet to starboard; not one of them heard the breaking of thevessel's "wash" upon the fringe of the ice-field. Blindly unconsciousto their danger the pirates drove ahead with the primary object ofgetting out of the fog as soon as possible.

  Suddenly one of the look-out men stationed right in the bows gavevent to a shriek of horror, rather than a shout of warning. Loomingdistortedly through the fog, its summit lost in the murk, was a hugeiceberg, already on the point of capsizing. Vicious little waves,caused by the rocking of the mass of unstable ice, lapped the visiblebase of the floating mountain. A practised seaman would have known bythe agitation of the hitherto calm water and by the sudden drop inthe temperature that an iceberg was nigh, and would have takenprecautions accordingly; but the warning passed unheeded, and the_Independencia_ crashed bows on upon the rampart of ice.

  The impact threw nearly everyone on board. For a few seconds all werequiet, stunned by the calamity; then pandemonium broke loose.Yelling, shouting, and crying, the pirates rushed for the boats,their officers leading the way. There was no one to give orders tothe engine-room, and the propellers were still driving ahead, pushingthe shattered bows of the cruiser deeper into the fissure caused bythe impact in the side of the berg. Those of the engineers andstokers who had been not rendered insensible by the concussiondeserted their post, rushed on deck, and, heedless of the suddenchange from the heated engine-room and stokeholds to the freezing,fog-laden air, joined their comrades in their mad skelter for theboats.

  Even in their frenzy the pirates were cowed by the angry waters thatwere visible to their limited range of vision. Between the sides ofthe cruiser and the gulf of ice into which she had thrown herself wasa vast cauldron of surging foam mingled with masses of ice that hadslipped from the dizzy heights above. No boat could live in such asea; it would either be swamped or crushed betwixt the heavy lumps ofice that, rising and falling, outrivalled the dreaded Scylla andCharybdis a thousand-fold.

  THE PIRATES RUSHED FOR THE BOATS. [_Page_172.]

  The shock of the collision threw Fielding and his companionsviolently against the fore-bulkhead of their cabin; but, beyond a fewbruises, no one sustained any injury.

  The sub. realised what was amiss as soon as any of them.

  "They've run her full tilt into an iceberg," he exclaimed.

  The gravity of the situation required immediate action, for theconfused shouts on deck mingled with the crushing of the ice and theturmoil of the agitated waters naturally led the prisoners toconclude that the cruiser was doomed.

  "We're like rats in a trap," exclaimed Fielding. "Now what's to bedone?"

  "Get out," replied Cardyke promptly, "We can blow off the lock."

  Seizing his revolver the mid. made his way to the door, when Oki laida detaining hand upon his shoulder.

  "No sink yet," said he. "P'r'aps pirates abandon ship. Then we takeher. Wait; we can so easy get out when we want."

  "Yes, Cardyke, it's folly to go on deck with a terrified mob likethat," agreed the sub. "The five of us couldn't do much. I'll tellyou what I will do." And levelling his revolver, Fielding sent a shotthrough the stout partition separating the cabin from the one inwhich the hostages of _L'?galit?_ were kept, taking good care to firehigh enough not to harm the inmates. Amidst the deafening roar andconfusion without, the sharp crack of the pistol passed unnoticed.

  "Ahoy!" shouted Fielding through the hole. "We're prisoners on boardthis vessel like yourselves. We're English. I believe there is acitizen of the United States here?"

  "Three, sonny," replied a man, with a typical Yankee twang. "I waslashed up beside you, I guess, when the skipper of this hooker threwdust into the eyes of the Yew Hess Hess _Denver_."

  "Not alongside of me," replied the sub. "You were next to my brotherofficer, Mr. Cardyke. But that's neither here nor there. We're goingto burst open the doors of the cabins. We've half-a-dozen firearms.How many men are there with you?"

  "Nine," replied the American. "And a durned sight more in the nextone."

  "We ought to be able to make a show on deck. Those fellows are offtheir heads already. It won't take much to get the upper hand ofthem."

  "Bully for you," replied the other. "Guess we'll do our whack."

  "Stand by, then," said Fielding, warningly.

  Before he could cross the limited space of the cabin there was adeafening crash, like the simultaneous discharge of a battleship's 14in. guns. The _Independencia_ rolled till Fielding and his companionsfound themselves lying wedged in between the angle formed by thesloping floor and the longitudinal bulkhead. There they lay, pinneddown by the scanty furniture that had been thrown bodily across theroom. Cardyke's fingers closed involuntarily upon the revolver he washolding, and the heavy weapon went off, sending a bullet against thesteel deck beam, while the blast singed Hokosuka's hair. All thewhile the vessel remained in this position there was a sickeninggrinding noise, caused by the huge fabric sliding over the ice. Thencame another tremendous crash. The cruiser, hurled thirty feet abovethe water by the capsizing berg, had toppled over the ledge. Down sheplunged, like a toy boat dropped from a height into a pool of water.Then, dipping obliquely, she plunged beneath the agitated sea tillthe waves reached the base of her after-funnel.

  "Great heavens--she's going!" gasped Cardyke.

  For some minutes it seemed as if the vessel were making her lastplunge. On all sides arose shouts and cries of terror, as theimprisoned men, struggling in the semi-gloom, sought to regain theirfooting. Then, like a sorely stricken whale the _Independencia's_submerged upper works rose above the surface, water and fragments ofice pouring over her decks. There she lay, wallowing heavily in thetrough of a furious sea. Her still revolving propellers made hergather way, but her course carried her clear of the berg she hadpreviously rammed, and, unguided, she tore once more through the fog.

  Her escape from total destruction was indeed providential. When sherammed the mountainous mass of ice the berg was on the point oftoppling over. The engines driving ahead kept her from slippingbackwards off the long, shelving ledge that projected three hundredyards from the base of the visible part of the berg. The impacthastened the toppling process until the submerged ledge touched thecruiser's keel. The retention was only temporary; the vessel, tillher water-line was several feet above the sea, acted
as a giganticlever, till the shelf of ice, already weakened by the fracture, brokeoff, causing the _Independencia_ to slide, and then plunge back intothe sea. Released of the retarding mass, the main portion of the bergtoppled over, fortunately away from the ship, otherwise the hugevessel would have been literally buried beneath a mountain ofsteel-like ice.

  Directly the _Independencia_ regained an even keel Fielding and hiscompanions struggled to their feet.

  "She's afloat," gasped the sub. "Come along, there's no time to lose.We'll rush the rascals while they're off their heads."

  Crash!--went the young officer's revolver. The lock was shattered,and the door flew open. Fielding and his companions gained thepassage betwixt the cabin on the half-deck. The place was deserted.Even the sentries on the prisoners' quarters had left their posts.

  "Stand clear of the door!" shouted Fielding to the occupants of thenext cabin. And, having given them time to carry out his request, thesub. sent a shot through the lock.

  While Cardyke was serving out the spare revolvers and ammunition tothe released hostages of _L'?galit?_, Fielding liberated theoccupants of the adjoining cabin--the remainder of the prisonerstaken from the French liner and the _Yosen Maru_. A fourth cabin wasfound to contain the officers of the Dutch tugs that had beenscuttled when the _Impregnable_ was seized. Abaft of that, andseparating it from the captain's quarters, was another cabin, which,though containing no prisoners, was found to be used as a small-armsstore. In five minutes the little band of adventurers were armed andready for the desperate venture.

  'Tween decks the fog was so thick, that from one end of the passagethe armoured bulkhead of the foremost end was invisible. Fieldingknew that the only means of communicating with the quarter-deck wasby the foremost and steerage ladders. The transverse bulkhead, one ofseveral extending from the upper deck to the double bottoms, wasunprovided with doors, so that, for instance, it was impossible to gofrom the bow to the stern of the ship 'tween decks without having toascend to the upper deck. During her commission as a unit of theBritish Navy the cruiser had been provided with lifts to save theinconvenience of having to pass up and down so many ladders; butthese lifts were out of order, and had not been repaired by herunlawful owners.

  Marshalling his forces into some semblance of order, Fielding ledthem to the foot of the foremost ladder. The hatchway was closed andsecurely battened down. Twenty men would have been powerless to burstopen the massive steel covering. The after ladder was similarlysecured. The surprise attack was a failure.

  "Now what's to be done?" asked the midshipman.

  Fielding did not reply. He was busy racking his brains over the newconditions of the problem he had to tackle.

  "Sit tight, sonny," replied the American. "I've been in a few toughsets-to in my time; but take the word of Hiram B. Rutter--that'sme--that you can't beat sitting tight."

  "That's it," assented Fielding. "We must sit tight. Luckily we're incomfortable quarters; the captain's cabin, as well as those of theother officers, are at our disposal, and I think we have access tothe after bread-room, so we won't exactly starve. But they're calmingdown, I fancy. They'll be a bit surprised when they find we are inpossession of the after part of the ship. Look here, Mr. Rutter,would you mind taking these men with you, and keeping your eyes onthe after ladder? I'll watch this one pretty carefully. Directly theyopen the hatches wide fire a volley and rush on deck. Be sharp;they're coming!"