CHAPTER XXII.
ARMED NEUTRALITY.
Hardly had the _Lurline_ disappeared than the air-ship was lyingalongside the boat, floating on the water as easily and lightly as aseagull, and Natas and his two attendants, Tremayne, and the threemen who had been saved from the yacht, were at once taken on board.
It would be useless to interrupt the progress of the narrative todescribe the welcoming greetings which passed between the rescuedparty and the crew of the _Ithuriel_, or the amazement of Arnold andhis companions when Natasha threw her arms round the neck of thealmost helpless cripple, who was rifted over the rail by Tremayne andhis two attendants, kissed him on the brow, and said so that allcould hear her--
"We were in time! Thank God we were in time, my father!"
Her father! This paralytic creature, who could not move a yardwithout the assistance of some one else--this was Natas, the fatherof Natasha, and the Master of the Terror, the man who had planned theruin of a civilisation, and for all they knew might aspire to theempire of the world!
It was marvellous, inconceivable, but there was no time to thinkabout it now, for the two cruisers were still blazing away at eachother, and Tremayne had determined to punish the Frenchman for hisdiscourtesy in not answering his flag, and his inhumanity in firingon an unarmed vessel which was well known as a private pleasure-yachtall round the western and southern shores of Europe.
As soon as Natas had been conveyed into the saloon, Tremayne, afterreturning Arnold's hearty handclasp, said to him--
"That rascally Frenchman chased and fired on us, and then sent historpedo-boat after us, without the slightest provocation. I purposelyhoisted the Yacht Squadron flag to show that we were non-combatants,and still he sank us. I suppose he took the _Lurline_ for a fastdespatch boat, but still he ought to have had the sense and thepoliteness to let her alone when he saw she was a yacht, so I wantyou to teach him better manners."
"Certainly," replies Arnold. "I'll sink him for you in five secondsas soon as we get aloft again."
"I don't want you to do that if you can help it. She has five or sixhundred men on board, who are only doing as they are told, and wehave not declared war on the world yet. Can't you disable her, andforce her to surrender to the British cruiser that came to ourrescue? You know we must have been sunk or captured half an hour agoif she had not turned up so opportunely, in spite of your so happilycoming fifty miles this side of the rendezvous. I should like toreturn the compliment by delivering his enemy into his hand."
"I quite see what you mean, but I'm afraid I can't guarantee success.You see, our artillery is intended for destruction, and not fordisablement. Still I'll have a try with pleasure. I'll see if I can'tdisable his screws, only you mustn't blame me if he goes to thebottom by accident."
"Certainly not, you most capable destroyer of life and property,"laughed Tremayne. "Only let him off as lightly as you can. Ah,Natasha! Good morning again! I suppose Natas has taken no harm fromthe unceremonious way in which I had to almost throw him on board theboat. Aerial voyaging seems to agree with you, you"--
"Must not talk nonsense, my Lord of Alanmere, especially when thereis sterner work in hand," interrupted Natasha, with a laugh. "Whatare you going to do with those two cruisers that are battering eachother to pieces down there? Sink them both, or leave them to fight itout?"
"Neither, with your permission, fair lady. The British cruiser savedus by coming on the scene at the right moment, and as the Frenchmanfired upon us without due cause, I want Captain Arnold to disable herin some way and hand her over a prisoner to our rescuer."
"Ah, that would be better, of course. One good turn deserves another.What are you going to do, Captain Arnold?"
"Drop a small shell under his stern and disable his propellers, if Ican do so without sinking him, which I am afraid is rather doubtful,"replied Arnold.
While they were talking, the _Ithuriel_ had risen a thousand feet orso from the water, and had advanced to within about half a mile ofthe two cruisers, which were now manoeuvring round each other at adistance of about a thousand yards, blazing away without cessation,and waiting for some lucky shot to partially disable one or theother, and so give an opportunity for boarding, or ramming.
In the old days, when France and Britain had last grappled in thestruggle for the mastery of the sea, the two ships would have beenlaid alongside each other long before this. But that was not to bethought of while those terrible machine guns were able to rain theirhail of death down from the tops, and the quick-firing cannon werehurling their thirty shots a minute across the intervening space ofwater.
The French cruiser had so far taken no notice of the suddenannihilation of her second torpedo-boat by the air-ship, but as soonas the latter made her way astern of her she seemed to scentmischief, and turned one of her three-barrelled Nordenfeldts on toher. The shots soon came singing about the _Ithuriel_ in somewhatunpleasant proximity, and Arnold said--
"Monsieur seems to take us for a natural enemy, and if he wants fighthe shall have it. If I don't disable him with this shot I'll sink himwith the next."
So saying he trained one of the broadside guns on the stern of theFrench cruiser, and at the right moment pressed the button. The shellbored its way through the air and down into the water until it struckand exploded against the submerged rudder.
A huge column of foam rose up under the cruiser's stern; half liftedout of the water, she plunged forward with a mighty lurch, buryingher forecastle in the green water, and then she righted and layhelpless upon the sea, deprived of the power of motion and steering,and with the useless steam roaring in great clouds from her pipes. Amoment later she began to settle by the stern, showing that her afterplates had been badly injured, if not torn away by the explosion.
Meanwhile the _Ithuriel_ had shot away out of range until the twocruisers looked like little toy-ships spitting fire at each other,and Arnold said to Tremayne, who was with him in the wheel-house--
"I think that has settled her, as far as any more real fighting isconcerned. Look! She can't stand that sort of thing very long."
He handed Tremayne the glasses as he spoke. The French cruiser waslying motionless upon the water, with her after compartments full,and very much down by the stern. She was still blazing away gamelywith all her available guns, but it was obvious at a glance that shewas now no match for her antagonist, who had taken full advantage ofthe help rendered by her unknown ally, and was pouring a perfect hailof shot and shell point-blank into her half-disabled adversary,battering her deck-works into ruins, and piercing her hull again andagain.
At length, when the splendid fabric had been reduced to little betterthan a floating wreck by the terrible cannonade, the fire from theBritish cruiser stopped, and the signal "Will you surrender?" flewfrom her masthead.
A few moments later the tricolor, for the first time in the war,dipped to the White Ensign, and the naval duel was over.
"Now we will leave them to talk it over," said Tremayne, shutting theglasses. "I should like to hear what they have to say about us, Imust confess, but there is something more important to be done, andthe sooner we are on the other side of the Atlantic the better. The_Aurania_ started from New York this morning. How soon can you getacross?"
"In about sixteen hours if we had to go all the way," replied Arnold."It is, say, three thousand miles from here to New York, and the_Ithuriel_ can fly two hundred miles an hour if necessary. But the_Aurania_, if she starts in good time, will make between four andfive hundred miles during the day, and so we ought to meet her soonafter sundown this evening if we are lucky."
As Arnold ceased speaking, the report of a single gun came up fromthe water, and a string of signal flags floated out from the mastheadof the British cruiser.
"Hullo!" said Tremayne, once more turning the glasses on the twovessels, "that was a blank cartridge, and as far as I can make outthat signal reads, 'We want to speak you.' And look: there goes awhite flag to the fore. His intentions are evidently peaceful. Whatdo you sa
y, shall we go down?"
"I see no objection to it. It will only make a difference of half anhour or so, and perhaps we may learn something worth knowing from thecaptain about the naval force afloat in the Atlantic. I think itwould be worth while. We have no need for concealment now; andbesides, all Europe is talking about us, so there can be no harm inshowing ourselves a bit more closely."
"Very well, then, we will go down and hear what he has to say,"replied Tremayne. "But I don't think it would be well for me to showmyself just now, and so I will go below."
Arnold at once signalled the necessary order from the conning towerto the engine-room. The fan-wheels revolved more slowly, and the_Ithuriel_ sank swiftly downwards towards the two cruisers, now lyingside by side.
As soon as she came to a standstill within speaking distance of theBritish man-of-war, discipline was for the moment forgotten on boardof both victor and vanquished, under the influence of the intenseexcitement and curiosity aroused by seeing the mysterious andmuch-talked-of air-ship at such close quarters.
The French and British captains were both standing on thequarter-deck eagerly scanning the strange craft through their glassestill she came near enough to dispense with them, and every man andofficer on board the two cruisers who was able to be on deck, crowdedto points of 'vantage, and stared at her with all their eyes. Thewhole company of the _Ithuriel_, with the exception of Natas,Tremayne, and those whose duties kept them in the engine-room, werealso on deck, and Arnold stood close by the wheel-house and the aftergun, ready to give any orders that might be necessary in case theconversation took an unfriendly turn.
"May I ask the name of that wonderful craft, and to what I amindebted for the assistance you have given me?" hailed the Britishcaptain.
"Certainly. This is the Terrorist air-ship _Ithuriel_, and wedisabled the French cruiser because her captain had the bad mannersto fire upon and sink an unarmed yacht that had no quarrel with him.But for that we should have left you to fight it out."
"The Terrorists, are you? If I had known that, I confess I should nothave asked to speak you, and I tell you candidly that I am sorry youdid not leave us to fight it out, as you say. As I cannot look uponyou as an ally or a friend, I can only regret the advantage you havegiven me over an honourable foe."
There was an emphasis on the word "honourable" which brought a flushto Arnold's cheek, as he replied--
"What I did to the French cruiser I should have done whether you hadbeen on the scene or not. We are as much your foes as we are those ofFrance, that is to say, we are totally indifferent to both of you. Asfor _honourable_ foes, I may say that I only disabled the Frenchcruiser because I thought she had acted both unfairly anddishonourably. But we are wasting time. Did you merely wish to speakto us in order to find out who we were?"
"Yes, that was my first object, I confess. I also wished to knowwhether this is the same air-ship which crossed the Mediterraneanyesterday, and if not, how many of these vessels there are inexistence, and what you mean to do with them?"
"Before I answer, may I ask how you know that an air-ship crossed theMediterranean yesterday?" asked Arnold, thoroughly mystified by thisastounding piece of news.
"We had it by telegraph at Queenstown during the night. She was goingnorthward, when observed, by Larnaka"--
"Oh yes, that was one of our despatch boats," replied Arnold, forcinghimself to speak with a calmness that he by no means felt. "I'mafraid my orders will hardly allow me to answer your other questionsvery fully, but I may tell you that we have a fleet of air-ships atour command, all constructed in England under the noses of yourintelligent authorities, and that we mean to use them as it seemsbest to us, should we at any time consider it worth our while tointerfere in the game that the European Powers are playing with eachother. Meanwhile we keep a position of armed neutrality. When wethink the war has gone far enough we shall probably stop it when agood opportunity offers."
This was too much for a British sailor to listen to quietly on hisown quarter-deck, whoever said it, and so the captain of the_Andromeda_ forgot his prudence for the moment, and said somewhathotly--
"Confound it, sir! you talk as if you were omnipotent and arbiters ofpeace and war. Don't go too far with your insolence, or I shall haulthat flag of truce down and give you five minutes to get out of rangeof my guns or take your chance"--
For all answer there came a contemptuous laugh from the deck of the_Ithuriel_, the rapid ringing of an electric bell, and thedisappearance of her company under cover. Then with one mighty leapshe rose two thousand feet into the air, and before the astounded anddisgusted captain of H.M. cruiser _Andromeda_ very well knew what hadbecome of her, she was a mere speck of light in the sky, speedingaway at two hundred miles an hour to the westward.
As soon as she was fairly on her course, Arnold gave up the wheel toone of the crew, and went into the saloon to discuss with Tremayneand Natas the all-important scrap of news that had fallen from thelips of the captain of the British cruiser. What was the otherair-ship that had been seen crossing the Mediterranean?
Surely it must be one of the Terrorist fleet, for there were noothers in existence. And yet strict orders had been given that noneof the fleet were to take the air until the _Ithuriel_ returned. Wasit possible that there were traitors, even in Aeria, and that theair-ship seen from Larnaka was a deserter going northward to theenemy, the worst enemy of all, the Russians?