CHAPTER XXII.
THE TABLES TURNED.
"THE swine!" ejaculated Gilroy furiously. "They know we play thegame, but if I had my will, I really believe I'd ship a couple ofcaptured German officers on board every merchantman clearing ourports."
"That wouldn't stop them, Gilroy," remarked the captain. "Not even ifyou had old Tirpitz's son as a figure-head. Instead of which he'sliving in luxury at our expense, while our officers and men are beinghoused like cattle. No, we must do our work with clean hands."
"Not even employ a ruse, sir?" queried Gilroy.
"That doesn't enter into the question," replied his superior officer."As a matter of fact, I mean to have a little try on. It's hardly inaccordance with Admiralty procedure, but I'll explain, and if any ofyou gentlemen have any objections, don't hesitate to say so."
"I am willing to take the risk, sir," declared Gilroy, after thecaptain had outlined his plans. "And if we succeed I don't think MyLords will give us a rap on the knuckles."
"And you, Mr. Aubyn?"
"I am of the same opinion as Mr. Gilroy, sir."
"Very good: we'll carry on," concluded the skipper of the"Livingstone."
Accordingly the destroyer returned to the rendezvous off The Start.From there she sent a wireless announcing certain engine-roomdefects, that might well have stood over to a more convenient time,and requested permission to put into Brixham, where the work could becarried out.
Back came the reply: "Concur. Make good defects on relief by'Radimus'."
At ten p.m. the destroyer "Radimus" came up, and exchanged signalswith the "Livingstone," which at once steamed for Brixham.
There was just enough water for the destroyer to enter the outerharbour and tie up alongside the wall. An hour later she was aground;a little later she was high and dry in the tidal harbour.
Both the captain of the "Livingstone" and Lieutenant Gilroy had ampleprivate means, and they did not hesitate to spend money for the goodof the country and the Navy in particular. So within forty minutes ofthe destroyer entering Brixham Harbour, the two officers,notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, had concluded a bargainwith a local owner for the hire of three of the weatherly trawlersfor which that Devonshire port is so greatly celebrated.
At two in the morning, when Brixham slept, the crew of the"Livingstone" were hard at work, transporting stores and munitions tothe three hired trawlers. By dint of great exertion one four-inch gunwith its mountings was transferred to each of the trawlers and set inposition just abaft the mainmast.
Directly the tide rose sufficiently, the trawlers, each containing athird of the "Livingstone's" crew, in addition to the regular hands,warped out into the Roads, hoisted sail, and with a fresh easterlybreeze "reached off" towards The Start.
Thus Terence Aubyn found himself, for the first time in his career,senior executive officer of an armed vessel--the ketch "Asphodel,"with a sturdy Brixham fisherman as his sailing master, and twentybluejackets lying upon the deck.
The three trawlers maintained a "line ahead" formation, the captainof the "Livingstone" leading in the "Myrtle," Lieutenant Gilroysecond in the "Cinema," and Terence as the rear-guard. To all outwardappearance the unofficial flotilla was off to the fishing-grounds.
Five miles S.S.E. of the Devon promontory known as The Start, thedestroyer "Radimus" crossed the bows of the trawlers, bound forPortland Bill, the eastern limit of her patrolling ground.Unsuspecting, her officer of the watch brought his glasses to bearupon the three peaceful ketches, and proceeded on his way.
Half an hour later a large auxiliary barque came ploughing her way upChannel. Although absolutely unarmed she showed no fear of thethreatened submarine blockade, her red ensign proudly andunmistakably announcing the fact that she belonged to the greatestmercantile navy the world has ever yet seen.
"That rascally submarine, sir!" announced the master of the"Asphodel" to Terence, pointing to a peculiar swirl in the placidwater about a mile astern of the barque, followed by thesinister-looking conning-tower and twin periscopes of the Germanpirate.
Doffing his regulation cap, Aubyn raised his head just above the lowbulwarks and kept the submarine under observation with his telescope.Owing to the "line-ahead" formation of the trawlers, the "Asphodel"was nearest the enemy craft, which bore well on that trawler's portquarter.
The barque was helpless. Being under a full press of canvas she couldnot even attempt to ram her antagonist, while the wind being light,and her auxiliary engines of comparatively low horse-power, flightwas out of the question.
The German submarine approached quickly and fearlessly. A survey ofthe horizon revealed to her captain nothing formidable in sight, onlythree harmless trawlers off to the fishing-ground. When he hadfinished with the barque, he decided, he would send two of thetrawlers to the bottom, in order to let the English know that evenfish was to become a scarce article of food, and let the third craftgo with the crews of their sunken consorts.
It did not take the submarine long to range up on the starboardquarter of the barque. A brief argument took place between the Germancaptain and the British merchant skipper, with the result that thelatter, finding resistance useless, had the vessel hove-to.
On the deck of the submarine, just in front of the after quick-firinggun that had been raised from below and was trained on the barque,stood a steel boat lashed down and secured in chocks. In the boat'sgarboards were four large apertures, each capable of being closedwatertight by the manipulation of a single interrupted thread screw.When open these holes allowed the boat to be emptied or flooded withgreat rapidity as the submarine rose or dived.
Yet for some reason the pirates made no attempt to use their ownboat; they ordered the barque to lower two of hers, and with threemen in each to row alongside the submarine.
It was the intention of the Germans to rifle the prize before theyplaced explosives on board. They were evidently short of provisions,oil, and petrol, and these were to be found in abundance upon theluckless barque. The ship's boats could be more conveniently employedupon this business, as in the case of a surprise there would be delayin hauling the steel tender on to the submarine's deck and securingit, before she could dive.
Terence watched this part of the operation with extreme annoyance. Ifthe pirate meant to keep some of the British crew on the deck of thesubmarine, her destruction could not be accomplished without greatrisk and peril to the men of the mercantile marine. However, hedecided the capture or destruction of the unknown submarine--for shehad no number painted on her grey sides or conning-tower--wasimperative, and acting in accordance with a prearranged plan, he gavethe master of the "Asphodel" instructions to steer towards the nowmotionless barque, approaching on the starboard hand, while the othertrawlers held steadily on their course.
It was sound strategy. The captain of the submarine evidentlyimagined that the trawler was approaching out of sheer curiosity, orthat, seeing the barque hove-to, her master thought that the skipperof the British craft wished to communicate with the shore. Lyingsnugly under the port quarter of the barque, the submarine was nowinvisible from the trawler's deck, while the crew of the capturedvessel were ordered not to give the alarm under penalty of death.
Meanwhile, the "Myrtle" and "Cinema," having crossed the barque'strack, were able from a convenient distance to see what was going on.
The pirates made their captives work with the utmost dispatch, and ina very short time almost all of the barque's cargo and stores thatthey were in need of was transported to the submarine and stowedbelow.
This done, the captain was ordered to surrender his papers, but thestubborn old salt declared that he had heaved them overboard beforecapture. As a matter of fact they were slipped into the lining at theback of his coat. This act of non-compliance aroused the Germancaptain's anger. Ordering the boats back to the barque, he told theskipper and crew that they had five minutes to clear out. At theexpiration of that time limit, he would sink the vessel by gun-fire.
Directly the British office
rs on the "Myrtle" and "Cinema" saw thatthere were no longer any of the crew of the barque on or alongsidethe submarine a signal was sent to the "Asphodel." Instantly theketch luffed up, ran under the barque's stern and came in sight, andwithin eighty or a hundred yards of the submarine, the crew of whichwere standing by their quick-firers, ready to hull and sink theprize.
"Heave-to, 'Asphodel'!" shouted the German captain in good English,as he read the name of the apparently unsuspecting trawler that hadblundered right into his clutches. "Heave-to, or we'll sink youwithout mercy."
"Let them have it!" shouted Terence. He had no scruples now. It was afair fight between a modern submarine, with her guns ready foraction, and a trawler manned by a trained Navy crew.
Like a sheet of tissue paper caught in a furious wind the tarpaulinconcealing the gun was whipped off; cool and collected thehighly-trained gun-layer lingered a fraction of a second over thesights, then--_crash!_
Almost before the recoil of the weapon had been taken up by thehydraulic mountings the breech-block flew open with a clang and afresh cartridge was inserted.
One round was enough.
The shell, fired at almost point-blank range, had penetrated theconning-tower, killing the captain and ripping the steel plating likecardboard. More, the fragments of the exploded missile had put out ofaction all the crew of the fore quick-firer.
Terrified by the appalling concussion the engine-room ratings of thesubmarine abandoned their posts at the motor and ran on deck, whilethe after-gun's-crew, realizing that they were trapped, made noattempt to use their piece, especially as they were covered by theformidable 4-inch on the "Asphodel's" deck.
With their hands held high above their heads the pirates raised amonotonous shout of "Mercy, Englishmen!"
The submarine was done for. With the conning-tower shattered shecould not dive; apart from the abandonment of the motors, she couldnot seek safety in flight, for even if running on the surface shewould quickly be swamped by the seas pouring over her low freeboard.
"Mercy, Englishmen! Mercy!"
The cry was repeated over and over again. The recreant Teutons, takenred-handed, were firmly convinced that their captors intended puttingthem to death--the extreme penalty for their guilt.
Terence glanced in the direction of the two trawlers. They wereapproaching slowly, for the wind was still light. Before the arrivalof his superior officer the sub. realized that the mischief heanticipated might be consummated.
"Where is your captain?" he shouted.
The babel ceased. One German, a petty officer, knew how to speakEnglish after a fashion.
"He kapitan Schluk he dead," he replied.
"The senior officer, then?"
There was a movement on deck. Some of the men bawled down thehatchway. After some delay a fat, fair-haired sub-lieutenantappeared. Being unable to speak or understand English the new arrivalmade use of the petty officer as an interpreter.
"Do I understand that you surrender?" demanded Terence.
"Yes; if our lives are spared," answered the German officer throughthe medium of the interpreter.
"Very good; I accept your surrender on conditions," agreed Terence,speaking deliberately, and with a stern, menacing tone in his voice."Your craft must be given up exactly in its present condition. Ifany attempt be made to open the valves no quarter will be given."
It went against his sense of honour to speak in this strain. He knewperfectly well that, happen what may, quarter would not be deniedthese modern pirates. But experience taught him that on more than oneoccasion a German submarine had surrendered to a British vessel, andas soon as the crew was safe, the ballast tanks would be deliberatelyflooded to let the boat sink for good and all, so that the secret oftheir construction should not be revealed to the hated English.
Consequently he was not surprised when the German officer, on hearingthe conditions, made a gesture of defiance and disappeared below.Before many seconds had passed the crippled submarine began to sinkdeeper and deeper in the water. The survivors of her crew, nowanimated by the example of their young officer, lined up,bare-headed, and joining hands burst into the words of "Deutschlanduber alles." One brawny, yellow-haired man produced a German ensignlashed to a boat-hook stave, and held it defiantly aloft. It wasperhaps fortunate that they did not attempt to use the still intactquick-firer, otherwise Terence might have been compelled to put hisempty threat into execution.
The end was not long in coming. The slight reserve of buoyancy of thesubmarine was quickly destroyed by the inrush of water, both throughthe valves and through the huge rent in the base of theconning-tower.
The water mounted to the knees of the double line of men. Stillsinging they looked death in the face. Then with a sudden lurch thatthrew the ranks into complete disorder, the submarine plunged."Deutschland uber alles" trailed away into a grim silence, broken bythe rush of water and the hiss of escaping air.
The next instant the submarine was lost to sight, taking with her theresolute sub-lieutenant, whose devotion to the Kaiser had out-weighedhis conscience in the matter of the utter disregard of internationallaw.
There was still life to be saved. More than a score of the Germancrew were swimming strongly.
"Out with the boats!" shouted the master of the "Asphodel."
A dozen willing hands helped to launch the hefty boat which wasstowed bottom upwards on the trawler's deck. With a loud splash shewas thrust overboard and volunteers hastily tumbled into her. Alreadythe boats of the barque were heading towards the spot marked bybobbing heads of the swimmers. The seamen knew that, but for afortunate change of circumstances they might be swimming for dearlife and jeered at by the crew of the submarine into the bargain butpetty spite and recriminations are not to be found in the creed oftrue British seamen.
Long before the "Myrtle" and "Cinema" came up, every one of theswimmers had been rescued, and since the crew of the barque dumpedtheir living cargoes into the "Asphodel," the latter's decks werepacked with humanity. Round every half-drowned German a dozen Britishtars, all more or less sympathetic, were gathered, doing their utmostto assist their foes.
"Smart shot, Mr. Aubyn," sang out the captain of the "Livingstone,"as his temporary command shot up into the wind within easy hailingdistance. "Your gun-layer took good care not to let us have a fingerin the pie."
"We acted under your orders, sir," replied Terence.
"You did," admitted the captain, with a hearty laugh. "You did, butyou might have given the others a chip in. They hardly--why, what'sthat?"
He broke off suddenly at the sound of a terrific cheer. The barquehad now gathered way. Her sails had been sheeted home. The weathershrouds were black with men who were cheering the three trawlers withall the force of their lungs, while aft stood the old skipper, wavinghis cap with the vivacity of a schoolboy.
Considering the unusual means whereby the German submarine had beendestroyed, the necessity of keeping the incident a secret, until thePress Bureau thought fit to dole out another morsel of information,was most desirable. There was also another reason. The enemy must notknow of the actual circumstances, otherwise the submarines still atlarge would take steps to prevent a similar surprise.
So the crews, both temporary and permanent, of the three trawlerswere mustered and sworn to secrecy, their respective naval officersimpressing upon the Brixham men the fact that, being an Admiraltychartered vessel (this was a piece of pure bluff) they were liable tothe pains and penalties of the Naval Discipline Act, the OfficialSecrets Act, and a dozen other statutes passed for the safety,honour, and welfare of the King's dominions.
The next question was how to dispose of the prisoners. Gilroyproposed delaying the arrival of the trawlers till after dusk andthen setting the Germans ashore under an armed guard at a remote andunfrequented cove in the vicinity of Dartmouth; but the captainoverruled.
While the council of war was in progress the destroyer "Radimus,"returning on her patrol work, came in sight. In answer to a signalhoisted on the "Myrtle" the
destroyer altered helm and ran down toinvestigate.
Her officers and crew were good sportsmen all. Although chagrined tofind that the German submarine had been sunk almost under theirnoses, and by three sailing trawlers, a type that the Admiraltypersistently deprecated as being of no service in the war, theytendered their congratulations, in the spontaneous British way, bygiving three rousing cheers.
To the "Radimus" the prisoners were transferred, while the captain ofthe "Livingstone," having drafted a report, requested the officercommanding the destroyer to forward it with all dispatch, and at thesame time to send a wireless to the Admiralty announcing the baldfact that another modern pirate had been sent to its last account.
Gilroy and Terence then boarded the trawler under the command of the"Livingstone's" skipper. The latter, in spite of the success of hisruse, looked somewhat anxious. He was not quite certain what My Lordswould think of the unofficial commissioning of the trawlers, and heexpressed his fears to his subordinates.
"Never fear, sir," remarked the lieutenant. "We'll stand by you."
"That you will not," replied the captain. "It's my pigeon. I takethe responsibility; you are under my orders."
"I don't suppose there'll be any fuss up topsides, sir," reiteratedGilroy.
"H'm! Don't know so much about that. We've attacked a hostile craftwithout displaying our colours: that's against the King'sregulations----"
"But we've sent a far worse transgressor to the bottom, sir,"interrupted Gilroy. "After all, that's the main thing."
"I suppose so," admitted his superior. "And we've done all we can toimpress upon the men the urgency of official reticence and reserve."
So it happened that just before four in the afternoon the threetrawlers entered Brixham Harbour, and, amidst the wild and erroneousconjectures of the inhabitants of that little Devonshire town, thenaval men landed and went aboard the "Livingstone," whose engine-roomstaff had kept steam raised during the absence of their comrades.
Half an hour later the destroyer put to sea to resume her interruptedpatrol duties.
But, somewhat unfortunately, the carefully laid plans of the skipperof the "Livingstone" went awry. The third hand of the "Myrtle" had awife. The wife was an excellent cook and studied her man's weaknessfor the fleshpots of Glorious Devon. Moreover, she had a small caskof prime cider in her cottage, and Dick Ottery, the third hand, wasvery partial to the juice of the apple. Mrs. Ottery had a knack ofextracting information from her spouse, and curiosity prompted her toquestion him as he fed and drank. Before the delayed meal was over,Mrs. Ottery knew as much as her husband.
At Brixham, like many other British towns, men had gone either to theFront or else to adventure themselves on the High Seas; and acommittee of well-meaning ladies had volunteered to do this, that,and the other for the wives of the absent warriors.
That same evening one of the committee paid a visit to Ottery'scottage, where his sister-in-law lived since the day when her husbandshouldered his kit-bag and went to report himself at Devonport as aNaval Reservist.
Mrs. Ottery, unable to keep the startling news of the sinking of theGerman submarine, told full details and embellished them with highlyimaginative extras to the lady visitor. "Of course," she added, "itbe quite a secret, my man du say."
Half an hour later the committee heard the news, also in strictconfidence, with the result that when the "Livingstone" put intoPortland to replenish her stock of oil-fuel the news of the exploitpreceded her.
Magnified out of all proportion by the little additions it had gainedin being passed from mouth to mouth, the latest version was to theeffect that "the crew of H.M.T.B.D. 'Livingstone,' having beencompelled to take to their boats owing to their vessel beingtorpedoed, were rescued by a Brixham trawler. They thereupon rammedthree German submarines, sinking them with all hands."
"Absolutely without foundation," was the Press Bureau's comment, butpeople in the know winked solemnly. It was significant that thecaptain of the "Livingstone" was appointed to the command of alight-cruiser; that Lieutenant Gilroy was promoted to the rank oflieutenant-commander, and that Sub-Lieutenant Terence Aubyn, N.R.,blossomed out into a lieutenant.