The Goddess of Atvatabar

  CHAPTER XLII.

  THE BATTLE CONTINUED.

  The royal fleet formed a wide semi-circle a mile off, and reopened itsguns upon us. An unlucky shot struck one of our seamen and cut off hishead. A perfect storm of shot rained upon us, so destroying ourhurricane-deck that it was no longer of any protection to us. Theenemy, encouraged by their success, closed in upon us. What we fearedmost of all was an attack by the wing-jackets, against whom neitherour heavy guns nor superior speed would much avail.

  Professor Rackiron aimed the giant gun right in the centre of theenemy's line of battle. The shell struck the middle ship and exploded.All three vessels were scattered half a mile apart, and made completewrecks. The _Polar King_ darted forward to pass through the breachmade in the enemy's line. We found this a matter of difficulty, forthe enemy, seeing our move, closed the gap in front of us. The shipsahead would have barred the way, but to prevent their doing so, wethrew a shell of terrorite over the bow of the ship into the water.The sea rose on either side fully half a mile into the air, in solidpillars of water. In the confusion, we burst through the ranks of theenemy and were once more in open water.

  The admiral must have been exasperated at our escape. He followed usas before, in close rank, firing as he came. We now saw that he wasabout to change his mode of attack, for, hovering in the air, arapidly-growing swarm of fletyemings were preparing to give us ahand-to-hand combat. Each vessel furnished a certain contingent to theattacking force, until the aerial battalion numbered about fivethousand men. Our position seemed hopeless. What could less thaneighty men do against a host of ten thousand? At close quarters ourterrorite guns would be useless.

  With loud yells the fletyemings swept down upon us. Fearing our guns,they kept open rank and spread around the ship. Aiming at the densestpart of the enemy, we destroyed about five hundred of them, but,quickly rallying again, they were upon us.

  We were ready for them. Our battery of twelve terrorite guns,including the magazine guns and musketry, rang out a terribledischarge. Under the withering fire and fearful explosions our foesfell back, and the sea around was strewn with dead and wounded bodies.Luckily for us, the only weapons possessed by the enemy were theirmagnic spears. The wing-jackets, rallying again, swarmed upon therigging and covered the ship like a cloud of vultures. Ere we couldagain discharge our guns, several of our men were beaten down by sheerforce of numbers. They made splendid use of their deadly spears. Theship's crew, re-attacked between the discharges of the guns, were manyof them stunned and killed--the enemy after each discharge renewingthe attack, being constantly re-enforced from the fleet. It waspossible that we would be conquered by the fearful odds against us.

  Our ability to keep up a fire from our guns grew more and moredifficult, owing to the incessant attacks of the enemy and the vastaccumulation of their dead bodies on deck. The spears of our foes weremore formidable weapons than we had supposed, for their touch wasdeath. It was evident, notwithstanding the carnage, that our men wouldbe obliged to surrender, owing to sheer exhaustion. As soon as awing-jacket dropped from the ranks of the enemy another took hisplace; our guns covered the sea with their dead bodies. The admiralwas determined to conquer us at any cost, for he rightly surmised ourvictory would be a terrible blow to Atvatabar.

  To remove ourselves as far from the fleet as possible, I directed theship at full speed ahead for the outer water. The ten ships that layacross the entrance to the harbor would have to be destroyed,notwithstanding the ceaseless attack of the fletyemings, who followedour every movement. We acted solely on the defensive, and managed,while repelling the most furious onslaughts, to throw overboard thedead bodies of the enemy.

  In the midst of constant fighting we managed to get the terrorite gunsinto position again, and when within a mile of the blockade fired theentire battery into it. Our shells sank every vessel they struck andbroke several others from their moorings. Several more shots destroyedthe remaining vessels, but only leaving their crews like a swarm ofhornets free to attack us, This, however, was a minor matter comparedwith possessing the freedom of the outer sea. We rushed over the spotwhere the ships had been anchored, and soon left the pursuing fleetfar behind.

  The wing-jackets, re-enforced by the crews of the blockading fleet,renewed their attack. Having learned the terrible power of ourmagazine guns, they contented themselves with making attacks onunguarded points. But fifty sailors were thus engaged, while theremainder of the ship's crew, including the officers, worked the gunswith a will, The revolvers of the enemy disabled us considerably, butby firing our magazine guns in every direction we kept the ranks ofthe flying enemy pretty well thinned out.

  Our tactics were to keep the foe divided, if possible, and destroy theattacking force in detail. So long as the sailors could stand by theirguns we were safe. We could outstrip the fleet in speed, thus reducingthe chances of our immediate antagonists being re-enforced, for thosewho at first attacked us melted rapidly before the withering fire ofour batteries.

  Finding themselves unable to secure the ship, even with such enormoussacrifice of life, the fletyemings suddenly retreated to the fleet,leaving us free to rest ourselves and look after the wounded.

  The terrible strain of the fight had utterly exhausted the sailors,who had fought for fifty consecutive hours, without rest orrefreshment. We tumbled overboard the dead bodies of the enemy who hadfallen upon the deck, and buried eight of our own sailors who had beenalso killed. Several men were wounded about the head and neck withspear-thrusts that had failed to kill, but none seriously. CaptainWallace got an ugly wound in his neck, but it was not sufficient tokeep him from duty. Flathootly, in slaying a fletyeming, received awound in the hand that required the attention of the doctor. ProfessorRackiron and Astronomer Starbottle passed through the fight unscathed,while Professor Goldrock suffered from a broken leg. Our helmets,provided originally for triumphal purposes, had proved of the greatestpossible value, and saved many a life on board the _Polar King_.

  All this time we lay in full view of both the enemy's fleet and theentire kingdom. It seemed to us a strange thing that the admiral didnot continue the fight with his reserve of fletyemings, who couldeasily outstrip the ship in their flight. He still possessed thousandsof wing-jackets who had never been engaged in actual conflict, whomight have relieved their exhausted comrades and in time have forcedus to surrender.

  Was the supine conduct of the admiral caused by a panic at our powerof havoc or, did he think my retreat to sea really an effort to escapethe country?

  If his truce was caused by a belief that he was unable to cope with ushe might have called the wayleals of the king to his assistance, butpossibly the pride of the service prevented an alliance with the armyfor naval conquest, more particularly where the naval forcesoutnumbered the enemy two hundred to one.

  The scene of battle lay in full view of the entire nation, just as thekingdom lay in full view of ourselves. The nearer inhabitants couldsee the movements of the ships and the sailors, and the progress ofthe battle, so far, was known to every one. If the impression wasfavorable to the _Polar King_, doubtless there would be ademonstration in favor of the goddess; if not, it would be because thecapture of our ship was considered certain.

  We lay to, at a distance of ten miles from the enemy's fleet, awaitingthe renewal of hostilities.