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@@ -0,0 +1,4005 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great War Syndicate, by Frank Stockton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Great War Syndicate + +Author: Frank Stockton + +Release Date: January 24, 2008 [EBook #427] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT WAR SYNDICATE *** + + + + + + + + + +THE GREAT WAR SYNDICATE + +BY + +FRANK R. STOCKTON + + + +Author of "The Lady or the Tiger," "Rudder Grange," + "The Casting Away of Mrs. Lecks and Mrs. + Aleshine," "What Might Have Been + Expected," etc., etc. + + + + +THE GREAT WAR SYNDICATE. + + + + +In the spring of a certain year, not far from the close of the +nineteenth century, when the political relations between the United +States and Great Britain became so strained that careful observers on +both sides of the Atlantic were forced to the belief that a serious +break in these relations might be looked for at any time, the fishing +schooner Eliza Drum sailed from a port in Maine for the banks of +Newfoundland. + +It was in this year that a new system of protection for American +fishing vessels had been adopted in Washington. Every fleet of these +vessels was accompanied by one or more United States cruisers, which +remained on the fishing grounds, not only for the purpose of warning +American craft who might approach too near the three-mile limit, but +also to overlook the action of the British naval vessels on the coast, +and to interfere, at least by protest, with such seizures of American +fishing boats as might appear to be unjust. In the opinion of all +persons of sober judgment, there was nothing in the condition of +affairs at this time so dangerous to the peace of the two countries as +the presence of these American cruisers in the fishing waters. + +The Eliza Drum was late in her arrival on the fishing grounds, and +having, under orders from Washington, reported to the commander of the +Lennehaha, the United States vessel in charge at that place, her +captain and crew went vigorously to work to make up for lost time. +They worked so vigorously, and with eyes so single to the catching of +fish, that on the morning of the day after their arrival, they were +hauling up cod at a point which, according to the nationality of the +calculator, might be two and three-quarters or three and one-quarter +miles from the Canadian coast. + +In consequence of this inattention to the apparent extent of the marine +mile, the Eliza Drum, a little before noon, was overhauled and seized +by the British cruiser, Dog Star. A few miles away the Lennehaha had +perceived the dangerous position of the Eliza Drum, and had started +toward her to warn her to take a less doubtful position. But before +she arrived the capture had taken place. When he reached the spot +where the Eliza Drum had been fishing, the commander of the Lennehaha +made an observation of the distance from the shore, and calculated it +to be more than three miles. When he sent an officer in a boat to the +Dog Star to state the result of his computations, the captain of the +British vessel replied that he was satisfied the distance was less than +three miles, and that he was now about to take the Eliza Drum into port. + +On receiving this information, the commander of the Lennehaha steamed +closer to the Dog Star, and informed her captain, by means of a +speaking-trumpet, that if he took the Eliza Drum into a Canadian port, +he would first have to sail over his ship. To this the captain of the +Dog Star replied that he did not in the least object to sail over the +Lennehaha, and proceeded to put a prize crew on board the fishing +vessel. + +At this juncture the captain of the Eliza Drum ran up a large American +flag; in five minutes afterward the captain of the prize crew hauled it +down; in less than ten minutes after this the Lennehaha and the Dog +Star were blazing at each other with their bow guns. The spark had +been struck. + +The contest was not a long one. The Dog Star was of much greater +tonnage and heavier armament than her antagonist, and early in the +afternoon she steamed for St. John's, taking with her as prizes both +the Eliza Drum and the Lennehaha. + +All that night, at every point in the United States which was reached +by telegraph, there burned a smothered fire; and the next morning, when +the regular and extra editions of the newspapers were poured out upon +the land, the fire burst into a roaring blaze. From lakes to gulf, +from ocean to ocean, on mountain and plain, in city and prairie, it +roared and blazed. Parties, sections, politics, were all forgotten. +Every American formed part of an electric system; the same fire flashed +into every soul. No matter what might be thought on the morrow, or in +the coming days which might bring better understanding, this day the +unreasoning fire blazed and roared. + +With morning newspapers in their hands, men rushed from the +breakfast-tables into the streets to meet their fellow-men. What was +it that they should do? + +Detailed accounts of the affair came rapidly, but there was nothing in +them to quiet the national indignation; the American flag had been +hauled down by Englishmen, an American naval vessel had been fired into +and captured; that was enough! No matter whether the Eliza Drum was +within the three-mile limit or not! No matter which vessel fired +first! If it were the Lennehaha, the more honour to her; she ought to +have done it! From platform, pulpit, stump, and editorial office came +one vehement, passionate shout directed toward Washington. + +Congress was in session, and in its halls the fire roared louder and +blazed higher than on mountain or plain, in city or prairie. No member +of the Government, from President to page, ventured to oppose the +tempestuous demands of the people. The day for argument upon the +exciting question had been a long weary one, and it had gone by in less +than a week the great shout of the people was answered by a declaration +of war against Great Britain. + +When this had been done, those who demanded war breathed easier, but +those who must direct the war breathed harder. + +It was indeed a time for hard breathing, but the great mass of the +people perceived no reason why this should be. Money there was in vast +abundance. In every State well-drilled men, by thousands, stood ready +for the word to march, and the military experience and knowledge given +by a great war was yet strong upon the nation. + +To the people at large the plan of the war appeared a very obvious and +a very simple one. Canada had given the offence, Canada should be made +to pay the penalty. In a very short time, one hundred thousand, two +hundred thousand, five hundred thousand men, if necessary, could be +made ready for the invasion of Canada. From platform, pulpit, stump, +and editorial office came the cry: "On to Canada!" + +At the seat of Government, however, the plan of the war did not appear +so obvious, so simple. Throwing a great army into Canada was all well +enough, and that army would probably do well enough; but the question +which produced hard breathing in the executive branch of the Government +was the immediate protection of the sea-coast, Atlantic, Gulf, and even +Pacific. + +In a storm of national indignation war had been declared against a +power which at this period of her history had brought up her naval +forces to a point double in strength to that of any other country in +the world. And this war had been declared by a nation which, +comparatively speaking, possessed no naval strength at all. + +For some years the United States navy had been steadily improving, but +this improvement was not sufficient to make it worthy of reliance at +this crisis. As has been said, there was money enough, and every +ship-yard in the country could be set to work to build ironclad +men-of-war: but it takes a long time to build ships, and England's navy +was afloat. It was the British keel that America had to fear. + +By means of the continental cables it was known that many of the +largest mail vessels of the British transatlantic lines, which had been +withdrawn upon the declaration of war, were preparing in British ports +to transport troops to Canada. It was not impossible that these great +steamers might land an army in Canada before an American army could be +organized and marched to that province. It might be that the United +States would be forced to defend her borders, instead of invading those +of the enemy. + +In every fort and navy-yard all was activity; the hammering of iron +went on by day and by night; but what was to be done when the great +ironclads of England hammered upon our defences? How long would it be +before the American flag would be seen no more upon the high seas? + +It is not surprising that the Government found its position one of +perilous responsibility. A wrathful nation expected of it more than it +could perform. + +All over the country, however, there were thoughtful men, not connected +with the Government, who saw the perilous features of the situation; +and day by day these grew less afraid of being considered traitors, and +more willing to declare their convictions of the country's danger. +Despite the continuance of the national enthusiasm, doubts, +perplexities, and fears began to show themselves. + +In the States bordering upon Canada a reactionary feeling became +evident. Unless the United States navy could prevent England from +rapidly pouring into Canada, not only her own troops, but perhaps those +of allied nations, these Northern States might become the scene of +warfare, and whatever the issue of the contest, their lands might be +ravished, their people suffer. + +From many quarters urgent demands were now pressed upon the Government. +From the interior there were clamours for troops to be massed on the +Northern frontier, and from the seaboard cities there came a cry for +ships that were worthy to be called men-of-war,--ships to defend the +harbours and bays, ships to repel an invasion by sea. Suggestions were +innumerable. There was no time to build, it was urged; the Government +could call upon friendly nations. But wise men smiled sadly at these +suggestions; it was difficult to find a nation desirous of a war with +England. + +In the midst of the enthusiasms, the fears, and the suggestions, came +reports of the capture of American merchantmen by fast British +cruisers. These reports made the American people more furious, the +American Government more anxious. + +Almost from the beginning of this period of national turmoil, a party +of gentlemen met daily in one of the large rooms in a hotel in New +York. At first there were eleven of these men, all from the great +Atlantic cities, but their number increased by arrivals from other +parts of the country, until at last they, numbered twenty-three. These +gentlemen were all great capitalists, and accustomed to occupying +themselves with great enterprises. By day and by night they met +together with closed doors, until they had matured the scheme which +they had been considering. As soon as this work was done, a committee +was sent to Washington, to submit a plan to the Government. + +These twenty-three men had formed themselves into a Syndicate, with the +object of taking entire charge of the war between the United States and +Great Britain. + +This proposition was an astounding one, but the Government was obliged +to treat it with respectful consideration. The men who offered it were +a power in the land,--a power which no government could afford to +disregard. + +The plan of the Syndicate was comprehensive, direct, and simple. It +offered to assume the entire control and expense of the war, and to +effect a satisfactory peace within one year. As a guarantee that this +contract would be properly performed, an immense sum of money would be +deposited in the Treasury at Washington. Should the Syndicate be +unsuccessful, this sum would be forfeited, and it would receive no pay +for anything it had done. + +The sum to be paid by the Government to the Syndicate, should it bring +the war to a satisfactory conclusion, would depend upon the duration of +hostilities. That is to say, that as the shorter the duration of the +war, the greater would be the benefit to the country, therefore, the +larger must be the pay to the Syndicate. According to the proposed +contract, the Syndicate would receive, if the war should continue for a +year, one-quarter the sum stipulated to be paid if peace should be +declared in three months. + +If at any time during the conduct of the war by the Syndicate an +American seaport should be taken by the enemy, or a British force +landed on any point of the seacoast, the contract should be considered +at an end, and security and payment forfeited. If any point on the +northern boundary of the United States should be taken and occupied by +the enemy, one million dollars of the deposited security should be +forfeited for every such occupation, but the contract should continue. + +It was stipulated that the land and naval forces of the United States +should remain under the entire control of the Government, but should be +maintained as a defensive force, and not brought into action unless any +failure on the part of the Syndicate should render such action +necessary. + +The state of feeling in governmental circles, and the evidences of +alarm and distrust which were becoming apparent in Congress and among +the people, exerted an important influence in favour of the Syndicate. +The Government caught at its proposition, not as if it were a straw, +but as if it were a life-raft. The men who offered to relieve the +executive departments of their perilous responsibilities were men of +great ability, prominent positions, and vast resources, whose vast +enterprises had already made them known all over the globe. Such men +were not likely to jeopardize their reputations and fortunes in a case +like this, unless they had well-founded reasons for believing that they +would be successful. Even the largest amount stipulated to be paid +them in case of success would be less than the ordinary estimates for +the military and naval operations which had been anticipated; and in +case of failure, the amount forfeited would go far to repair the losses +which might be sustained by the citizens of the various States. + +At all events, should the Syndicate be allowed to take immediate +control of the war, there would be time to put the army and navy, +especially the latter, in better condition to carry on the contest in +case of the failure of the Syndicate. Organization and construction +might still go on, and, should it be necessary, the army and navy could +step into the contest fresh and well prepared. + +All branches of the Government united in accepting the offer of the +Syndicate. The contract was signed, and the world waited to see what +would happen next. + +The influence which for years had been exerted by the interests +controlled by the men composing the Syndicate, had its effect in +producing a popular confidence in the power of the members of the +Syndicate to conduct a war as successfully as they had conducted other +gigantic enterprises. Therefore, although predictions of disaster came +from many quarters, the American public appeared willing to wait with +but moderate impatience for the result of this novel undertaking. + +The Government now proceeded to mass troops at important points on the +northern frontier; forts were supplied with men and armaments, all +coast defences were put in the best possible condition, the navy was +stationed at important ports, and work at the shipyards went on. But +without reference to all this, the work of the Syndicate immediately +began. + +This body of men were of various politics and of various pursuits in +life. But politics were no more regarded in the work they had +undertaken than they would have been in the purchase of land or of +railroad iron. No manifestoes of motives and intentions were issued to +the public. The Syndicate simply went to work. There could be no +doubt that early success would be a direct profit to it, but there +could also be no doubt that its success would be a vast benefit and +profit, not only to the business enterprises in which these men were +severally engaged, but to the business of the whole country. To save +the United States from a dragging war, and to save themselves from the +effects of it, were the prompting motives for the formation of the +Syndicate. + +Without hesitation, the Syndicate determined that the war in which it +was about to engage should be one of defence by means of offence. Such +a war must necessarily be quick and effective; and with all the force +of their fortunes, their minds, and their bodies, its members went to +work to wage this war quickly and effectively. + +All known inventions and improvements in the art of war had been +thoroughly considered by the Syndicate, and by the eminent specialists +whom it had enlisted in its service. Certain recently perfected +engines of war, novel in nature, were the exclusive property of the +Syndicate. It was known, or surmised, in certain quarters that the +Syndicate had secured possession of important warlike inventions; but +what they were and how they acted was a secret carefully guarded and +protected. + +The first step of the Syndicate was to purchase from the United States +Government ten war-vessels. These were of medium size and in good +condition, but they were of an old-fashioned type, and it had not been +considered expedient to put them in commission. This action caused +surprise and disappointment in many quarters. It had been supposed +that the Syndicate, through its agents scattered all over the world, +would immediately acquire, by purchase or lease, a fleet of fine +ironclads culled from various maritime powers. But the Syndicate +having no intention of involving, or attempting to involve, other +countries in this quarrel, paid no attention to public opinion, and +went to work in its own way. + +Its vessels, eight of which were on the Atlantic coast and two on the +Pacific, were rapidly prepared for the peculiar service in which they +were to be engaged. The resources of the Syndicate were great, and in +a very short time several of their vessels, already heavily plated with +steel, were furnished with an additional outside armour, formed of +strips of elastic steel, each reaching from the gunwales nearly to the +surface of the water. These strips, about a foot wide, and placed an +inch or two apart, were each backed by several powerful air-buffers, so +that a ball striking one or more of them would be deprived of much of +its momentum. The experiments upon the steel spring and buffers +adopted by the Syndicate showed that the force of the heaviest +cannonading was almost deadened by the powerful elasticity of this +armour. + +The armament of each vessel consisted of but one gun, of large calibre, +placed on the forward deck, and protected by a bomb-proof covering. +Each vessel was manned by a captain and crew from the merchant service, +from whom no warlike duties were expected. The fighting operations +were in charge of a small body of men, composed of two or three +scientific specialists, and some practical gunners and their +assistants. A few bomb-proof canopies and a curved steel deck +completed the defences of the vessel. + +Besides equipping this little navy, the Syndicate set about the +construction of certain sea-going vessels of an extraordinary kind. So +great were the facilities at its command, and so thorough and complete +its methods, that ten or a dozen ship-yards and foundries were set to +work simultaneously to build one of these ships. In a marvellously +short time the Syndicate possessed several of them ready for action. + +These vessels became technically known as "crabs." They were not large, +and the only part of them which projected above the water was the +middle of an elliptical deck, slightly convex, and heavily mailed with +ribs of steel. These vessels were fitted with electric engines of +extraordinary power, and were capable of great speed. At their bows, +fully protected by the overhanging deck, was the machinery by which +their peculiar work was to be accomplished. The Syndicate intended to +confine itself to marine operations, and for the present it was +contented with these two classes of vessels. + +The armament for each of the large vessels, as has been said before, +consisted of a single gun of long range, and the ammunition was +confined entirely to a new style of projectile, which had never yet +been used in warfare. The material and construction of this projectile +were known only to three members of the Syndicate, who had invented and +perfected it, and it was on account of their possession of this secret +that they had been invited to join that body. + +This projectile was not, in the ordinary sense of the word, an +explosive, and was named by its inventors, "The Instantaneous Motor." +It was discharged from an ordinary cannon, but no gunpowder or other +explosive compound was used to propel it. The bomb possessed, in +itself the necessary power of propulsion, and the gun was used merely +to give it the proper direction. + +These bombs were cylindrical in form, and pointed at the outer end. +They were filled with hundreds of small tubes, each radiating outward +from a central line. Those in the middle third of the bomb pointed +directly outward, while those in its front portion were inclined +forward at a slight angle, and those in the rear portion backward at +the same angle. One tube at the end of the bomb, and pointing directly +backward, furnished the motive power. + +Each of these tubes could exert a force sufficient to move an ordinary +train of passenger cars one mile, and this power could be exerted +instantaneously, so that the difference in time in the starting of a +train at one end of the mile and its arrival at the other would not be +appreciable. The difference in concussionary force between a train +moving at the rate of a mile in two minutes, or even one minute, and +another train which moves a mile in an instant, can easily be imagined. + +In these bombs, those tubes which might direct their powers downward or +laterally upon the earth were capable of instantaneously propelling +every portion of solid ground or rock to a distance of two or three +hundred yards, while the particles of objects on the surface of the +earth were instantaneously removed to a far greater distance. The tube +which propelled the bomb was of a force graduated according to +circumstances, and it would carry a bomb to as great a distance as +accurate observation for purposes of aim could be made. Its force was +brought into action while in the cannon by means of electricity while +the same effect was produced in the other tubes by the concussion of +the steel head against the object aimed at. + +What gave the tubes their power was the jealously guarded secret. + +The method of aiming was as novel as the bomb itself. In this process +nothing depended on the eyesight of the gunner; the personal equation +was entirely eliminated. The gun was so mounted that its direction was +accurately indicated by graduated scales; there was an instrument which +was acted upon by the dip, rise, or roll of the vessel, and which +showed at any moment the position of the gun with reference to the +plane of the sea-surface. + +Before the discharge of the cannon an observation was taken by one of +the scientific men, which accurately determined the distance to the +object to be aimed at, and reference to a carefully prepared +mathematical table showed to what points on the graduated scales the +gun should be adjusted, and the instant that the that the muzzle of the +cannon was in the position that it was when the observation was taken, +a button was touched and the bomb was instantaneously placed on the +spot aimed at. The exactness with which the propelling force of the +bomb could be determined was an important factor in this method of +aiming. + +As soon as three of the spring-armoured vessels and five "crabs" were +completed, the Syndicate felt itself ready to begin operations. It was +indeed time. The seas had been covered with American and British +merchantmen hastening homeward, or to friendly ports, before the actual +commencement of hostilities. But all had not been fortunate enough to +reach safety within the limits of time allowed, and several American +merchantmen had been already captured by fast British cruisers. + +The members of the Syndicate well understood that if a war was to be +carried on as they desired, they must strike the first real blow. +Comparatively speaking, a very short time had elapsed since the +declaration of war, and the opportunity to take the initiative was +still open. + +It was in order to take this initiative that, in the early hours of a +July morning, two of the Syndicate's armoured vessels, each accompanied +by a crab, steamed out of a New England port, and headed for the point +on the Canadian coast where it had been decided to open the campaign. + +The vessels of the Syndicate had no individual names. The +spring-armoured ships were termed "repellers," and were numbered, and +the crabs were known by the letters of the alphabet. Each repeller was +in charge of a Director of Naval Operations; and the whole naval force +of the Syndicate was under the command of a Director-in-chief. On this +momentous occasion this officer was on board of Repeller No. 1, and +commanded the little fleet. + +The repellers had never been vessels of great speed, and their present +armour of steel strips, the lower portion of which was frequently under +water, considerably retarded their progress; but each of them was taken +in tow by one of the swift and powerful crabs, and with this assistance +they made very good time, reaching their destination on the morning of +the second day. + +It was on a breezy day, with a cloudy sky, and the sea moderately +smooth, that the little fleet of the Syndicate lay to off the harbour +of one of the principal Canadian seaports. About five miles away the +headlands on either side of the mouth of the harbour could be plainly +seen. It had been decided that Repeller No. 1 should begin operations. +Accordingly, that vessel steamed about a mile nearer the harbour, +accompanied by Crab A. The other repeller and crab remained in their +first position, ready to act in case they should be needed. + +The approach of two vessels, evidently men-of-war, and carrying the +American flag, was perceived from the forts and redoubts at the mouth +of the harbour, and the news quickly spread to the city and to the +vessels in port. Intense excitement ensued on land and water, among +the citizens of the place as well as its defenders. Every man who had +a post of duty was instantly at it; and in less than half an hour the +British man-of-war Scarabaeus, which had been lying at anchor a short +distance outside the harbour, came steaming out to meet the enemy. +There were other naval vessels in port, but they required more time to +be put in readiness for action. + +As soon as the approach of Scarabaeus was perceived by Repeller No. 1, +a boat bearing a white flag was lowered from that vessel and was +rapidly rowed toward the British ship. When the latter saw the boat +coming she lay to, and waited its arrival. A note was delivered to the +captain of the Scarabaeus, in which it was stated that the Syndicate, +which had undertaken on the part of the United States the conduct of +the war between that country and Great Britain, was now prepared to +demand the surrender of this city with its forts and defences and all +vessels within its harbour, and, as a first step, the immediate +surrender of the vessel to the commander of which this note was +delivered. + +The overwhelming effrontery of this demand caused the commander of the +Scarabaeus to doubt whether he had to deal with a raving lunatic or a +blustering fool; but he informed the person in charge of the +flag-of-truce boat, that he would give him fifteen minutes in which to +get back to his vessel, and that he would then open fire upon that +craft. + +The men who rowed the little boat were not men-of-war's men, and were +unaccustomed to duties of this kind. In eight minutes they had reached +their vessel, and were safe on board. + +Just seven minutes afterward the first shot came from the Scarabaeus. +It passed over Repeller No. 1, and that vessel, instead of replying, +immediately steamed nearer her adversary. The Director-in-chief +desired to determine the effect of an active cannonade upon the new +armour, and therefore ordered the vessel placed in such a position that +the Englishman might have the best opportunity for using it as a target. + +The Scarabaeus lost no time in availing herself of the facilities +offered. She was a large and powerful ship, with a heavy armament; +and, soon getting the range of the Syndicate's vessel, she hurled ball +after ball upon her striped side. Repeller No. 1 made no reply, but +quietly submitted to the terrible bombardment. Some of the great shot +jarred her from bow to stern, but not one of them broke a steel spring, +nor penetrated the heavy inside plates. + +After half an hour of this, work the Director-in-chief became satisfied +that the new armour had well acquitted itself in the severe trial to +which it had been subjected. Some of the air-buffers had been +disabled, probably on account of faults in their construction, but +these could readily be replaced, and no further injury had been done +the vessel. It was not necessary, therefore, to continue the +experiment any longer, and besides, there was danger that the +Englishman, perceiving that his antagonist did not appear to be +affected by his fire, would approach closer and endeavour to ram her. +This was to be avoided, for the Scarabaeus was a much larger vessel +than Repeller No. 1, and able to run into the latter and sink her by +mere preponderance of weight. + +It was therefore decided to now test the powers of the crabs. Signals +were made from Repeller No. 1 to Crab A, which had been lying with the +larger vessel between it and the enemy. These signals were made by +jets of dense black smoke, which were ejected from a small pipe on the +repeller. These slender columns of smoke preserved their cylindrical +forms for some moments, and were visible at a great distance by day or +night, being illumined in the latter case by electric light. The +length and frequency of these jets were regulated by an instrument in +the Director's room. Thus, by means of long and short puffs, with the +proper use of intervals, a message could be projected into the air as a +telegraphic instrument would mark it upon paper. + +In this manner Crab A was ordered to immediately proceed to the attack +of the Scarabaeus. The almost submerged vessel steamed rapidly from +behind her consort, and made for the British man-of-war. + +When the latter vessel perceived the approach of this turtle-backed +object, squirting little jets of black smoke as she replied to the +orders from the repeller, there was great amazement on board. The crab +had not been seen before, but as it came rapidly on there was no time +for curiosity or discussion, and several heavy guns were brought to +bear upon it. It was difficult to hit a rapidly moving flat object +scarcely above the surface of the water; and although several shot +struck the crab, they glanced off without in the least interfering with +its progress. + +Crab A soon came so near the Scarabaeus that it was impossible to +depress the guns of the latter so as to strike her. The great vessel +was, therefore, headed toward its assailant, and under a full head of +steam dashed directly at it to run it down. But the crab could turn as +upon a pivot, and shooting to one side allowed the surging man-of-war +to pass it. + +Perceiving instantly that it would be difficult to strike this nimble +and almost submerged adversary, the commander of the Scarabaeus thought +it well to let it alone for the present, and to bear down with all +speed upon the repeller. But it was easier to hit the crab than to +leave it behind. It was capable of great speed, and, following the +British vessel, it quickly came up with her. + +The course of the Scarabaeus was instantly changed, and every effort +was made to get the vessel into a position to run down the crab. But +this was not easy for so large a ship, and Crab A seemed to have no +difficulty in keeping close to her stern. + +Several machine-guns, especially adopted for firing at torpedo-boats or +any hostile craft which might be discovered close to a vessel, were now +brought to bear upon the crab, and ball after ball was hurled at her. +Some of these struck, but glanced off without penetrating her tough +armour. + +These manoeuvres had not continued long, when the crew of the crab was +ready to bring into action the peculiar apparatus of that peculiar +craft. An enormous pair of iron forceps, each massive limb of which +measured twelve feet or more in length, was run out in front of the +crab at a depth of six or eight feet below the surface. These forceps +were acted upon by an electric engine of immense power, by which they +could be shut, opened, projected, withdrawn, or turned and twisted. + +The crab darted forward, and in the next instant the great teeth of her +pincers were fastened with a tremendous grip upon the rudder and +rudder-post of the Scarabaeus. + +Then followed a sudden twist, which sent a thrill through both vessels; +a crash; a backward jerk; the snapping of a chain; and in a moment the +great rudder, with half of the rudder-post attached, was torn from the +vessel, and as the forceps opened it dropped to leeward and hung +dangling by one chain. + +Again the forceps opened wide; again there was a rush; and this time +the huge jaws closed upon the rapidly revolving screw-propeller. There +was a tremendous crash, and the small but massive crab turned over so +far that for an instant one of its sides was plainly visible above the +water. The blades of the propeller were crushed and shivered; those +parts of the steamer's engines connecting with the propeller-shaft were +snapped and rent apart, while the propeller-shaft itself was broken by +the violent stoppage. + +The crab, which had quickly righted, now backed, still holding the +crushed propeller in its iron grasp, and as it moved away from the +Scarabaeus, it extracted about forty feet of its propeller-shaft; then, +opening its massive jaws, it allowed the useless mass of iron to drop +to the bottom of the sea. + +Every man on board the Scarabaeus was wild with amazement and +excitement. Few could comprehend what had happened, but this very +quickly became evident. So far as motive power was concerned, the +Scarabaeus was totally, disabled. She could not direct her course, for +her rudder was gone, her propeller was gone, her engines were useless, +and she could do no more than float as wind or tide might move her. +Moreover, there was a jagged hole in her stern where the shaft had +been, and through this the water was pouring into the vessel. As a +man-of-war the Scarabaeus was worthless. + +Orders now came fast from Repeller No. 1, which had moved nearer to the +scene of conflict. It was to be supposed that the disabled ship was +properly furnished with bulk-heads, so that the water would penetrate +no farther than the stern compartment, and that, therefore, she was in +no danger of sinking. Crab A was ordered to make fast to the bow of +the Scarabaeus, and tow her toward two men-of-war who were rapidly +approaching from the harbour. + +This proceeding astonished the commander and officers of the Scarabaeus +almost as much as the extraordinary attack which had been made upon +their ship. They had expected a demand to surrender and haul down +their flag; but the Director-in-chief on board Repeller No. 1 was of +the opinion that with her propeller extracted it mattered little what +flag she flew. His work with the Scarabaeus was over; for it had been +ordered by the Syndicate that its vessels should not encumber +themselves with prizes. + +Towed by the powerful crab, which apparently had no fear that its +disabled adversary might fire upon it, the Scarabaeus moved toward the +harbour, and when it had come within a quarter of a mile of the +foremost British vessel, Crab A cast off and steamed back to Repeller +No. 1. + +The other English vessels soon came up, and each lay to and sent a boat +to the Scarabaeus. After half an hour's consultation, in which the +amazement of those on board the damaged vessel was communicated to the +officers and crews of her two consorts, it was determined that the +smaller of these should tow the disabled ship into port, while the +other one, in company with a man-of-war just coming out of the harbour, +should make an attack upon Repeller No. 1. + +It had been plainly proved that ordinary shot and shell had no effect +upon this craft; but it had not been proved that she could withstand +the rams of powerful ironclads. If this vessel, that apparently +carried no guns, or, at least, had used none, could be crushed, +capsized, sunk, or in any way put out of the fight, it was probable +that the dangerous submerged nautical machine would not care to remain +in these waters. If it remained it must be destroyed by torpedoes. + +Signals were exchanged between the two English vessels, and in a very +short time they were steaming toward the repeller. It was a dangerous +thing for two vessels of their size to come close enough together for +both to ram an enemy at the same time, but it was determined to take +the risks and do this, if possible; for the destruction of the repeller +was obviously the first duty in hand. + +As the two men-of-war rapidly approached Repeller No. 1, they kept up a +steady fire upon her; for if in this way they could damage her, the +easier would be their task. With a firm reliance upon the efficacy of +the steel-spring armour, the Director-in-chief felt no fear of the +enemy's shot and shell; but he was not at all willing that his vessel +should be rammed, for the consequences would probably be disastrous. +Accordingly he did not wait for the approach of the two vessels, but +steering seaward, he signalled for the other crab. + +When Crab B made its appearance, puffing its little black jets of +smoke, as it answered the signals of the Director-in-chief, the +commanders of the two British vessels were surprised. They had +imagined that there was only one of these strange and terrible enemies, +and had supposed that she would be afraid to make her peculiar attack +upon one of them, because while doing so she would expose herself to +the danger of being run down by the other. But the presence of two of +these almost submerged engines of destruction entirely changed the +situation. + +But the commanders of the British ships were brave men. They had +started to run down the strangely armoured American craft, and run her +down they would, if they could. They put on more steam, and went ahead +at greater speed. In such a furious onslaught the crabs might not dare +to attack them. + +But they did not understand the nature nor the powers of these enemies. +In less than twenty minutes Crab A had laid hold of one of the +men-of-war, and Crab B of the other. The rudders of both were +shattered and torn away; and while the blades of one propeller were +crushed to pieces, the other, with nearly half its shaft, was drawn out +and dropped into the ocean. Helplessly the two men-of-war rose and +fell upon the waves. + +In obedience to orders from the repeller, each crab took hold of one of +the disabled vessels, and towed it near the mouth of the harbour, where +it was left. + +The city was now in a state of feverish excitement, which was +intensified by the fact that a majority of the people did not +understand what had happened, while those to whom this had been made +plain could not comprehend why such a thing should have been allowed to +happen. Three of Her Majesty's ships of war, equipped and ready for +action, had sailed out of the harbour, and an apparently insignificant +enemy, without firing a gun, had put them into such a condition that +they were utterly unfit for service, and must be towed into a dry dock. +How could the Government, the municipality, the army, or the navy +explain this? + +The anxiety, the excitement, the nervous desire to know what had +happened, and what might be expected next, spread that evening to every +part of the Dominion reached by telegraph. + +The military authorities in charge of the defences of the city were as +much disturbed and amazed by what had happened as any civilian could +possibly be, but they had no fears for the safety of the place, for the +enemy's vessels could not possibly enter, nor even approach, the +harbour. The fortifications on the heights mounted guns much heavier +than those on the men-of-war, and shots from these fired from an +elevation might sink even those "underwater devils." But, more than on +the forts, they relied upon their admirable system of torpedoes and +submarine batteries. With these in position and ready for action, as +they now were, it was impossible for an enemy's vessel, floating on the +water or under it, to enter the harbour without certain destruction. + +Bulletins to this effect were posted in the city, and somewhat allayed +the popular anxiety, although many people, who were fearful of what +might happen next, left by the evening trains for the interior. That +night the news of this extraordinary affair was cabled to Europe, and +thence back to the United States, and all over the world. In many +quarters the account was disbelieved, and in no quarter was it +thoroughly understood, for it must be borne in mind that the methods of +operation employed by the crabs were not evident to those on board the +disabled vessels. But everywhere there was the greatest desire to know +what would be done next. + +It was the general opinion that the two armoured vessels were merely +tenders to the submerged machines which had done the mischief. Having +fired no guns, nor taken any active part in the combat, there was every +reason to believe that they were intended merely as bomb-proof +store-ships for their formidable consorts. As these submerged vessels +could not attack a town, nor reduce fortifications, but could exercise +their power only against vessels afloat, it was plain enough to see +that the object of the American Syndicate was to blockade the port. +That they would be able to maintain the blockade when the full power of +the British navy should be brought to bear upon them was generally +doubted, though it was conceded in the most wrathful circles that, +until the situation should be altered, it would be unwise to risk +valuable war vessels in encounters with the diabolical sea-monsters now +lying off the port. + +In the New York office of the Syndicate there was great satisfaction. +The news received was incorrect and imperfect, but it was evident that, +so far, everything had gone well. + +About nine o'clock the next morning, Repeller No. 1, with her consort +half a mile astern, and preceded by the two crabs, one on either bow, +approached to within two miles of the harbour mouth. The crabs, a +quarter of a mile ahead of the repeller, moved slowly; for between them +they bore an immense net, three or four hundred feet long, and thirty +feet deep, composed of jointed steel rods. Along the upper edge of +this net was a series of air-floats, which were so graduated that they +were sunk by the weight of the net a few feet below the surface of the +water, from which position they held the net suspended vertically. + +This net, which was intended to protect the repeller against the +approach of submarine torpedoes, which might be directed from the +shore, was anchored at each end, two very small buoys indicating its +position. The crabs then falling astern, Repeller No. 1 lay to, with +the sunken net between her and the shore, and prepared to project the +first instantaneous motor-bomb ever used in warfare. + +The great gun in the bow of the vessel was loaded with one of the +largest and most powerful motor-bombs, and the spot to be aimed at was +selected. This was a point in the water just inside of the mouth of +the harbour, and nearly a mile from the land on either side. The +distance of this point from the vessel being calculated, the cannon was +adjusted at the angle called for by the scale of distances and levels, +and the instrument indicating rise, fall, and direction was then put in +connection with it. + +Now the Director-in-chief stepped forward to the button, by pressing +which the power of the motor was developed. The chief of the +scientific corps then showed him the exact point upon the scale which +would be indicated when the gun was in its proper position, and the +piece was then moved upon its bearings so as to approximate as nearly +as possible this direction. + +The bow of the vessel now rose upon the swell of the sea, and the +instant that the index upon the scale reached the desired point, the +Director-in-chief touched the button. + +There was no report, no smoke, no visible sign that the motor had left +the cannon; but at that instant there appeared, to those who were on +the lookout, from a fort about a mile away, a vast aperture in the +waters of the bay, which was variously described as from one hundred +yards to five hundred yards in diameter. At that same instant, in the +neighbouring headlands and islands far up the shores of the bay, and in +every street and building of the city, there was felt a sharp shock, as +if the underlying rocks had been struck by a gigantic trip-hammer. + +At the same instant the sky above the spot where the motor had +descended was darkened by a wide-spreading cloud. This was formed of +that portion of the water of the bay which had been instantaneously +raised to the height of about a thousand feet. The sudden appearance +of this cloud was even more terrible than the yawning chasm in the +waters of the bay or the startling shock; but it did not remain long in +view. It had no sooner reached its highest elevation than it began to +descend. There was a strong sea-breeze blowing, and in its descent +this vast mass of water was impelled toward the land. + +It came down, not as rain, but as the waters of a vast cataract, as +though a mountain lake, by an earthquake shock, had been precipitated +in a body upon a valley. Only one edge of it reached the land, and +here the seething flood tore away earth, trees, and rocks, leaving +behind it great chasms and gullies as it descended to the sea. + +The bay itself, into which the vast body of the water fell, became a +scene of surging madness. The towering walls of water which had stood +up all around the suddenly created aperture hurled themselves back into +the abyss, and down into the great chasm at the bottom of the bay, +which had been made when the motor sent its shock along the great rock +beds. Down upon, and into, this roaring, boiling tumult fell the +tremendous cataract from above, and the harbour became one wild expanse +of leaping maddened waves, hissing their whirling spray high into the +air. + +During these few terrific moments other things happened which passed +unnoticed in the general consternation. All along the shores of the +bay and in front of the city the waters seemed to be sucked away, +slowly returning as the sea forced them to their level, and at many +points up and down the harbour there were submarine detonations and +upheavals of the water. + +These were caused by the explosion, by concussion, of every torpedo and +submarine battery in the harbour; and it was with this object in view +that the instantaneous motor-bomb had been shot into the mouth of the +bay. + +The effects of the discharge of the motor-bomb astonished and even +startled those on board the repellers and the crabs. At the instant of +touching the button a hydraulic shock was felt on Repeller No. 1. +This was supposed to be occasioned the discharge of the motor, but it +was also felt on the other vessels. It was the same shock that had +been felt on shore, but less in degree. A few moments after there was +a great heaving swell of the sea, which tossed and rolled the four +vessels, and lifted the steel protecting net so high that for an +instant parts of it showed themselves above the surface like glistening +sea-ghosts. + +Experiments with motor-bombs had been made in unsettled mountainous +districts, but this was the first one which had ever exerted its power +under water. + +On shore, in the forts, and in the city no one for an instant supposed +that the terrific phenomenon which had just occurred was in any way due +to the vessels of the Syndicate. The repellers were in plain view, and +it was evident that neither of them had fired a gun. Besides, the +firing of cannon did not produce such effects. It was the general +opinion that there had been an earthquake shock, accompanied by a +cloud-burst and extraordinary convulsions of the sea. Such a +combination of elementary disturbances had never been known in these +parts; and a great many persons were much more frightened than if they +had understood what had really happened. + +In about half an hour after the discharge of the motor-bomb, when the +sea had resumed its usual quiet, a boat carrying a white flag left +Repeller No. 1, rowed directly over the submerged net, and made for the +harbour. When the approach of this flag-of-truce was perceived from +the fort nearest the mouth of the harbour, it occasioned much surmise. +Had the earthquake brought these Syndicate knaves to their senses? Or +were they about to make further absurd and outrageous demands? Some +irate officers were of the opinion that enemies like these should be +considered no better than pirates, and that their flag-of-truce should +be fired upon. But the commandant of the fort paid no attention to +such counsels, and sent a detachment with a white flag down to the +beach to meet the approaching boat and learn its errand. + +The men in the boat had nothing to do but to deliver a letter from the +Director-in-chief to the commandant of the fort, and then row back +again. No answer was required. + +When the commandant read the brief note, he made no remark. In fact, +he could think of no appropriate remark to make. The missive simply +informed him that at ten o'clock and eighteen minutes A. M., of that +day, the first bomb from the marine forces of the Syndicate had been +discharged into the waters of the harbour. At, or about, two o'clock +P.M., the second bomb would be discharged at Fort Pilcher. That was +all. + +What this extraordinary message meant could not be imagined by any +officer of the garrison. If the people on board the ships were taking +advantage of the earthquake, and supposed that they could induce +British soldiers to believe that it had been caused by one of their +bombs, then were they idiots indeed. They would fire their second shot +at Fort Pilcher! This was impossible, for they had not yet fired their +first shot. These Syndicate people were evidently very tricky, and the +defenders of the port must therefore be very cautious. + +Fort Pilcher was a very large and unfinished fortification, on a bluff +on the opposite side of the harbour. Work had been discontinued on it +as soon as the Syndicate's vessels had appeared off the port, for it +was not desired to expose the builders and workmen to a possible +bombardment. The place was now, therefore, almost deserted; but after +the receipt of the Syndicate's message, the commandant feared that the +enemy might throw an ordinary shell into the unfinished works, and he +sent a boat across the bay to order away any workmen or others who +might be lingering about the place. + +A little after two o'clock P.M., an instantaneous motor-bomb was +discharged from Repeller No. 1 into Fort Pilcher. It was set to act +five seconds after impact with the object aimed at. It struck in a +central portion of the unfinished fort, and having described a high +curve in the air, descended not only with its own motive power, but +with the force of gravitation, and penetrated deep into the earth. + +Five seconds later a vast brown cloud appeared on the Fort Pilcher +promontory. This cloud was nearly spherical in form, with an apparent +diameter of about a thousand yards. At the same instant a shock +similar to that accompanying the first motor-bomb was felt in the city +and surrounding country; but this was not so severe as the other, for +the second bomb did not exert its force upon the underlying rocks of +the region as the first one had done. + +The great brown cloud quickly began to lose its spherical form, part of +it descending heavily to the earth, and part floating away in vast +dust-clouds borne inland by the breeze, settling downward as they +moved, and depositing on land, water, ships, houses, domes, and trees +an almost impalpable powder. + +When the cloud had cleared away there were no fortifications, and the +bluff on which they had stood had disappeared. Part of this bluff had +floated away on the wind, and part of it lay piled in great heaps of +sand on the spot where its rocks were to have upheld a fort. + +The effect of the motor-bomb was fully observed with glasses from the +various fortifications of the port, and from many points of the city +and harbour; and those familiar with the effects of explosives were not +long in making up their minds what had happened. They felt sure that a +mine had been sprung beneath Fort Pilcher; and they were now equally +confident that in the morning a torpedo of novel and terrible power had +been exploded in the harbour. They now disbelieved in the earthquake, +and treated with contempt the pretence that shots had been fired from +the Syndicate's vessel. This was merely a trick of the enemy. It was +not even likely that the mine or the torpedo had been operated from the +ship. These were, in all probability, under the control of +confederates on shore, and had been exploded at times agreed upon +beforehand. All this was perfectly plain to the military authorities. + +But the people of the city derived no comfort from the announcement of +these conclusions. For all that anybody knew the whole city might be +undermined, and at any moment might ascend in a cloud of minute +particles. They felt that they were in a region of hidden traitors and +bombs, and in consequence of this belief thousands of citizens left +their homes. + +That afternoon a truce-boat again went out from Repeller No. 1, and +rowed to the fort, where a letter to the commandant was delivered. +This, like the other, demanded no answer, and the boat returned. Later +in the afternoon the two repellers, accompanied by the crabs, and +leaving the steel net still anchored in its place, retired a few miles +seaward, where they prepared to lay to for the night. + +The letter brought by the truce-boat was read by the commandant, +surrounded by his officers. It stated that in twenty-four hours from +time of writing it, which would be at or about four o'clock on the next +afternoon, a bomb would be thrown into the garrisoned fort, under the +command of the officer addressed. As this would result in the entire +destruction of the fortification, the commandant was earnestly +counselled to evacuate the fort before the hour specified. + +Ordinarily the commandant of the fort was of a calm and unexcitable +temperament. During the astounding events of that day and the day +before he had kept his head cool; his judgment, if not correct, was the +result of sober and earnest consideration. But now he lost his temper. +The unparalleled effrontery and impertinence of this demand of the +American Syndicate was too much for his self-possession. He stormed in +anger. + +Here was the culmination of the knavish trickery of these +conscienceless pirates who had attacked the port. A torpedo had been +exploded in the harbour, an unfinished fort had been mined and blown +up, and all this had been done to frighten him--a British soldier--in +command of a strong fort well garrisoned and fully supplied with all +the munitions of war. In the fear that his fort would be destroyed by +a mystical bomb, he was expected to march to a place of safety with all +his forces. If this should be done it would not be long before these +crafty fellows would occupy the fort, and with its great guns turned +inland, would hold the city at their mercy. There could be no greater +insult to a soldier than to suppose that he could be gulled by a trick +like this. + +No thought of actual danger entered the mind of the commandant. It had +been easy enough to sink a great torpedo in the harbour, and the +unguarded bluffs of Fort Pilcher offered every opportunity to the +scoundrels who may have worked at their mines through the nights of +several months. But a mine under the fort which he commanded was an +impossibility; its guarded outposts prevented any such method of +attack. At a bomb, or a dozen, or a hundred of the Syndicate's bombs +he snapped his fingers. He could throw bombs as well. + +Nothing would please him better than that those ark-like ships in the +offing should come near enough for an artillery fight. A few tons of +solid shot and shell dropped on top of them might be a very conclusive +answer to their impudent demands. + +The letter from the Syndicate, together with his own convictions on the +subject, were communicated by the commandant to the military +authorities of the port, and to the War Office of the Dominion. The +news of what had happened that day had already been cabled across the +Atlantic back to the United States, and all over the world; and the +profound impression created by it was intensified when it became known +what the Syndicate proposed to do the next day. Orders and advices +from the British Admiralty and War Office sped across the ocean, and +that night few of the leaders in government circles in England or +Canada closed their eyes. + +The opinions of the commandant of the fort were received with but +little favour by the military and naval authorities. Great +preparations were already ordered to repel and crush this most +audacious attack upon the port, but in the mean time it was highly +desirable that the utmost caution and prudence should be observed. +Three men-of-war had already been disabled by the novel and destructive +machines of the enemy, and it had been ordered that for the present no +more vessels of the British navy be allowed to approach the crabs of +the Syndicate. + +Whether it was a mine or a bomb which had been used in the destruction +of the unfinished works of Fort Pilcher, it would be impossible to +determine until an official survey had been made of the ruins; but, in +any event, it would be wise and humane not to expose the garrison of +the fort on the south side of the harbour to the danger which had +overtaken the works on the opposite shore. If, contrary to the opinion +of the commandant, the garrisoned fort were really mined, the following +day would probably prove the fact. Until this point should be +determined it would be highly judicious to temporarily evacuate the +fort. This could not be followed by occupation of the works by the +enemy, for all approaches, either by troops in boats or by bodies of +confederates by land, could be fully covered by the inland redoubts and +fortifications. + +When the orders for evacuation reached the commandant of the fort, he +protested hotly, and urged that his protest be considered. It was not +until the command had been reiterated both from London and Ottawa, that +he accepted the situation, and with bowed head prepared to leave his +post. All night preparations for evacuation went on, and during the +next morning the garrison left the fort, and established itself far +enough away to preclude danger from the explosion of a mine, but near +enough to be available in case of necessity. + +During this morning there arrived in the offing another Syndicate +vessel. This had started from a northern part of the United States, +before the repellers and the crabs, and it had been engaged in laying a +private submarine cable, which should put the office of the Syndicate +in New York in direct communication with its naval forces engaged with +the enemy. Telegraphic connection between the cable boat and Repeller +No. 1 having been established, the Syndicate soon received from its +Director-in-chief full and comprehensive accounts of what had been done +and what it was proposed to do. Great was the satisfaction among the +members of the Syndicate when these direct and official reports came +in. Up to this time they had been obliged to depend upon very +unsatisfactory intelligence communicated from Europe, which had been +supplemented by wild statements and rumours smuggled across the +Canadian border. + +To counteract the effect of these, a full report was immediately made +by the Syndicate to the Government of the United States, and a bulletin +distinctly describing what had happened was issued to the people of the +country. These reports, which received a world-wide circulation in the +newspapers, created a popular elation in the United States, and gave +rise to serious apprehensions and concern in many other countries. But +under both elation and concern there was a certain doubtfulness. So +far the Syndicate had been successful; but its style of warfare was +decidedly experimental, and its forces, in numerical strength at least, +were weak. What would happen when the great naval power of Great +Britain should be brought to bear upon the Syndicate, was a question +whose probable answer was likely to cause apprehension and concern in +the United States, and elation in many other countries. + +The commencement of active hostilities had been precipitated by this +Syndicate. In England preparations were making by day and by night to +send upon the coast-lines of the United States a fleet which, in +numbers and power, would be greater than that of any naval expedition +in the history of the world. It is no wonder that many people of sober +judgment in America looked upon the affair of the crabs and the +repellers as but an incident in the beginning of a great and disastrous +war. + +On the morning of the destruction of Fort Pilcher, the Syndicate's +vessels moved toward the port, and the steel net was taken up by the +two crabs, and moved nearer the mouth of the harbour, at a point from +which the fort, now in process of evacuation, was in full view. When +this had been done, Repeller No. 2 took up her position at a moderate +distance behind the net, and the other vessels stationed themselves +near by. + +The protection of the net was considered necessary, for although there +could be no reasonable doubt that all the torpedoes in the harbour and +river had been exploded, others might be sent out against the +Syndicate's vessels; and a torpedo under a crab or a repeller was the +enemy most feared by the Syndicate. + +About three o'clock the signals between the repellers became very +frequent, and soon afterwards a truce-boat went out from Repeller No. +1. This was rowed with great rapidity, but it was obliged to go much +farther up the harbour than on previous occasions, in order to deliver +its message to an officer of the garrison. + +This was to the effect that the evacuation of the fort had been +observed from the Syndicate's vessels, and although it had been +apparently complete, one of the scientific corps, with a powerful +glass, had discovered a man in one of the outer redoubts, whose +presence there was probably unknown to the officers of the garrison. +It was, therefore, earnestly urged that this man be instantly removed; +and in order that this might be done, the discharge of the motor-bomb +would be postponed half an hour. + +The officer received this message, and was disposed to look upon it as +a new trick; but as no time was to be lost, he sent a corporal's guard +to the fort, and there discovered an Irish sergeant by the name of +Kilsey, who had sworn an oath that if every other man in the fort ran +away like a lot of addle-pated sheep, he would not run with them; he +would stand to his post to the last, and when the couple of ships +outside had got through bombarding the stout walls of the fort, the +world would see that there was at least one British soldier who was not +afraid of a bomb, be it little or big. Therefore he had managed to +elude observation, and to remain behind. + +The sergeant was so hot-headed in his determination to stand by the +fort, that it required violence to remove him; and it was not until +twenty minutes past four that the Syndicate observers perceived that he +had been taken to the hill behind which the garrison was encamped. + +As it had been decided that Repeller No. 2 should discharge the next +instantaneous motor-bomb, there was an anxious desire on the part of +the operators on that vessel that in this, their first experience, they +might do their duty as well as their comrades on board the other +repeller had done theirs. The most accurate observations, the most +careful calculations, were made and re-made, the point to be aimed at +being about the centre of the fort. + +The motor-bomb had been in the cannon for nearly an hour, and +everything had long been ready, when at precisely thirty minutes past +four o'clock the signal to discharge came from the Director-in-chief; +and in four seconds afterwards the index on the scale indicated that +the gun was in the proper position, and the button was touched. + +The motor-bomb was set to act the instant it should touch any portion +of the fort, and the effect was different from that of the other bombs. +There was a quick, hard shock, but it was all in the air. Thousands of +panes of glass in the city and in houses for miles around were cracked +or broken, birds fell dead or stunned upon the ground, and people on +elevations at considerable distances felt as if they had received a +blow; but there was no trembling of the ground. + +As to the fort, it had entirely disappeared, its particles having been +instantaneously removed to a great distance in every direction, falling +over such a vast expanse of land and water that their descent was +unobservable. + +In the place where the fortress had stood there was a wide tract of +bare earth, which looked as if it had been scraped into a staring dead +level of gravel and clay. The instantaneous motor-bomb had been +arranged to act almost horizontally. + +Few persons, except those who from a distance had been watching the +fort with glasses, understood what had happened; but every one in the +city and surrounding country was conscious that something had happened +of a most startling kind, and that it was over in the same instant in +which they had perceived it. Everywhere there was the noise of falling +window-glass. There were those who asserted that for an instant they +had heard in the distance a grinding crash; and there were others who +were quite sure that they had noticed what might be called a flash of +darkness, as if something had, with almost unappreciable quickness, +passed between them and the sun. + +When the officers of the garrison mounted the hill before them and +surveyed the place where their fort had been, there was not one of them +who had sufficient command of himself to write a report of what had +happened. They gazed at the bare, staring flatness of the shorn bluff, +and they looked at each other. This was not war. It was something +supernatural, awful! They were not frightened; they were oppressed and +appalled. But the military discipline of their minds soon exerted its +force, and a brief account of the terrific event was transmitted to the +authorities, and Sergeant Kilsey was sentenced to a month in the +guard-house. + +No one approached the vicinity of the bluff where the fort had stood, +for danger might not be over; but every possible point of observation +within a safe distance was soon crowded with anxious and terrified +observers. A feeling of awe was noticeable everywhere. If people +could have had a tangible idea of what had occurred, it would have been +different. If the sea had raged, if a vast body of water had been +thrown into the air, if a dense cloud had been suddenly ejected from +the surface of the earth, they might have formed some opinion about it. +But the instantaneous disappearance of a great fortification with a +little more appreciable accompaniment than the sudden tap, as of a +little hammer, upon thousands of window-panes, was something which +their intellects could not grasp. It was not to be expected that the +ordinary mind could appreciate the difference between the action of an +instantaneous motor when imbedded in rocks and earth, and its effect, +when opposed by nothing but stone walls, upon or near the surface of +the earth. + +Early the next morning, the little fleet of the Syndicate prepared to +carry out its further orders. The waters of the lower bay were now +entirely deserted, craft of every description having taken refuge in +the upper part of the harbour near and above the city. Therefore, as +soon as it was light enough to make observations, Repeller No. 1 did +not hesitate to discharge a motor-bomb into the harbour, a mile or more +above where the first one had fallen. This was done in order to +explode any torpedoes which might have been put into position since the +discharge of the first bomb. + +There were very few people in the city and suburbs who were at that +hour out of doors where they could see the great cloud of water arise +toward the sky, and behold it descend like a mighty cataract upon the +harbour and adjacent shores; but the quick, sharp shock which ran under +the town made people spring from their beds; and although nothing was +then to be seen, nearly everybody felt sure that the Syndicate's forces +had begun their day's work by exploding another mine. + +A lighthouse, the occupants of which had been ordered to leave when the +fort was evacuated, as they might be in danger in case of a +bombardment, was so shaken by the explosion of this motor-bomb that it +fell in ruins on the rocks upon which it had stood. + +The two crabs now took the steel net from its moorings and carried it +up the harbour. This was rather difficult on account of the islands, +rocks, and sand-bars; but the leading crab had on board a pilot +acquainted with those waters. With the net hanging between them, the +two submerged vessels, one carefully following the other, reached a +point about two miles below the city, where the net was anchored across +the harbour. It did not reach from shore to shore, but in the course +of the morning two other nets, designed for shallower waters, were +brought from the repellers and anchored at each end of the main net, +thus forming a line of complete protection against submarine torpedoes +which might be sent down from the upper harbour. + +Repeller No. 1 now steamed into the harbour, accompanied by Crab A, and +anchored about a quarter of a mile seaward of the net. The other +repeller, with her attendant crab, cruised about the mouth of the +harbour, watching a smaller entrance to the port as well as the larger +one, and thus maintaining an effective blockade. This was not a +difficult duty, for since the news of the extraordinary performances of +the crabs had been spread abroad, no merchant vessel, large or small, +cared to approach that port; and strict orders had been issued by the +British Admiralty that no vessel of the navy should, until further +instructed, engage in combat with the peculiar craft of the Syndicate. +Until a plan of action had been determined upon, it was very desirable +that English cruisers should not be exposed to useless injury and +danger. + +This being the state of affairs, a message was sent from the office of +the Syndicate across the border to the Dominion Government, which +stated that the seaport city which had been attacked by the forces of +the Syndicate now lay under the guns of its vessels, and in case of any +overt act of war by Great Britain or Canada alone, such as the entrance +of an armed force from British territory into the United States, or a +capture of or attack upon an American vessel, naval or commercial, by a +British man-of-war, or an attack upon an American port by British +vessels, the city would be bombarded and destroyed. + +This message, which was, of course, instantly transmitted to London, +placed the British Government in the apparent position of being held by +the throat by the American War Syndicate. But if the British +Government, or the people of England or Canada, recognized this +position at all, it was merely as a temporary condition. In a short +time the most powerful men-of-war of the Royal Navy, as well as a fleet +of transports carrying troops, would reach the coasts of North America, +and then the condition of affairs would rapidly be changed. It was +absurd to suppose that a few medium-sized vessels, however heavily +armoured, or a few new-fangled submarine machines, however destructive +they might be, could withstand an armada of the largest and finest +armoured vessels in the world. A ship or two might be disabled, +although this was unlikely, now that the new method of attack was +understood; but it would soon be the ports of the United States, on +both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, which would lie under the guns of +an enemy. + +But it was not in the power of their navy that the British Government +and the people of England and Canada placed their greatest trust, but +in the incapacity of their petty foe to support its ridiculous +assumptions. The claim that the city lay under the guns of the +American Syndicate was considered ridiculous, for few people believed +that these vessels had any guns. Certainly, there had been no evidence +that any shots had been fired from them. In the opinion of reasonable +people the destruction of the forts and the explosions in the harbour +had been caused by mines--mines of a new and terrifying power--which +were the work of traitors and confederates. The destruction of the +lighthouse had strengthened this belief, for its fall was similar to +that which would have been occasioned by a great explosion under its +foundation. + +But however terrifying and appalling had been the results of the +explosion of these mines, it was not thought probable that there were +any more of them. The explosions had taken place at exposed points +distant from the city, and the most careful investigation failed to +discover any present signs of mining operations. + +This theory of mines worked by confederates was received throughout the +civilized world, and was universally condemned. Even in the United +States the feeling was so strong against this apparent alliance between +the Syndicate and British traitors, that there was reason to believe +that a popular pressure would be brought to bear upon the Government +sufficient to force it to break its contract with the Syndicate, and to +carry on the war with the National army and navy. The crab was +considered an admirable addition to the strength of the navy, but a +mine under a fort, laid and fired by perfidious confederates, was +considered unworthy an enlightened people. + +The members of the Syndicate now found themselves in an embarrassing +and dangerous position--a position in which they were placed by the +universal incredulity regarding the instantaneous motor; and unless +they could make the world believe that they really used such a +motor-bomb, the war could not be prosecuted on the plan projected. + +It was easy enough to convince the enemy of the terrible destruction +the Syndicate was able to effect; but to make that enemy and the world +understand that this was done by bombs, which could be used in one +place as well as another, was difficult indeed. They had attempted to +prove this by announcing that at a certain time a bomb should be +projected into a certain fort. Precisely at the specified time the +fort had been destroyed, but nobody believed that a bomb had been fired. + +Every opinion, official or popular, concerning what it had done and +what might be expected of it, was promptly forwarded to the Syndicate +by its agents, and it was thus enabled to see very plainly indeed that +the effect it had desired to produce had not been produced. Unless the +enemy could be made to understand that any fort or ships within ten +miles of one of the Syndicate's cannon could be instantaneously +dissipated in the shape of fine dust, this war could not be carried on +upon the principles adopted, and therefore might as well pass out of +the hands of the Syndicate. + +Day by day and night by night the state of affairs was anxiously +considered at the office of the Syndicate in New York. A new and +important undertaking was determined upon, and on the success of this +the hopes of the Syndicate now depended. + +During the rapid and vigorous preparations which the Syndicate were now +making for their new venture, several events of interest occurred. + +Two of the largest Atlantic mail steamers, carrying infantry and +artillery troops, and conveyed by two swift and powerful men-of-war, +arrived off the coast of Canada, considerably to the north of the +blockaded city. The departure and probable time of arrival of these +vessels had been telegraphed to the Syndicate, through one of the +continental cables, and a repeller with two crabs had been for some +days waiting for them. The English vessels had taken a high northern +course, hoping they might enter the Gulf of St. Lawrence without +subjecting themselves to injury from the enemy's crabs, it not being +considered probable that there were enough of these vessels to patrol +the entire coast. But although the crabs were few in number, the +Syndicate was able to place them where they would be of most use; and +when the English vessels arrived off the northern entrance to the gulf, +they found their enemies there. + +However strong might be the incredulity of the enemy regarding the +powers of a repeller to bombard a city, the Syndicate felt sure there +would be no present invasion of the United States from Canada; but it +wished to convince the British Government that troops and munitions of +war could not be safely transported across the Atlantic. On the other +hand, the Syndicate very much objected to undertaking the imprisonment +and sustenance of a large body of soldiers. Orders were therefore +given to the officer in charge of the repeller not to molest the two +transports, but to remove the rudders and extract the screws of the two +war-vessels, leaving them to be towed into port by the troop-ships. + +This duty was performed by the crabs, while the British vessels, both +rams, were preparing to make a united and vigorous onset on the +repeller, and the two men-of-war were left hopelessly tossing on the +waves. One of the transports, a very fast steamer, had already entered +the straits, and could not be signalled; but the other one returned and +took both the war-ships in tow, proceeding very slowly until, after +entering the gulf, she was relieved by tugboats. + +Another event of a somewhat different character was the occasion of +much excited feeling and comment, particularly in the United States. +The descent and attack by British vessels on an Atlantic port was a +matter of popular expectation. The Syndicate had repellers and crabs +at the most important points; but, in the minds of naval officers and a +large portion of the people, little dependence for defence was to be +placed upon these. As to the ability of the War Syndicate to prevent +invasion or attack by means of its threats to bombard the blockaded +Canadian port, very few believed in it. Even if the Syndicate could do +any more damage in that quarter, which was improbable, what was to +prevent the British navy from playing the same game, and entering an +American seaport, threaten to bombard the place if the Syndicate did +not immediately run all their queer vessels high and dry on some +convenient beach? + +A feeling of indignation against the Syndicate had existed in the navy +from the time that the war contract had been made, and this feeling +increased daily. That the officers and men of the United States navy +should be penned up in harbours, ports, and sounds, while British ships +and the hulking mine-springers and rudder-pinchers of the Syndicate +were allowed to roam the ocean at will, was a very hard thing for brave +sailors to bear. Sometimes the resentment against this state of +affairs rose almost to revolt. + +The great naval preparations of England were not yet complete, but +single British men-of-war were now frequently seen off the Atlantic +coast of the United States. No American vessels had been captured by +these since the message of the Syndicate to the Dominion of Canada and +the British Government. But one good reason for this was the fact that +it was very difficult now to find upon the Atlantic ocean a vessel +sailing under the American flag. As far as possible these had taken +refuge in their own ports or in those of neutral countries. + +At the mouth of Delaware Bay, behind the great Breakwater, was now +collected a number of coastwise sailing-vessels and steamers of various +classes and sizes; and for the protection of these maritime refugees, +two vessels of the United States navy were stationed at this point. +These were the Lenox and Stockbridge, two of the finest cruisers in the +service, and commanded by two of the most restless and bravest officers +of the American navy. + +The appearance, early on a summer morning, of a large British cruiser +off the mouth of the harbour, filled those two commanders with +uncontrollable belligerency. That in time of war a vessel of the enemy +should be allowed, undisturbed, to sail up and down before an American +harbour, while an American vessel filled with brave American sailors +lay inside like a cowed dog, was a thought which goaded the soul of +each of these commanders. There was a certain rivalry between the two +ships; and, considering the insult offered by the flaunting red cross +in the offing, and the humiliating restrictions imposed by the Naval +Department, each commander thought only of his own ship, and not at all +of the other. + +It was almost at the same time that the commanders of the two ships +separately came to the conclusion that the proper way to protect the +fleet behind the Breakwater was for his vessel to boldly steam out to +sea and attack the British cruiser. If this vessel carried a +long-range gun, what was to hinder her from suddenly running in closer +and sending a few shells into the midst of the defenceless merchantmen? +In fact, to go out and fight her was the only way to protect the lives +and property in the harbour. + +It was true that one of those beastly repellers was sneaking about off +the cape, accompanied, probably, by an underwater tongs-boat. But as +neither of these had done anything, or seemed likely to do anything, +the British cruiser should be attacked without loss of time. + +When the commander of the Lenox came to this decision, his ship was +well abreast of Cape Henlopen, and he therefore proceeded directly out +to sea. There was a little fear in his mind that the English cruiser, +which was now bearing to the south-east, might sail off and get away +from him. The Stockbridge was detained by the arrival of a despatch +boat from the shore with a message from the Naval Department. But as +this message related only to the measurements of a certain deck gun, +her commander intended, as soon as an answer could be sent off, to sail +out and give battle to the British vessel. + +Every soul on board the Lenox was now filled with fiery ardour. The +ship was already in good fighting trim, but every possible preparation +was made for a contest which should show their country and the world +what American sailors were made of. + +The Lenox had not proceeded more than a mile out to sea, when she +perceived Repeller No. 6 coming toward her from seaward, and in a +direction which indicated that it intended to run across her course. +The Lenox, however, went straight on, and in a short time the two +vessels were quite near each other. Upon the deck of the repeller now +appeared the director in charge, who, with a speaking-trumpet, hailed +the Lenox and requested her to lay to, as he had something to +communicate. The commander of the Lenox, through his trumpet, answered +that he wanted no communications, and advised the other vessel to keep +out of his way. + +The Lenox now put on a greater head of steam, and as she was in any +case a much faster vessel than the repeller, she rapidly increased the +distance between herself and the Syndicate's vessel, so that in a few +moments hailing was impossible. Quick signals now shot up in jets of +black smoke from the repeller, and in a very short time afterward the +speed of the Lenox slackened so much that the repeller was able to come +up with her. + +When the two vessels were abreast of each other, and at a safe hailing +distance apart, another signal went up from the repeller, and then both +vessels almost ceased to move through the water, although the engines +of the Lenox were working at high speed, with her propeller-blades +stirring up a whirlpool at her stern. + +For a minute or two the officers of the Lenox could not comprehend what +had happened. It was first supposed that by mistake the engines had +been slackened, but almost at the same moment that it was found that +this was not the case, the discovery was made that the crab +accompanying the repeller had laid hold of the stern-post of the Lenox, +and with all the strength of her powerful engines was holding her back. + +Now burst forth in the Lenox a storm of frenzied rage, such as was +never seen perhaps upon any vessel since vessels were first built. +From the commander to the stokers every heart was filled with fury at +the insult which was put upon them. The commander roared through his +trumpet that if that infernal sea-beetle were not immediately loosed +from his ship he would first sink her and then the repeller. + +To these remarks the director of the Syndicate's vessels paid no +attention, but proceeded to state as briefly and forcibly as possible +that the Lenox had been detained in order that he might have an +opportunity of speaking with her commander, and of informing him that +his action in coming out of the harbour for the purpose of attacking a +British vessel was in direct violation of the contract between the +United States and the Syndicate having charge of the war, and that such +action could not be allowed. + +The commander of the Lenox paid no more attention to these words than +the Syndicate's director had given to those he had spoken, but +immediately commenced a violent attack upon the crab. It was +impossible to bring any of the large guns to bear upon her, for she was +almost under the stern of the Lenox; but every means of offence which +infuriated ingenuity could suggest was used against it. Machine guns +were trained to fire almost perpendicularly, and shot after shot was +poured upon that portion of its glistening back which appeared above +the water. + +But as these projectiles seemed to have no effect upon the solid back +of Crab H, two great anvils were hoisted at the end of the +spanker-boom, and dropped, one after the other, upon it. The shocks +were tremendous, but the internal construction of the crabs provided, +by means of upright beams, against injury from attacks of this kind, +and the great masses of iron slid off into the sea without doing any +damage. + +Finding it impossible to make any impression upon the mailed monster at +his stern, the commander of the Lenox hailed the director of the +repeller, and swore to him through his trumpet that if he did not +immediately order the Lenox to be set free, her heaviest guns should be +brought to bear upon his floating counting-house, and that it should be +sunk, if it took all day to do it. + +It would have been a grim satisfaction to the commander of the Lenox to +sink Repeller No. 6, for he knew the vessel when she had belonged to +the United States navy. Before she had been bought by the Syndicate, +and fitted out with spring armour, he had made two long cruises in her, +and he bitterly hated her, from her keel up. + +The director of the repeller agreed to release the Lenox the instant +her commander would consent to return to port. No answer was made to +this proposition, but a dynamite gun on the Lenox was brought to bear +upon the Syndicate's vessel. Desiring to avoid any complications which +might ensue from actions of this sort, the repeller steamed ahead, +while the director signalled Crab H to move the stern of the Lenox to +the windward, which, being quickly done, the gun of the latter bore +upon the distant coast. + +It was now very plain to the Syndicate director that his words could +have no effect upon the commander of the Lenox, and he therefore +signalled Crab H to tow the United States vessel into port. When the +commander of the Lenox saw that his vessel was beginning to move +backward, he gave instant orders to put on all steam. But this was +found to be useless, for when the dynamite gun was about to be fired, +the engines had been ordered stopped, and the moment that the +propeller-blades ceased moving the nippers of the crab had been +released from their hold upon the stern-post, and the propeller-blades +of the Lenox were gently but firmly seized in a grasp which included +the rudder. It was therefore impossible for the engines of the vessel +to revolve the propeller, and, unresistingly, the Lenox was towed, +stern foremost, to the Breakwater. + +The news of this incident created the wildest indignation in the United +States navy, and throughout the country the condemnation of what was +considered the insulting action of the Syndicate was general. In +foreign countries the affair was the subject of a good deal of comment, +but it was also the occasion of much serious consideration, for it +proved that one of the Syndicate's submerged vessels could, without +firing a gun, and without fear of injury to itself, capture a +man-of-war and tow it whither it pleased. + +The authorities at Washington took instant action on the affair, and as +it was quite evident that the contract between the United States and +the Syndicate had been violated by the Lenox, the commander of that +vessel was reprimanded by the Secretary of the Navy, and enjoined that +there should be no repetitions of his offence. But as the commander of +the Lenox knew that the Secretary of the Navy was as angry as he was at +what had happened, he did not feel his reprimand to be in any way a +disgrace. + +It may be stated that the Stockbridge, which had steamed for the open +sea as soon as the business which had detained her was completed, did +not go outside the Cape. When her officers perceived with their +glasses that the Lenox was returning to port stern foremost, they +opined what had happened, and desiring that their ship should do all +her sailing in the natural way, the Stockbridge was put about and +steamed, bow foremost, to her anchorage behind the Breakwater, the +commander thanking his stars that for once the Lenox had got ahead of +him. + +The members of the Syndicate were very anxious to remove the +unfavorable impression regarding what was called in many quarters their +attack upon a United States vessel, and a circular to the public was +issued, in which they expressed their deep regret at being obliged to +interfere with so many brave officers and men in a moment of patriotic +enthusiasm, and explaining how absolutely necessary it was that the +Lenox should be removed from a position where a conflict with English +line-of-battle ships would be probable. There were many thinking +persons who saw the weight of the Syndicate's statements, but the +effect of the circular upon the popular mind was not great. + +The Syndicate was now hard at work making preparations for the grand +stroke which had been determined upon. In the whole country there was +scarcely a man whose ability could be made available in their work, who +was not engaged in their service; and everywhere, in foundries, +workshops, and shipyards, the construction of their engines of war was +being carried on by day and by night. No contracts were made for the +delivery of work at certain times; everything was done under the direct +supervision of the Syndicate and its subordinates, and the work went on +with a definiteness and rapidity hitherto unknown in naval construction. + +In the midst of the Syndicate's labours there arrived off the coast of +Canada the first result of Great Britain's preparations for her war +with the American Syndicate, in the shape of the Adamant, the largest +and finest ironclad which had ever crossed the Atlantic, and which had +been sent to raise the blockade of the Canadian port by the Syndicate's +vessels. + +This great ship had been especially fitted out to engage in combat with +repellers and crabs. As far as was possible the peculiar construction +of the Syndicate's vessels had been carefully studied, and English +specialists in the line of naval construction and ordnance had given +most earnest consideration to methods of attack and defence most likely +to succeed with these novel ships of war. The Adamant was the only +vessel which it had been possible to send out in so short a time, and +her cruise was somewhat of an experiment. If she should be successful +in raising the blockade of the Canadian port, the British Admiralty +would have but little difficulty in dealing with the American Syndicate. + +The most important object was to provide a defence against the +screw-extracting and rudder-breaking crabs; and to this end the Adamant +had been fitted with what was termed a "stern-jacket." This was a +great cage of heavy steel bars, which was attached to the stern of the +vessel in such a way that it could be raised high above the water, so +as to offer no impediment while under way, and which, in time of +action, could be let down so as to surround and protect the rudder and +screw-propellers, of which the Adamant had two. + +This was considered an adequate defence against the nippers of a +Syndicate crab; but as a means of offence against these almost +submerged vessels a novel contrivance had been adopted. From a great +boom projecting over the stern, a large ship's cannon was suspended +perpendicularly, muzzle downward. This gun could be swung around to +the deck, hoisted into a horizontal position, loaded with a heavy +charge, a wooden plug keeping the load in position when the gun hung +perpendicularly. + +If the crab should come under the stern, this cannon could be fired +directly downward upon her back, and it was not believed that any +vessel of the kind could stand many such tremendous shocks. It was not +known exactly how ventilation was supplied to the submarine vessels of +the Syndicate, nor how the occupants were enabled to make the necessary +observations during action. When under way the crabs sailed somewhat +elevated above the water, but when engaged with an enemy only a small +portion of their covering armour could be seen. + +It was surmised that under and between some of the scales of this +armour there was some arrangement of thick glasses, through which the +necessary observation could be made; and it was believed that, even if +the heavy perpendicular shots did not crush in the roof of a crab, +these glasses would be shattered by concussion. Although this might +appear a matter of slight importance, it was thought among naval +officers it would necessitate the withdrawal of a crab from action. + +In consequence of the idea that the crabs were vulnerable between their +overlapping plates, some of the Adamant's boats were fitted out with +Gatling and machine guns, by which a shower of balls might be sent +under the scales, through the glasses, and into the body of the crab. +In addition to their guns, these boats would be supplied with other +means of attack upon the crab. + +Of course it would be impossible to destroy these submerged enemies by +means of dynamite or torpedoes; for with two vessels in close +proximity, the explosion of a torpedo would be as dangerous to the hull +of one as to the other. The British Admiralty would not allow even the +Adamant to explode torpedoes or dynamite under her own stern. + +With regard to a repeller, or spring-armoured vessel, the Adamant would +rely upon her exceptionally powerful armament, and upon her great +weight and speed. She was fitted with twin screws and engines of the +highest power, and it was believed that she would be able to overhaul, +ram, and crush the largest vessel armoured or unarmoured which the +Syndicate would be able to bring against her. Some of her guns were of +immense calibre, firing shot weighing nearly two thousand pounds, and +requiring half a ton of powder for each charge. Besides these she +carried an unusually large number of large cannon and two dynamite +guns. She was so heavily plated and armoured as to be proof against +any known artillery in the world. + +She was a floating fortress, with men enough to make up the population +of a town, and with stores, ammunition, and coal sufficient to last for +a long term of active service. Such was the mighty English battleship +which had come forward to raise the siege of the Canadian port. + +The officers of the Syndicate were well aware of the character of the +Adamant, her armament and her defences, and had been informed by cable +of her time of sailing and probable destination. They sent out +Repeller No. 7, with Crabs J and K, to meet her off the Banks of +Newfoundland. + +This repeller was the largest and strongest vessel that the Syndicate +had ready for service. In addition to the spring armour with which +these vessels were supplied, this one was furnished with a second coat +of armour outside the first, the elastic steel ribs of which ran +longitudinally and at right angles to those of the inner set. Both +coats were furnished with a great number of improved air-buffers, and +the arrangement of spring armour extended five or six feet beyond the +massive steel plates with which the vessel was originally armoured. +She carried one motor-cannon of large size. + +One of the crabs was of the ordinary pattern, but Crab K was furnished +with a spring armour above the heavy plates of her roof. This had been +placed upon her after the news had been received by the Syndicate that +the Adamant would carry a perpendicular cannon over her stern, but +there had not been time enough to fit out another crab in the same way. + +When the director in charge of Repeller No. 7 first caught sight of the +Adamant, and scanned through his glass the vast proportions of the +mighty ship which was rapidly steaming towards the coast, he felt that +a responsibility rested upon him heavier than any which had yet been +borne by an officer of the Syndicate; but he did not hesitate in the +duty which he had been sent to perform, and immediately ordered the two +crabs to advance to meet the Adamant, and to proceed to action +according to the instructions which they had previously received. His +own ship was kept, in pursuance of orders, several miles distant from +the British ship. + +As soon as the repeller had been sighted from the Adamant, a strict +lookout had been kept for the approach of crabs; and when the small +exposed portions of the backs of two of these were perceived glistening +in the sunlight, the speed of the great ship slackened. The ability of +the Syndicate's submerged vessels to move suddenly and quickly in any +direction had been clearly demonstrated, and although a great ironclad +with a ram could run down and sink a crab without feeling the +concussion, it was known that it would be perfectly easy for the +smaller craft to keep out of the way of its bulky antagonist. +Therefore the Adamant did not try to ram the crabs, nor to get away +from them. Her commander intended, if possible, to run down one or +both of them; but he did not propose to do this in the usual way. + +As the crabs approached, the stern-jacket of the Adamant was let down, +and the engines were slowed. This stern-jacket, when protecting the +rudder and propellers, looked very much like the cowcatcher of a +locomotive, and was capable of being put to a somewhat similar use. It +was the intention of the captain of the Adamant, should the crabs +attempt to attach themselves to his stern, to suddenly put on all +steam, reverse his engines, and back upon them, the stern-jacket +answering as a ram. + +The commander of the Adamant had no doubt that in this way he could run +into a crab, roll it over in the water, and when it was lying bottom +upward, like a floating cask, he could move his ship to a distance, and +make a target of it. So desirous was this brave and somewhat facetious +captain to try his new plan upon a crab, that he forebore to fire upon +the two vessels of that class which were approaching him. Some of his +guns were so mounted that their muzzles could be greatly depressed, and +aimed at an object in the water not far from the ship. But these were +not discharged, and, indeed, the crabs, which were new ones of unusual +swiftness, were alongside the Adamant in an incredibly short time, and +out of the range of these guns. + +Crab J was on the starboard side of the Adamant, Crab K was on the port +side, and, simultaneously, the two laid hold of her. But they were not +directly astern of the great vessel. Each had its nippers fastened to +one side of the stern-jacket, near the hinge-like bolts which held it +to the vessel, and on which it was raised and lowered. + +In a moment the Adamant began to steam backward; but the only effect of +this motion, which soon became rapid, was to swing the crabs around +against her sides, and carry them with her. As the vessels were thus +moving the great pincers of the crabs were twisted with tremendous +force, the stern-jacket on one side was broken from its bolt, and on +the other the bolt itself was drawn out of the side of the vessel. The +nippers then opened, and the stern-jacket fell from their grasp into +the sea, snapping in its fall the chain by which it had been raised and +lowered. + +This disaster occurred so quickly that few persons on board the Adamant +knew what had happened. But the captain, who had seen everything, gave +instant orders to go ahead at full speed. The first thing to be done +was to get at a distance from those crabs, keep well away from them, +and pound them to pieces with his heavy guns. + +But the iron screw-propellers had scarcely begun to move in the +opposite direction, before the two crabs, each now lying at right +angles with the length of the ship, but neither of them directly astern +of her, made a dash with open nippers, and Crab J fastened upon one +propeller, while Crab K laid hold of the other. There was a din and +crash of breaking metal, two shocks which were felt throughout the +vessel, and the shattered and crushed blades of the propellers of the +great battleship were powerless to move her. + +The captain of the Adamant, pallid with fury, stood upon the poop. In +a moment the crabs would be at his rudder! The great gun, +double-shotted and ready to fire, was hanging from its boom over the +stern. Crab K, whose roof had the additional protection of spring +armour, now moved round so as to be directly astern of the Adamant. +Before she could reach the rudder, her forward part came under the +suspended cannon, and two massive steel shot were driven down upon her +with a force sufficient to send them through masses of solid rock; but +from the surface of elastic steel springs and air-buffers they bounced +upward, one of them almost falling on the deck of the Adamant. + +The gunners of this piece had been well trained. In a moment the boom +was swung around, the cannon reloaded, and when Crab K fixed her +nippers on the rudder of the Adamant, two more shot came down upon her. +As in the first instance she dipped and rolled, but the ribs of her +uninjured armour had scarcely sprung back into their places, before her +nippers turned, and the rudder of the Adamant was broken in two, and +the upper portion dragged from its fastenings then a quick backward +jerk snapped its chains, and it was dropped into the sea. + +A signal was now sent from Crab J to Repeller No. 7, to the effect +that the Adamant had been rendered incapable of steaming or sailing, +and that she lay subject to order. + +Subject to order or not, the Adamant did not lie passive. Every gun on +board which could be sufficiently depressed, was made ready to fire +upon the crabs should they attempt to get away. Four large boats, +furnished with machine guns, grapnels, and with various appliances +which might be brought into use on a steel-plated roof, were lowered +from their davits, and immediately began firing upon the exposed +portions of the crabs. Their machine guns were loaded with small +shells, and if these penetrated under the horizontal plates of a crab, +and through the heavy glass which was supposed to be in these +interstices, the crew of the submerged craft would be soon destroyed. + +The quick eye of the captain of the Adamant had observed through his +glass, while the crabs were still at a considerable distance, their +protruding air-pipes, and he had instructed the officers in charge of +the boats to make an especial attack upon these. If the air-pipes of a +crab could be rendered useless, the crew must inevitably be smothered. + +But the brave captain did not know that the condensed-air chambers of +the crabs would supply their inmates for an hour or more without +recourse to the outer air, and that the air-pipes, furnished with +valves at the top, were always withdrawn under water during action with +an enemy. Nor did he know that the glass blocks under the +armour-plates of the crabs, which were placed in rubber frames to +protect them from concussion above, were also guarded by steel netting +from injury by small balls. + +Valiantly the boats beset the crabs, keeping up a constant fusillade, +and endeavouring to throw grapnels over them. If one of these should +catch under an overlapping armour-plate it could be connected with the +steam windlass of the Adamant, and a plate might be ripped off or a +crab overturned. + +But the crabs proved to be much more lively fish than their enemies had +supposed. Turning, as if on a pivot, and darting from side to side, +they seemed to be playing with the boats, and not trying to get away +from them. The spring armour of Crab K interfered somewhat with its +movements, and also put it in danger from attacks by grapnels, and it +therefore left most of the work to its consort. + +Crab J, after darting swiftly in and out among her antagonists for some +time, suddenly made a turn, and dashing at one of the boats, ran under +it, and raising it on its glistening back, rolled it, bottom upward, +into the sea. In a moment the crew of the boat were swimming for their +lives. They were quickly picked up by two of the other boats, which +then deemed it prudent to return to the ship. + +But the second officer of the Adamant, who commanded the fourth boat, +did not give up the fight. Having noted the spring armour of Crab K, +he believed that if he could get a grapnel between its steel ribs he +yet might capture the sea-monster. For some minutes Crab K contented +itself with eluding him; but, tired of this, it turned, and raising its +huge nippers almost out of the water, it seized the bow of the boat, +and gave it a gentle crunch, after which it released its hold and +retired. The boat, leaking rapidly through two ragged holes, was rowed +back to the ship, which it reached half full of water. + +The great battle-ship, totally bereft of the power of moving herself, +was now rolling in the trough of the sea, and a signal came from the +repeller for Crab K to make fast to her and put her head to the wind. +This was quickly done, the crab attaching itself to the stern-post of +the Adamant by a pair of towing nippers. These were projected from the +stern of the crab, and were so constructed that the larger vessel did +not communicate all its motion to the smaller one, and could not run +down upon it. + +As soon as the Adamant was brought up with her head to the wind she +opened fire upon the repeller. The latter vessel could easily have +sailed out of the range of a motionless enemy, but her orders forbade +this. Her director had been instructed by the Syndicate to expose his +vessel to the fire of the Adamant's heavy guns. Accordingly the +repeller steamed nearer, and turned her broadside toward the British +ship. + +Scarcely had this been done when the two great bow guns of the Adamant +shook the air with tremendous roars, each hurling over the sea nearly a +ton of steel. One of these great shot passed over the repeller, but +the other struck her armoured side fairly amidship. There was a crash +and scream of creaking steel, and Repeller No. 7 rolled over to +windward as if she had been struck by a heavy sea. In a moment she +righted and shot ahead, and, turning, presented her port side to the +enemy. Instant examination of the armour on her other side showed that +the two banks of springs were uninjured, and that not an air-buffer had +exploded or failed to spring back to its normal length. + +Firing from the Adamant now came thick and fast, the crab, in obedience +to signals, turning her about so as to admit the firing of some heavy +guns mounted amidships. Three enormous solid shot struck the repeller +at different points on her starboard armour without inflicting damage, +while the explosion of several shells which hit her had no more effect +upon her elastic armour than the impact of the solid shot. + +It was the desire of the Syndicate not only to demonstrate to its own +satisfaction the efficiency of its spring armour, but to convince Great +Britain that her heaviest guns on her mightiest battle-ships could have +no effect upon its armoured vessels. To prove the absolute superiority +of their means of offence and defence was the supreme object of the +Syndicate. For this its members studied and worked by day and by +night; for this they poured out their millions; for this they waged +war. To prove what they claimed would be victory. + +When Repeller No. 7 had sustained the heavy fire of the Adamant for +about half an hour, it was considered that the strength of her armour +had been sufficiently demonstrated; and, with a much lighter heart than +when he had turned her broadside to the Adamant, her director gave +orders that she should steam out of the range of the guns of the +British ship. During the cannonade Crab J had quietly slipped away +from the vicinity of the Adamant, and now joined the repeller. + +The great ironclad battle-ship, with her lofty sides plated with nearly +two feet of solid steel, with her six great guns, each weighing more +than a hundred tons, with her armament of other guns, machine cannon, +and almost every appliance of naval warfare, with a small army of +officers and men on board, was left in charge of Crab K, of which only +a few square yards of armoured roof could be seen above the water. +This little vessel now proceeded to tow southward her vast prize, +uninjured, except that her rudder and propeller-blades were broken and +useless. + +Although the engines of the crab were of enormous power, the progress +made was slow, for the Adamant was being towed stern foremost. It +would have been easier to tow the great vessel had the crab been +attached to her bow, but a ram which extended many feet under water +rendered it dangerous for a submerged vessel to attach itself in its +vicinity. + +During the night the repeller kept company, although at a considerable +distance, with the captured vessel; and early the next morning her +director prepared to send to the Adamant a boat with a flag-of-truce, +and a letter demanding the surrender and subsequent evacuation of the +British ship. It was supposed that now, when the officers of the +Adamant had had time to appreciate the fact that they had no control +over the movements of their vessel; that their armament was powerless +against their enemies; that the Adamant could be towed wherever the +Syndicate chose to order, or left helpless in midocean,--they would be +obliged to admit that there was nothing for them to do but to surrender. + +But events proved that no such ideas had entered the minds of the +Adamant's officers, and their action totally prevented sending a +flag-of-truce boat. As soon as it was light enough to see the repeller +the Adamant began firing great guns at her. She was too far away for +the shot to strike her, but to launch and send a boat of any kind into +a storm of shot and shell was of course impossible. + +The cannon suspended over the stern of the Adamant was also again +brought into play, and shot after shot was driven down upon the towing +crab. Every ball rebounded from the spring armour, but the officer in +charge of the crab became convinced that after a time this constant +pounding, almost in the same place, would injure his vessel, and he +signalled the repeller to that effect. + +The director of Repeller No. 7 had been considering the situation. +There was only one gun on the Adamant which could be brought to bear +upon Crab K, and it would be the part of wisdom to interfere with the +persistent use of this gun. Accordingly the bow of the repeller was +brought to bear upon the Adamant, and her motor gun was aimed at the +boom from which the cannon was suspended. + +The projectile with which the cannon was loaded was not an +instantaneous motor-bomb. It was simply a heavy solid shot, driven by +an instantaneous motor attachment, and was thus impelled by the same +power and in the same manner as the motor-bombs. The instantaneous +motor-power had not yet been used at so great a distance as that +between the repeller and the Adamant, and the occasion was one of +intense interest to the small body of scientific men having charge of +the aiming and firing. + +The calculations of the distance, of the necessary elevation and +direction, and of the degree of motor-power required, were made with +careful exactness, and when the proper instant arrived the button was +touched, and the shot with which the cannon was charged was +instantaneously removed to a point in the ocean about a mile beyond the +Adamant, accompanied by a large portion of the heavy boom at which the +gun had been aimed. + +The cannon which had been suspended from the end of this boom fell into +the sea, and would have crashed down upon the roof of Crab K, had not +that vessel, in obedience to a signal from the repeller, loosened its +hold upon the Adamant and retired a short distance astern. Material +injury might not have resulted from the fall of this great mass of +metal upon the crab, but it was considered prudent not to take useless +risks. + +The officers of the Adamant were greatly surprised and chagrined by the +fall of their gun, with which they had expected ultimately to pound in +the roof of the crab. No damage had been done to the vessel except the +removal of a portion of the boom, with some of the chains and blocks +attached, and no one on board the British ship imagined for a moment +that this injury had been occasioned by the distant repeller. It was +supposed that the constant firing of the cannon had cracked the boom, +and that it had suddenly snapped. + +Even if there had been on board the Adamant the means for rigging up +another arrangement of the kind for perpendicular artillery practice, +it would have required a long time to get it into working order, and +the director of Repeller No. 7 hoped that now the British captain would +see the uselessness of continued resistance. + +But the British captain saw nothing of the kind, +and shot after shot from his guns were hurled high into the air, in +hopes that the great curves described would bring some of them down on +the deck of the repeller. If this beastly store-ship, which could +stand fire but never returned it, could be sunk, the Adamant's captain +would be happy. With the exception of the loss of her motive power, +his vessel was intact, and if the stupid crab would only continue to +keep the Adamant's head to the sea until the noise of her cannonade +should attract some other British vessel to the scene, the condition of +affairs might be altered. + +All that day the great guns of the Adamant continued to roar. The next +morning, however, the firing was not resumed, and the officers of the +repeller were greatly surprised to see approaching from the British +ship a boat carrying a white flag. This was a very welcome sight, and +the arrival of the boat was awaited with eager interest. + +During the night a council had been held on board the Adamant. Her +cannonading had had no effect, either in bringing assistance or in +injuring the enemy; she was being towed steadily southward farther and +farther from the probable neighbourhood of a British man-of-war; and it +was agreed that it would be the part of wisdom to come to terms with +the Syndicate's vessel. + +Therefore the captain of the Adamant sent a letter to the repeller, in +which he stated to the persons in charge of that ship, that although +his vessel had been injured in a manner totally at variance with the +rules of naval warfare, he would overlook this fact and would agree to +cease firing upon the Syndicate's vessels, provided that the submerged +craft which was now made fast to his vessel should attach itself to the +Adamant's bow, and by means of a suitable cable which she would +furnish, would tow her into British waters. If this were done he would +guarantee that the towing craft should have six hours in which to get +away. + +When this letter was read on board the repeller it created considerable +merriment, and an answer was sent back that no conditions but those of +absolute surrender could be received from the British ship. + +In three minutes after this answer had been received by the captain of +the Adamant, two shells went whirring and shrieking through the air +toward Repeller No. 7, and after that the cannonading from the bow, the +stern, the starboard, and the port guns of the great battle-ship went +on whenever there was a visible object on the ocean which looked in the +least like an American coasting vessel or man-of-war. + +For a week Crab K towed steadily to the south this blazing and +thundering marine citadel; and then the crab signalled to the still +accompanying repeller that it must be relieved. It had not been fitted +out for so long a cruise, and supplies were getting low. + +The Syndicate, which had been kept informed of all the details of this +affair, had already perceived the necessity of relieving Crab K, and +another crab, well provisioned and fitted out, was already on the way +to take its place. This was Crab C, possessing powerful engines, but +in point of roof armour the weakest of its class. It could be better +spared than any other crab to tow the Adamant, and as the British ship +had not, and probably could not, put out another suspended cannon, it +was considered quite suitable for the service required. + +But when Crab C came within half a mile of the Adamant it stopped. It +was evident that on board the British ship a steady lookout had been +maintained for the approach of fresh crabs, for several enormous shell +and shot from heavy guns, which had been trained upward at a high +angle, now fell into the sea a short distance from the crab. + +Crab C would not have feared these heavy shot had they been fired from +an ordinary elevation; and although no other vessel in the Syndicate's +service would have hesitated to run the terrible gauntlet, this one, by +reason of errors in construction, being less able than any other crab +to resist the fall from a great height of ponderous shot and shell, +thought it prudent not to venture into this rain of iron; and, moving +rapidly beyond the line of danger, it attempted to approach the Adamant +from another quarter. If it could get within the circle of falling +shot it would be safe. But this it could not do. On all sides of the +Adamant guns had been trained to drop shot and shells at a distance of +half a mile from the ship. + +Around and around the mighty ironclad steamed Crab C; but wherever she +went her presence was betrayed to the fine glasses on board the Adamant +by the bit of her shining back and the ripple about it; and ever +between her and the ship came down that hail of iron in masses of a +quarter ton, half ton, or nearly a whole ton. Crab C could not venture +under these, and all day she accompanied the Adamant on her voyage +south, dashing to this side and that, and looking for the chance that +did not come, for all day the cannon of the battle-ship roared at her +wherever she might be. + +The inmates of Crab K were now very restive and +uneasy, for they were on short rations, both of food and water. They +would have been glad enough to cast loose from the Adamant, and leave +the spiteful ship to roll to her heart's content, broadside to the sea. +They did not fear to run their vessel, with its thick roofplates +protected by spring armour, through the heaviest cannonade. + +But signals from the repeller commanded them to stay by the Adamant as +long as they could hold out, and they were obliged to content +themselves with a hope that when night fell the other crab would be +able to get in under the stern of the Adamant, and make the desired +exchange. + +But to the great discomfiture of the Syndicate's forces, darkness had +scarcely come on before four enormous electric lights blazed high up on +the single lofty mast of the Adamant, lighting up the ocean for a mile +on every side of the ship. It was of no more use for Crab C to try to +get in now than in broad daylight; and all night the great guns roared, +and the little crab manoeuvred. + +The next morning a heavy fog fell upon the sea, and the battle-ship and +Crab C were completely shut out of sight of each other. Now the cannon +of the Adamant were silent, for the only result of firing would be to +indicate to the crab the location of the British ship. The +smoke-signals of the towing crab could not be seen through the fog by +her consorts, and she seemed to be incapable of making signals by +sound. Therefore the commander of the Adamant thought it likely that +until the fog rose the crab could not find his ship. + +What that other crab intended to do could be, of course, on board the +Adamant, only a surmise; but it was believed that she would bring with +her a torpedo to be exploded under the British ship. That one crab +should tow her away from possible aid until another should bring a +torpedo to fasten to her stern-post seemed a reasonable explanation of +the action of the Syndicate's vessels. + +The officers of the Adamant little understood the resources and +intentions of their opponents. Every vessel of the Syndicate carried a +magnetic indicator, which was designed to prevent collisions with iron +vessels. This little instrument was placed at night and during fogs at +the bow of the vessel, and a delicate arm of steel, which ordinarily +pointed upward at a considerable angle, fell into a horizontal position +when any large body of iron approached within a quarter of a mile, and, +so falling, rang a small bell. Its point then turned toward the mass +of iron. + +Soon after the fog came on, one of these indicators, properly protected +from the attraction of the metal about it, was put into position on +Crab C. Before very long it indicated the proximity of the Adamant; +and, guided by its steel point, the Crab moved quietly to the ironclad, +attached itself to its stern-post, and allowed the happy crew of Crab K +to depart coastward. + +When the fog rose the glasses of the Adamant showed the approach of no +crab, but it was observed, in looking over the stern, that the beggarly +devil-fish which had the ship in tow appeared to have made some change +in its back. + +In the afternoon of that day a truce boat was sent from the repeller to +the Adamant. It was allowed to come alongside; but when the British +captain found that the Syndicate merely renewed its demand for his +surrender, he waxed fiercely angry, and sent the boat back with the +word that no further message need be sent to him unless it should be +one complying with the conditions he had offered. + +The Syndicate now gave up the task of inducing the captain of the +Adamant to surrender. Crab C was commanded to continue towing the +great ship southward, and to keep her well away from the coast, in +order to avoid danger to seaport towns and coasting vessels, while the +repeller steamed away. + +Week after week the Adamant moved southward, roaring away with her +great guns whenever an American sail came within possible range, and +surrounding herself with a circle of bursting bombs to let any crab +know what it might expect if it attempted to come near. Blazing and +thundering, stern foremost, but stoutly, she rode the waves, ready to +show the world that she was an impregnable British battle-ship, from +which no enemy could snatch the royal colours which floated high above +her. + +It was during the first week of the involuntary cruise of the Adamant +that the Syndicate finished its preparations for what it hoped would be +the decisive movement of its campaign. To do this a repeller and six +crabs, all with extraordinary powers, had been fitted out with great +care, and also with great rapidity, for the British Government was +working night and day to get its fleet of ironclads in readiness for a +descent upon the American coast. Many of the British vessels were +already well prepared for ordinary naval warfare; but to resist crabs +additional defences were necessary. It was known that the Adamant had +been captured, and consequently the manufacture of stern-jackets had +been abandoned; but it was believed that protection could be +effectually given to rudders and propeller-blades by a new method which +the Admiralty had adopted. + +The repeller which was to take part in the Syndicate's proposed +movement had been a vessel of the United States navy which for a long +time had been out of commission, and undergoing a course of very slow +and desultory repairs in a dockyard. She had always been considered +the most unlucky craft in the service, and nearly every accident that +could happen to a ship had happened to her. Years and years before, +when she would set out upon a cruise, her officers and crew would +receive the humorous sympathy of their friends, and wagers were +frequently laid in regard to the different kinds of mishaps which might +befall this unlucky vessel, which was then known as the Tallapoosa. + +The Syndicate did not particularly desire this vessel, but there was no +other that could readily be made available for its purposes, and +accordingly the Tallapoosa was purchased from the Government and work +immediately begun upon her. Her engines and hull were put into good +condition, and outside of her was built another hull, composed of heavy +steel armour-plates, and strongly braced by great transverse beams +running through the ship. + +Still outside of this was placed an improved system of spring armour, +much stronger and more effective than any which had yet been +constructed. This, with the armour-plate, added nearly fifteen feet to +the width of the vessel above water. All her superstructures were +removed from her deck, which was covered by a curved steel roof, and +under a bomb-proof canopy at the bow were placed two guns capable of +carrying the largest-sized motor-bombs. The Tallapoosa, thus +transformed, was called Repeller No. 11. + +The immense addition to her weight would of course +interfere very much with the speed of the new repeller, but this was +considered of little importance, as she would depend on her own engines +only in time of action. She was now believed to possess more perfect +defences than any battle-ship in the world. + +Early on a misty morning, Repeller No. 11, towed by four of the +swiftest and most powerful crabs, and followed by two others, left a +Northern port of the United States, bound for the coast of Great +Britain. Her course was a very northerly one, for the reason that the +Syndicate had planned work for her to do while on her way across the +Atlantic. + +The Syndicate had now determined, without unnecessarily losing an hour, +to plainly demonstrate the power of the instantaneous motor-bomb. It +had been intended to do this upon the Adamant, but as it had been found +impossible to induce the captain of that vessel to evacuate his ship, +the Syndicate had declined to exhibit the efficiency of their new agent +of destruction upon a disabled craft crowded with human beings. + +This course had been highly prejudicial to the claims of the Syndicate, +for as Repeller No. 7 had made no use in the contest with the Adamant +of the motor-bombs with which she was said to be supplied, it was +generally believed on both sides of the Atlantic that she carried no +such bombs, and the conviction that the destruction at the Canadian +port had been effected by means of mines continued as strong as it had +ever been. To correct these false ideas was, now the duty of Repeller +No. 11. + +For some time Great Britain had been steadily forwarding troops and +munitions of war to Canada, without interruption from her enemy. Only +once had the Syndicate's vessels appeared above the Banks of +Newfoundland, and as the number of these peculiar craft must +necessarily be small, it was not supposed that their line of operations +would be extended very far north, and no danger from them was +apprehended, provided the English vessels laid their courses well to +the north. + +Shortly before the sailing of Repeller No. 11, the Syndicate had +received news that one of the largest transatlantic mail steamers, +loaded with troops and with heavy cannon for Canadian fortifications, +and accompanied by the Craglevin, one of the largest ironclads in the +Royal Navy, had started across the Atlantic. The first business of the +repeller and her attendant crabs concerned these two vessels. + +Owing to the power and speed of the crabs which towed her, Repeller No. +11 made excellent time; and on the morning of the third day out the two +British vessels were sighted. Somewhat altering their course the +Syndicate's vessels were soon within a few miles of the enemy. + +The Craglevin was a magnificent warship. She was not quite so large as +the Adamant, and she was unprovided with a stern-jacket or other +defence of the kind. In sending her out the Admiralty had designed her +to defend the transport against the regular vessels of the United +States navy; for although the nature of the contract with the Syndicate +was well understood in England, it was not supposed that the American +Government would long consent to allow their war vessels to remain +entirely idle. + +When the captain of the Craglevin perceived the approach of the +repeller he was much surprised, but he did not hesitate for a moment as +to his course. He signalled to the transport, then about a mile to the +north, to keep on her way while he steered to meet the enemy. It had +been decided in British naval circles that the proper thing to do in +regard to a repeller was to ram her as quickly as possible. These +vessels were necessarily slow and unwieldy, and if a heavy ironclad +could keep clear of crabs long enough to rush down upon one, there was +every reason to believe that the "ball-bouncer," as the repellers were +called by British sailors, could be crushed in below the water-line and +sunk. So, full of courage and determination, the captain of the +Craglevin bore down upon the repeller. + +It is not necessary to enter into details of the ensuing action. +Before the Craglevin was within half a mile of her enemy she was seized +by two crabs, all of which had cast loose from the repeller, and in +less than twenty minutes both of her screws were extracted and her +rudder shattered. In the mean time two of the swiftest crabs had +pursued the transport, and, coming up with her, one of them had +fastened to her rudder, without, however, making any attempt to injure +it. When the captain of the steamer saw that one of the sea-devils had +him by the stern, while another was near by ready to attack him, he +prudently stopped his engines and lay to, the crab keeping his ship's +head to the sea. + +The captain of the Craglevin was a very different man from the captain +of the Adamant. He was quite as brave, but he was wiser and more +prudent. He saw that the transport had been captured and forced to lay +to; he saw that the repeller mounted two heavy guns at her bow, and +whatever might be the character of those guns, there could be no +reasonable doubt that they were sufficient to sink an ordinary mail +steamer. His own vessel was entirely out of his control, and even if +he chose to try his guns on the spring armour of the repeller, it would +probably result in the repeller turning her fire up on the transport. + +With a disabled ship, and the lives of so many men in his charge, the +captain of the Craglevin saw that it would be wrong for him to attempt +to fight, and he did not fire a gun. With as much calmness as the +circumstances would permit, he awaited the progress of events. + +In a very short time a message came to him from Repeller No. 11, which +stated that in two hours his ship would be destroyed by instantaneous +motor-bombs. Every opportunity, however, would be given for the +transfer to the mail steamer of all the officers and men on board the +Craglevin, together with such of their possessions as they could take +with them in that time. When this had been done the transport would be +allowed to proceed on her way. + +To this demand nothing but acquiescence was possible. Whether or not +there was such a thing as an instantaneous motor-bomb the Craglevin's +officers did not know; but they knew that if left to herself their ship +would soon attend to her own sinking, for there was a terrible rent in +her stern, owing to a pitch of the vessel while one of the +propeller-shafts was being extracted. + +Preparations for leaving the ship were, therefore, +immediately begun. The crab was ordered to release the mail steamer, +which, in obedience to signals from the Craglevin, steamed as near that +vessel as safety would permit. Boats were lowered from both ships, and +the work of transfer went on with great activity. + +There was no lowering of flags on board the Craglevin, for the +Syndicate attached no importance to such outward signs and formalities. +If the captain of the British ship chose to haul down his colours he +could do so; but if he preferred to leave them still bravely floating +above his vessel he was equally welcome to do that. + +When nearly every one had left the Craglevin, a boat was sent from the +repeller, which lay near by, with a note requesting the captain and +first officer of the British ship to come on board Repeller No. 11 and +witness the method of discharging the instantaneous motor-bomb, after +which they would be put on board the transport. This invitation struck +the captain of the Craglevin with surprise, but a little reflection +showed him that it would be wise to accept it. In the first place, it +was in the nature of a command, which, in the presence of six crabs and +a repeller, it would be ridiculous to disobey; and, moreover, he was +moved by a desire to know something about the Syndicate's mysterious +engine of destruction, if, indeed, such a thing really existed. + +Accordingly, when all the others had left the ship, the captain of the +Craglevin and his first officer came on board the repeller, curiously +observing the spring armour over which they passed by means of a light +gang-board with handrail. They were received by the director at one of +the hatches of the steel deck, which were now all open, and conducted +by him to the bomb-proof compartment in the bow. There was no reason +why the nature of the repeller's defences should not be known to the world +nor adopted by other nations. They were intended as a protection +against ordinary shot and shell; they would avail nothing against the +instantaneous motor-bomb. + +The British officers were shown the motor-bomb to be discharged, which, +externally, was very much like an ordinary shell, except that it was +nearly as long as the bore of the cannon; and the director stated that +although, of course, the principle of the motor-bomb was the +Syndicate's secret, it was highly desirable that its effects and its +methods of operation should be generally known. + +The repeller, accompanied by the mail steamer and all the crabs, now +moved to about two miles to the leeward of the Craglevin, and lay to. +The motor-bomb was then placed in one of the great guns, while the +scientific corps attended to the necessary calculations of distance, +etc. + +The director now turned to the British captain, who had been observing +everything with the greatest interest, and, with a smile, asked him if +he would like to commit hari-kari? + +As this remark was somewhat enigmatical, the director went on to say +that if it would be any gratification to the captain to destroy his +vessel with his own hands, instead of allowing this to be done by an +enemy, he was at liberty to do so. This offer was immediately +accepted, for if his ship was really to be destroyed, the captain felt +that he would like to do it himself. + +When the calculations had been made and the indicator set, the captain +was shown the button he must press, and stood waiting for the signal. +He looked over the sea at the Craglevin, which had settled a little at +the stern, and was rolling heavily; but she was still a magnificent +battleship, with the red cross of England floating over her. He could +not help the thought that if this motor mystery should amount to +nothing, there was no reason why the Craglevin should not be towed into +port, and be made again the grand warship that she had been. + +Now the director gave the signal, and the captain, with his eyes fixed +upon his ship, touched the button. A quick shock ran through the +repeller, and a black-gray cloud, half a mile high, occupied the place +of the British ship. + +The cloud rapidly settled down, covering the water with a glittering +scum which spread far and wide, and which had been the Craglevin. + +The British captain stood for a moment motionless, and then he picked +up a rammer and ran it into the muzzle of the cannon which had been +discharged. The great gun was empty. The instantaneous motor-bomb was +not there. + +Now he was convinced that the Syndicate had not mined the fortresses +which they had destroyed. + +In twenty minutes the two British officers were on board the transport, +which then steamed rapidly westward. The crabs again took the repeller +in tow, and the Syndicate's fleet continued its eastward course, +passing through the wide expanse of glittering scum which had spread +itself upon the sea. + +They were not two-thirds of their way across the Atlantic when the +transport reached St. John's, and the cable told the world that the +Craglevin had been annihilated. + +The news was received with amazement, and even consternation. It came +from an officer in the Royal Navy, and how could it be doubted that a +great man-of-war had been destroyed in a moment by one shot from the +Syndicate's vessel! And yet, even now, there were persons who did +doubt, and who asserted that the crabs might have placed a great +torpedo under the Craglevin, that a wire attached to this torpedo ran +out from the repeller, and that the British captain had merely fired +the torpedo. But hour by hour, as fuller news came across the ocean, +the number of these doubters became smaller and smaller. + +In the midst of the great public excitement which now existed on both +sides of the Atlantic,--in the midst of all the conflicting opinions, +fears, and hopes,--the dominant sentiment seemed to be, in America as +well as in Europe, one of curiosity. Were these six crabs and one +repeller bound to the British Isles? And if so, what did they intend +to do when they got there? + +It was now generally admitted that one of the Syndicate's crabs could +disable a man-of-war, that one of the Syndicate's repellers could +withstand the heaviest artillery fire, and that one of the Syndicate's +motor-bombs could destroy a vessel or a fort. But these things had +been proved in isolated combats, where the new methods of attack and +defence had had almost undisturbed opportunity for exhibiting their +efficiency. But what could a repeller and half a dozen crabs do +against the combined force of the Royal Navy,--a navy which had in the +last few years regained its supremacy among the nations, and which had +made Great Britain once more the first maritime power in the world? + +The crabs might disable some men-of-war, the repeller might make her +calculations and discharge her bomb at a ship or a fort, but what would +the main body of the navy be doing meanwhile? Overwhelming, crushing, +and sinking to the bottom crabs, repeller, motor guns, and everything +that belonged to them. + +In England there was a feeling of strong resentment that such a little +fleet should be allowed to sail with such intent into British waters. +This resentment extended itself, not only to the impudent Syndicate, +but toward the Government; and the opposition party gained daily in +strength. The opposition papers had been loud and reckless in their +denunciations of the slowness and inadequacy of the naval preparations, +and loaded the Government with the entire responsibility, not only of +the damage which had already been done to the forts, the ships, and the +prestige of Great Britain, but also for the threatened danger of a +sudden descent of the Syndicate's fleet upon some unprotected point +upon the coast. This fleet should never have been allowed to approach +within a thousand miles of England. It should have been sunk in +mid-ocean, if its sinking had involved the loss of a dozen men-of-war. + +In America a very strong feeling of dissatisfaction showed itself. +From the first, the Syndicate contract had not been popular; but the +quick, effective, and business-like action of that body of men, and the +marked success up to this time of their inventions and their +operations, had caused a great reaction in their favour. They had, so +far, successfully defended the American coast, and when they had +increased the number of their vessels, they would have been relied upon +to continue that defence. Even if a British armada had set out to +cross the Atlantic, its movements must have been slow and cumbrous, and +the swift and sudden strokes with which the Syndicate waged war could +have been given by night and by day over thousands of miles of ocean. + +Whether or not these strokes would have been quick enough or hard +enough to turn back an armada might be a question; but there could be +no question of the suicidal policy of sending seven ships and two +cannon to conquer England. It seemed as if the success of the +Syndicate had so puffed up its members with pride and confidence in +their powers that they had come to believe that they had only to show +themselves to conquer, whatever might be the conditions of the contest. + +The destruction of the Syndicate's fleet would now be a heavy blow to +the United States. It would produce an utter want of confidence in the +councils and judgments of the Syndicate, which could not be +counteracted by the strongest faith in the efficiency of their engines +of war; and it was feared it might become necessary, even at this +critical juncture, to annul the contract with the Syndicate, and to +depend upon the American navy for the defence of the American coast. + +Even among the men on board the Syndicate's fleet there were signs of +doubt and apprehensions of evil. It had all been very well so far, but +fighting one ship at a time was a very different thing from steaming +into the midst of a hundred ships. On board the repeller there was now +an additional reason for fears and misgivings. The unlucky character +of the vessel when it had been the Tallapoosa was known, and not a few +of the men imagined that it must now be time for some new disaster to +this ill-starred craft, and if her evil genius had desired fresh +disaster for her, it was certainly sending her into a good place to +look for it. + +But the Syndicate neither doubted nor hesitated nor paid any attention +to the doubts and condemnations which they heard from every quarter. +Four days after the news of the destruction of the Craglevin had been +telegraphed from Canada to London, the Syndicate's fleet entered the +English Channel. Owing to the power and speed of the crabs, Repeller +No. 11 had made a passage of the Atlantic which in her old naval career +would have been considered miraculous. + +Craft of various kinds were now passed, but none of them carried the +British flag. In the expectation of the arrival of the enemy, British +merchantmen and fishing vessels had been advised to keep in the +background until the British navy had concluded its business with the +vessels of the American Syndicate. + +As has been said before, the British Admiralty had adopted a new method +of defence for the rudders and screw-propellers of naval vessels +against the attacks of submerged craft. The work of constructing the +new appliances had been pushed forward as fast as possible, but so far +only one of these had been finished and attached to a man-of-war. + +The Llangaron was a recently built ironclad of the same size and class +as the Adamant; and to her had been attached the new stern-defence. +This was an immense steel cylinder, entirely closed, and rounded at the +ends. It was about ten feet in diameter, and strongly braced inside. +It was suspended by chains from two davits which projected over the +stern of the vessel. When sailing this cylinder was hoisted up to the +davits, but when the ship was prepared for action it was lowered until +it lay, nearly submerged, abaft of the rudder. In this position its +ends projected about fifteen feet on either side of the +propeller-blades. + +It was believed that this cylinder would effectually prevent a crab +from getting near enough to the propeller or the rudder to do any +damage. It could not be torn away as the stern-jacket had been, for +the rounded and smooth sides and ends of the massive cylinder would +offer no hold to the forceps of the crabs; and, approaching from any +quarter, it would be impossible for these forceps to reach rudder or +screw. + +The Syndicate's little fleet arrived in British waters late in the day, +and early the next morning it appeared about twenty miles to the south +of the Isle of Wight, and headed to the north-east, as if it were +making for Portsmouth. The course of these vessels greatly surprised +the English Government and naval authorities. It was expected that an +attack would probably be made upon some comparatively unprotected spot +on the British seaboard, and therefore on the west coast of Ireland and +in St. George's Channel preparations of the most formidable character +had been made to defend British ports against Repeller No. 11 and her +attendant crabs. Particularly was this the case in Bristol Channel, +where a large number of ironclads were stationed, and which was to have +been the destination of the Llangaron if the Syndicate's vessels had +delayed their coming long enough to allow her to get around there. +That this little fleet should have sailed straight for England's great +naval stronghold was something that the British Admiralty could not +understand. The fact was not appreciated that it was the object of the +Syndicate to measure its strength with the greatest strength of the +enemy. Anything less than this would not avail its purpose. + +Notwithstanding that so many vessels had been sent to different parts +of the coast, there was still in Portsmouth harbour a large number of +war vessels of various classes, all in commission and ready for action. +The greater part of these had received orders to cruise that day in the +channel. Consequently, it was still early in the morning when, around +the eastern end of the Isle of Wight, there appeared a British fleet +composed of fifteen of the finest ironclads, with several gunboats and +cruisers, and a number of torpedo-boats. + +It was a noble sight, for besides the warships there was another fleet +hanging upon the outskirts of the first, and composed of craft, large +and small, and from both sides of the channel, filled with those who +were anxious to witness from afar the sea-fight which was to take place +under such novel conditions. Many of these observers were reporters +and special correspondents for great newspapers. On some of the +vessels which came up from the French coast were men with marine +glasses of extraordinary power, whose business it was to send an early +and accurate report of the affair to the office of the War Syndicate in +New York. + +As soon as the British ships came in sight, the four crabs cast off +from Repeller No. 11. Then with the other two they prepared for +action, moving considerably in advance of the repeller, which now +steamed forward very slowly. The wind was strong from the north-west, +and the sea high, the shining tops of the crabs frequently disappearing +under the waves. + +The British fleet came steadily on, headed by the great Llangaron. +This vessel was very much in advance of the others, for knowing that +when she was really in action and the great cylinder which formed her +stern-guard was lowered into the water her speed would be much +retarded, she had put on all steam, and being the swiftest war-ship of +her class, she had distanced all her consorts. It was highly important +that she should begin the fight, and engage the attention of as many +crabs as possible, while certain of the other ships attacked the +repeller with their rams. Although it was now generally believed that +motor-bombs from a repeller might destroy a man-of-war, it was also +considered probable that the accurate calculations which appeared to be +necessary to precision of aim could not be made when the object of the +aim was in rapid motion. + +But whether or not one or more motor-bombs did strike the mark, or +whether or not one or more vessels were blown into fine particles, +there were a dozen ironclads in that fleet, each of whose commanders +and officers were determined to run into that repeller and crush her, +if so be they held together long enough to reach her. + +The commanders of the torpedo-boats had orders to direct their swift +messengers of destruction first against the crabs, for these vessels +were far in advance of the repeller, and coming on with a rapidity +which showed that they were determined upon mischief. If a torpedo, +shot from a torpedo-boat, and speeding swiftly by its own powers +beneath the waves, should strike the submerged hull of a crab, there +would be one crab the less in the English Channel. + +As has been said, the Llangaron came rushing on, distancing everything, +even the torpedo-boats. If, before she was obliged to lower her +cylinder, she could get near enough to the almost stationary repeller +to take part in the attack on her, she would then be content to slacken +speed and let the crabs nibble awhile at her stern. + +Two of the latest constructed and largest crabs, Q and R, headed at +full speed to meet the Llangaron, who, as she came on, opened the ball +by sending a "rattler" in the shape of a five-hundred-pound shot into +the ribs of the repeller, then at least four miles distant, and +immediately after began firing her dynamite guns, which were of limited +range at the roofs of the advancing crabs. + +There were some on board the repeller who, at the moment the great shot +struck her, with a ringing and clangour of steel springs, such as never +was heard before, wished that in her former state of existence she had +been some other vessel than the Tallapoosa. + +But every spring sprang back to its place as the great mass of iron +glanced off into the sea. The dynamite bombs flew over the tops of the +crabs, whose rapid motions and slightly exposed surfaces gave little +chance for accurate aim, and in a short time they were too close to the +Llangaron for this class of gun to be used upon them. + +As the crabs came nearer, the Llangaron lowered the great steel +cylinder which hung across her stern, until it lay almost entirely +under water, and abaft of her rudder and propeller-blades. She now +moved slowly through the water, and her men greeted the advancing crabs +with yells of defiance, and a shower of shot from machine guns. + +The character of the new defence which had been fitted to the Llangaron +was known to the Syndicate, and the directors of the two new crabs +understood the heavy piece of work which lay before them. But their +plans of action had been well considered, and they made straight for +the stern of the British ship. + +It was, of course, impossible to endeavour to grasp that great cylinder +with its rounded ends; their forceps would slip from any portion of its +smooth surface on which they should endeavour to lay hold, and no such +attempt was made. Keeping near the cylinder, one at each end of it, +the two moved slowly after the Llangaron, apparently discouraged. + +In a short time, however, it was perceived by those on board the ship +that a change had taken place in the appearance of the crabs; the +visible portion of their backs was growing larger and larger; they were +rising in the water. Their mailed roofs became visible from end to +end, and the crowd of observers looking down from the ship were amazed +to see what large vessels they were. + +Higher and higher the crabs arose, their powerful air-pumps working at +their greatest capacity, until their ponderous pincers became visible +above the water. Then into the minds of the officers of the Llangaron +flashed the true object of this uprising, which to the crew had seemed +an intention on the part of the sea-devils to clamber on board. + +If the cylinder were left in its present position the crab might seize +the chains by which it was suspended, while if it were raised it would +cease to be a defence. Notwithstanding this latter contingency, the +order was quickly given to raise the cylinder; but before the hoisting +engine had been set in motion, Crab Q thrust forward her forceps over +the top of the cylinder and held it down. Another thrust, and the iron +jaws had grasped one of the two ponderous chains by which the cylinder +was suspended. + +The other end of the cylinder began to rise, but at this moment Crab R, +apparently by a single effort, lifted herself a foot higher out of the +sea; her pincers flashed forward, and the other chain was grasped. + +The two crabs were now placed in the most extraordinary position. The +overhang of their roofs prevented an attack on their hulls by the +Llangaron, but their unmailed hulls were so greatly exposed that a few +shot from another ship could easily have destroyed them. But as any +ship firing at them would be very likely to hit the Llangaron, their +directors felt safe on this point. + +Three of the foremost ironclads, less than two miles away, were heading +directly for them, and their rams might be used with but little danger +to the Llangaron; but, on the other hand, three swift crabs were +heading directly for these ironclads. + +It was impossible for Crabs Q and R to operate in the usual way. Their +massive forceps, lying flat against the top of the cylinder, could not +be twisted. The enormous chains they held could not be severed by the +greatest pressure, and if both crabs backed at once they would probably +do no more than tow the Llangaron stern foremost. There was, moreover, +no time to waste in experiments, for other rams would be coming on, and +there were not crabs enough to attend to them all. + +No time was wasted. Q signalled to R, and R back again, and instantly +the two crabs, each still grasping a chain of the cylinder, began to +sink. On board the Llangaron an order was shouted to let out the +cylinder chains; but as these chains had only been made long enough to +allow the top of the cylinder to hang at or a little below the surface +of the water, a foot or two of length was all that could be gained. + +The davits from which the cylinder hung were thick and strong, and the +iron windlasses to which the chains were attached were large and +ponderous; but these were not strong enough to withstand the weight of +two crabs with steel-armoured roofs, enormous engines, and iron hull. +In less than a minute one davit snapped like a pipe-stem under the +tremendous strain, and immediately afterward the windlass to which the +chain was attached was torn from its bolts, and went crashing +overboard, tearing away a portion of the stern-rail in its descent. + +Crab Q instantly released the chain it had held, and in a moment the +great cylinder hung almost perpendicularly from one chain. But only +for a moment. The nippers of Crab R still firmly held the chain, and +the tremendous leverage exerted by the falling of one end of the +cylinder wrenched it from the rigidly held end of its chain, and, in a +flash, the enormous stern-guard of the Llangaron sunk, end foremost, to +the bottom of the channel. + +In ten minutes afterward, the Llangaron, rudderless, and with the +blades of her propellers shivered and crushed, was slowly turning her +starboard to the wind and the sea, and beginning to roll like a log of +eight thousand tons. + +Besides the Llangaron, three ironclads were now drifting broadside to +the sea. But there was no time to succour disabled vessels, for the +rest of the fleet was coming on, and there was great work for the crabs. + +Against these enemies, swift of motion and sudden in action, the +torpedo-boats found it almost impossible to operate, for the British +ships and the crabs were so rapidly nearing each other that a torpedo +sent out against an enemy was more than likely to run against the hull +of a friend. Each crab sped at the top of its speed for a ship, not +only to attack, but also to protect itself. + +Once only did the crabs give the torpedo-boats a chance. A mile or two +north of the scene of action, a large cruiser was making her way +rapidly toward the repeller, which was still lying almost motionless, +four miles to the westward. As it was highly probable that this vessel +carried dynamite guns, Crab Q, which was the fastest of her class, was +signalled to go after her. She had scarcely begun her course across +the open space of sea before a torpedo-boat was in pursuit. Fast as +was the latter, the crab was faster, and quite as easily managed. She +was in a position of great danger, and her only safety lay in keeping +herself on a line between the torpedo-boat and the gun-boat, and to +shorten as quickly as possible the distance between herself and that +vessel. + +If the torpedo-boat shot to one side in order to get the crab out of +line, the crab, its back sometimes hidden by the tossing waves, sped +also to the same side. When the torpedo-boat could aim a gun at the +crab and not at the gun-boat, a deadly torpedo flew into the sea; but a +tossing sea and a shifting target were unfavourable to the gunner's +aim. It was not long, however, before the crab had run the chase which +might so readily have been fatal to it, and was so near the gun-boat +that no more torpedoes could be fired at it. + +Of course the officers and crew of the gun-boat had watched with most +anxious interest the chase of the crab. The vessel was one which had +been fitted out for service with dynamite guns, of which she carried +some of very long range for this class of artillery, and she had been +ordered to get astern of the repeller and to do her best to put a few +dynamite bombs on board of her. + +The dynamite gun-boat therefore had kept ahead at full speed, +determined to carry out her instructions if she should be allowed to do +so; but her speed was not as great as that of a crab, and when the +torpedo-boat had given up the chase, and the dreaded crab was drawing +swiftly near, the captain thought it time for bravery to give place to +prudence. With the large amount of explosive material of the most +tremendous and terrific character which he had on board, it would be +the insanity of courage for him to allow his comparatively small vessel +to be racked, shaken, and partially shivered by the powerful jaws of +the on-coming foe. As he could neither fly nor fight, he hauled down +his flag in token of surrender, the first instance of the kind which +had occurred in this war. + +When the director of Crab Q, through his lookout-glass, beheld this +action on the part of the gun-boat, he was a little perplexed as to +what he should next do. To accept the surrender of the British vessel, +and to assume control of her, it was necessary to communicate with her. +The communications of the crabs were made entirely by black-smoke +signals, and these the captain of the gun-boat could not understand. +The heavy hatches in the mailed roof which could be put in use when the +crab was cruising, could not be opened when she was at her fighting +depth, and in a tossing sea. + +A means was soon devised of communicating with the gun-boat. A +speaking-tube was run up through one of the air-pipes of the crab, +which pipe was then elevated some distance above the surface. Through +this the director hailed the other vessel, and as the air-pipe was near +the stern of the crab, and therefore at a distance from the only +visible portion of the turtle-back roof, his voice seemed to come out +of the depths of the ocean. + +The surrender was accepted, and the captain of the gun-boat was ordered +to stop his engines and prepare to be towed. When this order had been +given, the crab moved round to the bow of the gun-boat, and grasping +the cut-water with its forceps, reversed its engines and began to back +rapidly toward the British fleet, taking with it the captured vessel as +a protection against torpedoes while in transit. + +The crab slowed up not far from one of the foremost of the British +ships, and coming round to the quarter of the gun-boat, the astonished +captain of that vessel was informed, through the speaking-tube, that if +he would give his parole to keep out of this fight, he would be allowed +to proceed to his anchorage in Portsmouth harbour. The parole was +given, and the dynamite gun-boat, after reporting to the flag-ship, +steamed away to Portsmouth. + +The situation now became one which was unparalleled in the history of +naval warfare. On the side of the British, seven war-ships were +disabled and drifting slowly to the south-east. For half an hour no +advance had been made by the British fleet, for whenever one of the +large vessels had steamed ahead, such vessel had become the victim of a +crab, and the Vice-Admiral commanding the fleet had signalled not to +advance until farther orders. + +The crabs were also lying-to, each to the windward of, and not far +from, one of the British ships. They had ceased to make any attacks, +and were resting quietly under protection of the enemy. This, with the +fact that the repeller still lay four miles away, without any apparent +intention of taking part in the battle, gave the situation its peculiar +character. + +The British Vice-Admiral did not intend to remain in this quiescent +condition. It was, of course, useless to order forth his ironclads, +simply to see them disabled and set adrift. There was another arm of +the service which evidently could be used with better effect upon this +peculiar foe than could the great battle-ships. + +But before doing anything else, he must provide for the safety of those +of his vessels which had been rendered helpless by the crabs, and some +of which were now drifting dangerously near to each other. Despatches +had been sent to Portsmouth for tugs, but it would not do to wait until +these arrived, and a sufficient number of ironclads were detailed to +tow their injured consorts into port. + +When this order had been given, the Vice-Admiral immediately prepared +to renew the fight, and this time his efforts were to be directed +entirely against the repeller. It would be useless to devote any +further attention to the crabs, especially in their present positions. +But if the chief vessel of the Syndicate's fleet, with its spring +armour and its terrible earthquake bombs, could be destroyed, it was +quite possible that those sea-parasites, the crabs, could also be +disposed of. + +Every torpedo-boat was now ordered to the front, and in a long line, +almost abreast of each other, these swift vessels--the light-infantry +of the sea--advanced upon the solitary and distant foe. If one torpedo +could but reach her hull, the Vice-Admiral, in spite of seven disabled +ironclads and a captured gun-boat, might yet gaze proudly at his +floating flag, even if his own ship should be drifting broadside to the +sea. + +The line of torpedo-boats, slightly curving inward, had advanced about +a mile, when Repeller No. 11 awoke from her seeming sleep, and began to +act. The two great guns at her bow were trained upward, so that a bomb +discharged from them would fall into the sea a mile and a half ahead. +Slowly turning her bow from side to side, so that the guns would cover +a range of nearly half a circle, the instantaneous motor-bombs of the +repeller were discharged, one every half minute. + +One of the most appalling characteristics of the motor-bombs was the +silence which accompanied their discharge and action. No noise was +heard, except the flash of sound occasioned by the removal of the +particles of the object aimed at, and the subsequent roar of wind or +fall of water. + +As each motor-bomb dropped into the channel, a dense cloud appeared +high in the air, above a roaring, seething cauldron, hollowed out of +the waters and out of the very bottom of the channel. Into this chasm +the cloud quickly came down, condensed into a vast body of water, which +fell, with the roar of a cyclone, into the dreadful abyss from which it +had been torn, before the hissing walls of the great hollow had half +filled it with their sweeping surges. The piled-up mass of the +redundant water was still sending its maddened billows tossing and +writhing in every direction toward their normal level, when another +bomb was discharged; another surging abyss appeared, another roar of +wind and water was heard, and another mountain of furious billows +uplifted itself in a storm of spray and foam, raging that it had found +its place usurped. + +Slowly turning, the repeller discharged bomb after bomb, building up +out of the very sea itself a barrier against its enemies. Under these +thundering cataracts, born in an instant, and coming down all at once +in a plunging storm; into these abysses, with walls of water and floors +of cleft and shivered rocks; through this wide belt of raging turmoil, +thrown into new frenzy after the discharge of every bomb,--no vessel, +no torpedo, could pass. + +The air driven off in every direction by tremendous and successive +concussions came rushing back in shrieking gales, which tore up the +waves into blinding foam. For miles in every direction the sea swelled +and upheaved into great peaked waves, the repeller rising upon these +almost high enough to look down into the awful chasms which her bombs +were making. A torpedo-boat caught in one of the returning gales was +hurled forward almost on her beam ends until she was under the edge of +one of the vast masses of descending water. The flood which, from even +the outer limits of this falling-sea, poured upon and into the unlucky +vessel nearly swamped her, and when she was swept back by the rushing +waves into less stormy waters, her officers and crew leaped into their +boats and deserted her. By rare good-fortune their boats were kept +afloat in the turbulent sea until they reached the nearest +torpedo-vessel. + +Five minutes afterward a small but carefully aimed motor-bomb struck +the nearly swamped vessel, and with the roar of all her own torpedoes +she passed into nothing. + +The British Vice-Admiral had carefully watched the repeller through his +glass, and he noticed that simultaneously with the appearance of the +cloud in the air produced by the action of the motor-bombs there were +two puffs of black smoke from the repeller. These were signals to the +crabs to notify them that a motor-gun had been discharged, and thus to +provide against accidents in case a bomb should fail to act. One puff +signified that a bomb had been discharged to the north; two, that it +had gone eastward; and so on. If, therefore, a crab should see a +signal of this kind, and perceive no signs of the action of a bomb, it +would be careful not to approach the repeller from the quarter +indicated. It is true that in case of the failure of a bomb to act, +another bomb would be dropped upon the same spot, but the instructions +of the War Syndicate provided that every possible precaution should be +taken against accidents. + +Of course the Vice-Admiral did not understand these signals, nor did he +know that they were signals, but he knew that they accompanied the +discharge of a motor-gun. Once he noticed that there was a short +cessation in the hitherto constant succession of water avalanches, and +during this lull he had seen two puffs from the repeller, and the +destruction, at the same moment, of the deserted torpedo-boat. It was, +therefore, plain enough to him that if a motor-bomb could be placed so +accurately upon one torpedo-boat, and with such terrible result, other +bombs could quite as easily be discharged upon the other torpedo-boats +which formed the advanced line of the fleet. When the barrier of storm +and cataract again began to stretch itself in front of the repeller, he +knew that not only was it impossible for the torpedo-boats to send +their missives through this raging turmoil, but that each of these +vessels was itself in danger of instantaneous destruction. + +Unwilling, therefore, to expose his vessels to profitless danger, the +Vice-Admiral ordered the torpedo-boats to retire from the front, and +the whole line of them proceeded to a point north of the fleet, where +they lay to. + +When this had been done, the repeller ceased the discharge of bombs; +but the sea was still heaving and tossing after the storm, when a +despatch-boat brought orders from the British Admiralty to the +flagship. Communication between the British fleet and the shore, and +consequently London, had been constant, and all that had occurred had +been quickly made known to the Admiralty and the Government. The +orders now received by the Vice-Admiral were to the effect that it was +considered judicious to discontinue the conflict for the day, and that +he and his whole fleet should return to Portsmouth to receive further +orders. + +In issuing these commands the British Government was actuated simply by +motives of humanity and common sense. The British fleet was thoroughly +prepared for ordinary naval warfare, but an enemy had inaugurated +another kind of naval warfare, for which it was not prepared. It was, +therefore, decided to withdraw the ships until they should be prepared +for the new kind of warfare. To allow ironclad after ironclad to be +disabled and set adrift, to subject every ship in the fleet to the +danger of instantaneous destruction, and all this without the +possibility of inflicting injury upon the enemy, would not be bravery; +it would be stupidity. It was surely possible to devise a means for +destroying the seven hostile ships now in British waters. Until action +for this end could be taken, it was the part of wisdom for the British +navy to confine itself to the protection of British ports. + +When the fleet began to move toward the Isle of Wight, the six crabs, +which had been lying quietly among and under the protection of their +enemies, withdrew southward, and, making a slight circuit, joined the +repeller. + +Each of the disabled ironclads was now in tow of a sister vessel, or of +tugs, except the Llangaron. This great ship had been disabled so early +in the contest, and her broadside had presented such a vast surface to +the north-west wind, that she had drifted much farther to the south +than any other vessel. Consequently, before the arrival of the tugs +which had been sent for to tow her into harbour, the Llangaron was well +on her way across the channel. A foggy night came on, and the next +morning she was ashore on the coast of France, with a mile of water +between her and dry land. Fast-rooted in a great sand-bank, she lay +week after week, with the storms that came in from the Atlantic, and +the storms that came in from the German Ocean, beating upon her tall +side of solid iron, with no more effect than if it had been a precipice +of rock. Against waves and winds she formed a massive breakwater, with +a wide stretch of smooth sea between her and the land. There she lay, +proof against all the artillery of Europe, and all the artillery of the +sea and the storm, until a fleet of small vessels had taken from her +her ponderous armament, her coal and stores, and she had been lightened +enough to float upon a high tide, and to follow three tugs to +Portsmouth. + +When night came on, Repeller No. 11 and the crabs dropped down with the +tide, and lay to some miles west of the scene of battle. The fog shut +them in fairly well, but, fearful that torpedoes might be sent out +against them, they showed no lights. There was little danger of +collision with passing merchantmen, for the English Channel, at +present, was deserted by this class of vessels. + +The next morning the repeller, preceded by two crabs, bearing between +them a submerged net similar to that used at the Canadian port, +appeared off the eastern end of the Isle of Wight. The anchors of the +net were dropped, and behind it the repeller took her place, and +shortly afterward she sent a flag-of-truce boat to Portsmouth harbour. +This boat carried a note from the American War Syndicate to the British +Government. + +In this note it was stated that it was now the intention of the +Syndicate to utterly destroy, by means of the instantaneous motor, a +fortified post upon the British coast. As this would be done solely +for the purpose of demonstrating the irresistible destructive power of +the motor-bombs, it was immaterial to the Syndicate what fortified post +should be destroyed, provided it should answer the requirements of the +proposed demonstration. Consequently the British Government was +offered the opportunity of naming the fortified place which should be +destroyed. If said Government should decline to do this, or delay the +selection for twenty-four hours, the Syndicate would itself decide upon +the place to be operated upon. + +Every one in every branch of the British Government, and, in fact, +nearly every thinking person in the British islands, had been racking +his brains, or her brains, that night, over the astounding situation; +and the note of the Syndicate only added to the perturbation of the +Government. There was a strong feeling in official circles that the +insolent little enemy must be crushed, if the whole British navy should +have to rush upon it, and all sink together in a common grave. + +But there were cooler and more prudent brains at the head of affairs; +and these had already decided that the contest between the old engines +of war and the new ones was entirely one-sided. The instincts of good +government dictated to them that they should be extremely wary and +circumspect during the further continuance of this unexampled war. +Therefore, when the note of the Syndicate was considered, it was agreed +that the time had come when good statesmanship and wise diplomacy would +be more valuable to the nation than torpedoes, armoured ships, or heavy +guns. + +There was not the slightest doubt that the country would disagree with +the Government, but on the latter lay the responsibility of the +country's safety. There was nothing, in the opinion of the ablest +naval officers, to prevent the Syndicate's fleet from coming up the +Thames. Instantaneous motor-bombs could sweep away all forts and +citadels, and explode and destroy all torpedo defences, and London +might lie under the guns of the repeller. + +In consequence of this view of the state of affairs, an answer was sent +to the Syndicate's note, asking that further time be given for the +consideration of the situation, and suggesting that an exhibition of +the power of the motor-bomb was not necessary, as sufficient proof of +this had been given in the destruction of the Canadian forts, the +annihilation of the Craglevin, and the extraordinary results of the +discharge of said bombs on the preceding day. + +To this a reply was sent from the office of the Syndicate in New York, +by means of a cable boat from the French coast, that on no account +could their purpose be altered or their propositions modified. +Although the British Government might be convinced of the power of the +Syndicate's motor-bombs, it was not the case with the British people, +for it was yet popularly disbelieved that motor-bombs existed. This +disbelief the Syndicate was determined to overcome, not only for the +furtherance of its own purposes, but to prevent the downfall of the +present British Ministry, and a probable radical change in the +Government. That such a political revolution, as undesirable to the +Syndicate as to cool-headed and sensible Englishmen, was imminent, +there could be no doubt. The growing feeling of disaffection, almost +amounting to disloyalty, not only in the opposition party, but among +those who had hitherto been firm adherents of the Government, was +mainly based upon the idea that the present British rulers had allowed +themselves to be frightened by mines and torpedoes, artfully placed and +exploded. Therefore the Syndicate intended to set right the public +mind upon this subject. The note concluded by earnestly urging the +designation, without loss of time, of a place of operations. + +This answer was received in London in the evening, and all night it was +the subject of earnest and anxious deliberation in the Government +offices. It was at last decided, amid great opposition, that the +Syndicate's alternative must be accepted, for it would be the height of +folly to allow the repeller to bombard any port she should choose. +When this conclusion had been reached, the work of selecting a place +for the proposed demonstration of the American Syndicate occupied but +little time. The task was not difficult. Nowhere in Great Britain was +there a fortified spot of so little importance as Caerdaff, on the west +coast of Wales. + +Caerdaff consisted of a large fort on a promontory, and an immense +castellated structure on the other side of a small bay, with a little +fishing village at the head of said bay. The castellated structure was +rather old, the fortress somewhat less so; and both had long been +considered useless, as there was no probability that an enemy would +land at this point on the coast. + +Caerdaff was therefore selected as the spot to be operated upon. No +one could for a moment imagine that the Syndicate had mined this place; +and if it should be destroyed by motor-bombs, it would prove to the +country that the Government had not been frightened by the tricks of a +crafty enemy. + +An hour after the receipt of the note in which it was stated that +Caerdaff had been selected, the Syndicate's fleet started for that +place. The crabs were elevated to cruising height, the repeller taken +in tow, and by the afternoon of the next day the fleet was lying off +Caerdaff. A note was sent on shore to the officer in command, stating +that the bombardment would begin at ten o'clock in the morning of the +next day but one, and requesting that information of the hour appointed +be instantly transmitted to London. When this had been done, the fleet +steamed six or seven miles off shore, where it lay to or cruised about +for two nights and a day. + +As soon as the Government had selected Caerdaff for bombardment, +immediate measures were taken to remove the small garrisons and the +inhabitants of the fishing village from possible danger. When the +Syndicate's note was received by the commandant of the fort, he was +already in receipt of orders from the War Office to evacuate the +fortifications, and to superintend the removal of the fishermen and +their families to a point of safety farther up the coast. + +Caerdaff was a place difficult of access by land, the nearest railroad +stations being fifteen or twenty miles away; but on the day after the +arrival of the Syndicate's fleet in the offing, thousands of people +made their way to this part of the country, anxious to see--if +perchance they might find an opportunity to safely see--what might +happen at ten o'clock the next morning. Officers of the army and navy, +Government officials, press correspondents, in great numbers, and +curious and anxious observers of all classes, hastened to the Welsh +coast. + +The little towns where the visitors left the trains were crowded to +overflowing, and every possible conveyance, by which the mountains +lying back of Caerdaff could be reached, was eagerly secured, many +persons, however, being obliged to depend upon their own legs. Soon +after sunrise of the appointed day the forts, the village, and the +surrounding lower country were entirely deserted, and every point of +vantage on the mountains lying some miles back from the coast was +occupied by excited spectators, nearly every one armed with a +field-glass. + +A few of the guns from the fortifications were transported to an +overlooking height, in order that they might be brought into action in +case the repeller, instead of bombarding, should send men in boats to +take possession of the evacuated fortifications, or should attempt any +mining operations. The gunners for this battery were stationed at a +safe place to the rear, whence they could readily reach their guns if +necessary. + +The next day was one of supreme importance to the Syndicate. On this +day it must make plain to the world, not only what the motor-bomb could +do, but that the motor-bomb did what was done. Before leaving the +English Channel the director of Repeller No. 11 had received +telegraphic advices from both Europe and America, indicating the +general drift of public opinion in regard to the recent sea-fight; and, +besides these, many English and continental papers had been brought to +him from the French coast. + +From all these the director perceived that the cause of the Syndicate +had in a certain way suffered from the manner in which the battle in +the channel had been conducted. Every newspaper urged that if the +repeller carried guns capable of throwing the bombs which the Syndicate +professed to use, there was no reason why every ship in the British +fleet should not have been destroyed. But as the repeller had not +fired a single shot at the fleet, and as the battle had been fought +entirely by the crabs, there was every reason to believe that if there +were such things as motor-guns, their range was very short, not as +great as that of the ordinary dynamite cannon. The great risk run by +one of the crabs in order to disable a dynamite gun-boat seemed an +additional proof of this. + +It was urged that the explosions in the water might have been produced +by torpedoes; that the torpedo-boat which had been destroyed was so +near the repeller that an ordinary shell was sufficient to accomplish +the damage that had been done. + +To gainsay these assumptions was imperative on the Syndicate's forces. +To firmly establish the prestige of the instantaneous motor was the +object of the war. Crabs were of but temporary service. Any nation +could build vessels like them, and there were many means of destroying +them. The spring armour was a complete defence against ordinary +artillery, but it was not a defence against submarine torpedoes. The +claims of the Syndicate could be firmly based on nothing but the powers +of absolute annihilation possessed by the instantaneous motor-bomb. + +About nine o'clock on the appointed morning, Repeller No. 11, much to +the surprise of the spectators on the high grounds with field-glasses +and telescopes, steamed away from Caerdaff. What this meant nobody +knew, but the naval military observers immediately suspected that the +Syndicate's vessel had concentrated attention upon Caerdaff in order to +go over to Ireland to do some sort of mischief there. It was presumed +that the crabs accompanied her, but as they were now at their fighting +depth it was impossible to see them at so great a distance. + +But it was soon perceived that Repeller No. 11 had no intention of +running away, nor of going over to Ireland. From slowly cruising about +four or five miles off shore, she had steamed westward until she had +reached a point which, according to the calculations of her scientific +corps, was nine marine miles from Caerdaff. There she lay to against a +strong breeze from the east. + +It was not yet ten o'clock when the officer in charge of the starboard +gun remarked to the director that he suppose that it would not be +necessary to give the smoke signals, as had been done in the channel, +as now all the crabs were lying near them. The director reflected a +moment, and then ordered that the signals should be given at every +discharge of the gun, and that the columns of black smoke should be +shot up to their greatest height. + +At precisely ten o'clock, up rose from Repeller No. 11 two tall jets +of black smoke. Up rose from the promontory of Caerdaff, a heavy gray +cloud, like an immense balloon, and then the people on the hill-tops +and highlands felt a sharp shock of the ground and rocks beneath them, +and heard the sound of a terrible but momentary grinding crush. + +As the cloud began to settle, it was borne out to sea by the wind, and +then it was revealed that the fortifications of Caerdaff had +disappeared. + +In ten minutes there was another smoke signal, and a great cloud over +the castellated structure on the other side of the bay. The cloud +passed away, leaving a vacant space on the other side of the bay. + +The second shock sent a panic through the crowd of spectators. The +next earthquake bomb might strike among them. Down the eastern slopes +ran hundreds of them, leaving only a few of the bravest civilians, the +reporters of the press, and the naval and military men. + +The next motor-bomb descended into the fishing village, the comminuted +particles of which, being mostly of light material, floated far out to +sea. + +The detachment of artillerists who had been deputed to man the guns on +the heights which commanded the bay had been ordered to fall back to +the mountains as soon as it had been seen that it was not the intention +of the repeller to send boats on shore. The most courageous of the +spectators trembled a little when the fourth bomb was discharged, for +it came farther inland, and struck the height on which the battery had +been placed, removing all vestiges of the guns, caissons, and the ledge +of rock on which they had stood. + +The motor-bombs which the repeller was now discharging were of the +largest size and greatest power, and a dozen more of them were +discharged at intervals of a few minutes. The promontory on which the +fortifications had stood was annihilated, and the waters of the bay +swept over its foundations. Soon afterward the head of the bay seemed +madly rushing out to sea, but quickly surged back to fill the chasm +which yawned at the spot where the village had been. + +The dense clouds were now upheaved at such short intervals that the +scene of devastation was completely shut out from the observers on the +hills; but every few minutes they felt a sickening shock, and heard a +momentary and horrible crash and hiss which seemed to fill all the air. +The instantaneous motor-bombs were tearing up the sea-board, and +grinding it to atoms. + +It was not yet noon when the bombardment ceased. No more puffs of +black smoke came up from the distant repeller, and the vast spreading +mass of clouds moved seaward, dropping down upon St. George's Channel +in a rain of stone dust. Then the repeller steamed shoreward, and when +she was within three or four miles of the coast she ran up a large +white flag in token that her task was ended. + +This sign that the bombardment had ceased was accepted in good faith; +and as some of the military and naval men had carefully noted that each +puff from the repeller was accompanied by a shock, it was considered +certain that all the bombs which had been discharged had acted, and +that, consequently, no further danger was to be apprehended from them. +In spite of this announcement many of the spectators would not leave +their position on the hills, but a hundred or more of curious and +courageous men ventured down into the plain. + +That part of the sea-coast where Caerdaff had been was a new country, +about which men wandered slowly and cautiously with sudden +exclamations, of amazement and awe. There were no longer promontories +jutting out into the sea; there were no hillocks and rocky terraces +rising inland. In a vast plain, shaven and shorn down to a common +level of scarred and pallid rock, there lay an immense chasm two miles +and a half long, half a mile wide, and so deep that shuddering men +could stand and look down upon the rent and riven rocks upon which had +rested that portion of the Welsh coast which had now blown out to sea. + +An officer of the Royal Engineers stood on the seaward edge of this +yawning abyss; then he walked over to the almost circular body of water +which occupied the place where the fishing village had been, and into +which the waters of the bay had flowed. When this officer returned to +London he wrote a report to the effect that a ship canal, less than an +eighth of a mile long, leading from the newly formed lake at the head +of the bay, would make of this chasm, when filled by the sea, the +finest and most thoroughly protected inland basin for ships of all +sizes on the British coast. But before this report received due +official consideration the idea had been suggested and elaborated in a +dozen newspapers. + +Accounts and reports of all kinds describing the destruction of +Caerdaff, and of the place in which it had stood, filled the newspapers +of the world. Photographs and pictures of Caerdaff as it had been and +as it then was were produced with marvellous rapidity, and the +earthquake bomb of the American War Syndicate was the subject of +excited conversation in every civilized country. + +The British Ministry was now the calmest body of men in Europe. The +great opposition storm had died away, the great war storm had ceased, +and the wisest British statesmen saw the unmistakable path of national +policy lying plain and open before them. There was no longer time for +arguments and struggles with opponents or enemies, internal or +external. There was even no longer time for the discussion of +measures. It was the time for the adoption of a measure which +indicated itself, and which did not need discussion. + +On the afternoon of the day of the bombardment of Caerdaff, Repeller +No. 11, accompanied by her crabs, steamed for the English Channel. Two +days afterward there lay off the coast at Brighton, with a white flag +floating high above her, the old Tallapoosa, now naval mistress of the +world. + +Near by lay a cable boat, and constant communication by way of France +was kept up between the officers of the American Syndicate and the +repeller. In a very short time communications were opened between the +repeller and London. + +When this last step became known to the public of America, almost as +much excited by the recent events as the public of England, a great +disturbance arose in certain political circles. It was argued that the +Syndicate had no right to negotiate in any way with the Government of +England; that it had been empowered to carry on a war; and that, if its +duties in this regard had been satisfactorily executed, it must now +retire, and allow the United States Government to attend to its foreign +relations. + +But the Syndicate was firm. It had contracted to bring the war to a +satisfactory conclusion. When it considered that this had been done, +it would retire and allow the American Government, with whom the +contract had been made, to decide whether or not it had been properly +performed. + +The unmistakable path of national policy which had shown itself to the +wisest British statesmen appeared broader and plainer when the +overtures of the American War Syndicate had been received by the +British Government. The Ministry now perceived that the Syndicate had +not waged war; it had been simply exhibiting the uselessness of war as +at present waged. Who now could deny that it would be folly to oppose +the resources of ordinary warfare to those of what might be called +prohibitive warfare. + +Another idea arose in the minds of the wisest British statesmen. If +prohibitive warfare were a good thing for America, it would be an +equally good thing for England. More than that, it would be a better +thing if only these two countries possessed the power of waging +prohibitive warfare. + +In three days a convention of peace was concluded between Great Britain +and the American Syndicate acting for the United States, its provisions +being made subject to such future treaties and alliances as the +governments of the two nations might make with each other. In six days +after the affair at Caerdaff, a committee of the American War Syndicate +was in London, making arrangements, under the favourable auspices of +the British Government, for the formation of an Anglo-American +Syndicate of War. + +The Atlantic Ocean now sprang into new life. It seemed impossible to +imagine whence had come the multitude of vessels which now steamed and +sailed upon its surface. Among these, going westward, were six crabs, +and the spring-armoured vessel, once the Tallapoosa, going home to a +triumphant reception, such as had never before been accorded to any +vessel, whether of war or peace. + +The blockade of the Canadian port, which had been effectively +maintained without incident, was now raised, and the Syndicate's +vessels proceeded to an American port. + +The British ironclad, Adamant, at the conclusion of peace was still in +tow of Crab C, and off the coast of Florida. A vessel was sent down +the coast by the Syndicate to notify Crab C of what had occurred, and +to order it to tow the Adamant to the Bermudas, and there deliver her +to the British authorities. The vessel sent by the Syndicate, which +was a fast coast-steamer, had scarcely hove in sight of the objects of +her search when she was saluted by a ten-inch shell from the Adamant, +followed almost immediately by two others. The commander of the +Adamant had no idea that the war was at an end, and had never failed, +during his involuntary cruise, to fire at anything which bore the +American flag, or looked like an American craft. + +Fortunately the coast steamer was not struck, and at the top of her +speed retired to a greater distance, whence the Syndicate officer on +board communicated with the crab by smoke signals. + +During the time in which Crab C had had charge of the Adamant no +communication had taken place between the two vessels. Whenever an +air-pipe had been elevated for the purpose of using therein a +speaking-tube, a volley from a machine-gun on the Adamant was poured +upon it, and after several pipes had been shot away the director of the +crab ceased his efforts to confer with those on the ironclad. It had +been necessary to place the outlets of the ventilating apparatus of the +crab under the forward ends of some of the upper roof-plates. + +When Crab C had received her orders, she put about the prow of the +great warship, and proceeded to tow her north-eastward, the commander +of the Adamant taking a parting crack with his heaviest stern-gun at +the vessel which had brought the order for his release. + +All the way from the American coast to the Bermuda Islands, the great +Adamant blazed, thundered, and roared, not only because her commander +saw, or fancied he saw, an American vessel, but to notify all crabs, +repellers, and any other vile invention of the enemy that may have been +recently put forth to blemish the sacred surface of the sea, that the +Adamant still floated, with the heaviest coat of mail and the finest +and most complete armament in the world, ready to sink anything hostile +which came near enough--but not too near. + +When the commander found that he was bound for the Bermudas, he did not +understand it, unless, indeed, those islands had been captured by the +enemy. But he did not stop firing. Indeed, should he find the +Bermudas under the American flag, he would fire at that flag and +whatever carried it, as long as a shot or a shell or a charge of powder +remained to him. + +But when he reached British waters, and slowly entering St. George's +harbour, saw around him the British flag floating as proudly as it +floated above his own great ship, he confessed himself utterly +bewildered; but he ordered the men at every gun to stand by their piece +until he was boarded by a boat from the fort, and informed of the true +state of affairs. + +But even then, when weary Crab C raised herself from her fighting +depth, and steamed to a dock, the commander of the Adamant could +scarcely refrain from sending a couple of tons of iron into the beastly +sea-devil which had had the impertinence to tow him about against his +will. + +No time was lost by the respective Governments of Great Britain and the +United States in ratifying the peace made through the Syndicate, and in +concluding a military and naval alliance, the basis of which should be +the use by these two nations, and by no other nations, of the +instantaneous motor. The treaty was made and adopted with much more +despatch than generally accompanies such agreements between nations, +for both Governments felt the importance of placing themselves, without +delay, in that position from which, by means of their united control of +paramount methods of warfare, they might become the arbiters of peace. + +The desire to evolve that power which should render opposition useless +had long led men from one warlike invention to another. Every one who +had constructed a new kind of gun, a new kind of armour, or a new +explosive, thought that he had solved the problem, or was on his way to +do so. The inventor of the instantaneous motor had done it. + +The treaty provided that all subjects concerning hostilities between +either or both of the contracting powers and other nations should be +referred to a Joint High Commission, appointed by the two powers; and +if war should be considered necessary, it should be prosecuted and +conducted by the Anglo-American War Syndicate, within limitations +prescribed by the High Commission. + +The contract made with the new Syndicate was of the most stringent +order, and contained every provision that ingenuity or foresight of man +could invent or suggest to make it impossible for the Syndicate to +transfer to any other nation the use of the instantaneous motor. + +Throughout all classes in sympathy with the Administrative parties of +Great Britain and the United States there was a feeling of jubilant +elation on account of the alliance and the adoption by the two nations +of the means of prohibitive warfare. This public sentiment acted even +upon the opposition; and the majority of army and navy officers in the +two countries felt bound to admit that the arts of war in which they +had been educated were things of the past. Of course there were +members of the army and navy in both countries who deprecated the new +state of things. But there were also men, still living, who deprecated +the abolition of the old wooden seventy-four gun ship. + +A British artillery officer conversing with a member of the American +Syndicate at a London club, said to him:-- + +"Do you know that you made a great mistake in the beginning of your +operations with the motor-guns? If you had contrived an attachment to +the motor which should have made an infernal thunder-clap and a storm +of smoke at the moment of discharge it would have saved you a lot of +money and time and trouble. The work of the motor on the Canadian +coast was terrible enough, but people could see no connection between +that and the guns on your vessels. If you could have sooner shown that +connection you might have saved yourselves the trouble of crossing the +Atlantic. And, to prove this, one of the most satisfactory points +connected with your work on the Welsh coast was the jet of smoke which +came from the repeller every time she discharged a motor. If it had +not been for those jets, I believe there would be people now in the +opposition who would swear that Caerdaff had been mined, and that the +Ministry were a party to it." + +"Your point is well taken," said the American, "and should it ever be +necessary to discharge any more bombs,--which I hope it may not be,--we +shall take care to show a visible and audible connection between cause +and effect." + +"The devil take it, sir!" cried an old captain of an English +ship-of-the-line, who was sitting near by. "What you are talking about +is not war! We might as well send out a Codfish Trust to settle +national disputes. In the next sea-fight we'll save ourselves the +trouble of gnawing and crunching at the sterns of the enemy. We'll +simply send a note aboard requesting the foreigner to be so good as to +send us his rudder by bearer, which, if properly marked and numbered, +will be returned to him on the conclusion of peace. This would do just +as well as twisting it off, and save expense. No, sir, I will not join +you in a julep! _I_ have made no alliance over new-fangled inventions! +Waiter, fetch me some rum and hot water!" + +In the midst of the profound satisfaction with which the members of the +American War Syndicate regarded the success of their labours,--labours +alike profitable to themselves and to the recently contending +nations,--and in the gratified pride with which they received the +popular and official congratulations which were showered upon them, +there was but one little cloud, one regret. + +In the course of the great Syndicate War a life had been lost. Thomas +Hutchins, while assisting in the loading of coal on one of the +repellers, was accidentally killed by the falling of a derrick. + +The Syndicate gave a generous sum to the family of the unfortunate man, +and throughout the United States the occurrence occasioned a deep +feeling of sympathetic regret. A popular subscription was started to +build a monument to the memory of Hutchins, and contributions came, not +only from all parts of the United States, but from many persons in +Great Britain who wished to assist in the erection of this tribute to +the man who had fallen in the contest which had been of as much benefit +to their country as to his own. + +Some weeks after the conclusion of the treaty, a public question was +raised, which at first threatened to annoy the American Government; but +it proved to be of little moment. An anti-Administration paper in +Peakville, Arkansas, asserted that in the whole of the published treaty +there was not one word in regard to the fisheries question, the +complications arising from which had been the cause of the war. Other +papers took up the matter, and the Government then discovered that in +drawing up the treaty the fisheries business had been entirely +overlooked. There was a good deal of surprise in official circles when +this discovery was announced; but as it was considered that the +fisheries question was one which would take care of itself, or be +readily disposed of in connection with a number of other minor points +which remained to be settled between the two countries, it was decided +to take no notice of the implied charge of neglect, and to let the +matter drop. And as the opposition party took no real interest in the +question, but little more was said about it. + +Both countries were too well satisfied with the general result to waste +time or discussion over small matters. Great Britain had lost some +forts and some ships; but these would have been comparatively useless +in the new system of warfare. On the other hand, she had gained, not +only the incalculable advantage of the alliance, but a magnificent and +unsurpassed landlocked basin on the coast of Wales. + +The United States had been obliged to pay an immense sum on account of +the contract with the War Syndicate, but this was considered money so +well spent, and so much less than an ordinary war would have cost, that +only the most violent anti-Administration journals ever alluded to it. + +Reduction of military and naval forces, and gradual disarmament, was +now the policy of the allied nations. Such forces and such vessels as +might be demanded for the future operations of the War Syndicate were +retained. A few field batteries of motor-guns were all that would be +needed on land, and a comparatively small number of armoured ships +would suffice to carry the motor-guns that would be required at sea. + +Now there would be no more mere exhibitions of the powers of the +instantaneous motor-bomb. Hereafter, if battles must be fought, they +would be battles of annihilation. + +This is the history of the Great Syndicate War. Whether or not the +Anglo-American Syndicate was ever called upon to make war, it is not to +be stated here. But certain it is that after the formation of this +Syndicate all the nations of the world began to teach English in their +schools, and the Spirit of Civilization raised her head with a +confident smile. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Great War Syndicate, by Frank Stockton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT WAR SYNDICATE *** + +***** This file should be named 427.txt or 427.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/427/ + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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