The Battery and the Boiler: Adventures in Laying of Submarine Electric Cables

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER TWENTY.

  VARIOUS SUBJECTS TREATED OF, AND A GREAT FIGHT DETAILED.

  It was the habit of Robin and his friends at this time, the weatherbeing extremely fine and cool, to sit at the mouth of their cavern of anevening, chatting about the events of the day, or the prospects of thefuture, or the experiences of the past, while old Meerta busied herselfpreparing supper over a fire kindled on the ground.

  No subject was avoided on these occasions, because the friends wereharmoniously minded, in addition to which the sweet influences ofmingled star-light and fire-light, soft air, and lovely prospect of landand sea--to say nothing of the prospect of supper--all tended to inducea peaceful and forbearing spirit.

  "Well, now," said Robin, continuing a subject which often engaged theirintellectual powers, "it seems to me simple enough."

  "Simple!" exclaimed Johnson, with a half-sarcastic laugh, "w'y, now, youan' the doctor 'ave tried to worrit that electricity into my brain formany months, off an' on, and I do believe as I'm more muddled about itto-night than I was at the beginnin'."

  "P'r'aps it's because you hain't got no brains to work upon," suggestedSlagg.

  "P'r'aps it is," humbly admitted the seaman. "But look here, now,doctor," he added, turning to Sam with his brow knotted up into an agonyof mental endeavour, and the forefinger of one hand thrust into the palmof the other,--"look here. You tells me that electricity ain't asubstance at all."

  "Yes, that's so," assented Sam with a nod.

  "Wery good. Now, then, if it ain't a substance at all, it's nothin'.An' if it's nothin', how can you go an' talk of it as somethin' an' giveit a name, an' tell me it works the telegraph, an' does all manner ofwonderful things?"

  "But it does not follow that a thing must be nothing because it isn't asubstance. Don't you see, man, that an idea is something, yet it is nota substance. Thought, which is so potent a factor in this world, is nota substance, yet it cannot be called nothing. It is a condition--it isthe result of brain-atoms in action. Electricity is sometimes describedas an `invisible imponderable fluid,' but that is not quite correct,because a fluid is a substance. It is a better definition to say thatelectricity is a _manifestation of energy--a result of substance inaction_."

  "There, I'm muddled again!" said Johnson, with a look of hopelessincapacity.

  "Small blame to you, Johnson," murmured Slagg who had done his best tounderstand, while Stumps sat gazing at the speakers with an expressionof blank complacency.

  "Look here, Johnson," said Sam, "you've often seen men shaking a carpet,haven't you?"

  "In coorse I have."

  "Well, have you not observed the waves of the carpet that roll along itwhen shaken!"

  "Yes, I have."

  "What are these waves?"

  "Well, sir, I should say they was the carpet," replied Johnson.

  "No, the waves are not the carpet. When the waves reach the end of thecarpet they disappear. If the waves were the carpet, the carpet woulddisappear. The same waves in a whip, soft and undulating though theybe, result in a loud crack, as you know."

  "Muddled again," said Johnson.

  "Ditto," said Slagg.

  "Why, I'm not muddled a bit!" suddenly exclaimed Stumps, with ahalf-contemptuous laugh.

  "Of coorse you're not," retorted Slagg. "Brainless things never gitinto that state. You never heard of a turnip bein' muddled, did you?"

  Stumps became vacant, and Sam went on.

  "Well, you see, the waves are not substance. They are a condition--aresult of atoms in motion. Now, when the atoms of a substance aredisturbed by friction, or by chemical action, they get into a state ofviolent commotion, and try wildly to fly from, or to, each other. Thiseffort to fly about is energy. When the atoms get into a very intensestate of commotion they have a tendency to induce explosion, unless away of escape is found--escape for the energy, not for the atoms. Now,when you cause chemical disturbance in an electric battery, the energythus evolved is called electricity, and we provide a conductor of escapefor it in the shape of a copper or other metal wire, which we may carryto any distance we please, and the energy runs along it, as the waveruns along the carpet, as long as you keep up the commotion in thebattery among the excited atoms of copper and zinc."

  "Mud--no, not quite. I have got a glimmer o' su'thin'," said Johnson.

  "Ditto," said Slagg.

  "Supper," said old Meerta.

  "Ha! that's the battery for me," cried Stumps, jumping up.

  "Not a bad one either," said Robin, as they entered the cave; "alternateplates of beef and greens, steeped in some such acid as lemonade, causea wonderful commotion in the atoms of the human body."

  "True, Robin, and the energy thereby evolved," said Sam, "sometimesbursts forth in brilliant sparks of wit--to say nothing of flashes ofabsurdity."

  "An' thunderin' stoopidity," added Slagg.

  Further converse on the subject was checked at that time by what Samtermed the charging of the human batteries. The evening meal went on insilence and very pleasantly for some time, but before its close it wasinterrupted in an alarming manner by the sudden entrance of Letta withwild excitement in her eyes.

  "Oh!" she cried, pointing back to the entrance of the cave, "a ship!--pirate-ship coming!"

  A bombshell could scarcely have produced greater effect. Eachindividual leaped up and darted out, flushing deep red or turning pale,according to temperament. They were not long in verifying thestatement. A ledge of rocks concealed the entrance to the cavern fromthe sea. Over its edge could be seen the harbour in which they hadfound the vessel whose total destruction has been described; and there,sure enough, they beheld a similar vessel, though considerably smaller,in the act of furling her sails and dropping anchor. There could be nodoubt as to her character, for although too distant to admit of her crewbeing distinguished by star-light, her rig and general appearancebetrayed her.

  "Not a moment to be lost, Robin," said Sam Shipton hurriedly, as he ledthe way back to the tavern, where old Meerta and blind Bungo, aided byLetta, had already cleared away all evidence of the late feast, leavingonly three tin cups and three pewter plates on the table, with viandsappropriate thereto.

  "Ha! you're a knowing old lady," exclaimed Sam, "you understand how tohelp us, I see."

  "Me tink so!" replied Meerta, with an intelligent nod. "On'y us t'reehere. All de pyrits gone away. Dem sinners on'y come here for a feed--p'r'aps for leetil poodre. Soon go away."

  "Just so," said Sam, "meanwhile we will hide, and return after they aregone, or, better still, if you, Letta, and Bungo will come and hide withus, I'll engage to lay a train of powder from the barrels inside tosomewhere outside, and blow the reptiles and the whole mountain into thesea! There's powder enough to do it."

  "You tink me one divl?" demanded the old woman indignantly. "No, someo' dem pyrits not so bad as each oder. You let 'em alone; me let youalone."

  This gentle intimation that Meerta had their lives in her hand, inducedSam to ask modestly what she would have him do.

  "Go," she replied promptly, "take rifles, swords, an' poodre. Hide tillpyrits go 'way. If de finds you--fight. Better fight dan be skinalive!"

  "Unquestionably," said Sam, with a mingled laugh and shudder, in whichhis companions joined--as regards the shudder at least, if not thelaugh.

  Acting promptly on the suggestion, Sam armed himself and his comradeseach with a good breech-loading rifle, as much ammunition as he couldconveniently carry, and an English sword. Then, descending the mountainon the side opposite to the harbour they disappeared in the dark andtangled underwood of the palm-grove. Letta went a short distance withthem.

  "They won't kill Meerta or blind Bungo," she said, on the way down."They're too useful, though they often treat them badly. Meerta sent meaway to hide here the last time the strange bad men came. She thinks Igo hide to-night, but I won't; so, good-night."

  "But surely you don't mean to put yourself in the power of the pirates?"said Robin.
/>
  "No, never fear," returned the child with a laugh. "I know how to seethem without they see me."

  Before further remonstrance could be made, the active child had boundedup the pathway and disappeared.

  Not long after Sam and his comrades had taken their departure, thepirates came up to the cavern in a body--about forty of them--well armedand ready to fight if need be. They were as rascally a set ofcut-throats as one could desire to see--or, rather, not to see--ofvarious nationality, with ugly countenances and powerful frames, whichwere clothed in more or less fantastic Eastern garb. Their language,like themselves, was mixed, and, we need scarcely add, unrefined. Thelittle that was interchanged between them and Meerta we must, however,translate.

  "What! alive still!" cried the ruffian, who appeared to be the leader ofthe band, flinging himself down on a couch with the air of a man whoknew the place well, while his men made themselves at home.

  Meerta merely smiled to the salutation; that in to say, she grinned.

  "Where are they?" demanded the pirate-chief, referring of course tothose who, the reader is aware, were blown up.

  "Gone away," answered Meerta.

  "Far away?" asked the pirate.

  "Yes, _very_ far away."

  "Goin' to be long away?"

  "Ho! yes, _very_ long."

  "Where's the little girl they took from Sarawak?"

  "Gone away."

  "Where away?"

  "Don't know."

  "Now, look here, you old hag," said the pirate, drawing a pistol fromhis belt and levelling it, "tell the truth about that girl, else I'llscatter your brains on the floor. Where has she gone to?"

  "Don't know," repeated Meerta, with a look of calm indifference, as shetook up a tankard and wiped it out with a cloth.

  The man steadied the pistol and pressed the trigger.

  "You better wait till she has given us our grub," quietly suggested oneof the men.

  The leader replaced the weapon in the shawl which formed his girdle, andsaid, "Get it ready quick--the best you have, and bring us some wine tobegin with."

  Soon after that our friends, while conversing in low tones in the grove,heard the unmistakeable sounds of revelry issue from the cave.

  "What think you, boys," said Sam suddenly, "shall we go round to theharbour, surprise and kill the guard, seize the pirate-ship, up anchorand leave these villains to enjoy themselves as best they may?"

  "What! and leave Letta, not to mention Meerta and Bungo, behind us?Never!"

  "I forgot them for the moment," said Sam. "No, we can't do that."

  As he spoke the noise of revelry became louder and degenerated intosounds of angry disputation. Then several shots were heard, followed bythe clashing of steel and loud yells.

  "Surely that was a female voice," said Robin, rising and rushing up thesteep path that led to the cavern, closely followed by his comrades.

  They had not gone a hundred yards when they were arrested by hearing arustling in the bushes and the sound of hasty footsteps. Next instantLetta was seen running towards them, with glaring eyes and streaminghair. She sprang into Robin's arms with a convulsive sob, and hid herwhite face on his breast.

  "Speak, Letta, dear child! Are you hurt?"

  "No, O no; but Meerta, darling Meerta, she is dead! They have shot herand Bungo."

  She burst again into convulsive sobbing.

  "Dead! But are you sure--quite sure?" said Sam.

  "Quite. I saw their brains scattered on the wall.--Oh, Meerta!--"

  She ended in a low wail, as though her heart were broken.

  "Now, boys," said Johnson, who had hitherto maintained silence, "we mustgo to work an' try to cut out the pirate-ship. It's a good chance, andit's our only one."

  "Yes, there's nothing to prevent us trying it now," said Robin, sadly,"and the sooner the better."

  "Lucky that we made up the parcels last night, warn't it?" said JimSlagg as they made hasty arrangements for carrying out their plan.

  Jim referred to parcels of rare and costly jewels which each of them hadselected from the pirate store, put into separate bags and hid away inthe woods, to be ready in case of any sudden occasion arising--such ashad now actually arisen--to quit the island. Going to the place wherethese bags were concealed, they slung them over their shoulders and setoff at a steady run, or trot, for the harbour, each taking his turn incarrying Letta, for the poor child was not fit to walk, much less torun.

  Stealthy though their movements were, however, they did not altogetherescape detection. Two bright eyes had been watching Letta during allher wanderings that night, and two nimble feet had followed her when sheran affrighted from the pirates' stronghold. The party was overtakenbefore half the distance to the harbour had been gained, and at length,with a cry of satisfaction.

  Letta's favourite--the small monkey--sprang upon her shoulder. In thisposition, refusing to move, he was carried to the coast.

  As had been anticipated, the pirate vessel was found lying in the poolwhere the former ship had anchored. Being considerably smaller,however, it had been drawn close to the rocks, so that a landing hadbeen effected by means of a broad plank or gangway instead of a boat.Fortunately for our friends, this plank had not been removed after thepirates had left, probably because they deemed themselves in a place ofabsolute security. As far as they could see, only one sentinel pacedthe deck.

  "I shouldn't wonder if the guard is a very small one," whispered Sam toRobin, as they crept to the edge of the shrubs which lined the harbour,and surveyed their intended prize. "No doubt they expected to meet onlywith friends here--or with nobody at all, as it has turned out,--andhave left just enough to guard their poor slaves."

  "We shall soon find out," returned Sam. "Now, boys," he said, onrejoining the others in the bush, "see that your revolvers are chargedand handy, but don't use them if you can avoid it."

  "A cut over the head with cold steel will be sufficiently effective, forwe have no desire to kill. Nevertheless, don't be particular. We can'tafford to measure our blows with such scoundrels; only if we fire weshall alarm those in the cave, and have less time to get under weigh."

  "What is to be done with Letta while we attack?" asked Robin.

  "I'll wait here till you come for me," said Letta, with a sad littlesmile on her tear-bedewed face; "I'm quite used to see fighting."

  "Good, keep close, and don't move from this spot till we come for you,my little heroine," said Sam. "Now, boys, follow me in single file--tread like mice--don't hurry. There's nothing like keeping cool."

  "Not much use o' saying that to a feller that's red-hot," growled Slagg,as he stood with a flushed face, a revolver in one hand and a cutlass inthe other.

  Sam, armed similarly, glided to the extreme verge of the bushes, betweenwhich and the water there was a space of about thirty yards. With aquiet cat-like run he crossed this space, rushed up the plank gangway,and leaped upon the deck, with his comrades close at his heels. Thesentinel was taken completely by surprise, but drew his swordnevertheless, and sprang at Sam with a shout.

  The latter, although not a professional warrior, had been taughtsingle-stick at school, and was an expert swordsman. He parried thepirate's furious thrust, and gave him what is technically termed cutNumber 1, which clove his turban to the skull and stretched him on thedeck. It was a fortunate cut, for the shout had brought up sevenpirates, five from below and two from the fore-part of the vessel, wherethey had been asleep between two guns. With these his comrades were nowengaged in mortal combat--three of them having simultaneously attackedJohnson, while two had assailed Jim Slagg.

  When Sam turned round the stout sailor had cut down one of his foes, butthe other two would probably have proved too much for him if Sam had notinstantly engaged one of them. He was a powerful, active man, so thatfor nearly a minute they cut and thrust at each other without advantageto either, until Sam tried a feint thrust, which he followed up with atremendous slash at the head. It took effect, and set him
free to aidSlagg, who was at the moment in deadly peril, for poor Slagg was noswordsman, and had hitherto foiled his two antagonists by sheer activityand the fury of his assaults. He was quite collected, however, for,even in the extremity of his danger, he had refrained from using hisrevolver lest he should thereby give the alarm to the pirates on land.With one stroke Sam disposed of one of the scoundrels, and Slaggsucceeded in cutting down the other.

  Meanwhile our hero, Robin, and Stumps had attacked the two pirates whochanced to be nearest to them. The former thought of Letta and herwretched fate if this assault should fail. The thought filled hislittle body, with such a gush of what seemed to him like electric fire,that he leaped on his opponent with the fury of a wild cat, and bore himbackward, so that he stumbled over the combings of a hatchway and wasthrown flat on the deck--_hors de combat_.

  But Stumps was not so fortunate. Slow in all his movements, and not toocourageous in spirit, he gave way before the villain who assailed him.It was not indeed much to his discredit, for the man was much larger, aswell as more active and fierce, than himself. A cut from the pirate'ssword quickly laid him low, and his antagonist instantly turned onRobin. He was so near at the moment that neither of them couldeffectively use his weapon. Robin therefore dashed the hilt of hissword into the man's face and grappled with him. It was a most unequalstruggle, for the pirate was, as we have said, a huge fellow, whileRobin was small and slight. But there were several things in our hero'sfavour. He was exceedingly tough and wonderfully strong for his size,besides being active as a kitten and brave as a lion. The way thatRobin Wright wriggled in that big man's embrace, hammered his nose andeyes with the iron hilt of his cutlass, stuck his knees into the pit ofhis stomach, and assaulted his shins with the toes of boots, besidestwisting his left hand into his hair like a vice, was wonderful tobehold.

  It was all Letta's doing! The more hopeless the struggle felt, the morehapless did Letta's fate appear to Robin, and the more furious did thespirit within rise above its disadvantages. In the whirl of the fightthe pirate's head chanced for one moment to be in proximity to a largeiron block. Robin observed it, threw all his soul and body into onesupreme effort, and launched his foe and himself against the block.Both heads met it at the same moment, and the combatants rolled fromeach other's grasp. The pirate was rendered insensible, but Robin,probably because of being lighter, was only a little stunned.

  Recovering in a moment, he sprang up, glanced round, observed that thepirates were almost, if not quite, overpowered, and leaped over thebulwarks. A few moments later and he had Letta in his arms. Just thena pistol shot rang in the night air. The last of the pirates who wasoverpowered chanced to use his fire-arm, though without success. It wasfortunate the fight was over, for, now that the alarm had been given,they knew that their chance of escaping was greatly lessened.

  "Cut the cable, Slagg. Out with a boat-hook, Johnson, ready to shoveoff. I'll fetch Letta," cried Sam, springing to the side.

  He was almost run down, as he spoke, by Robin with the child in hisarms.

  "Ha! Robin--well done, my boy. Here, Letta, you understand thelanguage, tell the slaves below to out oars and pull for their lives.It's their only chance."

  The poor creatures, who were bound to the thwarts below deck, had beenlistening with dull surprise to the fighting on deck--not that fightingwas by any means unusual in that vessel, but they must have known thatthey were in harbour, and that the main body of the pirates were onshore. Still greater was their surprise when they received the aboveorder in the sweet gentle tones of a child's voice.

  Whether they deemed her an angel or not we cannot tell, but their beliefin her right to command was evinced by their shoving the oars out withalacrity.

  A few seconds sufficed to cut the cable, and the gangway fell into thesea with a loud splash as the vessel moved slowly from the land, whileJohnson, Robin, and Slagg thrust with might and main at the boat-hooks.The oars could not be dipped or used until the vessel had been separateda few yards from the land, and it was during the delay caused by thisoperation that their greatest danger lay, for already the pirates wereheard calling to each other among the cliffs.

  "Pull, pull now for life, boys," shouted Sam as he seized the helm.

  "Pull, pull now for life, boys," echoed the faithful translator in hersilvery tones.

  The oars dipped and gurgled through the water. There was no question asto the energy of the poor captives, but the vessel was heavy andsluggish at starting. She had barely got a couple of hundred yards fromthe shore, when the pirates from the cavern came running tumultuouslyout of the woods. Perceiving at once that their vessel had beencaptured, they rushed into the water and swam off, each man with hissword between his teeth.

  They were resolute villains, and swam vigorously and fast. Sam knewthat if such a swarm should gain the side of the vessel, no amount ofpersonal valour could prevent recapture. He therefore encouraged theslaves to redoubled effort. These responded to the silvery echo, but soshort had been the distance gained that the issue seemed doubtful.

  "Give 'em a few shots, boys," cried Sam, drawing his own revolver andfiring back over the stern. The others followed his example anddischarged all their revolvers, but without apparent effect, for thepirates still came on.

  One of the sails had fortunately been left unfurled. At this moment alight puff of air from the land bulged it out, and sensibly increasedtheir speed.

  "Hurrah!" shouted Johnson, "lend a hand, boys, to haul taut."

  The sail was trimmed, and in a few minutes the vessel glided quicklyaway from her pursuers.

  A loud British cheer announced the fact alike to pirates and slaves, sothat the latter were heartened to greater exertion, while the formerwere discouraged. In a few minutes they gave up the chase with a yellof rage, and turned to swim for the shore.

  About a hundred yards from the mouth of the harbour there lay a smallislet--a mere rock. Here Sam resolved to leave the pirate guard, noneof whom had been quite killed--indeed two of them had triedunsuccessfully to rise during the fight.

  "You see," said Sam, as he steered for the rock, "we don't want to haveeither the doctoring or the killing of such scoundrels. They will bemuch better with their friends, who will be sure to swim off for them--perhaps use our raft for the purpose, which they will likely find,sooner or later."

  They soon ranged up alongside of the island, and in a few minutes thebodies of the pirates were landed and laid there side by side. Whilethey were being laid down, the man who had fought with Robin made asudden and furious grasp at Johnson's throat with one hand, and at hisknife with the other, but the seaman was too quick for him. He felledhim with a blow of his fist. The others, although still alive, wereunable to show fight.

  Then, hoisting the mainsail, and directing their course to thenorthward, our adventurers slipped quietly over the sea, and soon leftPirate Island far out of sight behind them.