that theEnglishman, perceiving that his antagonist did not appear to beaffected by his fire, would approach closer and endeavour to ram her.This was to be avoided, for the Scarabaeus was a much larger vesselthan Repeller No. 1, and able to run into the latter and sink her bymere preponderance of weight.
It was therefore decided to now test the powers of the crabs. Signalswere made from Repeller No. 1 to Crab A, which had been lying with thelarger vessel between it and the enemy. These signals were made byjets of dense black smoke, which were ejected from a small pipe on therepeller. These slender columns of smoke preserved their cylindricalforms for some moments, and were visible at a great distance by day ornight, being illumined in the latter case by electric light. Thelength and frequency of these jets were regulated by an instrument inthe Director's room. Thus, by means of long and short puffs, with theproper use of intervals, a message could be projected into the air as atelegraphic instrument would mark it upon paper.
In this manner Crab A was ordered to immediately proceed to the attackof the Scarabaeus. The almost submerged vessel steamed rapidly frombehind her consort, and made for the British man-of-war.
When the latter vessel perceived the approach of this turtle-backedobject, squirting little jets of black smoke as she replied to theorders from the repeller, there was great amazement on board. The crabhad not been seen before, but as it came rapidly on there was no timefor curiosity or discussion, and several heavy guns were brought tobear upon it. It was difficult to hit a rapidly moving flat objectscarcely above the surface of the water; and although several shotstruck the crab, they glanced off without in the least interfering withits progress.
Crab A soon came so near the Scarabaeus that it was impossible todepress the guns of the latter so as to strike her. The great vesselwas, therefore, headed toward its assailant, and under a full head ofsteam dashed directly at it to run it down. But the crab could turn asupon a pivot, and shooting to one side allowed the surging man-of-warto pass it.
Perceiving instantly that it would be difficult to strike this nimbleand almost submerged adversary, the commander of the Scarabaeus thoughtit well to let it alone for the present, and to bear down with allspeed upon the repeller. But it was easier to hit the crab than toleave it behind. It was capable of great speed, and, following theBritish vessel, it quickly came up with her.
The course of the Scarabaeus was instantly changed, and every effortwas made to get the vessel into a position to run down the crab. Butthis was not easy for so large a ship, and Crab A seemed to have nodifficulty in keeping close to her stern.
Several machine-guns, especially adopted for firing at torpedo-boats orany hostile craft which might be discovered close to a vessel, were nowbrought to bear upon the crab, and ball after ball was hurled at her.Some of these struck, but glanced off without penetrating her tougharmour.
These manoeuvres had not continued long, when the crew of the crab wasready to bring into action the peculiar apparatus of that peculiarcraft. An enormous pair of iron forceps, each massive limb of whichmeasured twelve feet or more in length, was run out in front of thecrab at a depth of six or eight feet below the surface. These forcepswere acted upon by an electric engine of immense power, by which theycould be shut, opened, projected, withdrawn, or turned and twisted.
The crab darted forward, and in the next instant the great teeth of herpincers were fastened with a tremendous grip upon the rudder andrudder-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 thegreat rudder, with half of the rudder-post attached, was torn from thevessel, and as the forceps opened it dropped to leeward and hungdangling by one chain.
Again the forceps opened wide; again there was a rush; and this timethe huge jaws closed upon the rapidly revolving screw-propeller. Therewas a tremendous crash, and the small but massive crab turned over sofar that for an instant one of its sides was plainly visible above thewater. The blades of the propeller were crushed and shivered; thoseparts of the steamer's engines connecting with the propeller-shaft weresnapped and rent apart, while the propeller-shaft itself was broken bythe violent stoppage.
The crab, which had quickly righted, now backed, still holding thecrushed propeller in its iron grasp, and as it moved away from theScarabaeus, it extracted about forty feet of its propeller-shaft; then,opening its massive jaws, it allowed the useless mass of iron to dropto the bottom of the sea.
Every man on board the Scarabaeus was wild with amazement andexcitement. Few could comprehend what had happened, but this veryquickly became evident. So far as motive power was concerned, theScarabaeus was totally, disabled. She could not direct her course, forher 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 hadbeen, and through this the water was pouring into the vessel. As aman-of-war the Scarabaeus was worthless.
Orders now came fast from Repeller No. 1, which had moved nearer to thescene of conflict. It was to be supposed that the disabled ship wasproperly furnished with bulk-heads, so that the water would penetrateno farther than the stern compartment, and that, therefore, she was inno danger of sinking. Crab A was ordered to make fast to the bow ofthe Scarabaeus, and tow her toward two men-of-war who were rapidlyapproaching from the harbour.
This proceeding astonished the commander and officers of the Scarabaeusalmost as much as the extraordinary attack which had been made upontheir ship. They had expected a demand to surrender and haul downtheir flag; but the Director-in-chief on board Repeller No. 1 was ofthe opinion that with her propeller extracted it mattered little whatflag she flew. His work with the Scarabaeus was over; for it had beenordered by the Syndicate that its vessels should not encumberthemselves with prizes.
Towed by the powerful crab, which apparently had no fear that itsdisabled adversary might fire upon it, the Scarabaeus moved toward theharbour, and when it had come within a quarter of a mile of theforemost British vessel, Crab A cast off and steamed back to RepellerNo. 1.
The other English vessels soon came up, and each lay to and sent a boatto the Scarabaeus. After half an hour's consultation, in which theamazement of those on board the damaged vessel was communicated to theofficers and crews of her two consorts, it was determined that thesmaller of these should tow the disabled ship into port, while theother 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 effectupon this craft; but it had not been proved that she could withstandthe rams of powerful ironclads. If this vessel, that apparentlycarried no guns, or, at least, had used none, could be crushed,capsized, sunk, or in any way put out of the fight, it was probablethat the dangerous submerged nautical machine would not care to remainin these waters. If it remained it must be destroyed by torpedoes.
Signals were exchanged between the two English vessels, and in a veryshort time they were steaming toward the repeller. It was a dangerousthing for two vessels of their size to come close enough together forboth to ram an enemy at the same time, but it was determined to takethe risks and do this, if possible; for the destruction of the repellerwas obviously the first duty in hand.
As the two men-of-war rapidly approached Repeller No. 1, they kept up asteady fire upon her; for if in this way they could damage her, theeasier would be their task. With a firm reliance upon the efficacy ofthe steel-spring armour, the Director-in-chief felt no fear of theenemy's shot and shell; but he was not at all willing that his vesselshould be rammed, for the consequences would probably be disastrous.Accordingly he did not wait for the approach of the two vessels, butsteering seaward, he signalled for the other crab.
When Crab B made its appearance, puffing its little black jets ofsmoke, as it answered the signals of the Director-in-chief, thecommanders of the two British
vessels were surprised. They hadimagined that there was only one of these strange and terrible enemies,and had supposed that she would be afraid to make her peculiar attackupon one of them, because while doing so she would expose herself tothe danger of being run down by the other. But the presence of two ofthese almost submerged engines of destruction entirely changed thesituation.
But the commanders of the British ships were brave men. They hadstarted to run down the strangely armoured American craft, and run herdown they would, if they could. They put on more steam, and went aheadat greater speed. In such a furious onslaught the crabs might not dareto 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 themen-of-war, and Crab B of the other. The rudders of both wereshattered and torn away; and while the blades of one propeller werecrushed to pieces, the other, with nearly half its shaft, was drawn outand dropped into the ocean. Helplessly the two men-of-war rose
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