CHAPTER XIV
THE FORTUNE OF WAR
SEVENTY-TWO hours after the receipt of the misleading intelligencefrom the hapless _Duke of Negropont_ the scout _Cerberus_ again putto sea. This time there was no doubt that the news concerning the_Independencia_ was genuine. The United States cruiser _Denver_ hadseen, and had stood in pursuit of the pirate. According to theAmerican captain's report the pirate was heading north, apparentlywith the intention of preying upon the liners running between NewYork and Montreal, and Liverpool and Southampton.
Once more Lieutenant Douglas Drake's hopes rose high. He feltconfident that to him would fall the honour of effecting the pirate'scapture. He knew full well that more than a score of cruisers, to saynothing of ocean-going destroyers, were keenly on the alert; but inspite of this knowledge the presentiment was uppermost in his mindthat the aero-hydroplanes of the _Cerberus_, under his command, wouldscore the honour of the day.
The lieutenant spent most of his watch on deck in attending to hisfour pets. There was no time to test their capabilities in the air,for the scout could not slacken speed to allow the boat to be hoistedout. True they could be sent up from the deck, a speciallyconstructed line of rails being laid down to admit of them so doing.They could, if necessity arose, return to their parent by alightingon the poop; but there was always the risk of damage to theirhulls--a catastrophe that would be eliminated if the aero-hydroplanescame to rest upon the sea. Thus, although Drake had had experience incraft of a very similar type, he was totally unacquainted with theirpeculiarities; but in spite of this handicap he had no fears as tohis ability to make a successful flight, and, what was more, asuccessful attack upon the daring pirate.
His plan of operation was somewhat upset by the intelligence receivedof the despicable ruse whereby Juan Cervillo had been able to keephis vessel immune from shell fire. If the same precaution wereadopted on all occasions it seemed pretty obvious that theaero-hydroplane could not drop explosives upon the cruiser's deckwithout doing harm to friend as well as foe.
At one time he thought of dropping bombs containing charges ofnoxious gases upon the _Independencia's_ decks, but realising thatthe speed of the ship creating a current of air would speedilydisperse the vapours, he decided such a scheme was impracticable. Atanother the chances of dropping a charge of dynamite down one of thehuge funnels of the cruiser, and thus putting the boilers out ofaction, suggested themselves. Then a capital idea suddenly struckhim. The more he thought of it, the more he felt confident ofsuccess. On unfolding his plan to Captain Dexter of the _Cerberus_his superior expressed his satisfaction, and promised to let Drakehave a free hand in the enterprise.
At 2 a.m. on the morning of the fourth day out the look-out reportedthat there was heavy firing away to the north-west. Instantly thecrew were called to general quarters, all lights were screened, and acourse shaped towards that quarter of the horizon that wasilluminated by flashes resembling distant lightning. All on board thescout were bewailing the fate that had snatched the laurels fromtheir grasp, for no other reason could be assigned to the firingbeyond the fact that the _Independencia_ was being engaged by someother man-of-war. In vain the _Cerberus_ sent out calls with herwireless on the off-chance of picking up information as to who thelucky vessel might be; only a chaotic series of electrical waves cameto the wireless room. On and on at full speed the little Britishvessel tore. With luck she might come in at the death, and be able tofire a shot or two in real earnest, when suddenly the glare of thedistant flashes died away.
"Too late, by George!" exclaimed Drake, slamming his binoculars intotheir case.
"They've settled her hash, and we're out of it."
For another half-hour the _Cerberus_ carried on. All need forscreened lights was now done away with, and from her masthead hersignalling lamp blinked incessantly, calling up the victorious vesselin Morse. Still no reply came through the darkness.
"Surely to goodness they haven't sunk each other?" asked one of thelieutenants.
"Rot!" replied another, vehemently. But at the same time the ideathat such was the case began to grow upon the group of anxious anddespondent officers.
Suddenly a rocket soared skywards, barely a mile on the scout's brow.
"Acknowledge," ordered the captain, shortly; and from the _Cerberus_an answering rocket was sent up.
Then the searchlights were flashed in the direction of the signal,and to everyone's surprise two huge cruisers, both well-nigh batteredout of recognition, were discovered lying less than half-a-mileapart. Masts, funnels, boats, most of the unarmouredsuperstructure--all had been swept away, while the heavily protectedsides of both craft showed ominous dents and cavities wherearmour-piercing shells had found a billet.
"Great Scott!" muttered the gunnery lieutenant. "Which one is the_Impregnable_ that was?"
"Neither," replied Drake, grimly. "There's been a horrible mistakewithout a doubt. Goodness knows what ships these are, or to whatnation they belong; but it is obvious that each has mistaken theother for the pirate."
"What ship is that?" shouted Captain Dexter through a megaphone, asthe _Cerberus_ eased down, and glided a cable's length to lee'ard ofone of the erstwhile combatants.
"His Majesty's ship _Trincomalee_," was the reply. "Stand by tilldaylight; we're badly hulled. Can you send a boat?"
Ten minutes later a pale-faced lieutenant, with his hair and eyebrowssinged, his clothing rent and reeking with powder, came over the sideof the _Cerberus_. His story confirmed Drake's surmise. The_Trincomalee_, steaming with lights screened, had fallen in with anunknown vessel which was also running without navigation lights.Before the British vessel could hail, a shot was fired into her atless than four hundred yards range. The _Trincomalee_ instantlyreplied with all the quick-firers she could bring to bear upon herantagonist. Then the 6 in. and 9 in. guns joined in the deafeningroar, and for forty minutes the two vessels were hotly engaged, tilla searchlight directed from the only projector that had escapeddestruction revealed the hideous truth. The _Trincomalee_ had engagedand had nearly annihilated a French cruiser, the _Tr?houart_, of19,000 tons. Orders were immediately given to cease fire; but it wasquite five minutes ere the Frenchmen ceased to pound away with herundamaged ordnance at her unresisting antagonist.
The _Cerberus_ stood by till daylight revealed the shattered ships.Both were leaking badly, but the inrush of water was being kept underby means of the ships' pumps. Their respective captains exchangedvisits and expressed mutual regrets at the unfortunate occurrence;then slowly, under their own steam, both vessels headed towards theNova Scotian coast, the _Cerberus_ escorting them in case immediateassistance was required. Sixteen hours later the two badly mauledvessels crept into Halifax Harbour, and the _Cerberus_ was free toresume her quest.
Did she but know it, the _Independencia_ crossed her wake, unseen andunsuspected, at the time she was steaming at full speed to ascertainthe cause of the firing. The pirate cruiser had run the gauntlet ofthe chain of cruisers and, with an open sea before her, was tearingat her utmost speed towards the desolate Arctic Ocean.
This incident naturally increased the attention already devoted tothe quest of the modern buccaneer, and gave occasion for muchdiscussion. On the one side experts and armchair critics boldlyasserted that this regrettable incident was owing simply and solelyto the blundering way in which the operations were conducted, andthat had more caution been exercised there would have been nodesperate encounter between vessels of friendly nations, and theaccompanying loss of life; while on the other hand there were peoplewho maintained that it was but the fortune of war, and mistakes ofthat sort were bound to occur. To harass naval captains withregulations that would tend to curb the natural ardour of their crewswould be opposed to the best traditions of the service. Even in theHouse a member blandly suggested that it should be submitted to aninternational conference that hostile ships should hail each otherbefore opening fire, and quoted instances from frigate actions duringthe Napoleonic wars. But he did not suggest a way whereby a dest
royeron a dark night that was about to loose a torpedo at an enemy's shipa mile away, or a submarine stealing beneath the waves with a likepurpose, could carry out the order.
It was also found that the use of wireless was not an unmitigatedblessing, for what with deliberately false reports sent by trampsteamers--paid by Juan Cervillo for the purpose--the panic-strickenmessages from some nervous skipper, and the practical jokes of not afew amateur operators, the search for the _Independencia_ washindered more than furthered, till the cruisers patrolling theliners' route had good cause to heartily malign the name of wirelesstelegraphy.
Day after day passed, and though columns in the daily papers weredevoted to the all-important topic, the pirate-cruiser seemed to havemysteriously disappeared off the face of the waters.
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