i rose late the next morning somewhat the worse for my exposure, but nevertheless far too interested in my voyage to heed a mere cold and a few rheumatic twinges. no sooner, indeed, was i awake than i leapt out of my berth, and busying myself energetically with my toilet, was speedily pacing the bulwarked passage of which mention has already been made. the zone through which we were ploughing was cloudy, and a strong bitter head wind was blowing. looking over the bulwarks i could see nothing but driving mists, and above the vast a?roplane a thinner layer of mist, through several rifts in which the sun thrust his slanting columns of light. no one was visible in the passage, but i heard a medley of excited voices which suggested that some controversy was in progress on the upper deck.
126listening attentively, i became convinced that some unusual affair was in hand, and anxious to miss nothing of interest, i entered an arch that led into one of the courts, and passed up the enclosed spiral staircase to the scene of this animated talking. on gaining the deck i saw nearly all the crew standing in groups round the citadel. burnett was there gesticulating wildly to brandt, so stepping briskly up to them i asked the cause of this muster.
“ah, you here!” said burnett. “in time for the first blow, eh! well, there will be something to see shortly, eh, brandt!” and the anarchist-philosopher addressed smiled approvingly. but his merriment recalled the bland purring of a cat over a captured mouse.
“what’s up, then?” i continued, somewhat startled, for during the pause the ominous words “ironclad,” “bombs,” uttered by some of the eager disputants around, had caught my ear.
“the captain has sighted an ironclad, and we are about to try conclusions,” said brandt. the words had scarcely passed his lips when the inner door of the citadel swung ajar, and through the enclosure into our midst stalked the redoubtable captain himself.
“comrades,” he said, “below us steams a large 127british ironclad just sighted through the mist. i propose to test her mettle—it will serve as a practical test of our bomb-fire—are you agreeable?”
a burst of applause greeted this iniquitous proposal, and a sturdy rascal stepped out of the throng and saluted him. hartmann bent forward. “well, norman,” he said.
“may i strike the first blow, captain?” a chorus of similar applications followed. hartmann thus appealed to suggest that the applicants should draw lots for the privilege, and the ruffians proceeded forthwith to settle their claims in this fashion.
their levity so disgusted me that i longed to rush forward and attack the whole scheme. i had actually moved forward some steps when i felt a tight grip on my arm. i turned round sharply, to face brandt, who had providentially sensed my project.
“back, man! are you mad? these men will stand no nonsense, and if you insult the captain, even his personal influence could not save you.”
bah! it was hopeless. i slunk back with a feeling of utter helplessness. there was clearly nothing for it but to see the whole hideous affair out in silence. still, indignation all but mastered me. what ruffians were these anarchists! “cowards!” i hissed involuntarily, but by this time they were 128too absorbed in their lot-drawing to hear me. “shut up, fool,” reiterated brandt. “i warn you that you will be brained or chucked overboard if they hear you.” i bit my lips in despair. “schwartz has it! schwartz has it!” i heard hartmann say at last—they were drawing the lots—“he strikes the first blow, and no better man could do it. next, norman; next——”
i walked away and leant on the bow railing, glad to be left alone. the hubbub continued for some time, when the men dispersed, almost all going below. torn by useless emotions i gazed down at the mists that swam beneath us, striving to pierce the veil which separated us from the doomed ship. to tear myself away from the spot was impossible—the fascination of the projected crime was irresistible. have you ever watched a scene in a slaughter-house, loathing it while nevertheless unable to avert your gaze? possibly you have. well, that situation is akin to the morbid curiosity which nailed me unwillingly to my post.
the mists were thinning around us, but i observed with some surprise that a dense cloud below us—cut off sharply from its now unsubstantial fellows—maintained its position relatively to the attila unchanged. evidently hartmann was purposely lurking behind 129this barrier, and proposed to deliver his first blow on an absolutely unsuspecting victim. looking more attentively i noted a thin longitudinal rift in this cloud through which could be seen, though dimly, the sea, and in this something dark and indistinct, no bigger than an ordinary pea. it was the ironclad!
the attila began to sink rapidly—the rift lengthened and broadened as i gazed, the pea swelled into a two-masted, two-funnelled battle-ship with a trail of black smoke faintly decipherable in her wake. down, down, down we dropped—we were now on the fringe of the upper surface of the cloud, and the great ship, now only some 300 feet below us, was revealing itself clearly to the eye. at this point our downward motion ceased, and the attila began to describe short curves at the level of the screening cloud, now skimming over its dank masses, now flashing over the rift that stretched directly over her unsuspecting prey. four evolutions of this sort had taken place, and now for the fifth time we were gliding over the rift, when i heard a cheer raised by some men on the lower gallery, and craning my head over the railing, saw something black flash through space and splash in a big green wave that was flinging itself against the vessel’s stern. it was 130the moment of the “first blow,” and—might the omen hold good!—the first blow had failed.
again a curve over the rift, and once more a failure, at least so it seemed at first, for this time, again, a splash by the stern rejoiced me. but my satisfaction was momentary. a few seconds after i saw a cloud of smoke shoot upwards from the ironclad, followed by a deafening crash. the third bomb had told. and in the horrid confusion that followed, the attila threw off her secrecy, slipped through the cloud, and floated down to the vessel like some huge bird of prey—the very embodiment of masterful and shameless power.
as the smoke cleared away, revealing the strange visitor from the clouds, the feelings of the officers and crew must have been as unique as they were terrible. amazement, a sense of complete unpreparedness and helplessness, going along with the disastrous results of the explosion, must have unnerved even the boldest. the great battle-ship was wholly at the mercy of the foe that rode so contemptuously above it.
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the battle-ship at the ‘attila’s’ mercy.
132how the situation was viewed from its decks has been told at length in the admirably graphic letter of captain boyes, r.n., to the times, and to that source i must refer you for details. looking down 133from my eyrie, i was of course only able to gauge very roughly the havoc wrought by the bomb. hartmann had previously told me that nothing constructed by man could withstand his enormous missiles, and the scene below well bore out his boast. apparently the bomb had burst amidships nearly, i should say, between the funnels. of these latter one had been shorn of half its length, the other had been blown away completely, its base forming part of a chasm whence rolled volumes of black smoke, through which the shrieks of wounded men rose faintly upward. across this chasm had fallen the fore-mast, while fragments of spars, ventilators, steel plates, fittings, boats, and human victims were scattered confusedly over the low-lying fore-deck. and even as i looked two more appalling explosions shook the ironclad from stem to stern; through the uprush of smoke i saw a great telescope of a gun tossed out of its shattered turret into the water and a huge cantle of the steel deck torn away, as if it were paper, exposing a new chasm, at once invaded by flames. but the other bomb was even more deadly, bursting in the great hollow excavated between the funnels and wrecking the very vitals of the ironclad; the steam from the shattered boilers rushing tumultuously up the gap with the effect of 134speedily shrouding the whole vessel. some horrible deaths, says captain boyes, sprang from this explosion, as all those on duty in the port stoke-hole and engine-room were either blown to pieces by the bomb or subsequently boiled alive. i did not, of course, know of this at the time, but the volumes of escaping steam told too clearly how hideous must be the massacre, and imagination thus stimulated could not very well go far wrong. i felt giddy with horror when i thought of the scenes which that vapour-pall hung over.
how long was this drama to continue? doubtless until the ironclad was gutted or sunk, a consummation which could not be very far distant. two or three bombs more would surely complete the work, and leave perhaps no witness to tell the hideous tale to history. i could look no longer—to do so seemed almost abetting these cruel fanatics—but flinging myself on the deck awaited tremblingly the next burst of thunder. a minute ebbed away, another, and then another, and still no shock. the suspense was becoming acute.
suddenly the attila pitched violently, the bow shifting thrice vehemently upwards, and along with this the hum of the great screw-blades began to swell higher and higher. i sprang to my feet—these 135tactics meant, of course, a rapid ascent, but what was the object in view? glancing over the railing i perceived that we were slanting at great speed into the cloud-zone, leaving the crippled battle-ship far behind and below. ah, yes! the reason was clear enough. not a mile to the south-west a large ironclad attended by some smaller vessels, probably cruisers, was making its way to the scene. owing to my absorption in the attack they had hitherto escaped my notice.
“a poor job this,” said some one who had stolen up unperceived behind me. i turned round—it was burnett.
“very,” i answered. “i must congratulate you, i suppose, on the heroism you have just displayed. a pity not to enhance it by engaging this vessel’s consorts.”
burnett took the sneer coolly.
“why waste material? besides, you must see that the attila would be uselessly exposing herself. it would be folly to risk the salute of heavy guns with the great campaign yet before us.”
he was wise after his kind. the attila dared not face the new-comers, who by elevating their guns might well succeed in winging her. a shell from a five-ton gun would have proved a most damaging 136visitor. only so long as she circled directly above a vessel could she count on immunity from serious injury. a contest at her old level with numerous scattered foes was impracticable; so huge a target would inevitably be holed in the long run, while an attempt to drop bombs from a higher level would defeat its object by rendering accuracy of aim impracticable. perforce, then, she had dropped the prey from her talons and was seeking safety aloft. mounting into cloud-land, she was departing as mysteriously as she had come, a tigress who, having once tasted blood, yearned to slake her thirst in the heart of civilization itself. to-morrow we were to reach the metropolis, and then—— sick with my forebodings and savage at my sense of impotence, i turned surlily away from burnett, whose very presence was now becoming obnoxious, and descending into a court passed thence through the gallery to my berth, resolved from that hour to see as little of my fell associates as the conditions of my stay rendered possible.
