When, having reached the dining-room of the _Flying Fish_, Mildmay
changed out of his diving-suit into his ordinary clothes, it was found
that he was so severely bruised and strained that the professor, in his
capacity of emergency medical adviser to the party, insisted upon his
immediate retirement to his cabin and his bed. There the worthy man
subjected him to so vigorous a massage, and so generous an anointing
with a certain embrocation of his own concocting, that two days later
the genial sailor was again able to be up and about. And, meanwhile,
Sir Reginald and Colonel Sziszkinski continued the examination of the
wreck, but unfortunately without any satisfactory result; for although
they succeeded in finding the captain's cabin, and bringing therefrom,
and from some of the other cabins, a considerable number of documents,
it was found that, owing to their long submersion, they had become so
completely sodden that any attempt to handle them, while still wet,
reduced them to pulp; and when the alternative of carefully drying them
was tried, they became so exceedingly brittle that they simply crumbled
to pieces, while, even on the fragments that they contrived to preserve,
the writing was so nearly obliterated as to be quite undecipherable.
Nevertheless, they preserved as much as they could, in the hope that the
experts in such matters, at home, might be more successful than
themselves. But it may here be stated that the experts also failed; and
the name and nationality of the ship, as well as the identity of those
who perished in her at the murderous hands of the savage M'Bongwele,
remain a mystery to this day.
On the third day following Mildmay's adventure with the octopus, the
_Flying Fish_ being once more berthed on the beach near the spot where
the party had made their amazingly rich haul of rubies, all hands had
adjourned to the deck after dinner to enjoy the delicious coolness of a
breeze off the sea. Ida had gone to bed somewhat earlier than usual
that evening, complaining that she was not feeling very well, her
symptoms being a feverish pulse and a slightly increased temperature,
toward the alleviation of which the professor had administered a fairly
liberal dose of quinine.
Sir Reginald and Lady Olivia, naturally anxious in everything relating
to their only child's health, were discussing the matter with von
Schalckenberg, who was endeavouring, without his usual success, to
reassure the pair, who were of opinion that the African climate was to
blame for their daughter's indisposition.
"Well," at length said the professor, "if you really think so, nothing
in this world is easier than for us to change it. We can ascend into
the atmosphere to any height we please, thus obtaining any desired
temperature; we can, in a very _few_ hours, reach any other country that
you would care to visit; or, which is perhaps better than either, we can
go out to sea and leisurely cruise about in any required direction, and
in absolutely pure air."
"Hear, hear!" exclaimed Mildmay, who, although chatting with Mlle.
Feodorovna, had overheard the professor's words. "There is no
sanatorium like old ocean; no doctor like Father Neptune, believe me,
Elphinstone. A week's cruise somewhere away out there to the eastward
would set the little darling up far more effectively than all the
professor's drugs. Try it, man; it can do no harm; and I'll bet you a--
a--well, let us say a peck of rubies, that you'll not regret it."
"Well, while declining your modest little bet, Mildmay, I really feel
more than half inclined to act upon your suggestion," answered Sir
Reginald, with a laugh. "There is no particular reason why we should
not, I fancy, beyond the fact that the professor wants to shoot one or
two of those new zebras, and we can easily return here for that purpose.
The fact is that I am beginning to tire a little of shore life, and I
think a trip out to sea would do us all good. What do the rest say?"
"So far as I am concerned I will gladly go anywhere, or do anything, for
Ida's sake," answered Lethbridge.
"Thanks, old chap; I know you will," said Sir Reginald. "What say you,
Colonel?"--to Sziszkinski--"would you like to go with us, or would you
prefer to remain here until our return, and go in for shooting under the
aegis of our friend Lobelalatutu?"
"Thank you very much, Sir Reginald, for offering me the choice,"
answered the Russian. "I prefer to accompany you. I am quite of your
own opinion, that a change will do us all good; and, like my friend,
Monsieur Lethbridge, I will gladly go anywhere and do anything for the
sake of the charming little Mademoiselle Ida."
"And you, Mademoiselle?" asked Sir Reginald, turning to Mildmay's
companion.
"I?" she answered. "Oh, Monsieur Edouard--Sir Reginald, I mean--I am so
happy on board this beautiful ship that I feel I shall never want to
leave her. Please accept papa's answer as mine also."
"I am really very much obliged to you all for so cheerfully and readily
falling in with my wishes," said Sir Reginald. "Very well, then; it is
settled that we go to sea for a week or two, as the mood takes us. Now,
the next question is, Where shall we go? We certainly ought to have
some definite objective, don't you think? Does any one desire to go
anywhere in particular?"
There was silence for a minute or two. Apparently no one wished to go
anywhere in particular; or, if they did, they were not sufficiently
eager to feel called upon to mention the fact.
At length Lady Olivia looked up.
"Has nobody a suggestion to make?" she asked, with a smile. "Then I
will make one that I think will be sympathetically received by at least
one of us--yourself, my dear Feodorovna. I have long had the wish to
possess a really fine set of pearls, not the kind that one can go into
any jeweller's shop and buy, you know, but something quite out of the
common; and it appears to me that this voyage of ours affords just the
opportunity for somebody to fish those pearls up for me from the bottom
of the sea. And I dare say that your papa--or somebody else--would be
quite willing to do the same for you, dear. What do you say?"
"What do I say?" repeated the lovely young Russian. "Why, that I simply
adore pearls."
"Then, I think, Reginald, that you have your answer," said Lady Olivia,
turning to her husband.
"All right, dear," he answered. "Pearl-fishing will suit me down to the
ground; and if the ocean holds pearls enough to satisfy you, you shall
have them. Now, Professor--Mildmay--where must we go in order to get
those pearls? For, of course, we must go to some definite spot to look
for them; we can't go grubbing along the sea-bottom at random until we
happen to stumble upon a bed of pearl-oysters, you know."
"The most famous pearl-fishing grounds are situated in the Persian Gulf
and off the coast of Ceylon," answered Mildmay. "And I believe," he
added, "that in both cases they are Government property, and strictly
preserved. But I have no doubt there are plenty of oyster-beds which
are beyond the reach of the ordinary pearl-diver; and it is one of those
that we must seek. We shall not be poaching on anybody's preserves if
we do this; and shall also stand a better chance of securing some good
specimens."
"Before you come to any definite decision, I should like to refer to a
rather interesting manuscript book that I have in my cabin--the book
that I recovered from the sunken wreck of the _Daedalus_, under
circumstances which, perhaps, yet remain in your memory," observed von
Schalckenberg, addressing Sir Reginald. "I seem to remember," he
continued, "having come across a passage in it relating to a bed of
pearl-oysters of immense value, the situation of which was then unknown
to any one except the writer. If you will excuse me a moment, I will go
and fetch it."
"By all means," said Sir Reginald. "From what you say, Professor, it
would appear that the bed to which you refer is the identical one we
want to find."
The professor accordingly retreated; and presently returned with a
small, leather-bound, and much discoloured book in his hand. His
forefinger was between the pages, and he opened the book there.
"Yes," he said, "I thought I was not mistaken. Here is the passage,
under the heading of `Pearls. In Longitude 155 degrees 32 minutes 17
seconds East, and exactly under the Equator, there exists a small atoll,
unnamed, and, I believe, unknown, unless it be to the natives of Matador
and Greenwich Islands, which are in its neighbourhood. The islet, which
is uninhabited, is little more than a mere rock, about a quarter of a
mile long, and some fifty feet wide, over which the sea makes a clean
breach in heavy weather; but the lagoon is about five miles long and
three miles wide, with good anchorage for ships in a pretty uniform
depth of ten fathoms. Two miles due west of this island there is a
shoal, some seven miles long, by from two to four miles wide, with
twenty-eight feet of water over it. And this shoal is almost entirely
covered with pearl-oysters, yielding some of the finest and most perfect
gems that I have ever seen.' Now, what think you of that, my friend.
Is that good enough for you?" demanded the professor.
"Quite good enough," answered Sir Reginald. "Now, skipper," he
continued, turning to Mildmay, "how far off is this famous oyster-bed,
and how long will it take us to get there?"
"What did you say is the position of the spot, Professor?" asked
Mildmay.
The professor restated the longitude.
"Um!" observed Mildmay, figuring upon a piece of paper that he drew from
his pocket; "it is a goodish step from here to there! roughly, about
seven thousand miles, as the crow flies. As to how long it will take us
to get there; we can do the distance in sixty hours, by going aloft into
the calm belt, shutting ourselves in, and going full speed ahead.
Otherwise--"
"Thanks, very much; and never mind the `otherwise,'" answered Sir
Reginald. "This is going to be a _sea_ trip; and we are going to do at
least a part of it in leisurely fashion, say, about ten to fifteen knots
an hour. When we are tired of that, and at night, we can go aloft and
put on the speed if we wish. And, now that I come to think of it, is
there any reason why we should not start at once?"
No one, it appeared, had any reason to advance against the baronet's
proposal. Accordingly, he and Mildmay forthwith adjourned to consult
the chart and lay off the course; and ten minutes later the remainder of
the party, who were still sitting on deck, awaiting the return of the
absentees, became conscious of the fact that the night-breeze had
suddenly strengthened; and when they looked about them in search of an
explanation, they saw the sea about three hundred feet beneath them, and
the land slipping away into the gloom of the night astern.
The travellers had been at sea a week, pottering along on the surface
during the day, and rising some three hundred feet into the air at
night--just high enough, in fact, to take them over and clear of the
masts of any ships that they might happen to encounter during the hours
of darkness--maintaining a tolerably uniform speed of ten knots through
the air--not counting the acceleration or retardation of speed due to
the varying direction and strength of the several winds that they met
with. Thus they had been able to sleep at night with wide open ports,
to their great comfort and enjoyment, and the manifest improvement of
their health, as was particularly exemplified in the case of little Ida,
who was by this time as well as even her parents could desire.
The hour was eleven o'clock in the forenoon--six bells, Mildmay called
it--and the ship had been running on the surface for about an hour. The
entire party were sitting out on deck under the awnings, amusing
themselves in various ways, the two ladies, each with a book on her lap,
to which it is to be feared she was giving but scant attention, and Ida,
her father, Lethbridge, and the Russian colonel playing bull. It was a
most lovely day, the sky without a cloud, the water smooth, and a soft
but refreshing breeze was breathing out from the southward. The ship
was steering herself, the self-steering apparatus having been thrown
into action, as no other craft were in sight.
The horizon was not to remain bare for very long, however; for just as
Mildmay rose to his feet with some idea of going below, the dull,
muffled boom of a distant gun was heard, and, everybody at once looking
round the horizon in search of the source of so very novel an
occurrence, the topmast-heads and smoke of a steamer were seen just
showing above the ocean's rim, about three points on the starboard bow.
She seemed to be in a hurry, too, if the dense volumes of smoke that
poured from her as yet unseen funnels were to be taken as any criterion.
"Now, what craft will that be?" exclaimed "the skipper," as he studied
the two mastheads attentively. "A liner, I should say, by the length of
her between her masts. Probably an `Orient,' `Orient-Pacific,' or `X.
and Z.' boat. But surely she did not fire that gun? And, if she did
not--oho! what is this? There is another craft astern of her! I can
just make out her mastheads rising above the horizon. Now, did number
two fire that gun; and, if so, why? I must get my glasses; this
promises to be interesting. And we shall see more of it presently; they
are crossing our hawse in a diagonal direction, and edging this way."
The game of bull was forthwith abandoned, as being of much less interest
than the advent of two strange ships on the scene--for, singularly
enough, these were the first craft that they had sighted since leaving
the African coast--and everybody at once made a dash below for his or
her own especial pair of binoculars.
The two strange craft were coming along at a great rate, and rising
above the horizon very quickly; thus, by the time that Mildmay returned
to the deck with his glasses in his hand, the leading ship was almost
straight ahead, and had risen sufficiently to show her chart-house above
the horizon, and to enable "the skipper" to see that she carried a
wheel-house on top of the fore end of it, and a short awning abaft the
wheel-house.
"Yes," he muttered to himself, "she is a liner, undoubtedly; and an X.
and Z. boat at that, unless I am greatly mistaken. Two masts--the
mainmast stepped a long way aft; and two funnels amidships, pretty close
together--yes; she is an X. and Z.; I'll bet my hat on that. And she is
steaming for all she is worth. I can see the `white feather' blowing
away from the top of her waste-pipes. Now, is she racing with that
other chap; or--is she running away from him?"
He turned his binoculars upon the sternmost ship, which was also coming
along at a great rate, and gradually lifting above the horizon. About
half the length of her masts--two of them--was now showing; and as
Mildmay focussed his lenses upon them an ejaculation of astonishment
escaped his lips.
"A man-o'-war, by the Lord Harry!" he exclaimed. "Yes; there are her
upper signal-yards, and her fighting-tops below them, clear enough. By
the piper, this is growing interesting indeed. Now, who and what is
she? and why is she chasing a British liner?--for she _is_ chasing her,
beyond a doubt!"
"Well, Mildmay, what do you make of them?" inquired Sir Reginald, as he
at this moment stepped out on deck.
"I make of it," answered Mildmay, "that the leading ship is an X. and Z.
liner steaming for all she is worth; and that the second ship is a
man-o'-war--a second-class cruiser, I should say--chasing her!"
"The dickens you do!" returned Sir Reginald. "Then what does it mean?
Is it not something rather unusual?"
"It is so extremely unusual, that I am going to ask your permission to
haul up a point or two, presently, that we may investigate the matter,"
answered Mildmay. "There is only one possible explanation of it; and
that is that war has quite suddenly broken out between England and some
other Power. And yet that can scarcely be, either; for when we left
home everything was quite quiet; the political horizon was as clear as
it ever is, and--dashed if I can understand it. But anyhow,
Elphinstone, I suppose we are not going to jog quietly along and see a
British ship bullied by a foreigner without having a word or two to say
about it, are we?"
"Not much!" answered Sir Reginald, emphatically, and with a flash of the
eye that delighted Mildmay. "I know nothing of these matters," he
continued, "or how to proceed; but you do; so take charge, old chap, and
give us your orders. We will obey them to the letter, I promise you."
"A thousand thanks," answered Mildmay. "Of course I need not tell you
that to interfere in a case of this kind, with no knowledge of the
facts, is a somewhat ticklish business. But, all the same, that is not
going to stop me. I see, yonder, a British ship flying from a stranger;
and with your kind permission I am going to lend her a hand."
He raised his glasses to his eyes again. The hull of the leading ship
had by this time almost topped the horizon, and it was now possible to
see something of her shape. She was a fairly big craft, measuring,
according to Mildmay's estimate, about eight thousand tons; and her
whole shape and appearance confirmed him in his original conviction that
she was one of the X. and Z. Company's boats. She flew no flag at her
masthead, it is true; but Mildmay could now see that she had hoisted a
blue ensign on her ensign staff.
"Under the command of a R.N.R. man," he commented, as he saw this. "All
right, old man; there is a friend within a few miles of you, whose
proximity you probably don't suspect; and we will see that you don't
come to any harm. Now let us have a look at t'other chap."
The second craft was still hull-down; but her masts, funnels, tops of
her ventilators, and the head of her ensign staff were all visible; and
Mildmay noticed that she was showing no colours. This fact rendered the
whole affair more puzzling than ever; for there could be no possible
doubt that she was chasing the liner, and for a man-o'-war openly and
undisguisedly to chase another ship, and not show her colours, was
unprecedented, and most certainly not in accordance with any recognised
rule of warfare.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party had come on deck, and were all intently
watching the two ships through their binoculars as they animatedly
discussed the puzzling situation.
"When do you intend to haul up, `skipper'?" asked Sir Reginald.
"Not yet," answered Mildmay. "Perhaps in about ten minutes' time--
unless anything occurs of a character that would make it desirable to do
so earlier. I want to see a little more of the game first."
"Then there you have it!" exclaimed Lethbridge, as a flash, followed by
a puff of brilliant white smoke, issued from the bows of the pursuing
ship.
A jet of foam leaped up from the surface of the sea, about half a mile
astern of the liner, and dissolved like steam in the dazzling sunshine.
Then the boom of the gun came floating down to the ears of the watchers.
"A four-inch, by the sound of it," remarked Mildmay. "And shotted, too.
Clearly, the fellow is in earnest, whoever he may be. Now, what the
dickens is the explanation of this enigma? And what is the nationality
of the craft?"
"Can't you tell by the build of her?" demanded Lethbridge. "I have
always understood that you sailors had but to look at a ship to tell her
nationality at once; at least that is the impression that one gathers
from the general run of sea novels."
"Yes," answered Mildmay. "But that refers to the old days of wooden
ships. There was a distinctiveness in the model of the wooden ship that
was an almost infallible index to her nationality. But nowadays ships--
and particularly war-ships--are built so much alike in shape that,
except in a few rather extreme cases, it is practically impossible to
identify them. That fellow, yonder, for instance, might be British,
Dutch, German, Austrian, Italian, or Japanese, for all that one can tell
by merely looking at him. Ah, there goes another gun!"
The shot this time struck somewhat nearer, throwing up three successive
jets of water, the last of which appeared to be unpleasantly close to
the stern of the chase.
"The fellow is overhauling her," exclaimed Mildmay. "Now, Elphinstone,
with your permission, I will shift our helm and alter our course
forty-five degrees to the nor'ard."
And, so saying, he entered the pilot-house; and a moment later the
watchers saw the two distant craft swing back along the horizon until
the leading ship bore two points on the _Flying Fish's_ starboard bow.
"If you have no objection, Sir Reginald, I should like a torpedo-shell
put into our bow tube," observed Mildmay, as he emerged from the
pilot-house.
"Certainly," answered Sir Reginald; "I will go below and put one in at
once."
"Better let me do it," interposed the professor. "I know more about the
working of them than you do; and, moreover, I am not so profoundly
interested in this affair as you all seem to be. Besides, I shall not
be gone longer than five minutes at the utmost."
And, Sir Reginald offering no objection, the worthy man turned away and
vanished through the pilot-house door.
The leading ship was by this time within about five miles of the _Flying
Fish_, and steering a course that would take her square across the bows
of the latter; the two--or, indeed, the three--ships were therefore
nearing each other fast, and the men fell to debating the question
whether or not the _Flying Fish_ had yet been seen by either of the
strangers. The craft was in her usual surface-running trim; that is to
say, considerably more than half of her polished hull was submerged,
leaving little to be seen except her small superstructure and her
pilot-house, both of which were painted a delicate blue-grey colour that
would be scarcely visible against the horizon astern. The chances,
therefore, were strongly in favour of her invisibility. On the other
hand, there was just a possibility that some keen eye aboard the liner,
anxiously scanning the horizon in quest of help, might have sighted her;
in which case a glimpse of the white ensign might be comforting.
Mildmay therefore went to the flag-locker and drew forth the white
ensign which, in virtue of his being a member of the Royal Yacht
Squadron, Sir Reginald was entitled to fly, and ran it up to the truck
of the ensign staff.
Whether it had been seen or not was difficult to say, for nothing in
particular followed upon its exhibition, unless the discharge of another
gun from the pursuing ship might be taken as a reply. And this time the
shot went home to its mark; for as the observers turned their glasses
upon the chase, her mainmast was seen to totter and fall by the board,
cut short off by the deck. Luckily the spar did not go over the side,
but lay, fore-and-aft, inboard; otherwise the rigging might have fouled
the propeller and brought the ship to a standstill. As it was, she
continued her flight as though nothing had happened.
"This matter has gone quite far enough," exclaimed Mildmay, sharply, as
he saw the liner's mast fall. "Come inside, all of you, if you please.
We may be under fire in another minute or two. Perhaps the ladies had
better go below until this affair is settled--if you will be so kind,"
he added, with a bow to Lady Olivia as she passed in through the
pilot-house door, outside which he was standing.
When all the rest had entered, he followed, closing the door behind him,
and at once ascended to the working chamber of the pilot-house, whither
Sir Reginald and Lethbridge had preceded him. His first act was to
increase the speed of the _Flying Fish_ to thirty knots; and as he moved
the lever forward, admitting a larger flow of vapour to the
engine-cylinders, Lethbridge, who was standing at one of the windows,
with his binoculars to his eyes, turned and said--
"What do you think of that, Mildmay?"
"What do I think of what?" retorted Mildmay, stepping to his side.
"That!" answered Lethbridge, pointing to the pursuing ship and handing
over his glasses for the other to use. "The unknown has just hoisted to
her masthead a black flag with a white skull and cross-bones in its
centre. Is not that--?"
"Nonsense!" exclaimed Mildmay. "You surely do not mean it. Let me have
a look."
He raised the glasses to his eyes for a moment and stared through them
as though he felt that he could scarcely credit the evidence of his own
senses. Then, as he thrust the glasses back into his friend's hand, he
exclaimed--
"The `Jolly Roger,' as I am a living sinner! Well, that `takes the
cake,' and no mistake! Yes; the fellow is undoubtedly a genuine,
up-to-date, twentieth-century pirate. If it had not been for that last
shot I might have been inclined to believe the whole affair an elaborate
joke in the very worst taste; but a man does not shoot another fellow's
mast away as a joke. No; that chap means business--and so do _I_! Ah,
another shot! and--yes, here it comes--he is firing at us! Not at all
badly aimed, either."
As he spoke the loud rushing sound of the shot broke upon their ears;
and a moment later it struck the sea about three yards astern of the
_Flying Fish_, sending a column of white, steam-like foam and spray
shooting some twenty feet into the air. Almost instantly another shot
followed, which, judging from the sound, must have passed close over the
pilot-house roof; to be followed, a few seconds later, by a third, which
struck the water within a fathom of the ship's sharp nose, which was
just level with the water's surface, and, owing to the speed of the
ship, was sending up a fine, perpendicular jet of glassy water some ten
feet high.
"Confound the fellow's impudence!" exclaimed Sir Reginald. "Does the
rascal think that he is going to make a prize of _us_? A fine rich
prize we should make, too, did he but know it!"
"It is not that," explained Mildmay. "It is the white ensign that he
doesn't like the look of. He probably takes us for some new-fangled
sort of British gun-boat, bent upon interfering with his little game;
and he wants to disable us. He is one of those pestilently persistent
fellows who won't take a hint and sheer off; he is as full of obstinacy
as was the mammoth that chased me over yonder,"--with a jerk of his
thumb toward the north--"on our first trip, and must be treated as we
treated that mammoth. For if we don't kill him, he will kill us--if he
can. You see? Here comes another shot!"
It was a very close shave that time, the missile passing so close
athwart the front of the pilot-house that its wind actually came, in a
sudden, violent gust, in through the pilot-house window.
"We must put a stop to this at once, or the fellow will do us a
mischief," exclaimed Mildmay. "Kindly take the helm for a moment, Sir
Reginald, if you please."
Sir Reginald at once stepped to the tiller and laid his hand on it.
"Where am I to steer for?" he asked.
"Head for the liner, in the first instance," answered Mildmay, as he
threw the self-steering apparatus out of gear; "and then bring the
ship's head very gradually round until you are pointing for the pirate's
stern."
And, so saying, he stepped to the fore midship window of the
pilot-house, laid his finger lightly upon the firing-button that
controlled the discharge of the torpedo-shells from the tube in the
extremity of the ship's sharp snout, and so placed his eye that he
brought the jack-staff forward in a direct line with a very small notch
in the window-frame. He stood thus, rigid and tense, while Sir Reginald
did his part of the work; and presently he saw the jack-staff swinging
slowly round toward the pirate cruiser. He waited thus until his two
sights pointed something less than an eighth of a length ahead of the
cruiser, and then he pressed the button hard. As he did so, something
flashed like a sudden gleam of sunlight from the _Flying Fish's_ stem, a
sheet of water some four or five yards in length leaped into the air
from under the bows, and some six seconds later a blinding flash started
out from the side of the cruiser, midway between her stem and her
foremast. As the flash disappeared, Lethbridge, who was watching the
ship through his binoculars, saw a great black patch on the cruiser's
side, exactly where the flash had occurred; and while he was still
wondering what it could mean he became aware that the craft was rapidly
settling by the head. And before he could sufficiently recover from his
astonishment to utter a word, the cruiser's bows sank to a level with
the water, her stern rose high in the air, with the propeller still
spinning round, and in another second she dived forward and disappeared,
with the black flag still fluttering from her main truck.