WE ARE ATTACKED BY THE ENEMY.
Captain Wallace and the entire ship's company were overjoyed at my
escape from the clutches of the enemy. The loss of six of our brave
sailors was a terrible calamity in any case, but still more so in view
of the impending attack by the enemy's navy.
We had a good stock of gunpowder on board, and the ship's mechanics
under Professor Rackiron began the construction of a series of machine
guns, each weapon having one hundred rifled barrels arranged in
circles around the central tube. Twenty-five of these guns were
constructed. To each tube was fitted a magazine, with automatic
attachment, so that one man could handle each weapon, that would throw
five hundred balls with each charge of the magazine.
The fletyemings of the royal navy possessed the advantage of numbers
and ships, so that it was necessary for us to have the advantage in
point of arms. Our monster terrorite gun and the terrorite battery
gave us also an immense advantage over the gunpowder batteries of the
enemy. Thus equipped, we were more than a match for any ten ships of
the enemy. But when we saw one hundred vessels, the smallest of which
was as large as our own, and many twice our size, bearing down upon us
in battle array, we felt our chances of escape, not to mention
victory, were hardly worth calculating.
It was a splendid scene for a naval battle. The harbor of Kioram was a
bay fully fifty miles in diameter, and here lay the royal fleet, whose
hulls of gleaming gold shone on the blue water, while beyond rose the
brilliant whiteness of the sculptured city.
Captain Wallace had the ship ready for action. Every soul knew it was
a life-and-death struggle. The sailors knew that success meant wealth
beyond the dreams of avarice. For myself, the prize was something more
worthy of our desperate courage--it was the priceless Lyone, possessed
of a divine personality. Her life, like my own, hung in the balance.
Should I win the battle, we would win each other. Should I fail to
conquer, there was but one kind of defeat, and that was death.
Every man stood at his post in silence. Flathootly had command of a
company of sailors. Professor Rackiron superintended our chief arm of
defence, the terrorite guns--weapons, like our revolvers, fortunately
unknown in Atvatabar. We had a large quantity of explosive terrorite
on board, in the shape of shells for our guns. The shells contained
each the equivalent of 100 pounds of terrorite--that is to say, they
would each weigh 100 pounds on the outer earth, while the shells of
the giant gun weighed 250 pounds each. The iron hurricane-deck, that
did us such service in the polar climate, was put up overhead, as a
protection from the onslaught of a boarding crew.
The ships of the enemy advanced proudly in a double line of battle. On
the peak of each floated the ensign of Atvatabar, a red sun surrounded
by a wide circle of green, on a blue field.
On the _Polar King_ floated the flag of the goddess, a figure of the
throne of the gods in gold, on a purple ground.
When but a mile off, we could see the guns on every ship pointed and
ready for the attack. The enemy suddenly broke into the form of a
semi-circle. It was the design of Admiral Jolar to surround us and
capture or destroy the _Polar King_ by sheer force of numbers. We
allowed the formation to proceed, until the entire navy of Atvatabar
surrounded us in an enormous circle.
Having executed this manoeuvre, a boat put away from the admiral's
ship and approached us. In a short time it reached our vessel, and the
captain of the admiral's ship, with several officers, came on board.
The captain demanded my unconditional surrender, "in the name of his
majesty King Aldemegry Bhoolmakar of Atvatabar." I had been declared
"an enemy of the country, a violator of its most sacred laws, a
heretic in active destruction of its holy faith, and a fugitive from
justice." The captain, as the emissary of the admiral, demanded the
immediate surrender of myself and entire company.
I asked my men if they were prepared to surrender themselves to the
enemy. Their fearful shout of "Never!" disturbed the silence of the
sea, and must have been heard by the distant enemy.
"You hear the reply of my men," I said to the captain. "Tell your
admiral that the commander of the _Polar King_ declines to
surrender."
"Then," said the captain, "we will open fire upon you at once. We mean
to have you dead or alive."
"Give the admiral my compliments," said I, "and tell him to open the
fight as soon as he likes."
The captain and his staff rapidly disappeared, and we knew that the
fight was certain. The officers had no sooner reached the admiral's
ship than a report was heard; and a ball of metal crashed upon the
hurricane-deck overhead, tearing a large hole in it, and then plunged
into the sea. This was the signal of war. Before we could reply, the
_Polar King_ was the target of a general bombardment from all points
of the compass. The balls that struck us were of different kinds of
metal--lead, zinc, iron, and even gold. Although the range of their
guns was accurate, yet, owing to the loss of gravity, the shots had
but little effect on the plating of the vessel. Some of the sailors
were severely wounded by being struck in the limbs with the large
missiles hurled upon us, and I saw that if the enemy couldn't sink the
_Polar King_ they could at least kill us, which was even worse.
I gave orders to Professor Rackiron to train the giant gun on the
admiral's vessel. The discharge was accompanied by a slight flash,
without smoke, and we saw the deadly messenger make its aerial flight
straight toward the admiral's vessel. It entered the water right in
front of the ship, and in another instant an extraordinary scene was
witnessed. The ship, in company with a vast volume of water, sprang
into the air to a great height, with an immense hole blown in the
bottom of the hull. Falling again, she sank with all of the crew who
did not manage to fly clear of her rigging. After the vessel
disappeared, the last of the waterspout fell upon the boiling sea.
It was a great surprise to the enemy to see their best ship destroyed
at a single blow. The effect of our shot completely paralyzed the foe
for the moment, for every vessel ceased firing at us. At first it was
thought that the admiral had gone down with his vessel, and until a
new admiral was in command the battle would be suspended.
During the confusion we ran the _Polar King_ through the breach made
in the circle of the enemy, keeping his ships on one side of us. I
determined to try the tactics of rapid movement, with the steady
discharge of the terrorite gun, hoping to destroy a ship at every
blow.
[Illustration: THE SHIP IN COMPANY WITH A VAST VOLUME OF WATER SPRANG
INTO THE AIR TO A GREAT HEIGHT.]
It soon appeared that Admiral Jolar was still alive, he having escaped
from his ship in mid air, with his staff and a number of fletyemings,
by means of their electric wings. He had alighted on the ship of the
rear admiral, where he hoisted the pennant of the admiral.
The enemy was now thoroughly alive to the necessity of destroying or
capturing us. I saw it was a mistake in allowing ourselves to be
surrounded in a bay only fifty miles wide. To fight so many ships
required ample sea-room, to avoid the possibility of being captured.
The admiral sent ten ships to guard the mouth of the bay. It was a
satisfaction to know that the torpedo was also unknown in Atvatabar,
else our career would have been cut short. The _Polar King_, running
twenty-five miles an hour, was followed by the enemy's fleet, which,
although slower in movement, had the advantage in numbers and could
possibly drive us upon the shore. After sailing as far east as we
cared to go, the _Polar King_ lay to, awaiting a renewal of the
battle.