THE CHARGE OF ENSIGN LAWE.
Lieutenant Swift felt bound by the orders of his late commander, all the
more because of his sad fate. Accordingly he tacked ship, and avoided
the stroke of the Ram, which in turn tacked, though somewhat more
clumsily, and followed the Ken toward the Brownie fleet. Again Swift
tacked and put the head of his ship toward Ellen's Isle. Then the Ram
gave up the Ken and bore down upon the Emma, as though resolved to seal
the fortunes of the fight with the destruction of the Brownie flag-ship.
Rodney was in sore straits. His officers and crew were greatly
demoralized. His sailors were superstitious; and there was something so
contrary to all that Natties had ever known or heard of in the character
and exploits of this audacious stranger, that superstition was aroused.
They could fight Pixies, but this was a sea-ghost. There was no use
contending against it. There was nothing to do but bout ship and sail
away. But what humiliation! And after so noble a victory! To add to the
perils of the position, the Stygian ships had weighed anchor, and were
closing upon the Brownie fleet hard in the wake of their Ram. At last
duty overcame pride in Rodney's heart, and he gave the order to retire
up the channel.
Ensign Lawe, with his squad of cavalry, had watched from a knoll on the
lake shore the progress of events. His heart sunk within him as he saw
the loss of the Brownie ships and crews. "I can't stand this any
longer," he cried, as the boats of Pipe and True sank before the Ram's
stroke. "To the rescue, my lads! Charge!"
[Illustration: FIG. 91.--Signal Flags: B, Red; F, Blue, White Circle; L,
Blue and Gold (Yellow); T, Red, White, Blue; D, Red, White Circle. Can
you read the Order?]
Without waiting to see whether or no he was followed by his battalion,
he mounted his bee pony and rode at full speed toward the Ram. His
troopers followed, muttering loudly against their leader's folly, but
unwilling to disobey. The Pixies saw him plunging through the air, and
greeted him with loud yells of mockery.
"What is Lawe about?" asked Rodney.
"It looks as though he were minded to charge upon the sea monster,"
answered the mate.
"What folly! Why, look there! the madcap is charging almost alone upon
the very front of the Ram! He is gone daft! Are you sure that is Ensign
Lawe? I never knew him to do such an insane act. He is one of the
coolest heads we have. It's too bad--too bad! The fellow is throwing
away his life; and we've lost too many valuable officers already."
Rodney sighed, and thought of his lost boatswain, the very right arm of
his fleet.
The Ram was steadily pursuing the Nattie ships now in full retreat. The
wind blew up the channel. It would be a stern chase, which is always a
long chase. Half the Pixie navy followed with the Ram; the other half
had tacked across the lake toward the foot of the island, with the
intention of sailing up the opposite channel, and thus heading off the
Natties ere they reached the inlet. They had bold plans afoot, and
thought to destroy the whole Brownie fleet.
This manoeuvre had turned attention from the daring ride of Ensign
Lawe. Yet the Ensign was not such a madcap as his countrymen declared
him, nor such a fool as his foes supposed. He had seen at once that the
masts and rigging usual to sailing vessels were wanting from this new
craft; he could therefore approach a-horseback with comparative safety.
That there must be some assailable point, some port-hole, some door,
something penetrable he felt sure.
"I will find my way to it," he said in his heart; "or at least find out
where it is. I will uncover the secret power that works this
destruction, or find out the monster's weak points and give knowledge of
it to the Commodore."
He had now reached the Ram. He swept above the prow. No opening there!
He hovered over the deck. All hard and smooth there! He skimmed along
the sides. No port-holes, no seams, no sign of break or opening there.
He flew past the side, and hung in the air above the vessel's stern. A
dart whistled by his face. He felt the vibrations of the air on his
cheek.
"Hah! There is an opening then in your solid shell? That dart came from
some vent. Let us see!"
He pressed his gallant nag closer to the Ram. His keen eye caught the
varnished curtain that hung across the stern. He saw one side of it
tremble and lift a little as he circled about it. The weak point in the
sea monster was exposed! Hurrah! He would try the metal of a Brownie
cutlass against that varnished curtain! If he could cut that open, the
waves would rush into the hull, and the Ram would sink into the lake
with the noble barks that it had destroyed.
Lawe tightened his bridle reins as he thus meditated, and drew his
cutlass. He dropped a little astern of the Ram, but well to the port
side, so that he might sweep straight across the stern. He poised
himself firmly, bent over in the saddle, and cried, "Go, my good nag!"
Golden Rule, as his pony was named, sprang to the voice of his master as
though conscious of what depended upon him. He passed across the stern
of the Ram so closely that his wings almost touched it.
Whi--rr--rr!
The Ensign's sword ripped through the curtain, and Golden Rule shot by
like an arrow.
Quickly Lawe turned and swept back again on the same track. Again the
blade cut through the curtain, with a downward stroke this time that
laid open a vertical seam.
"Once more, my brave Golden!" said the Ensign, patting his pony, and he
swept the third time across the face of the curtained door. The top and
both edges were now severed from the sides of the shell. The curtain
dropped over so that one corner dragged in the water. The hollow hull of
the shell ship was exposed, and within it the angry faces of a group of
Pixies.
The work wanted yet the finishing stroke. One side of the curtain was
slit down to the water line. The waves were already washing in thereat;
but the other side was only partly severed. It needed one stroke
more--just one! That would lay the curtain level with the lake; then the
billows would roll in, and claim the Pixies and their infernal machine
for their own.
A fourth time Lawe swept across the stern of the Ram. A fourth time his
good sword did its work without fail. The true eye and steady hand of
the Ensign sent it home to the mark. The curtain trembled a moment in
the breeze, fell backward with flap and splash upon the surface of the
lake, and dragged behind, checking the Ram's motion as though it were a
heavy anchor, and then weighed the stern downward to the surface. The
waves broke in with a roar that echoed through the hollow hull. The
groans and yells of the Pixie crew answered back the voice of the
waters.
Lawe cast one exulting glance within as he rode by. But he was doomed to
a more terrible trial than he had yet endured. As he sped across the
opening on his fourth trip, a dark form leaped upon him from the hold.
He was in a Pixie's clutch! One claw grasped the Ensign's foot, the
other was buried deep in Golden Rule's breast. The pony, frantic with
terror and pain, plunged and shook his wings. But the Pixie kept his
hold. Lawe looked downward into his face. He saw the black visage, and
sneaking eyes of Lieutenant Hide!
"Ha, ha," laughed the Pixie. "You know me, do you? Well, you've done a
fine thing to-day, no doubt! Your name shall go down to posterity, of
course. But I think I shall stop _you_ from going down any further in
that line. We shall try another sort of going down. There's nothing like
pleasant company, even when one's making a voyage to the bottom of the
lake! Ha, ha!"
The malignant creature spoke truly. They were sinking slowly together,
horse, rider and Pixie into the lake. The weight of Hide's body might
have been overcome, but the motion of the pony's wings was much
hindered. Golden Rule struggled nobly, but fell steadily toward the
water. Ensign Lawe had by this time recovered from the shock of the
unexpected assault.
"Grammercy, for thy courteous invitation," he said, coolly. "I choose to
decline thy bidding and thy presence. In sooth, we shall part company
now."
[Illustration: ((hand printed) Hide, falls into the water.)
THE BOY'S ILLUSTRATION.
FIG. 92.--The Sinking of the Pixie Ram.]
Once, twice, and again the faithful cutlass glanced in the sunlight. The
first stroke cut loose the Pixie's claw from the pony's breast; the
second divided the arm by which his own foot was held; the third,
following quickly, smote upon the head of the wretched creature as he
tumbled, like Lucifer of old, into the bosom of the lake.
There was a ripple upon the water; a faint pool of blood tinged the face
of Lake Katrine, and the waves closed forever above the dead body of
Hide, the son of Shame. Golden Rule, released from his burden, shook his
wings gladly and mounted aloft. Lawe cast his eyes downward just as the
Pixie Ram settled, surged, and plunged stern foremost into the lake.
Thus perished at the hands of Ensign Lawe, the famous sea ghost, the
Pixie shell-clad Ram. The machine was a brilliant thought, the
conception of Hide himself. It was just what it seemed to be, the shell
of a water snail. Entering this empty shell, Hide and his engineers had
closed the opening with a web or curtain of varnished silk, which kept
the water out.[AP] Then paddles were fitted up in the stern, revolved by
hand cranks within, and thus the vessel was directed by those inside. To
ordinary assault it was invulnerable at every part except the curtain
which covered the opening, and thereat had the keen blade of Ensign Lawe
found entrance, and so the way to victory.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote AP: It is not uncommon for certain tubeweaving spiders to
avail themselves of the friendly openings of land shells and spin their
web therein. The Editor must confess that he has never seen any of his
spider friends whose habits resemble that here attributed to Pixie Hide.
But the Author is not without authority for the use made thereof; for
Jones, in his "Animal Life," a well-known and excellent book on Natural
History, relates an incident upon which the story of the Pixie Ram may
have been founded.--F. M.]