THE CAPTURE OF HANG CHANG.
"Gone!"
Such was the single word which escaped from Captain Oscar Pelham's lips
as he gazed over the stern of the British warship into the darkness of
the Pacific Ocean.
In vain he scanned the waves, to the rear, to the larboard and
starboard. It was all to no purpose; the submarine craft had vanished
utterly.
What had become of her? Had those on board become scared and deserted
him?
The thought was agony. Andy and old George Dross deserting him? Never!
And yet, why had they gone? Was it possible that men from other
warships had come up and captured his beloved ship and made prisoners
of all on board.
He looked back of him, and saw Hang Chang, the Chinese captain who had
expected to inspect the Holland, coming slowly toward him.
"Is something wrong?" questioned the Celestial.
"The boat--it must have sunk," said Oscar. He knew not what to say.
At this the second yellow commander plucked his companion by the sleeve.
"Perhaps he has no boat," he whispered in Chinese. "It may be a ruse.
He may have been deceiving Captain Gresson."
At this Hang Chang shrugged his bony shoulders.
"It may be so. Yet the English captain must know him, or all would not
have gone so smoothly in the cabin."
In the meantime, Oscar was straining his eyes as never before, in his
search for the Holland.
What was that? A tiny ray of light, shooting up from the dark green
depths of the ocean. It was the Holland XI., moving silently and slowly
to her old position under the stern. Soon she came up and the trap-door
opened noiselessly.
"My vessel is back, sir," announced Oscar, with a bow. "If it will
please your highness to visit my filthy quarters I will do what I can
to make his visit full of pleasure."
His form of address was in the regular Chinese style--for a Chinaman
always depreciates his own residence--and Hang Chang smiled broadly.
"Thank you, I will go," he said, his suspicions removed.
Oscar led the way and the Celestial followed. The second Chinaman held
back.
"Have a care!" he called out in Chinese.
By this time Oscar and Hang Chang were on the deck of the new Holland.
Andy was looking up the companionway filled with wonder.
"Sixteen, nine," said Oscar, to his lieutenant.
During their spare time Oscar had formulated a secret language and had
taught it to all on board of the Holland XI.
Each number meant something important.
Sixteen meant, "There is an enemy here." Nine meant, "Go down as
quickly as possible."
Andy understood and passed the word along.
Oscar was on the companionway and Hang Chang was following him, when
all of a sudden an alarm arose on board of the Corcoran.
The body of the negro had been discovered and all was confusion.
"A murder!" shrieked the second yellow captain. "I knew something was
wrong. Hang Chang, come back!"
Soon faces appeared at the stern of the Corcoran, and a pistol was
leveled at those below.
"Come back here!"
"I--I will go back," stammered Hang Chang, in alarm.
"Not much!" retorted Oscar, and seizing the Celestial by the foot he
gave a jerk, which landed Hang Chang flat on his back at the bottom of
the companionway.
"Down, quick!" cried the young captain, and in a trice the trap in the
deck was closed and the Holland XI. began to sink.
They were not an instant too soon, for just as the waters of the
Pacific closed over the craft a gun was trained on her from one of the
Chinese warships.
Bang! and the ball grazed the upper plates of the submarine boat.
But before another shot could be fired the new Holland was safe, having
slid under the Corcoran and away out of sight and hearing.
While this was going on Oscar had thrown himself on Hang Chang.
The Chinese captain was a powerful man and realizing that he had been
caught in a trap he resolved to sell his life as dearly as possible.
He was on the floor, but soon he struggled to his knees and tried to
throw Oscar.
Over and over went the pair, bumping against the companionway ladder
and the hard steel walls of the ship. Then the Chinaman grabbed Oscar
by the throat.
"Die, dog!" he hissed in his native tongue. "If I have to go, you shall
go with me!"
All was becoming black before Oscar's eyes. He tried to get his
breath--to cry out. All in vain.
The young captain felt his senses leaving him, when somebody rushed
up. It was Andy, who had left the spot to give directions to the
engineer.
Without hesitation Andy leaped at Hang Chang.
One heavy blow behind the ear staggered the Chinaman and another under
the jaw made him relax his hold and stagger to the lower step of the
ladder.
Then Oscar recovered sufficiently to add another blow, on the nose,
which drew blood and caused Hang Chang to become partly unconscious.
"Bring the irons," said Oscar, to one of the ship's hands who was
passing.
The irons were speedily brought, and by the time Hang Chang was himself
again he was bound, hands and feet, and chained to one of the walls of
the Holland XI.
He raved, swore and prayed to his gods for deliverance. He called Oscar
all the vile names his tongue could frame, and finally fell in a fit
from which he did not recover for hours.
"I tricked him nicely," said the young captain, with a grim smile.
"But what made you bring him on board?" asked Andy.
"He holds an important secret. He knows all about the abduction of
President Adams' daughter."
"Oh! Then you have made quite a haul."
"Yes."
The appearance and disappearance of the new Holland had caused much
consternation on board of all the warships congregated outside of San
Francisco harbor.
Several on board of the Corcoran had known the celebrated spy, Barton
Peeks, and from these men the English captain gathered that he was an
entirely different looking individual from Oscar.
"We have been duped!" said Captain Gresson. "That rascal must have been
a Yankee."
"Then his submarine boat must have been the Holland XI.," added his
first officer.
The foreign ships were very uneasy, yet just at present those on them
had nothing to fear.
The course of the new Holland was straight for San Francisco.
"We must inform the naval authorities of what has been done at
Honolulu, and of the expedition to Alaskan waters," said Oscar.
The new Holland arrived at San Francisco without anything unusual
happening, and here Oscar spent a full hour with his superiors.
The naval commander was well satisfied with the work at Hawaii, and
astonished that the bombardment of the Golden Gate was to be little
more than a ruse.
"We must send a strong fleet to Alaskan waters at once," he said. "And
the new Holland must go with our warships."
To hear was to obey, and soon Oscar had received his orders in full,
and was once more on board of his submarine craft.
He said nothing to the admiral about Hang Chang, wishing to discover
for himself what had become of Martha Adams.
He was not thinking of the one hundred thousand dollars reward offered
for her recovery.
He could think only of her beautiful form, her deep brown eyes and that
silvery voice which had so thrilled him in former days.
He knew that she was the President's daughter, and stood high in
society. Yet he was a captain in the navy and the inventor of a boat
which had performed wonders in this fearful war, and there was no
telling how high he might stand at the end of the contest.
From the admiral he learned that the navy department contemplated the
construction of three other vessels similar to the Holland XI.
If these were built, Oscar would be put in command of the submarine
squadron, with the rank of commodore.