"LA FLAMME."
Holding up his hand Captain Restronguet gave the signal for the party to
retrace their footsteps to the main channel. It was about time, for the
disturbed sediment from the crumbling wreck had obliterated every object
beyond a distance of a yard.
The order of the procession was consequently reversed, Kenwyn leading
and the captain bringing up the rear. Half way through the barrier of
weed Hythe suddenly became aware that the man immediately in front of
him had stopped and was stepping backwards. The next instant the sub
was knocked sideways by a tremendous blow. Owing to the resistance of
the water his fall was considerably broken, but he found himself lying
in a veritable net of tendrils, while above him was some huge moving
creature that was lashing out with almost irresistible force. Prudence
counselled him to lie still, a sense of duty to his companions urged him
to disentangle himself from the clutch of the weeds.
He chose the latter course, and contriving to free himself from the
serpent-like tendrils he regained his feet, this time on the right side
of the barrier of weeds.
It was a fearsome sight that met his gaze. Lying at full length upon the
sand, and with his hands held in front of his helmet to protect the
glass plate, was one of the divers whom the sub recognized as Kenwyn.
Over him, and ready to spring upon another victim, was an enormous
conger, more than eight feet in length and as thick round as a man's
thigh.
Standing ready to lunge with his crowbar was Captain Restronguet, while
with axes held ready in a position of attack were Carnon and
O'Shaunessey.
Recovering his steel bar Hythe, though giddy with the effect of his
fall, ranged alongside his friends.
The eel darted forwards. Captain Restronguet delivered a thrust and
missed.
The next moment he, too, was capsized while the conger, darting over his
body, retreated to the shelter of a hole in the rocks.
The captain was on his feet in an instant, while Kenwyn was assisted to
rise. As no bubbles came from his dress it was evident that the attack
had not seriously injured his diving-gear. Had the conger used its
teeth instead of his tail the flexible metal fabric would have been
bitten through as easily as if made of paper.
Kenwyn, however, walked unsteadily. The attack had not left him
uninjured, but by a gesture he showed that he was quite able to continue
the submarine excursion.
Once again the march was resumed, but ere they had gone another five
paces O'Shaunessey happened to turn and look in the direction of the
eel's retreat. He had just time to warn his comrades, for the conger,
viewing the departing invaders as a sign of defeat, was preparing to
renew the attack.
Like an arrow the snake-like monster darted forward! This time Captain
Restronguet succeeded in thrusting his crowbar down the conger's throat,
and by an almost superhuman effort pinned it to the sandy bed. Right
and left the brute writhed its powerful tail. To withdraw the crowbar
would be imprudent, to keep it there was obviously beyond the captain's
strength in spite of his muscular powers.
Marking his opportunity Hythe planted his crowbar fairly through the
eel's back. To any creature but a member of the fish tribe such a blow
would have proved instantly fatal, but the conger only fought the more,
till O'Shaunessey and Carnon cut its body into four pieces with their
axes. Even then the severed portions continued to writhe. But the
victory had been won, and once again Captain Restronguet led the way
towards the lost submarine.
Half an hour's steady walking--the pace being about two miles an
hour--brought the explorers to the ledge on which the ill-fated "La
Flamme" lay. Bending his knees Captain Restronguet gave a rapid upward
spring that took him nearly ten feet from the level of the channel, and
sufficient for his outstretched hand to obtain a grip upon the edge of
the rocky shelf. The sub, the quartermaster, O'Shaunessey, and lastly
Kenwyn followed and gained the upper part of the rock, the only accident
being that O'Shaunessey incautiously grasped the bracket of the sunken
vessel's propeller shafting, with the result that his bare hands were
badly lacerated by the knife-like edges of the barnacles.
To all outward appearance "La Flamme" was intact, but by removing the
coating of molluscs and seaweed Captain Restronguet was able to point
out a fracture about two feet from the bows.
Carclew and the Irishman next attacked the hatch abaft the
conning-tower. Constructed to resist enormous pressure from without it
was nevertheless comparatively easy to wrench up the steel covering that
was held only in position by a gun-metal securing-bolt. The hatch was
swung back and the cavity, within which the tragedy of two years'
standing had hitherto been carefully guarded, lay open to inspection.
But somehow even those strong-minded men--nerved to face hourly dangers
beneath the surface of the fickle sea--hesitated. They stood around the
open hatchway, looking at the repellent aperture, and at each other,
till overcoming his repugnance the captain switched on his electric
lamp, turned his face to the rusted steel ladder and descended.
Although now thoroughly loathing the task he had taken in hand Hythe
felt compelled to follow. Not so the others: they remained on the
slippery, weed-garbed deck.
The sub had steeled himself to see a gruesome sight, but his
anticipations were excelled. In the pale light of the electric lamps he
saw a scene so ghastly that his cast-iron nerve wellnigh broke down.
Every portion of the metal work of the interior bore traces of the
corrosive action of the sulphuric acid, which escaping from the
batteries had spread from end to end of the doomed craft. Luckily for
the two adventurers the acid had long since exhausted its energies,
otherwise their metallic dresses would have been eaten through by the
powerful corrosive.
Almost the first compartment Hythe examined was the air-lock--that
vaunted contrivance by which it was stoutly asserted that the crew of a
disabled and waterlogged submarine could escape. Here were the skeletons
of two men both overpowered in the act of attempting to draw the
life-saving helmets over their heads. By the contortions of their bones
it was fairly evident that they had struggled hard. Of the fifteen
helmets only three had been removed from their places; twelve of the
crew had been unable even to reach the place where safety had been
promised, but where the promise had utterly failed.
Lying across the crank case of one of the motors was another body,
blackened by sea water and petrol. Apparently this was one of the
mechanicians who had by the impact been thrown across the powerful
machinery, for his vertebra had been completely fractured. Grasped in
the grisly hand was an oil-can. The poor fellow had literally died at
his post. A clock on the motor-room bulkhead had stopped at a quarter
to five.
Aft, the scene was even more horrible. Huddled together, some locked in
each other's arms, others still in the act of vainly trying to raise
themselves from their steel tomb, were nine corpses. Apparently as "La
Flamme" sank she plunged bows foremost. These men had contrived to make
their way aft, where the imprisoned air, compressed to several
atmospheres, had been sufficient to prolong life for several
minutes--literally periods of physical and mental torture.
Captain Restronguet flashed his lamp upon that awful group, then swiftly
turning made his way down the steeply sloping deck, and gained the base
of the ladder leading to the conning-tower. Here he waited for the sub
to rejoin him, and again the pair hung back.
Hythe was visibly trembling. Within his diving dress the perspiration
poured from him. This was the sort of danger that he had courted day
after day with comparative equanimity.
Captain Restronguet flashed his lamp upwards. The rays revealed a pair
of men's sea-boots jammed against an open steel grating. These boots
were not empty--in them were the bones of a human leg. The rest of the
poor creature lay huddled against the binnacle. By the tarnished
uniform it was evident that the victim was either the lieutenant or the
sous-lieutenant of the ill-fated craft.
As Hythe gained the upper platform a crab glided away from the heap of
clothing--then another, and yet another. Overcoming his repugnance the
sub grasped the end of a gold chain and pulled a watch from the
unfortunate officer's pocket. It had stopped at seven o'clock. Allowing
that both the motor-room clock and this timepiece were accurate until
stopped by the water, one hour and three quarters had elapsed ere the
air confined in the conning-tower had failed to support life. One hour
and three quarters, imprisoned in a steel tomb without the faintest hope
of rescue--this is but one of the risks men run in the race for sea
supremacy!
In the upper story of the conning-tower they found yet another
corpse--also an officer. He was untouched by water, for even after the
lapse of time since the disaster there was still a considerable amount
of air trapped in the steel citadel. He had found time to write, even in
that awful impenetrable darkness, for across the open chart, written in
lines that frequently overlapped each other, was the commencement of a
fairly coherent report of the disaster.
After that the poor victim had been seized with a form of frenzy, for he
had endeavoured to open the manhole in the conning-tower--failing that
in his despair had tried to end his misery by shooting himself with his
revolver, for the weapon, with all chambers empty, lay on the grating
beside him. Even a swift and merciful death had been denied him, for in
the darkness he had been unable to find the cartridges.
Hythe turned and descended the ladder as fast as he could. Captain
Restronguet took the chart on which the course and the fragment of the
report had been pencilled out and also the officer's rough log-book, and
followed his companion. But the captain's investigations were not yet
complete.
He made his way for'ard to where the two bow torpedo tubes were placed.
This part of the submarine was deserted, save for a shoal of small fish
of the sardine tribe. Their mode of entry was now apparent, for besides
the rent in the plating, gaps the width of a man's finger were visible
in the seams. The huge metal cylinder, which for dead-weight far
exceeded a vessel of the same dimensions, had been hurled by the
continued power of the twin propellers, and the irresistible force of
the mountainous waves, at a tremendous pace upon the solid rocks--and
the shock had not been sufficient to stun the unfortunate victims who
formed the crew.
The two explorers having performed their duty, hastened to the open
hatch. There with a common impulse they both stood stiffly erect and
saluted. It was a tribute from men who had faced perils under the sea
and who yet survived to those who, similarly situated, had sealed their
devotion to duty with their lives.
"Well, Mr. Hythe, what did you think of that ghastly spectacle?" asked
Captain Restronguet after their return to the "Aphrodite."
The sub was deadly pale. Hitherto he had looked only on the bright side
of a submarine officer's life, now he had seen----
"It is simply horrible, sir."
"It is. And there are persons--experts they call themselves--who boldly
maintain that death under these circumstances comes swiftly and
painlessly. Would to heaven those men had been with us, and had seen
what we have seen. Submarine work is a dangerous game."
"Yet you yourself----" began Hythe.
"Exactly. I know what you were about to observe. But my submarine is
far in advance of the comparatively crude contrivances in which men seek
to destroy their enemies. Possibly, in the interests of humanity, I
ought to give my secret to the world. Has not that sight quenched all
desire on your part to descend in an ordinary type of submarine again?"
Hythe rose from his chair.
"Sir," he replied stiffly, yet without any trace of grandiloquence, "it
is my place to obey orders, and at times to withhold my opinion. But
then I can safely say: so long as duty to King and Country calls,
Britons will never be found wanting in the hour of peril, be it on,
above, or under the sea."