CHAPTER XIV
THE PROGRESS OF THE ACTION
The tremendous speed of the Bellevite had been telling with prodigiouseffect upon the distance between the two steamers, which was now reducedto not more than a mile and a half. Captain Rombold could not helprealizing by this time that the American-built vessel outsailed theEnglish-built. If the Trafalgar was good for twenty knots an hour, asrepresented, she had hardly attained that speed, as Captain Breakerjudged by comparison with that of his own ship.
The Armstrong gun was still silent and it was pretty well settled thatit had been disabled. In this connection Christy recalled something hehad read in Simpson about the "inability of the Armstrong gun to resistimpact," and he sent Midshipman Walters to bring the volume from hisstate-room. When it came he found the place, and read that three shotshad been fired into one of them from a nine-pounder, either of whichwould have been fatal to the piece; and the section described the effectof each upon it.
He showed the book open at the place to Captain Breaker; but he had readit, and carried the whole matter in his mind. The gun quoted was weak,though the one on the deck of the Tallahatchie was vastly larger; but acorrespondingly heavy force had been brought to bear upon it.
"I am satisfied that the enemy's long gun has been disabled; and whileshe continues the attempt to run away from us, she is unable to use herbroadside guns to advantage, for she cannot bring them to bear upon uswithout coming to," said the commander. "But we are gaining at least aknot and a half an hour on her, and she must soon change her tactics."
"That is evident enough, sir," added Christy.
"The captain of that ship is a brave fellow, and I am confident he willfight as long as there is anything left of him," continued the captainas he occasionally directed his glass at the chase.
"He certainly will, sir, for I have seen his ship knocked out from underhim, when he had abundant excuse for hauling down his flag before he didso; and we had hardly time on board of the Chateaugay to save his peoplebefore his vessel went to the bottom," continued Christy. "More thanthat, he is a gentleman and a scholar."
"You have told me about him, Christy; and I believe you suggested toCaptain Chantor his best plan of action."
"I simply indicated what I should do in his place, and he adopted themethod I mentioned," added Christy modestly.
"We may find it advisable to resort to the same plan, though I must addthat it is by no means original with you. It was adopted in the war of1812 with England."
"I did not claim the method as original, and knew very well that it wasnot so," replied the lieutenant.
"The conditions on both sides must be favorable to the method or itcannot be adopted. One of the ships must have heavier metal than theother, so that she can knock her enemy to pieces at her leisure, and atthe same time greater speed, so that she can keep out of the reach ofguns of shorter range."
"I am sorry I could not obtain more definite information in regard tothe broadside guns of the Tallahatchie," added Christy. "Bokes was astupid fellow, drunk whenever he could obtain liquor, and could remembervery little of what he heard on board of the steamer. But you have thelong range Parrot, and I have no doubt you can knock her to pieces inyour own time, since it has been demonstrated that we can outsail her."
But at this moment the conversation was disturbed by the movement of thechase, which appeared to be again preparing to come about. The commanderordered the helm to be put to starboard to avoid being raked, anddirected that the pivot gun should be discharged at the enemy. The enemyfired a broadside of three guns in quick succession, the solid shotsfrom all them striking the Bellevite between wind and water. Thecarpenter's gang was hurried below to plug the shot holes.
Blumenhoff secured his aim and fired; but this time he was less happythan on the former occasion, and though the shot went between the masts,no great damage appeared to be done. The enemy started her screwimmediately, and swung around so as to present her starboard broadsidebefore the Parrot could be made ready for another shot. The Tallahatchiedelivered another three shots, two of which went wide of the mark. Thethird struck the carriage of the pivot gun, but fortunately it was notdisabled, for it had been built to resist a heavier ball than the onewhich had struck it.
The captain of the Bellevite gave the order to Christy to swing to theship, and give the enemy a broadside. The order was promptly executed asthe enemy came about and resumed her course to the southward, which wascertainly a very bad movement on her part. The four guns on the portside, two sixties and two thirties, sent their solid shots over thestern of the Tallahatchie.
A moment later, as the fresh breeze carried away the smoke to thenorth-east, the crew set up a lively cheer, for the mizzen mast of thechase toppled over into the water, and the pilot house seemed to havebeen knocked into splinters.
"Well done!" exclaimed Captain Breaker, clapping his hands as hefaced the guns' crews on the port side, and Christy joined him in thedemonstration.
The men of the division gave another lusty cheer in response to theapproval of the two chief officers. The captain had already ordered theship to be put about so as to deliver the starboard broadside, and theother division of guns were impatient to have their chance at the enemy.
Christy had clapped his hands with his spy-glass under his arm; andwhen he had rendered his tribute of applause, he directed the instrumentto the enemy. A squad of men were at work over the ruins of the pilothouse, which was still forward, as the vessel had been built for apleasure yacht, and another gang were getting the extra wheel at thestern ready for use.
The Bellevite came about in obedience to the order Christy had given tothe quartermaster conning the wheel, and the guns on the starboard sidewere all ready to deliver their messengers of death and destruction.
"Aim at that extra wheel," said the captain; and Christy delivered theorder to the officers of the division.
The broadside was of the same metal as on the port side, and the resultwas looked for with even more interest than before. The appearance wasthat all three shots had struck at or near the wheel at the stern, andChristy promptly directed his glass to that part of the steamer, thecaptain doing the same thing.
"There is nothing of the wheel left in sight," said the lieutenant."The taffrail is knocked away, and at least one of those shots must haveknocked the captain's cabin into utter confusion."
"Go ahead at full speed, Mr. Passford," said Captain Breaker, after hehad fully measured with his eye the damage done to the enemy.
"Her steering gear seems to be entirely disabled, sir," continuedChristy, after he had given the order to the chief engineer. "She doesnot appear to be able to come about, as no doubt she would if she could,so as to bring her broadside guns to bear upon us."
The order had been given before to load the broadside and pivot gunswith shells. The enemy had not started her screw for the reason that theship was unmanageable with her steering gear disabled. The action hadcertainly gone against her; but she gave no indication that she wasready to surrender for the Confederate flag, which had been hoisted atthe mainmast head when the mizzen was shot away, still floated in thebreeze.
A gang of men were still at work where the extra wheel had been, and thecommander evidently expected he should be able to repair the damage insome manner so that he could steer his ship. Captain Breaker gave thecommand to stop the screw, and a mighty hissing and roaring of steamfollowed when Christy transmitted it to the engine room. The order tocome about on the headway that remained succeeded, and the three shellsimmediately exploded on the deck or in the hull of the enemy; but theextent of the damage could not be estimated.
The three from the starboard guns were next sent on their mission; butso far as could be seen no damage was done. The big Parrot was nextdischarged; but the expert captain of the gun was unfortunate this time,for the projectile dropped into the water beyond the steamer, though itseemed to pass very near the stern. For the next half hour the midshippiece was kept busy, and its shots made des
tructive work about the deckof the Tallahatchie.
"I think we had better finish this business at once, and before theenemy has time to rig a new steering apparatus, Mr. Passford," saidCaptain Breaker, as they came together on the quarter-deck.
"I think we can knock her all to pieces with the Parrot gun, sir,"replied Christy.
"But it might take all day to do that; and the Tallahatchie exhibits anastonishing power of resistance. Besides, she will soon repair her extrawheel, and have it ready for use. I am inclined to believe that we arewasting time, which will make it all the worse for us in the end,"reasoned the commander. "I am prepared to board her, for I think shemust have lost a great many men."
"No doubt of it, sir," added the lieutenant.
"Lay her aboard on the port side, and have everything ready," continuedCaptain Breaker.
Christy gave the necessary orders for this decided action, and theofficers and the crew seemed to be delighted with the prospect of ahand-to-hand fight with the enemy. The lieutenant was not whollyconfident that the commander was right in his reasoning, but like aloyal officer and a true sailor who knows no duty but obedience, heheartily supported his superior. He walked the deck in the discharge ofhis duty; but he was thinking of something since the order to board hadbeen given.
"Is there anything like a flank movement in boarding, Captain Breaker?"he asked, as he halted at the side of the commander.
"Of course the officers do their best to flank the enemy after theyreach the deck," replied the captain, looking with some astonishment atthe lieutenant.
"I have reference to another sort of flanking," added the inquirer.
"Of course in a squadron some of the ships may be ordered to operate inthat manner; but a single ship acting against another can hardly do anyflanking."
"But I mean in boarding."
"You had better explain yourself a little more definitely, for I do notunderstand you," replied the commander with a puzzled expression on hisface.
"We have one hundred and twenty men, with six absent on other duty,"continued the lieutenant. "Judging by what I learned from Bokes,I believe the Tallahatchie has less than a hundred, for he said sheexpected to recruit twenty or thirty men at Nassau. She has lost moremen so far than we have, sir."
"Grant all that you say, and where does the flanking come in?"
"Your order is to board on the port side of the enemy, which will bringthe starboard side of the Bellevite alongside of her. Suppose you puttwenty men or more into the launch, on the port side of the ship, whereit cannot be seen by the enemy, just before the order to board is given.At the right time let this boat hurry to the starboard side of theTallahatchie, where the twenty men or more will board, and take theenemy in the rear."
The commander took off his cap and rubbed his bald head as if tostimulate his ideas; but he made no answer then to the suggestion.
Paul Vapoor was driving the engine to its utmost, and the ship wasrapidly approaching the enemy.