CHAPTER XVI
THE REPORT OF THE BATTLE OF KHRYSOKO
Captain Ringgold looked from one to another of the "Big Four," and asmile passed over his dignified face. It was evident to him from theexpression of all of them that something of importance had occurred inKhrysoko Bay, and that Captain Scott, who was, by his position, thespokesman of the party, proposed to tell his story in his own way, towhich he did not object.
He believed the young men were honest, truthful, and straightforward,and he had no suspicions of any kind. As the bearer of heavy anddisagreeable intelligence is inclined to approach his topic by degrees,the young captain did not like to tell the worst of his report in thebeginning.
The commander was not disposed to have the news "broken" to him, andconsidered himself able to bear the whole of it in a mass without beingoverwhelmed. But he had no idea of the seriousness of the event whichhad occurred, and he thought it probable that the boys were making agreat deal more of it than the occasion required. They had all been tothe table at dinner, and were as lively and as full of fun as usual. Asnone of them had been killed or injured, nothing very terrible couldhave happened.
"When did you reach this bay, Captain Scott?" he asked, after he hadmeasured the visages of his audience.
"About eight o'clock this morning, sir," replied Scott.
"You had a smart gale about all last night," the commander proceeded.
"Yes, sir; but we made very good weather of it, and it lasted abouttwelve hours."
"You had no accident?"
"None of any kind, sir; everything went on as usual."
"I suppose you expected the ship sooner than she came?"
"I looked for her this morning."
"In carrying out the plan which you suggested, Captain Scott, I foundthat the Fatime was not disposed to follow you as long as theGuardian-Mother was in sight," continued the commander, while the "BigFour" looked at each other, wondering that Captain Ringgold had turnedaside from the subject which was a burning one to them. "In order tohelp Captain Mazagan in his movements, I picked up a pilot off RasBourlos, and stood in behind a neck of land. We took the ground there,and stuck hard in the soft mud, though the chart gave water enough tofloat the ship."
"That was unfortunate," added Scott.
"A government tug hauled us off on the next tide, and I followed you atthe best speed of the ship. I went in at Limasol, though I did notbelieve you would make that port in a southerly gale, and the lookoutreported the Maud in this bay. That is the reason of my delay in joiningyou as arranged," said the commander, finishing his narrative. "But Iexpected to find the Fatime here also; for she was pressing on after youthe last we saw of her."
"We lost sight of her early last night," added Scott. "Her lightsdisappeared, and we could form no idea as to what had become of her. Ithink now that we outsailed her; for we carried a reefed foresail beforethe gale, and it must have helped a good deal."
"She came into this bay this morning," added Louis, who thought theconference was moving on very slowly.
"I see that you wish me to drag out of you the particulars of your stayhere, Captain Scott," said the commander with a smile. "As I have notthe least idea what you have been about here, I find some difficulty inframing my questions. You know that a lawyer, when he examines a witnessin court, is in possession of all the facts, as I am not on the presentoccasion. I have learned that the Fatime came to this bay, and that sheis at the bottom now. Perhaps you will be willing to inform me, Captain,by this time, how the Pacha's steamer happens to be at the bottom."
"We had a fight here, and I ran the Maud into her, stove a big hole inher side, and she went to the bottom!" almost shouted Scott, who hadbeen not a little perplexed at the manner of proceeding of thecommander. "I believe that is telling the whole story in a heap, sir."
Captain Ringgold sprang out of his chair, evidently startled by theintelligence; and he had never been known to make so much of ademonstration before since he had been in command of the ship. He stoodlooking into the face of Captain Scott as though he were incredulous inregard to the announcement just made to him; and that a littlesteam-yacht only forty feet in length had run into and sunk a vessel offour hundred tons was calculated to stagger a man of his experience innautical affairs.
"Do you mean literally, Captain Scott, that you ran into and sank theFatime?" demanded the commander.
"Literally and exactly, sir, that was what was done," replied the youngcaptain very decidedly.
"It looks incredible," added the commander, as he resumed his seat.
"It is the exact truth, Captain Ringgold," said Louis.
"I vouch for the truth of the statement, Captain, if my word is good foranything," Felix followed.
"I give my testimony in the same direction," Morris put in.
"Of course I do not doubt the truth of your statement," replied thecommander. "But it looks like an amazing fact that the little Maud wasable to do so much mischief to a steamer of the size of the Fatime.However, she is about as big as some of the little tug-boats in New YorkHarbor that drag ships of five hundred tons after them. In spite of allthat has been said in the last six months about the extraordinarystrength of the Maud, I should have supposed the blow, if you went atthe steamer at full speed, would have crushed in her bow."
"It did not start a bolt or bend a plate," replied Scott. "But,according to the evidence of Don, who knew something about the Pacha'syacht, she was old and nearly worn out when His Highness bought her."
"That may explain it."
"Before we proceed any farther, I ought to report that Captain Mazaganis now in the cabin of the Maud, wounded by a rifle ball in theshoulder, and in need of the services of the doctor," said CaptainScott.
"Wounded with a rifle ball," repeated the commander. "Then there is agood deal more of this affair which has not yet come out. But if thevillain is suffering, it is proper that he should be attended to atonce."
"Pitts has had charge of him."
Pinch, the mess steward, was sent for, and ordered to make the hospitalready for a patient. Mr. Boulong was called in, and directed tosuperintend the removal of the wounded Moor to this apartment, underthe direction of the surgeon. Dr. Hawkes was called from the boudoir,where the company had assembled by this time, and conducted to thepatient.
"With this affair all concealment comes to an end for two reasons," saidthe commander, as soon as he had given the orders for the disposal ofthe wounded man. "First, there is no longer any necessity for us to keepour own counsel, for Mazagan is now deprived of the means of followingus on our voyage; and second, it would be impossible to cover up ourmovements under the present circumstances. The nervous mothers have nolonger any cause for alarm."
"It did not occur to me that we had made an end of this scare business,"said Captain Scott. "I had not thought of the matter in that connection,and all I did was to defend my steamer from the attack of the pirate,who proposed to come on board and take Louis Belgrave out of her."
"Then you did your duty!" exclaimed Captain Ringgold, rising from hisarm-chair, and extending his hand to the young man. "I congratulate youon your success, and I am only sorry that the unfortunate grounding ofthe Guardian-Mother compelled you to fight the battle alone. I had nointention of allowing the Maud to be out of my sight more than a fewhours."
Louis, Felix, and Morris clapped their hands with all their might at theindorsement the commander had given Captain Scott.
"I cannot express to you, Louis, how happy I am to have you still withus," continued the captain of the ship, as he took the hand of the youngmillionaire; "for it appears from the report of Captain Scott that youhave been in imminent danger of being captured and carried off by thatmiscreant, and that you have been saved only by the bravery anddetermination of the commander of the Maud. He has done no more than Iwould have done in his place, and if the pirate had taken you I wouldhave sunk his steamer at sight to rescue you."
"I am glad you approve the action of Captain Scott,
though I had nodoubt you would do so when you learned the facts," replied Louis, as hepressed the hand of the commander.
"But I have got only a skeleton of the facts yet, and now I should liketo hear the whole story in detail," said Captain Ringgold.
Scott took a paper from his pocket, the one he had drawn off of thesituation of the two steamers in Khrysoko Bay, with the position of theledge, the trend of the shore, and some of the soundings as he had takenthem from the chart. He had marked the course of the Maud in all themovements she had made, and also of the Fatime, giving the position ofeach vessel at the moment of the collision.
He began his recital with the pointing out of the places of each steameras soon as the pirate came into the bay. The visit of her boat to thelittle steamer followed, and the marshalling of the five members of theship's company armed with the repeating-rifles. The interview withMazagan was as minutely stated as though a skilled reporter of anewspaper had taken it down.
"That was the most amazing, presumptuous, groundless, and insane demandthat one person could make upon another," interposed the commander. "Itwas sheer piracy!"
Scott had so viewed it, and he proceeded with his narrative. CaptainRinggold had vacated his chair at the desk, on which the captain of theMaud had placed his diagram, and pointed out everything as he spoke. Theattempted escape by the supposed channel near the shore was dwelt uponat some length, in order to enable the young captain to prove that hehad done his best to avoid a collision with the enemy.
The first shots the Fatime had fired at the Maud, though they had fallenfar short of the mark, were mentioned so as to give them their fulleffect; and Captain Ringgold declared that they were a sufficientdeclaration of war.
"Only one avenue of escape was open to me," continued Captain Scott,"and that was directly across the bow of the enemy. If I remained whereI was the Fatime could come in with the rising of the tide, and sink theMaud at her leisure. Then the pirate fired the shot from her starboardgun which passed through the galley, and began to swing to, so as tobring her port gun to bear on the Maud.
"I won't deny that the shot which went through our upper works made memad; but I feared that the next one might go through our boiler orengine, and then it would have been all over with us. I determined toprevent such a disaster if I could. I had ordered the hands to use therifles; but most of the crew concealed themselves under the top-gallantforecastle. I shifted the helm, and drove the little steamer's bowsquare into the broadside of the Fatime, just abaft her fore chains.
"It seemed to me from the feeling that she was going to bore her waythrough the pirate craft, and I rang to stop and back her. I gave thespeed bell as soon as she began to go astern, and the Maud went clear,as I was afraid she would not."
The picking up of Mazagan after the Fatime had gone down, and the visitof the boat from the shore, were given in detail, and the narrative wascompleted.
As soon as the story was finished, the commander took the hand ofCaptain Scott again, and pressed it in silence for a moment. He hadlistened attentively to the report, interrupting it but once, and hadcarefully followed the speaker as he pointed out his movements on thediagram.
"I approved your conduct, Captain Scott, when I had only a partialknowledge of what you had done," said he. "I can now approve it with afull knowledge of the whole affair even more heartily and decidedly thanbefore. You have been resolute and unflinching from the beginning, andyou have not only fought your ship as bravely and skilfully as anynaval officer could have done it, but you have done your best to avoid aconflict. I commend you with all my heart and mind."
"I thank you, Captain Ringgold, for all the kind words you have spoken,and I am rejoiced to be informed on such authority as you are that Ihave done my duty faithfully," replied the young commander.
"I suppose the mothers in the boudoir are wondering what has become oftheir boys," added the commander. "I give you an hour to pass with them,and then we must sail for Port Said."
The conference was ended, and the boys all went to the boudoir.