struckthe nearly swamped vessel, and with the roar of all her own torpedoesshe passed into nothing.
The British Vice-Admiral had carefully watched the repeller through hisglass, and he noticed that simultaneously with the appearance of thecloud in the air produced by the action of the motor-bombs there weretwo puffs of black smoke from the repeller. These were signals to thecrabs to notify them that a motor-gun had been discharged, and thus toprovide against accidents in case a bomb should fail to act. One puffsignified that a bomb had been discharged to the north; two, that ithad gone eastward; and so on. If, therefore, a crab should see asignal of this kind, and perceive no signs of the action of a bomb, itwould be careful not to approach the repeller from the quarterindicated. It is true that in case of the failure of a bomb to act,another bomb would be dropped upon the same spot, but the instructionsof the War Syndicate provided that every possible precaution should betaken against accidents.
Of course the Vice-Admiral did not understand these signals, nor did heknow that they were signals, but he knew that they accompanied thedischarge of a motor-gun. Once he noticed that there was a shortcessation in the hitherto constant succession of water avalanches, andduring this lull he had seen two puffs from the repeller, and thedestruction, at the same moment, of the deserted torpedo-boat. It was,therefore, plain enough to him that if a motor-bomb could be placed soaccurately upon one torpedo-boat, and with such terrible result, otherbombs could quite as easily be discharged upon the other torpedo-boatswhich formed the advanced line of the fleet. When the barrier of stormand cataract again began to stretch itself in front of the repeller, heknew that not only was it impossible for the torpedo-boats to sendtheir missives through this raging turmoil, but that each of thesevessels was itself in danger of instantaneous destruction.
Unwilling, therefore, to expose his vessels to profitless danger, theVice-Admiral ordered the torpedo-boats to retire from the front, andthe whole line of them proceeded to a point north of the fleet, wherethey lay to.
When this had been done, the repeller ceased the discharge of bombs;but the sea was still heaving and tossing after the storm, when adespatch-boat brought orders from the British Admiralty to theflagship. Communication between the British fleet and the shore, andconsequently London, had been constant, and all that had occurred hadbeen quickly made known to the Admiralty and the Government. Theorders now received by the Vice-Admiral were to the effect that it wasconsidered judicious to discontinue the conflict for the day, and thathe and his whole fleet should return to Portsmouth to receive furtherorders.
In issuing these commands the British Government was actuated simply bymotives of humanity and common sense. The British fleet was thoroughlyprepared for ordinary naval warfare, but an enemy had inauguratedanother kind of naval warfare, for which it was not prepared. It was,therefore, decided to withdraw the ships until they should be preparedfor the new kind of warfare. To allow ironclad after ironclad to bedisabled and set adrift, to subject every ship in the fleet to thedanger of instantaneous destruction, and all this without thepossibility of inflicting injury upon the enemy, would not be bravery;it would be stupidity. It was surely possible to devise a means fordestroying the seven hostile ships now in British waters. Until actionfor this end could be taken, it was the part of wisdom for the Britishnavy to confine itself to the protection of British ports.
When the fleet began to move toward the Isle of Wight, the six crabs,which had been lying quietly among and under the protection of theirenemies, withdrew southward, and, making a slight circuit, joined therepeller.
Each of the disabled ironclads was now in tow of a sister vessel, or oftugs, except the Llangaron. This great ship had been disabled so earlyin the contest, and her broadside had presented such a vast surface tothe north-west wind, that she had drifted much farther to the souththan any other vessel. Consequently, before the arrival of the tugswhich had been sent for to tow her into harbour, the Llangaron was wellon her way across the channel. A foggy night came on, and the nextmorning she was ashore on the coast of France, with a mile of waterbetween her and dry land. Fast-rooted in a great sand-bank, she layweek after week, with the storms that came in from the Atlantic, andthe storms that came in from the German Ocean, beating upon her tallside of solid iron, with no more effect than if it had been a precipiceof rock. Against waves and winds she formed a massive breakwater, witha wide stretch of smooth sea between her and the land. There she lay,proof against all the artillery of Europe, and all the artillery of thesea and the storm, until a fleet of small vessels had taken from herher ponderous armament, her coal and stores, and she had been lightenedenough to float upon a high tide, and to follow three tugs toPortsmouth.
When night came on, Repeller No. 11 and the crabs dropped down with thetide, and lay to some miles west of the scene of battle. The fog shutthem in fairly well, but, fearful that torpedoes might be sent outagainst them, they showed no lights. There was little danger, ofcollision with passing merchantmen, for the English Channel, atpresent, was deserted by this class of vessels.
The next morning the repeller, preceded by two crabs, bearing betweenthem a submerged net similar to that used at the Canadian port,appeared off the eastern end of the Isle of Wight. The anchors of thenet were dropped, and behind it the repeller took her place, andshortly afterward she sent a flag-of-truce boat to Portsmouth harbour.This boat carried a note from the American War Syndicate to the BritishGovernment.
In this note it was stated that it was now the intention of theSyndicate to utterly destroy, by means of the instantaneous motor, afortified post upon the British coast. As this would be done solelyfor the purpose of demonstrating the irresistible destructive power ofthe motor-bombs, it was immaterial to the Syndicate what fortified postshould be destroyed, provided it should answer the requirements of theproposed demonstration. Consequently the British Government wasoffered the opportunity of naming the fortified place which should bedestroyed. If said Government should decline to do this, or delay theselection for twenty-four hours, the Syndicate would itself decide uponthe place to be operated upon.
Every one in every branch of the British Government, and, in fact,nearly every thinking person in the British islands, had been rackinghis brains, or her brains, that night, over the astounding situation;and the note of the Syndicate only added to the perturbation of theGovernment. There was a strong feeling in official circles that theinsolent little enemy must be crushed, if the whole British navy shouldhave to rush upon it, and all sink together in a common grave.
But there were cooler and more prudent brains at the head of affairs;and these had already decided that the contest between the old enginesof war and the new ones was entirely one-sided. The instincts of goodgovernment dictated to them that they should be extremely wary andcircumspect during the further continuance of this unexampled war.Therefore, when the note of the Syndicate was considered, it was agreedthat the time had come when good statesmanship and wise diplomacy wouldbe more valuable to the nation than torpedoes, armoured ships, or heavyguns.
There was not the slightest doubt that the country would disagree withthe Government, but on the latter lay the responsibility of thecountry's safety. There was nothing, in the opinion of the ablestnaval officers, to prevent the Syndicate's fleet from coming up theThames. Instantaneous motor-bombs could sweep away all forts andcitadels, and explode and destroy all torpedo defences, and Londonmight lie under the guns of the repeller.
In consequence of this view of the state of affairs, an answer was sentto the Syndicate's note, asking that further time be given for theconsideration of the situation, and suggesting that an exhibition ofthe power of the motor-bomb was not necessary, as sufficient proof ofthis had been given in the destruction of the Canadian forts, theannihilation of the Craglevin, and the extraordinary results of thedischarge of said bombs on the preceding day.
To this a reply was sent from the office of the Syndicate in New York,by means of a cable boat from the French coast, that on
no accountcould their purpose be altered or their propositions modified.Although the British Government might be convinced of the power of theSyndicate's motor-bombs, it was not the case with the British people,for it was yet popularly disbelieved that motor-bombs existed. Thisdisbelief the Syndicate was determined to overcome, not only for thefurtherance of its own purposes, but to prevent the downfall of thepresent British Ministry, and a probable radical change in theGovernment. That such a political revolution, as undesirable to theSyndicate as to cool-headed and sensible Englishmen, was imminent,there could be no doubt. The growing feeling of disaffection, almostamounting to disloyalty, not only in the opposition party, but amongthose who had hitherto been firm adherents of the Government, wasmainly based upon the idea that the present British rulers had allowedthemselves to be frightened by mines and torpedoes, artfully placed andexploded. Therefore the Syndicate intended to set right the publicmind upon this subject. The note concluded by