FROM RUPERT'S JOURNAL.
_July_ 10, 1907.
When we turned shoreward after my stormy interview with the pirateCaptain--I can call him nothing else at present, Rooke gave orders to aquartermaster on the bridge, and _The Lady_ began to make to a littlenorthward of Ilsin port. Rooke himself went aft to the wheel-house,taking several men with him.
When we were quite near the rocks--the water is so deep here that thereis no danger--we slowed down, merely drifting along southwards towardsthe port. I was myself on the bridge, and could see all over the decks.I could also see preparations going on upon the warship. Ports wereopened, and the great guns on the turrets were lowered for action. Whenwe were starboard broadside on to the warship, I saw the port side of thesteering-house open, and Rooke's men sliding out what looked like a hugegrey crab, which by tackle from within the wheel-house was lowered softlyinto the sea. The position of the yacht hid the operation from sight ofthe warship. The doors were shut again, and the yacht's pace began toquicken. We ran into the port. I had a vague idea that Rooke had somedesperate project on hand. Not for nothing had he kept the wheel-houselocked on that mysterious crab.
All along the frontage was a great crowd of eager men. But they hadconsiderately left the little mole at the southern entrance, whereon wasa little tower, on whose round top a signal-gun was placed, free for myown use. When I was landed on this pier I went along to the end, and,climbing the narrow stair within, went out on the sloping roof. I stoodup, for I was determined to show the Turks that I was not afraid formyself, as they would understand when the bombardment should begin. Itwas now but a very few minutes before the fatal hour--six bells. But allthe same I was almost in a state of despair. It was terrible to think ofall those poor souls in the town who had done nothing wrong, and who wereto be wiped out in the coming blood-thirsty, wanton attack. I raised myglasses to see how preparations were going on upon the warship.
As I looked I had a momentary fear that my eyesight was giving way. Atone moment I had the deck of the warship focussed with my glasses, andcould see every detail as the gunners waited for the word to begin thebombardment with the great guns of the barbettes. The next I saw nothingbut the empty sea. Then in another instant there was the ship as before,but the details were blurred. I steadied myself against the signal-gun,and looked again. Not more than two, or at the most three, seconds hadelapsed. The ship was, for the moment, full in view. As I looked, shegave a queer kind of quick shiver, prow and stern, and then sideways. Itwas for all the world like a rat shaken in the mouth of a skilledterrier. Then she remained still, the one placid thing to be seen, forall around her the sea seemed to shiver in little independent eddies, aswhen water is broken without a current to guide it.
I continued to look, and when the deck was, or seemed, quite still--forthe shivering water round the ship kept catching my eyes through theouter rays of the lenses--I noticed that nothing was stirring. The menwho had been at the guns were all lying down; the men in thefighting-tops had leaned forward or backward, and their arms hung downhelplessly. Everywhere was desolation--in so far as life was concerned.Even a little brown bear, which had been seated on the cannon which wasbeing put into range position, had jumped or fallen on deck, and laythere stretched out--and still. It was evident that some terrible shockhad been given to the mighty war-vessel. Without a doubt or a thoughtwhy I did so, I turned my eyes towards where _The Lady_ lay, portbroadside now to the inside, in the harbour mouth. I had the key now tothe mystery of Rooke's proceedings with the great grey crab.
As I looked I saw just outside the harbour a thin line of cleaving water.This became more marked each instant, till a steel disc with glass eyesthat shone in the light of the sun rose above the water. It was aboutthe size of a beehive, and was shaped like one. It made a straight linefor the aft of the yacht. At the same moment, in obedience to somecommand, given so quietly that I did not hear it, the men went below--allsave some few, who began to open out doors in the port side of thewheel-house. The tackle was run out through an opened gangway on thatside, and a man stood on the great hook at the lower end, balancinghimself by hanging on the chain. In a few seconds he came up again. Thechain tightened and the great grey crab rose over the edge of the deck,and was drawn into the wheel-house, the doors of which were closed,shutting in a few only of the men.
I waited, quite quiet. After a space of a few minutes, Captain Rooke inhis uniform walked out of the wheel-house. He entered a small boat,which had been in the meantime lowered for the purpose, and was rowed tothe steps on the mole. Ascending these, he came directly towards thesignal-tower. When he had ascended and stood beside me, he saluted.
"Well?" I asked.
"All well, sir," he answered. "We shan't have any more trouble with thatlot, I think. You warned that pirate--I wish he had been in truth aclean, honest, straightforward pirate, instead of the measly Turkish swabhe was--that something might occur before the first stroke of six bells.Well, something has occurred, and for him and all his crew that six bellswill never sound. So the Lord fights for the Cross against the Crescent!Bismillah. Amen!" He said this in a manifestly formal way, as thoughdeclaiming a ritual. The next instant he went on in the thoroughlypractical conventional way which was usual to him:
"May I ask a favour, Mr. Sent Leger?"
"A thousand, my dear Rooke," I said. "You can't ask me anything which Ishall not freely grant. And I speak within my brief from the NationalCouncil. You have saved Ilsin this day, and the Council will thank youfor it in due time."
"Me, sir?" he said, with a look of surprise on his face which seemedquite genuine. "If you think that, I am well out of it. I was afraid,when I woke, that you might court-martial me!"
"Court-martial you! What for?" I asked, surprised in my turn.
"For going to sleep on duty, sir! And the fact is, I was worn out in theattack on the Silent Tower last night, and when you had your interviewwith the pirate--all good pirates forgive me for the blasphemy!Amen!--and I knew that everything was going smoothly, I went into thewheel-house and took forty winks." He said all this without moving somuch as an eyelid, from which I gathered that he wished absolute silenceto be observed on my part. Whilst I was revolving this in my mind hewent on:
"Touching that request, sir. When I have left you and the Voivode--andthe Voivodin, of course--at Vissarion, together with such others as youmay choose to bring there with you, may I bring the yacht back here for aspell? I rather think that there is a good deal of cleaning up to bedone, and the crew of _The Lady_ with myself are the men to do it. Weshall be back by nightfall at the creek."
"Do as you think best, Admiral Rooke," I said.
"Admiral?"
"Yes, Admiral. At present I can only say that tentatively, but byto-morrow I am sure the National Council will have confirmed it. I amafraid, old friend, that your squadron will be only your flagship for thepresent; but later we may do better."
"So long as I am Admiral, your honour, I shall have no other flagshipthan _The Lady_. I am not a young man, but, young or old, my pennonshall float over no other deck. Now, one other favour, Mr. Sent Leger?It is a corollary of the first, so I do not hesitate to ask. May Iappoint Lieutenant Desmond, my present First Officer, to the command ofthe battleship? Of course, he will at first only command the prize crew;but in such case he will fairly expect the confirmation of his ranklater. I had better, perhaps, tell you, sir, that he is a very capableseaman, learned in all the sciences that pertain to a battleship, andbred in the first navy in the world."
"By all means, Admiral. Your nomination shall, I think I may promiseyou, be confirmed."
Not another word we spoke. I returned with him in his boat to _TheLady_, which was brought to the dock wall, where we were received withtumultuous cheering.
I hurried off to my Wife and the Voivode. Rooke, calling Desmond to him,went on the bridge of _The Lady_, which turned, a
nd went out at terrificspeed to the battleship, which was already drifting up northward on thetide.