CHAPTER XIV.
"LA FLAMME."
Holding up his hand Captain Restronguet gave the signal for the party toretrace their footsteps to the main channel. It was about time, for thedisturbed sediment from the crumbling wreck had obliterated every objectbeyond a distance of a yard.
The order of the procession was consequently reversed, Kenwyn leadingand the captain bringing up the rear. Half way through the barrier ofweed Hythe suddenly became aware that the man immediately in front ofhim had stopped and was stepping backwards. The next instant the subwas knocked sideways by a tremendous blow. Owing to the resistance ofthe water his fall was considerably broken, but he found himself lyingin a veritable net of tendrils, while above him was some huge movingcreature that was lashing out with almost irresistible force. Prudencecounselled him to lie still, a sense of duty to his companions urged himto disentangle himself from the clutch of the weeds.
He chose the latter course, and contriving to free himself from theserpent-like tendrils he regained his feet, this time on the right sideof the barrier of weeds.
It was a fearsome sight that met his gaze. Lying at full length upon thesand, and with his hands held in front of his helmet to protect theglass plate, was one of the divers whom the sub recognized as Kenwyn.Over him, and ready to spring upon another victim, was an enormousconger, more than eight feet in length and as thick round as a man'sthigh.
Standing ready to lunge with his crowbar was Captain Restronguet, whilewith axes held ready in a position of attack were Carnon andO'Shaunessey.
Recovering his steel bar Hythe, though giddy with the effect of hisfall, ranged alongside his friends.
The eel darted forwards. Captain Restronguet delivered a thrust andmissed.
The next moment he, too, was capsized while the conger, darting over hisbody, retreated to the shelter of a hole in the rocks.
The captain was on his feet in an instant, while Kenwyn was assisted torise. As no bubbles came from his dress it was evident that the attackhad not seriously injured his diving-gear. Had the conger used itsteeth instead of his tail the flexible metal fabric would have beenbitten through as easily as if made of paper.
Kenwyn, however, walked unsteadily. The attack had not left himuninjured, but by a gesture he showed that he was quite able to continuethe submarine excursion.
Once again the march was resumed, but ere they had gone another fivepaces O'Shaunessey happened to turn and look in the direction of theeel's retreat. He had just time to warn his comrades, for the conger,viewing the departing invaders as a sign of defeat, was preparing torenew the attack.
Like an arrow the snake-like monster darted forward! This time CaptainRestronguet succeeded in thrusting his crowbar down the conger's throat,and by an almost superhuman effort pinned it to the sandy bed. Rightand left the brute writhed its powerful tail. To withdraw the crowbarwould be imprudent, to keep it there was obviously beyond the captain'sstrength in spite of his muscular powers.
Marking his opportunity Hythe planted his crowbar fairly through theeel's back. To any creature but a member of the fish tribe such a blowwould have proved instantly fatal, but the conger only fought the more,till O'Shaunessey and Carnon cut its body into four pieces with theiraxes. Even then the severed portions continued to writhe. But thevictory had been won, and once again Captain Restronguet led the waytowards the lost submarine.
Half an hour's steady walking--the pace being about two miles anhour--brought the explorers to the ledge on which the ill-fated "LaFlamme" lay. Bending his knees Captain Restronguet gave a rapid upwardspring that took him nearly ten feet from the level of the channel, andsufficient for his outstretched hand to obtain a grip upon the edge ofthe rocky shelf. The sub, the quartermaster, O'Shaunessey, and lastlyKenwyn followed and gained the upper part of the rock, the only accidentbeing that O'Shaunessey incautiously grasped the bracket of the sunkenvessel's propeller shafting, with the result that his bare hands werebadly lacerated by the knife-like edges of the barnacles.
To all outward appearance "La Flamme" was intact, but by removing thecoating of molluscs and seaweed Captain Restronguet was able to pointout a fracture about two feet from the bows.
Carclew and the Irishman next attacked the hatch abaft theconning-tower. Constructed to resist enormous pressure from without itwas nevertheless comparatively easy to wrench up the steel covering thatwas held only in position by a gun-metal securing-bolt. The hatch wasswung 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 dangersbeneath the surface of the fickle sea--hesitated. They stood around theopen hatchway, looking at the repellent aperture, and at each other,till overcoming his repugnance the captain switched on his electriclamp, turned his face to the rusted steel ladder and descended.
Although now thoroughly loathing the task he had taken in hand Hythefelt compelled to follow. Not so the others: they remained on theslippery, weed-garbed deck.
The sub had steeled himself to see a gruesome sight, but hisanticipations were excelled. In the pale light of the electric lamps hesaw a scene so ghastly that his cast-iron nerve wellnigh broke down.
Every portion of the metal work of the interior bore traces of thecorrosive action of the sulphuric acid, which escaping from thebatteries had spread from end to end of the doomed craft. Luckily forthe two adventurers the acid had long since exhausted its energies,otherwise their metallic dresses would have been eaten through by thepowerful corrosive.
Almost the first compartment Hythe examined was the air-lock--thatvaunted contrivance by which it was stoutly asserted that the crew of adisabled and waterlogged submarine could escape. Here were the skeletonsof two men both overpowered in the act of attempting to draw thelife-saving helmets over their heads. By the contortions of their bonesit was fairly evident that they had struggled hard. Of the fifteenhelmets only three had been removed from their places; twelve of thecrew had been unable even to reach the place where safety had beenpromised, 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 themechanicians who had by the impact been thrown across the powerfulmachinery, for his vertebra had been completely fractured. Grasped inthe grisly hand was an oil-can. The poor fellow had literally died athis post. A clock on the motor-room bulkhead had stopped at a quarterto five.
Aft, the scene was even more horrible. Huddled together, some locked ineach other's arms, others still in the act of vainly trying to raisethemselves from their steel tomb, were nine corpses. Apparently as "LaFlamme" sank she plunged bows foremost. These men had contrived to maketheir way aft, where the imprisoned air, compressed to severalatmospheres, had been sufficient to prolong life for severalminutes--literally periods of physical and mental torture.
Captain Restronguet flashed his lamp upon that awful group, then swiftlyturning made his way down the steeply sloping deck, and gained the baseof the ladder leading to the conning-tower. Here he waited for the subto rejoin him, and again the pair hung back.
Hythe was visibly trembling. Within his diving dress the perspirationpoured from him. This was the sort of danger that he had courted dayafter day with comparative equanimity.
Captain Restronguet flashed his lamp upwards. The rays revealed a pairof men's sea-boots jammed against an open steel grating. These bootswere not empty--in them were the bones of a human leg. The rest of thepoor creature lay huddled against the binnacle. By the tarnisheduniform it was evident that the victim was either the lieutenant or thesous-lieutenant of the ill-fated craft.
As Hythe gained the upper platform a crab glided away from the heap ofclothing--then another, and yet another. Overcoming his repugnance thesub grasped the end of a gold chain and pulled a watch from theunfortunate officer's pocket. It had stopped at
seven o'clock. Allowingthat both the motor-room clock and this timepiece were accurate untilstopped by the water, one hour and three quarters had elapsed ere theair confined in the conning-tower had failed to support life. One hourand three quarters, imprisoned in a steel tomb without the faintest hopeof rescue--this is but one of the risks men run in the race for seasupremacy!
In the upper story of the conning-tower they found yet anothercorpse--also an officer. He was untouched by water, for even after thelapse of time since the disaster there was still a considerable amountof air trapped in the steel citadel. He had found time to write, even inthat awful impenetrable darkness, for across the open chart, written inlines that frequently overlapped each other, was the commencement of afairly coherent report of the disaster.
After that the poor victim had been seized with a form of frenzy, for hehad endeavoured to open the manhole in the conning-tower--failing thatin his despair had tried to end his misery by shooting himself with hisrevolver, for the weapon, with all chambers empty, lay on the gratingbeside him. Even a swift and merciful death had been denied him, for inthe darkness he had been unable to find the cartridges.
Hythe turned and descended the ladder as fast as he could. CaptainRestronguet took the chart on which the course and the fragment of thereport had been pencilled out and also the officer's rough log-book, andfollowed his companion. But the captain's investigations were not yetcomplete.
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 fishof the sardine tribe. Their mode of entry was now apparent, for besidesthe rent in the plating, gaps the width of a man's finger were visiblein the seams. The huge metal cylinder, which for dead-weight farexceeded a vessel of the same dimensions, had been hurled by thecontinued power of the twin propellers, and the irresistible force ofthe mountainous waves, at a tremendous pace upon the solid rocks--andthe shock had not been sufficient to stun the unfortunate victims whoformed the crew.
The two explorers having performed their duty, hastened to the openhatch. There with a common impulse they both stood stiffly erect andsaluted. It was a tribute from men who had faced perils under the seaand who yet survived to those who, similarly situated, had sealed theirdevotion to duty with their lives.
"Well, Mr. Hythe, what did you think of that ghastly spectacle?" askedCaptain Restronguet after their return to the "Aphrodite."
The sub was deadly pale. Hitherto he had looked only on the bright sideof 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 boldlymaintain that death under these circumstances comes swiftly andpainlessly. Would to heaven those men had been with us, and had seenwhat 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 isfar in advance of the comparatively crude contrivances in which men seekto destroy their enemies. Possibly, in the interests of humanity, Iought to give my secret to the world. Has not that sight quenched alldesire 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, "itis my place to obey orders, and at times to withhold my opinion. Butthen 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."