CHAPTER XVIII
The Errant Airship
The next day was warm and sunny, with hardly any wind. It would have been an ideal day for cricket, thought Hamerton, as he gazed through the window upon the deserted courtyard. It made confinement doubly hard and irksome.
Continuously the noise of machinery and the busy hum of workmen rose in the sultry air. The smell of petrol and occasionally wafts of hot mineral oil seemed to pervade the atmosphere.
Yet above the din could be heard the dull roar of the sea: the sullen breakers lashing themselves into masses of white foam upon the inner edges of the Hohe Brunnen shoal. It was a sure sign of a storm far out to sea.
The Sub was listless. In vain he tried to fix his mind upon the books the fair-haired lieutenant had lent him. It was all to no purpose. Again and again he threw down the volume and returned to the window to look upon a vista of paving stones and an almost blank wall.
At about three in the afternoon a shadow, travelling at a great pace, fell athwart the courtyard. It could not be a cloud, for the sky was of a deep-blue colour and destitute of any form of condensed vapour.
Presently he saw the reason for the shadow. It was a huge military Zeppelin, larger than any he had yet seen. Owing to the altitude of the airship it was difficult to judge her dimensions, but by a rough-and-ready comparison with the height of the men who formed her crew, Hamerton came to the conclusion that she was at least eight hundred feet in length, forty-five feet in height and about seventy feet in beam. Not only did she have three cars slung underneath, but on the upper surface of the outer aluminium envelope was a broad gangway, terminating at each end in a wedge-shaped deck-house.
At first Hamerton could see only the rails of the gangway, but as the airship stood farther away to the eastward he discovered four guns so mounted as to be able to fire in a vertical direction, besides being able to be trained abeam.
With the naked eye the Sub counted thirty-two men on board. Others were doubtless in the nacelles, so that he estimated that the crew numbered not far short of fifty.
Unlike the British dirigible, the craft was painted a dull grey on her under body and an olive green above the line of her greatest perimeter. The only splash of bright colour about her was the black cross ensign of Germany that flew from a short staff at the after end of the upper platform.
As the Zeppelin passed over the West Kalbertan Battery her speed was at least thirty miles an hour; but even as the Sub watched she lurched forward and settled down to a pace of nearly thrice her former rate.
In a very few moments she was lost to sight, although flying at an altitude of nearly a thousand feet, travelling in the direction of the North Sea entrance to the Kiel Canal.
"Unwieldy brute!" ejaculated the Sub. "I wonder what headway she would make in a gale of wind? It's a fine day, so I suppose they are taking their pet gasbag for an airing. It strikes me pretty forcibly that they'll have to be pretty sharp about it, for that ground swell is a certain sign of a gale."
Twenty minutes later an air squadron consisting of seven seaplanes flew overhead. The Sub regarded them with curiosity. He had heard that the German authorities, after repeated experiments, had decided to build a number of improved seaplanes to be stationed on the Frisian coast, and now for the first time he saw them in actual flight.
They were flying low—at less than a hundred and fifty feet above the ground; but they flew none the less steadily. The floats were really three boats, the centre one big, about twenty feet in length, and decked in with the exception of two small wells. Immediately in front of the foremost one was a one-pounder automatic gun protected by a V-shaped shield. Abaft the after cockpit was a machine gun of the Maxim type.
On either side of the main float was a subsidiary one, serving simply as outriggers to give lateral stability to the seaplane when resting on the surface of the sea.
Between the floats, and suspended from rods running in a fore-and-aft direction, were a dozen cylindro-conical objects that the Sub recognized as bombs for dropping upon hostile ships and fortifications.
It was clearly evident that all the power of offence was distributed on or between the floats, leaving the rest of the seaplane for elevating, steering, and propulsion purposes. The main planes were comparatively short in distance from tip to tip, but broad in proportion. The fabric was apparently of light, non-flexible metal, curved with the convex side uppermost, while both planes were set at an angle of about sixty degrees to the centre line. There were two propellers, one set slightly below the planes, the shaft being driven by means of a chain connected with the engine. The second propeller, worked on a shaft within and projecting beyond the main shaft, was so arranged that its rotation was in an opposite direction to that of the after one. By this means the after propeller "gripped" the air thrown back by the foremost one, and a considerable increase in speed was claimed to have been obtained.
Extending right aft for a distance of ten feet beyond the vertical rudder was a long hollow pole made of aluminium. Surrounding it was a canvas covering, secured at the end nearest the main planes by a metal band. This device was supposed to be for the purpose of saving life should the seaplane become disabled in mid-air and be unable to volplane down to the surface of the sea. By drawing the metal band forward the canvas would be distended by the wind and thus form a huge parachute. Provided the crew were not thrown clear of the falling craft they would be able to descend with it at very little risk.
An experiment had been tried in Kuriche Haff only a few days previously. A seaplane was hoisted to a height of two thousand feet by a dirigible. The parachute safety band was released, and the craft dropped. It fell erratically for nearly a hundred yards before the parachute became fully distended; then, tilting nose downwards, it continued descending in a series of spirals, its rate being greatly retarded. Striking the surface of the water the seaplane dived till half the length of her floats and a part of her main planes were submerged. Then, like a cork, she leapt clear of the surface and settled naturally on her floats.
Hamerton, of course, was ignorant of this highly-confidential test, but the unusual sight of a pole projecting far in the wake of the seaplanes attracted his attention. At first he came to the conclusion that it was a form of aerial torpedo tube, till it suddenly occurred to him that it might be a form of arresting the attraction of gravity in the event of an accidental downward plunge.
Almost as soon as the seaplanes passed out of sight Lieutenant Schaffer entered the room, accompanied by the two men who acted as jailers.
"You haf seen part of our Zherman air fleet?" he enquired affably.
"Yes," replied Hamerton; then, on the spur of the moment, he added: "I see you have adopted the parachute principle in the event of an accident?"
"Mein Gott!" ejaculated the astonished lieutenant; "how you know that?"
"Saw it with my own eyes," replied the Sub, delighted at the successful guess he had made. "I thought your people would collar the idea from us sooner or later."
"Collar? What do you mean?" asked Schaffer, completely mystified. "Collar? That something is around the neck—dog collar, horse collar, stylish collar, hein?"
"Well, crib, then."
"Crib? Ach, I haf it! Crib something is to do with children. You say our Zherman air fleet it is in infancy, eh? You are all wrong, as you will see."
"I said nothing of the sort," said Hamerton, smiling. "I said you collared, cribbed our ideas—sneaked them."
"I understand not still," expostulated the German lieutenant. "I haf not learned the word 'sneak' in my vocabulary."
"Then suppose I explain that you borrowed the idea of a parachute from us?"
Schaffer literally gasped.
"You then have a like device in England? Then it is by spies such as you, Herr Smidt, that it was made known."
Whatever had been his object in entering Hamerton's cell the Sub never found out, for the lieutenant lost no time in informing his superior officer that these English had already got to learn how to prevent disasters to aircraft heavier than air.
As Hamerton had foreseen, the gale began to make itself felt. Just before sunset a strong breeze from the east sprang up, and in less than twenty minutes the Sub could see columns of spray dashing high above the seawall between the East Kalbertan Battery and the Düne Fort.
As darkness set in the wind increased in violence. Clouds of sand and salt spray were flung against the window of the Sub's room, the furious blasts howled over the chimney pots and through the overhead telegraph wires.
Then the searchlights were switched on. The giant beams swung slowly to and fro, till at one moment the upper part of the wall opposite Hamerton's window was as brilliant as polished silver, at another as black as Erebus.
Still no rain fell. Up to the present it was a gale of wind, one that would blow itself out in a comparatively short space of time.
Hamerton had no thought of going to bed. He stuck to his post at the window, fully expecting to see the giant airship come battling with the gale in an endeavour to find shelter in the cavernous sheds on the island of Heligoland.
Suddenly, above the howling of the elements, a bugle rang out. From the barrack quarters within the battery issued scores of men dressed in brown-canvas working suits. Without waiting to form up they ran in the direction of the main gateway. Clearly something of the nature of an accident had occurred to warrant this hasty nocturnal parade.
Then Hamerton saw the reason. Picked out by several searchlights the giant Zeppelin appeared. She was battling bravely against the wind, but slowly and surely was being driven astern. She was flying low. Her commander evidently decided that it was too hazardous to attempt to return to her proper berth, and was endeavouring to descend under the lee of the East Kalbertan Battery, where a shallow depression in the wake of the low walls offered the only possible though doubtful shelter. With the thought of previous disasters fresh in their minds the Germans dreaded the possibility of being blown far out to sea. They would not even take the risk of sheltering to leeward of the lofty Heligoland; they preferred to attempt to secure the unwieldy airship on Sandinsel.
Lower and lower sank the Zeppelin, till her nacelles were hidden from Hamerton's eyes by the intervening wall. Her way seemed momentarily checked as ropes were thrown to the hundreds of waiting soldiers. As fast as they could move, two-thirds of her crew slid down to earth, only the officers and twelve men remaining until the Zeppelin should be properly secured.
"I wish the blessed thing would smash up," thought the Sub. "Not that I want any lives to be lost, but because the Germans crow over their wonderful airships and construct elaborate castles in the air for the humiliation of England."
Even as these thoughts flashed through his mind the airship swung round broadside to the wind. In an instant swarms of men were being lifted off the ground or being dragged over it like dead flies on a resinous string. Gamely they struggled to keep the errant aircraft under control, but in vain.
Rapidly the Zeppelin drifted towards the West Kalbertan Battery, till her huge envelope loomed high above the fortifications. With a dull thud the nacelles struck the earthworks. The frail aluminium gave before the shock, and the remainder of her crew, with one exception, were precipitated upon the sand.
Relieved of their weight, the Zeppelin bounded upwards for a distance of about ten feet, just clearing the formidable wire entanglements. Then a downward eddy seemed to strike her, and she dropped till the fragments of her cars touched the pavement of the courtyard. The nearmost portion of her aluminium envelope was now within thirty yards of Hamerton's window. He realized that nothing short of a miracle could prevent the unmanageable craft from buckling itself against the angle of the storehouse in which his cell was situated.
With praiseworthy devotion the soldiers still hung on to the guide ropes till the foremost of them were hauled to within a few feet of the barbed-wire fence. Thrown into a blaze of silvery light by the searchlights, the entanglements became strikingly apparent to the luckless soldiers. It was more than flesh and blood could stand—being slowly dragged over an expanse of sharp iron barbs. In a moment the guide ropes from the after-end of the Zeppelin were abandoned.
The next thing Hamerton saw was a shower of tiles, bricks, laths, and plaster falling about him, to the accompaniment of a succession of most appalling crashes.
Instinctively he leapt backwards as a twisted and distorted mass of metal was forced through the aperture. Between the rents in the masonry the slanting beams of half a dozen searchlights played upon the dust-laden atmosphere. The grinding of the enormous body of the Zeppelin, added to the roar of the wind and the shouts of dismay of the baffled soldiers, formed a fitting accompaniment to the scene of desolation.
A train of thoughts flashed across the Sub's mind. He realized that he was in imminent peril of being crushed like a rat in a trap beneath the falling brickwork, for one side of the room was already showing signs of sharing the fate of the part facing the original direction of the impact. A sudden resolution seized him. Better by far to make a rush for the tangle of aluminium rods and sheeting and trust to be lifted clear of the debris than to remain in danger of the collapsing walls.
With a quick, lever-like wrench the remains of the nacelles described a complete semicircle. The Zeppelin, free for'ard, was swinging round on her heel, like a ship that has struck stern foremost upon a submerged rock. Then, with a comparatively slow yet determined movement, the wreckage began to assume an upward motion.
Hardly realizing what he was doing, Hamerton sprang over a heap of bricks and dried mortar, and grasped one of the vertical rods that still connected the damaged car with the outer envelope of the gas bag. Half-blinded with dust, his grotesque clothing rent almost from his back, he found himself being raised from the ruin of his cell. He felt the cold breeze of the open air upon his heated forehead.
Then, hardly knowing whether he was on or above the ground, he flung his legs round the twisted rod to which he had clung so desperately with his hands. Even as he did so the side wall of his cell collapsed. Another few seconds and he would have been crushed to death beneath the debris.
Released from the restraining wall, and no longer held in semi-captivity by the swarm of men, who had been compelled to relinquish their hold upon the guide ropes, the damaged Zeppelin bounded to a height of nearly a hundred feet, the while being urged onward at a tremendous pace towards the rocky cliffs of Heligoland.
The Sub was not one to lose his nerve even in a tight corner. His first step was to gain a place of greater security than that afforded by a trailing rod that ended in space less than three feet beneath him. Hand over hand he climbed, till he reached a metallic beam that at a very recent period formed one of the fore-and-aft girders of the lower gangway.
Here he sat in comparative safety. He could rest until he regained his breath ere he made another bid for greater safety.
The wind no longer howled through the chaos of broken and twisted rods. Borne along at almost the same velocity as that of the gale, the Zeppelin was apparently floating in the still air, although in reality her speed over the ground was now not much less than sixty miles an hour. Assailed on all sides by the brilliant searchlights, the derelict aircraft was heading straight for the cliffs at Bucket Horn. Unless she lifted herself sufficiently to clear the one hundred and twenty-eight feet of cliff she would inevitably be dashed to pieces against the sandstone bluff.
Shading his eyes from the blinding glare, Hamerton could see the precipitous wall of rock momentarily growing larger and larger. Thirty feet were wanting to clear the edge of the cliff. It seemed as if nothing could save the uncontrollable Zeppelin.
Hamerton set his jaw tightly. He fully realized the danger. He was mentally picturing the impending disaster, the bulging sides of the envelope charging the cliff and being crushed like an empty eggshell against the inflexible wall of sandstone. The remains of the nacelles would be swung violently inwards, the concussion would result in his being dislodged from his position and being flung heavily upon the rocky, breaker-swept ledges at the base of the island.
Yet the expected did not happen. An upward eddy, caused by the wind being deflected by the perpendicular cliff, tossed the Zeppelin in its boisterous grip.
Her stern portion, being lighter than the bows, since most of her weight had already been torn away from that end, swung clear of the cliff. Hamerton could see the roof of a searchlight shed slip past barely twenty feet beneath him. Then came a sudden jerk that wellnigh dislodged the Sub from his precarious position. Only his tenacious grip saved him.
The whole of the enormous bulk of the Zeppelin seemed to pause momentarily, then with a sickening, heaving motion the aircraft shot upwards to an additional height of five hundred feet. In swinging past the brink of the chasm the destruction of the machinery compartment of the midship nacelle was completed, and her motors, weighing little short of a ton and a half, were precipitated to the ground, rolling into a concealed gunpit and greatly damaging the breech mechanism of the weapon.
Just then a loud roar came from one of the forts, the powerful Spitz Horn Battery. The Germans, despairing at the loss of the pride of their aerial fleet, and fearful lest she should be borne by the gale to the shores of the hated England, had decided upon the expedient of riddling her with heavy shells. In the hope that their vaunted hole-closing fabric would in this instance prove unequal to the conditions laid upon it, the gunners used the secondary armament of twenty-six-centimetres weapons.
With an unearthly shriek the first projectile, weighing nearly three hundred pounds, passed harmlessly above the envelope of the errant Zeppelin, bursting with a lurid red flash at a distance of five hundred yards behind her. Two more shells followed, almost simultaneously. These fell far beneath the rapidly-moving target. Although the aim in a vertical plane was good, the artillery-men were hopelessly at a loss as regards elevation. The Zeppelin, now only faintly visible in the rays of the distant searchlights, was out of range and well on her way across the stormy North Sea.