CHAPTER XIV
THE FORTUNE OF WAR
Seventy-two hours after the receipt of the misleading intelligence from the hapless Duke of Negropont the scout Cerberus again put to sea. This time there was no doubt that the news concerning the Independencia was genuine. The United States cruiser Denver had seen, and had stood in pursuit of the pirate. According to the American captain's report the pirate was heading north, apparently with the intention of preying upon the liners running between New York and Montreal, and Liverpool and Southampton.
Once more Lieutenant Douglas Drake's hopes rose high. He felt confident that to him would fall the honour of effecting the pirate's capture. He knew full well that more than a score of cruisers, to say nothing of ocean-going destroyers, were keenly on the alert; but in spite of this knowledge the presentiment was uppermost in his mind that the aero-hydroplanes of the Cerberus, under his command, would score the honour of the day.
The lieutenant spent most of his watch on deck in attending to his four pets. There was no time to test their capabilities in the air, for the scout could not slacken speed to allow the boat to be hoisted out. True they could be sent up from the deck, a specially constructed line of rails being laid down to admit of them so doing. They could, if necessity arose, return to their parent by alighting on the poop; but there was always the risk of damage to their hulls—a catastrophe that would be eliminated if the aero-hydroplanes came to rest upon the sea. Thus, although Drake had had experience in craft of a very similar type, he was totally unacquainted with their peculiarities; but in spite of this handicap he had no fears as to his ability to make a successful flight, and, what was more, a successful attack upon the daring pirate.
His plan of operation was somewhat upset by the intelligence received of the despicable ruse whereby Juan Cervillo had been able to keep his vessel immune from shell fire. If the same precaution were adopted on all occasions it seemed pretty obvious that the aero-hydroplane could not drop explosives upon the cruiser's deck without doing harm to friend as well as foe.
At one time he thought of dropping bombs containing charges of noxious gases upon the Independencia's decks, but realising that the speed of the ship creating a current of air would speedily disperse the vapours, he decided such a scheme was impracticable. At another the chances of dropping a charge of dynamite down one of the huge funnels of the cruiser, and thus putting the boilers out of action, suggested themselves. Then a capital idea suddenly struck him. The more he thought of it, the more he felt confident of success. On unfolding his plan to Captain Dexter of the Cerberus his superior expressed his satisfaction, and promised to let Drake have a free hand in the enterprise.
At 2 a.m. on the morning of the fourth day out the look-out reported that there was heavy firing away to the north-west. Instantly the crew were called to general quarters, all lights were screened, and a course shaped towards that quarter of the horizon that was illuminated by flashes resembling distant lightning. All on board the scout were bewailing the fate that had snatched the laurels from their grasp, for no other reason could be assigned to the firing beyond the fact that the Independencia was being engaged by some other man-of-war. In vain the Cerberus sent out calls with her wireless on the off-chance of picking up information as to who the lucky vessel might be; only a chaotic series of electrical waves came to the wireless room. On and on at full speed the little British vessel tore. With luck she might come in at the death, and be able to fire a shot or two in real earnest, when suddenly the glare of the distant flashes died away.
"Too late, by George!" exclaimed Drake, slamming his binoculars into their case.
"They've settled her hash, and we're out of it."
For another half-hour the Cerberus carried on. All need for screened lights was now done away with, and from her masthead her signalling lamp blinked incessantly, calling up the victorious vessel in Morse. Still no reply came through the darkness.
"Surely to goodness they haven't sunk each other?" asked one of the lieutenants.
"Rot!" replied another, vehemently. But at the same time the idea that such was the case began to grow upon the group of anxious and despondent officers.
Suddenly a rocket soared skywards, barely a mile on the scout's brow.
"Acknowledge," ordered the captain, shortly; and from the Cerberus an answering rocket was sent up.
Then the searchlights were flashed in the direction of the signal, and to everyone's surprise two huge cruisers, both well-nigh battered out of recognition, were discovered lying less than half-a-mile apart. Masts, funnels, boats, most of the unarmoured superstructure—all had been swept away, while the heavily protected sides of both craft showed ominous dents and cavities where armour-piercing shells had found a billet.
"Great Scott!" muttered the gunnery lieutenant. "Which one is the Impregnable that was?"
"Neither," replied Drake, grimly. "There's been a horrible mistake without a doubt. Goodness knows what ships these are, or to what nation they belong; but it is obvious that each has mistaken the other for the pirate."
"What ship is that?" shouted Captain Dexter through a megaphone, as the Cerberus eased down, and glided a cable's length to lee'ard of one of the erstwhile combatants.
"His Majesty's ship Trincomalee," was the reply. "Stand by till daylight; we're badly hulled. Can you send a boat?"
Ten minutes later a pale-faced lieutenant, with his hair and eyebrows singed, his clothing rent and reeking with powder, came over the side of the Cerberus. His story confirmed Drake's surmise. The Trincomalee, steaming with lights screened, had fallen in with an unknown vessel which was also running without navigation lights. Before the British vessel could hail, a shot was fired into her at less than four hundred yards range. The Trincomalee instantly replied with all the quick-firers she could bring to bear upon her antagonist. Then the 6 in. and 9 in. guns joined in the deafening roar, and for forty minutes the two vessels were hotly engaged, till a searchlight directed from the only projector that had escaped destruction revealed the hideous truth. The Trincomalee had engaged and had nearly annihilated a French cruiser, the Tréhouart, of 19,000 tons. Orders were immediately given to cease fire; but it was quite five minutes ere the Frenchmen ceased to pound away with her undamaged ordnance at her unresisting antagonist.
The Cerberus stood by till daylight revealed the shattered ships. Both were leaking badly, but the inrush of water was being kept under by means of the ships' pumps. Their respective captains exchanged visits and expressed mutual regrets at the unfortunate occurrence; then slowly, under their own steam, both vessels headed towards the Nova Scotian coast, the Cerberus escorting them in case immediate assistance was required. Sixteen hours later the two badly mauled vessels crept into Halifax Harbour, and the Cerberus was free to resume her quest.
Did she but know it, the Independencia crossed her wake, unseen and unsuspected, at the time she was steaming at full speed to ascertain the cause of the firing. The pirate cruiser had run the gauntlet of the chain of cruisers and, with an open sea before her, was tearing at her utmost speed towards the desolate Arctic Ocean.
This incident naturally increased the attention already devoted to the quest of the modern buccaneer, and gave occasion for much discussion. On the one side experts and armchair critics boldly asserted that this regrettable incident was owing simply and solely to the blundering way in which the operations were conducted, and that had more caution been exercised there would have been no desperate encounter between vessels of friendly nations, and the accompanying loss of life; while on the other hand there were people who maintained that it was but the fortune of war, and mistakes of that sort were bound to occur. To harass naval captains with regulations that would tend to curb the natural ardour of their crews would be opposed to the best traditions of the service. Even in the House a member blandly suggested that it should be submitted to an international conference that hostile ships should hail each other before opening fire, and quoted instances from frigate actions during the Napoleonic wars. But he did not suggest a way whereby a destroyer on a dark night that was about to loose a torpedo at an enemy's ship a mile away, or a submarine stealing beneath the waves with a like purpose, could carry out the order.
It was also found that the use of wireless was not an unmitigated blessing, for what with deliberately false reports sent by tramp steamers—paid by Juan Cervillo for the purpose—the panic-stricken messages from some nervous skipper, and the practical jokes of not a few amateur operators, the search for the Independencia was hindered more than furthered, till the cruisers patrolling the liners' route had good cause to heartily malign the name of wireless telegraphy.
Day after day passed, and though columns in the daily papers were devoted to the all-important topic, the pirate-cruiser seemed to have mysteriously disappeared off the face of the waters.