Presently, from all corners of the plant, the workers came hurrying. The last man was hardly down in the gravel pit when there came a detonation from the sea-front and a shell came whistling over.
It was not directed at the works, but at the tiny cabin on the top of the hill which held the wireless outfit. Fortunately, the cabin was partly sheltered by a rock, and, moreover, it was but a small mark to try to hit. Some twenty shells passed over the island or exploded idly on the hill before one struck the sheltering rock. The pieces screamed over the cabin, one fragment tearing a hole in the roof but doing no harm to Anton.
Truth to tell, the boy was thoroughly enjoying himself. He felt a hero. Never having seen a shot fired in earnest, he hardly realized what the effects of a shell-burst might be.
The wireless crackled on.
For two hours the bombardment continued, several pieces of shell having passed through the walls above his head. The rock protected the lower part of the cabin. Anton was crouched low over his instrument, and, as yet, the aerials were intact.
Then, suddenly, a piece of bursting shell whizzed across the wires.
Silence!
The wireless was down.
Chukalook Bank was absolutely cut off from all communication with the outside world. The men of Bull Mine must fight off the Siberian cruiser, alone.
The six-inch gun now was turned on the works, a nearer and an easier target. The power-house, the stamp-mills and the cyanide vats suffered most. A six-inch shell at close range can do an appalling amount of destruction. At the end of an hour, most of the works were in ruins. Yet shells could not destroy the gravel bank, nor damage the great sluice beyond repair.