It spoke volumes for the discipline of the men under his command that not one of them gave way to the temptation to discharge his pistol. The pressure of a few ounces on the trigger would be sufficient to send ten shots into the mob on shore, but in the dark there was the danger of the men in the boat accidentally hitting their comrades, but until the cutter swung round broadside on, the boat's crew resisted the almost overwhelming desire to return the fire.
But Captain Restronguet had taken precautions to counteract the surprise. Simultaneously the two starboard search-lights were switched on and swung abeam till the powerful rays flashed full in the faces of the astonished Somalis. To the latter it savoured of magic. Blinded by the glare, galled by the fusillade from the automatic pistols, and harassed by the fire from the deck of the "Aphrodite" they fled. Some, however, too terrified to move, flung themselves on the ground, which was already littered with the bodies of several of their comrades.
"Give way," ordered the sub.
Directly the boat touched shore all hands save two jumped out, and carrying the rope, dashed for the gun, that now stood revealed as if outlined in silver in the rays of the search-light.
In a trice Mylor had secured the steel wire rope to the trail. A long and a short blast on Hythe's whistle was the signal that this part of the task had been satisfactorily performed.
The electric capstan on the submarine's deck began to revolve, and the heavy gun with a succession of jerks was hauled through the yielding sand.
"Avast heaving!" shouted the sub, as the recovered weapon reached the water's edge.
"Look out, sir!" shouted O'Shaunessey, and raising his pistol the Irishman shot through the head a Somali who, feigning death, had allowed Hythe to approach within three yards of him ere, springing to his feet, he was about to hurl his spear at the sub's back
"Thanks, O'Shaunessey," exclaimed Hythe.
To the accompaniment of a desultory and erratic fire from a distance of over a thousand yards the gun was dismounted and "parbuckled" into the cutter. The carriage and limber followed piecemeal, and without a casualty beyond a few bruised knuckles and jammed fingers the landing party re-embarked.