If they knew of the presence of the "Vorwartz" in the river the authorities would not admit it; they refused to allow the telegraph to be made use of to communicate with the trading stations up-stream, and resolutely declined to provide a pilot for the navigation of the shoal-encumbered reaches as far as Kaira--a hundred miles above Marromea.
At last Captain Restronguet resolved to take stern measures. He was ready to abide by the usual customs of a foreign country, but he was not going to be fooled by a pack of rascally Portuguese.
"Clear for diving, Mr. Devoran!" he shouted.
The Portuguese officials, filled with curiosity, lined the edge of the wharf, talking volubly amongst themselves, while to show their contempt towards the foreign craft they amused themselves by throwing cigarette ends upon her deserted deck.
Down below the crew tumbled; hatches were secured, and the ballast tanks flooded. The "Aphrodite," made fast bow and stern to the wharf by the hempen hawsers, sank till her deck was only a few inches above the water. It was now just after high water, and there was a depth of forty feet alongside the quay.
Then with a jerk the strain on the ropes began to tell, a large portion of the crumbling quay was destroyed and tumbled into the river. Down sank the submarine till the tops of her conning-towers were fifteen feet beneath the surface. She was resting on the bottom of the river.
"Man the aerial torpedo tube, Mr. Kenwyn," ordered the captain. "Give them a sixteen pounds charge."
With a whizz and a roar the projectile leapt through the water and soared four hundred feet in the air. There it burst, the concussion shaking every miserable hovel in Marromea to its foundations. When the "Aphrodite" returned to the surface the quay was deserted; the terrified officials, suffering with injured ear-drums, were skulking in the bush.
"WITH A WHIZZ AND A ROAR THE PROJECTILE LEAPT THROUGH THE WATER."