"Any wireless message?" asked Captain Restronguet coolly.

"No, sir," replied Kenwyn.

"She's withstood the shock, thank heavens!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Hythe, then, "No, she hasn't, by George! There's 'Out Collision Mats,'" he added, as a bugle rang out from the stricken ship.

"'Vorwartz' is making off, sir," announced Mylor, who had relieved the observer at the electric detector.

"Hard lines on us," exclaimed Captain Restronguet. "What are we to do?

The hour is not anything like up, and no signal of distress from the 'Topaze.' Send them a message, Kenwyn. Wireless, please."

"No reply, sir," announced the second officer after a wait of nearly two minutes.

"Then her wireless is disabled by the shock. Speak her in Morse, Kenwyn.

Ask whether Captain Sedgwyke will release us from the remainder of our period of inaction, as the 'Vorwartz' is now making off in a southerly direction."

But before Kenwyn could get to the flashing signal lamp four loud blasts from the motor fog-horn of the "Topaze" sent forth their cry for urgent a.s.sistance.

"She's settling down by the bows," exclaimed one of the spectators of the ocean drama.

"Full speed ahead," ordered Captain Restronguet. Within five minutes from the request for aid the "Aphrodite" was abreast the stricken vessel at less than a cable's length away. Her fore part, already deep in the water, showed unmistakable signs of the mortal blow she had received.

Her armoured belt, that extended right to the bows, had already disappeared from view, but for nearly thirty feet on the starboard side and nearly opposite the for'ard nine-point-two-inch gun the lighter steel plates were rent and buckled in all directions. Over the gaping wound a collision mat had been placed, but one might as well attempt to stop a mill-stream with a mop-head.

The order had already been given to abandon ship, and with the utmost precision and coolness the seamen were drawn up to await the approach of the cruiser's boats, that were now only a few yards off.

"Do you want me to pick up any of your crew, sir? I'll stand by if you desire it," shouted Captain Restronguet to a solitary figure on the steeply-inclined fore-bridge that the men of the "Aphrodite" recognized as Captain Sedgwyke.

"Thank you," replied the captain of the "Topaze." "We have enough room in the boats for the whole of the ship's company. Do you, sir, kindly take up the work that I had the misfortune to interrupt you in, and may you have better luck."

Captain Restronguet gravely saluted the gallant yet ill-fated officer.

At the same time, although anxious to set off in pursuit, he was loth to leave the cruiser until every man was saved.

"What are you waiting for, sir?" hailed Captain Sedgwyke, his voice barely audible above the hundred different noises emanating from the doomed cruiser, as the water, pouring in, broke down bulkheads, swept buoyant objects 'tween decks in a wild stampede against the part.i.tions, and caused the imprisoned air to escape with a vicious hiss.

"I am standing by," replied Captain Restronguet. "You gave a signal for urgent aid, sir."

"We thought the ship would sink before the boats could arrive," said the captain of the "Topaze." "There is no danger to life. Our consort the 'Pique' is on her way to pick us up."

Still Captain Restronguet stood by. He was not so sure that the "Pique"

might not share the same fate as the "Topaze" since the "Vorwartz,"

going south, was almost bound to fall in with the British cruiser from Delagoa Bay.

Just then the "Topaze" gave a sudden lurch to starboard, heeling so much that the line of men still remaining on board was broken. But only for an instant, it was the unexpected lurch and not panic that caused the seamen to move out of position. Sharply they redressed line--and waited.

Boat after boat received its full complement, and pushed off to a safe distance lest the cruiser in her final plunge should swamp them. Not until the last of his officers and men had taken to the boats did the gallant captain descend from the bridge.

It was touch and go with him, for to gain the boat he had to wade up to his waist in water that swirled over the steeply sloping decks.

"She's going!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Devoran.

Heeling more and more the "Topaze" turned completely on end, so that the whole length of her keel plates and her four propellers were out of water. Then, slipping bows foremost, she disappeared from view in a smother of foam, leaving only an expanse of oil and petrol, a few floating pieces of timber and her boats to mark the grave of a splendid cruiser. Twenty seconds after she had disappeared the m.u.f.fled sound of an explosion--the bursting of the air in one of her compartments--threw up a column of water that almost swamped the nearest boat, the gig in which Captain Sedgwyke had taken refuge. That was the last message from the "Topaze" as she sped to her ocean grave one hundred and eighty fathoms beneath the surface.

CHAPTER XXVII.

A PILOT UNDER COMPULSION.

Dawn was just breaking as the "Pique" arrived on the scene of the disaster. Her escape, of which her crew were totally in ignorance, was owing solely to the fact that Karl von Harburg had fired his last torpedo at the ill-fated "Topaze." His means of offence were now reduced, for the power of being able to deliver his antagonist a smashing blow below the surface was no longer possible: he could only ram. Yet the captain of the "Vorwartz" hesitated to attempt to deal thus with the "Pique." The British cruiser had pa.s.sed within two cables' length of where the modern buccaneer was running beneath the surface; but the risks to himself by ramming a large armoured vessel travelling at thirty knots were far too great.

Seeing that he could render no further a.s.sistance Captain Restronguet ordered the "Aphrodite" to be submerged. It was the safest plan, for although he communicated with the "Pique" by wireless, the message was not in code, and the British cruiser, determined to take no risks, might open fire at the submarine.

The position of the "Vorwartz" was now, according to the detector, forty miles S.W. of her pursuer. When Captain Restronguet came to fix her position on the chart he knitted his brows in perplexity. The rival submarine was, if his information was correct, actually within the delta of the great Zambezi River.

"Now we have her!" exclaimed Captain Restronguet gleefully. "It will be a bit of a shock to Von Harburg when he finds that his return journey is barred by the only craft he feared and one that he thought he had destroyed."

"Do you think he's heard that the 'Aphrodite' was not smashed up after all?" asked Hythe.

"It is doubtful. If he has I can only conjecture that he has decided to ascend the Zambezi in the hope of eluding us. Otherwise I cannot suggest any reason unless he wishes to form a base in this unhealthy Portuguese territory since his Sumatran refuge is closed to him."

"I have heard that the district is reeking with fever, sir," remarked the sub. "Many times men-of-war have sent exploring parties up the river and almost invariably some, and once every man, of the crew have been stricken down. The Portuguese have, apparently, taken no active steps to rid the locality of the mosquitoes. If the deadly climate could be rendered habitable, as in the case of the Ca.n.a.l Zone at Panama, the Zambezi would be one of the greatest trading arteries of the world."

"Some day it will," said Captain Restronguet. "The British Government has had its eye upon Portuguese East Africa for some time. Could the Portuguese Republic be induced to sell it there would be a splendid outlet for Rhodesia, and under active management the Zambezi would make a splendid waterway. Even now it is navigable as far as Kebraba.s.sa Falls, nearly three hundred miles from the delta."

"It strikes me, sir, that we shall be grilling in a fetid atmosphere before many hours are past," observed Devoran. "Why couldn't Karl von Harburg stick to the sea?"

"There's nothing like variety," replied Captain Restronguet complacently. "After we've settled with the 'Vorwartz' we may have a little shooting; lions and rhinos are fairly plentiful, to say nothing of smaller fry. But I do not think we need entertain fears of the climate. It is only at night that the pestilential mists are really dangerous. Every day just before sunset, we will submerge the 'Aphrodite,' since there is reason to suppose there are deep holes in the bed of the river for this to be done even if the normal depth is insufficient. We shall not thus be inhaling the noxious gases, nor be exposed to the attacks of mosquitoes and other germ-bearing insects; whilst river-water pa.s.sed through our condensers will be perfectly drinkable."

According to the rosy views held by the captain of the "Aphrodite" the new phase of the cruise was to be a sort of picnic; but he had reckoned without his host.

On arriving off the First Bluff Point, on the western side of the main outlet of the Zambezi, it was found that there was such a heavy tumble on the bar that to attempt to cross it would be an impossible task.

The detector showed that the "Vorwartz" was maintaining her distance; evidently she was in luck, and had negotiated the difficult entrance in the nick of time.

For twenty-eight days the "Aphrodite" lay in sight of the clump of high, straight trees, that lay very close together, giving the point the appearance of a cliff, to which the name of First Bluff Point owes its origin.

Meanwhile the news of the great disaster to H.M.S. "Topaze" had been sent by wireless to Cape Town by the captain of the "Pique," and in a very short s.p.a.ce of time the Admiralty were in possession of the salient facts of the latest outrage by Karl von Harburg. There was a panic amongst the merchantmen in East African waters; the scanty harbours of that coast were filled with ships whose skippers feared to put to sea.

Even the mail-boats took particular care to give the supposed cruising-ground of the "Vorwartz" a wide berth; while the liners running between London and Liverpool and Australia and New Zealand abandoned the Cape route and stuck to that via Cape Horn.

People began to ask what was the use of having command of the sea when one solitary submarine could do practically what it liked beneath the surface. Vast sums had been spent to keep the British navy in a state of efficiency and numerical supremacy; money had been poured out like water to provide defence against hostile aircraft that might menace our sh.o.r.es; yet one submarine--not a new invention, but merely a great improvement on existing types--was playing a one-sided game not only with British shipping, but with the mercantile marine of the whole of the nautical world. And now even warships were being sent to the bottom without so much as a glimpse of the attacker.

In the midst of this gloomy outlook came a consoling gleam of light.

The "Aphrodite" was now known to have survived the attack made upon her by her rival; and to Captain Restronguet the entire civilized world pinned its faith.

Although Captain the Hon. C. L. Sedgwyke had refused to make any public statement concerning the disaster to his ship until the impending court martial took place, he telegraphed a full report to the Admiralty. It was the plain, unvarnished story of a brave yet unfortunate British officer. He laid particular emphasis upon the fact that Captain Restronguet was in the "Aphrodite," ready and willing to grapple with the modern buccaneer, but only at earnest solicitation of the captain of the "Topaze" did he stand pa.s.sively aloof in order to give the British cruiser a chance to distinguish herself.

Britons are generally supposed to be a phlegmatic race, but when they have an attack of hero-worship they get it pretty badly. Captain John Restronguet was the hero of the day. A photograph that an amateur photographer on the "Persia" took of him during the "Aphrodite's"

pa.s.sage through the Red Sea appeared in all the papers, edition de luxe copies were sold by hundreds of thousands, and the firm who bought the copyright for one guinea made nearly 30,000 out of the transaction.