Читать книгу The Rival Submarines - Percy Francis Westerman - Страница 9

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For several minutes Arnold Hythe sat motionless, watching the rapidly-changing objects that flitted across the inclined mirror. Captain Restronguet made no attempt to distract his attention, but standing with folded arms he watched with feelings of satisfaction the effects of the spectacle upon the young officer's face.

"Wonderful!" exclaimed the sub at length.

"You think so, Mr. Hythe? Let me assure you that this view is nothing to what I can show you. Suppose we take a stroll for'ard?"

The captain opened the door of his cabin.

"You will excuse me preceding you," he remarked apologetically. "We will proceed to the fore conning-tower. Oh, yes, the 'Aphrodite' has two. That accounts for the reports of the master of the 'Barberton Castle,' that he sighted two submarines lying side by side. As a matter of fact he saw the two conning-towers of the 'Aphrodite' against the light, and influenced by the fact that he had hitherto seen submarines with single conning-towers he was misled. Had he really seen two submarines"--and here Captain Restronguet's features darkened ominously--"he would have witnessed a catastrophe to one of them. But of that I will say more later. Suppose we look into this compartment on our way for'ard."

Hythe's guide rolled back a sliding-hatch that communicated with the men's quarters--a fairly spacious room on the starboard side amidships. To the sub's surprise he saw O'Shaunessey.

"Holy St. Pathrick!" ejaculated the seaman, almost forgetting in his excitement to salute. "Faith! sorr, how came you in this shebeen? Sure, I thought 'twas meself only as these rascally foreign spalpeens 'ad taken."

"They collared me too, O'Shaunessey," answered Hythe.

"Bad cess to them!" continued the gigantic Irishman, shaking his fist in the direction of half a dozen almost as powerfully built men who were imperturbably regarding their captive. "They tackled me with some insthrument, an' I couldn't raise me hand in self defence. They must have known that I could never stand being tickled, the ign'rant foreigners."

"Why foreigners, O'Shaunessey?" asked the sub, while Captain Restronguet gave a low chuckle.

"Ain't they foreigners, bedad? I prached to 'em like the blessed St. Pathrick held forth to the sarpints, an' all they did was to shake their heads."

"There is no necessity to keep up this pretence any longer, men," exclaimed Captain Restronguet. "This sailor must be treated as one of yourselves for the time being. You might reassure him, Mr. Hythe, for in spite of our electric treatment he seems inclined to be troublesome, and a good deal of damage might be done if we have to use strong measures."

"Look here, O'Shaunessey," said the sub, "we must make the best of our present position. This gentleman, Captain Restronguet, will doubtless put us ashore in good time," and with a swift look that the sailor rightly interpreted that he must keep his weather eye lifting, Hythe followed the captain out of the compartment.

"This is the for'ard double bulkhead," explained Captain Restronguet, as the pair came to the doors that Hythe had previously noticed. "The 'Aphrodite' is built in three separate sections, any of which can, in a case of emergency, be detached from the remaining portion and still remain watertight. The midship sections at the two principal bulkheads are identical. Thus if the centre compartment should happen to be holed the fore and after sections can be detached, brought together, and secured. We would then still be a submarine of two-thirds the length of the present one. In the foremost section are the offensive appliances, subsidiary motors, and certain stores. The midship portion forms the living space for the crew, main store rooms, etc.; the after section contains the officers' cabins, and underneath them the main propelling machinery. In each section is a diving-chamber capable of being flooded in order to allow the crew to leave the vessel when occasions arise. The exit in the midship section is on Number Two Platform; in the others it is on Number Three."

"Sounds like a railway station," thought Hythe; then--

"What do you mean by platforms?" he asked.

"You might prefer to call them decks, Mr. Hythe. Number One is literally on deck, and extends practically the whole length and breadth of the vessel. Her sections are, as you doubtless have observed, almost square, the ridges of the deck and the bilges being very slightly rounded off. This gives plenty of space for the crew when running on the surface, and also enables the 'Aphrodite' to rest on the bottom of the sea without any perceptible list, unless, of course, the bed shelves at all. Number Two Platform--but perhaps you are not interested?"

"Rather!" exclaimed the young officer eagerly.

"Well, then, Number Two Platform runs fore and aft at nine feet below the overhead girders, so there is no necessity to have to stoop when in any of the compartments or alley-ways. Number Three Platform rests on the cross girders that are bolted to the keelson, and being airtight form a hollow bottom. As a matter of fact these double bottom compartments are nearly always filled with water, which can be ejected by powerful, quick-delivery force pumps when necessary. Here is the door in the base of the for'ard conning-tower."

Unfastening the door by a cam-action lever Captain Restronguet agilely negotiated the narrow way and sprang up a steel ladder. Hythe followed and found himself standing on a metal grating in the company of the captain and a quarter-master. The latter took no notice of his superiors beyond moving a little to one side; his whole attention was fixed upon the task of steering the submerged craft.

The interior of the conning-tower was literally lined with electrical appliances, each switch distinctly marked according to the work it had to perform, but for the moment the sub paid scant heed to them. His eyes travelled in the direction of one of three large oval scuttles filled with plate glass.

The submersion indicator pointed to thirty-four feet, a depth that allowed the "Aphrodite" to pass under the keel of the deepest draughted battleship afloat, with five feet to spare. The compass pointed due east.

"We are just pottering about, as it were, between the Draystone and the Mewstone," announced Captain Restronguet. "The depth here averages ten fathoms, which gives us a margin of five feet under our keel. There is a battleship coming out of harbour, she is now in Smeaton Pass, and we are waiting for her to draw clear. On a falling tide we must take no risks."

"What do you mean?" asked Hythe.

"Simply that as soon as the vessel is outside the Breakwater I mean to take the 'Aphrodite' into the Hamoaze, and give you a chance to see that historic stretch of water under slightly different conditions from that which you have been accustomed to, Mr. Hythe. You were in the submarine service, I believe?"

"Yes," assented the sub. "But how do you know that?"

"Merely by a reference to the Navy List. But look ahead; see that object dead in line with our bows?"

"An electro-contact mine, by Jove!" exclaimed Hythe.

"Right again. Since the beginning of this German war-scare, which I venture to predict will pass away, unless my powers of reasoning play me false, the approaches to all British ports of any magnitude, especially the naval ones, have been strewn with these contrivances. Watch."

A slight touch on the switch controlling the helm and the "Aphrodite" swung away to starboard, clearing the deadly mine by less than twenty feet. Another loomed up ahead, only to be avoided by another touch of the helmsman's finger.

"I do not want to boast," remarked Captain Restronguet, "but I have enough electrical energy stored within this vessel to explode simultaneously every mine, be it a mechanical, observation, or electro-contact one, in Plymouth Sound, and even seriously imperil every fort and ship in the vicinity. Some day I may have to put the powers at my command to a stern test, but until the necessity actually arises I prefer to exploit the 'Aphrodite' solely as an example of what I am capable of producing in the interests of science. Look out of that scuttle on your left; what do you see?"

"A regular pile of huge stones," replied the sub.

"The eastern extremity of that wonderful work known as Plymouth Breakwater. We are now in only forty-five feet of water allowing for the state of the tide. The top of our conning-towers are but fifteen feet above the surface, yet I can assert with confidence that anyone standing on Staddon Heights and looking down upon this channel from an altitude of not less than three hundred and fifty feet would not see the faintest sign of the 'Aphrodite.'"

"What causes her to be almost invisible?" asked Hythe. "Are her plates made of or faced with glass?"

"Oh, no. Glass would not serve the purpose. The light would be reflected too much. In fact the 'Aphrodite' would be a huge heliograph, sending out rays of reflected sunlight in all directions. The composition placed over the steel plating of this submarine is a secret. All I can say at present is that it has the power to reflect the image of near objects only. It absorbs all brilliant rays of light, and is in consequence an almost perfect form of invisibility."

"What is that?" asked Hythe excitedly, pointing to a sudden turmoil in the water ahead.

"Only the action of the triple propellers of a torpedo-boat-destroyer. We are overhauling her. Ease down to ten knots, Carnon. She's off through the Asia Pass. There's not enough water for us; so let her come round to starboard."

The quartermaster telegraphed for speed to be reduced; the submarine turned towards the deeper Smeaton Pass, leaving the destroyer, in blissful ignorance of the proximity of the much-searched-for Captain Restronguet, to take the short cut into the Hamoaze.

"Now we can take things more easily," observed the captain after awhile. "The channel is now ninety feet deep, although we are but a few hundred yards from Plymouth Hoe. We are now approaching the Drake Channel, between the Victualling Yard and Drake's Island."

"However do you contrive to find your way about in a complicated waterway like this?" asked the sub, who was well acquainted with the above water navigation of that part of Plymouth Sound within the Breakwater. "You have no periscope?"

"A periscope would soon give the show away," observed his companion. "For the present, we simply rely upon the chart and compass, and look out for the sudden shelving of the bottom. See, there! Hard a starboard, quartermaster: there's the Vanguard Bank dead ahead."

From almost due south the "lubber's line" in the compass-bowl pointed to almost due north. The "Aphrodite" had reached the "Narrows" between the Devil's Point and Cremyll.

At a word from Captain Restronguet the quartermaster set the engine room telegraph indicator to stop; another movement, a gentle hiss betokened the admittance of water into one of the sub-compartments of the vessel. Then slowly and mysteriously the "Aphrodite" sank in twenty-two fathoms of water to the bed of the narrow channel.

At that depth, and owing to the swift-running tide, charged with the mud brought down by the River Tamar, the water was so thick that, till the electric lamps were switched on, the submarine was in total darkness.

"Prepare to anchor," ordered Captain Restronguet through a telephone.

"Good!" he ejaculated, after about a minute had elapsed. "Now, Mr. Hythe, you must be feeling hungry; so will you do me the honour of having lunch in my cabin?"