"Commander wants Carrington."
"You lucky beggar," cried Roy, but Ken was gone like a flash.
"Get along up on deck, soldier," said a bluejacket. ""E"s up there."
Ken was up the ladder almost before the man had finished speaking, and swinging out through the hatch dropped down on to the narrow deck beneath.
There were four men on the deck, namely Lieutenant Strang, his second in command, Sub-Lieutenant Hotham, and two who stood by the gun, a 12-pounder which had been raised from its snug niche in the deck, and was pointed full on the steamer.
The latter was nearer than Ken had thought, and by this time it seemed that her whole crew were in the boats, and the ship herself entirely deserted.
"Ah, Carrington," said the commander. "You"re the man who talks Turkish. I can"t quite make out whether the skipper of this old tub thinks his boats can make the sh.o.r.e or whether he wants a tow. Ask him, will you?"
The Turkish skipper, a greasy-looking ruffian, was in a boat close by. He was gesticulating wildly.
Ken at once hailed him, and asked the necessary question. The man burst into violent speech.
Ken listened, and there was a smile on his face as he turned to the commander.
"He"s only swearing at us, sir, and asking what right we have to sink his ship."
"Tell him he"d better inquire of Enver Bey," was the grim reply, and Ken faithfully repeated the remark, only to hear a volley of curses called down on Enver"s head as well as on his own.
"He can"t do anything but swear, sir," said Ken.
"Well, we"ve no time to waste," said the officer impatiently. "Tell him to clear out as quick as he can. I"m not going to waste sh.e.l.ls on that thing.
A charge of gun-cotton in her hold is all she"s worth."
With much bad language, the Turkish skipper cleared off, and the three boats containing himself and his crew pulled away in the direction of the land, which was just visible on the almost before the words left the commander"s lips, and pulling like fury for the steamer.
"Make for the bows," he heard Strang shout, and he did so.
The distance was nothing--merely a couple of hundred yards. He glanced round over his shoulder, and saw the rusty bows towering above him--saw, too, to his intense relief, that the old man had realised that he was to be rescued and was moving forward.
Ken shipped his sculls. The dinghy glided in under the tall side of the tramp. Ken stood up, and looked round for a rope. He could not see one.
There seemed no way of climbing the perpendicular side of the vessel, yet it was quite clear that the old man could not get down unaided.
Ken saw his face appear over the rail. A gasp of astonishment came from his lips.
"Othman!" he exclaimed. "It"s Othman Pacha!"
It was Othman Pacha, his old friend, the very man who had saved him when his father was arrested. How had he come here? How was it he had been left alone to perish by the crew of the steamer? What did it all mean? These and a dozen other thoughts darted through Ken"s brain with the swiftness of a lightning flash. But above them all came the desperate resolve to save the old man at all costs.
Othman could do nothing to help himself. That was clear on the face of it.
Old and apparently ill, he seemed quite confused and helpless.
Just above his head Ken saw an open port. Standing on the thwart he just managed to reach it. With a desperate effort he drew himself up, and succeeded in getting foothold on the lower rim. There was no way of securing the boat. He had to trust to luck that she would remain where he had left her.
Quickly yet cautiously he raised himself again, and his clutching fingers met the stays of the foremast. Another big pull, and he was level with the rail.
The old Turk stood staring at him, but did not seem to recognise him, and naturally Ken did not wait to explain. Every instant he expected to see the decks burst upwards, and the whole ship fly to pieces. He knew that it could be only a matter of seconds before the explosion took place.
A rope--that was what he wanted most just at that moment, and luckily he had not far to go for one. An untidy coil of line lay close beside the forward hatch.
He sprang for it, whipped it up, and in a trice had put a loop in it, and made a double bight around Othman"s body.
"Over you go, Pacha!" he said with a sharpness which at last reached the muddled brains of the poor old Turk.
Somehow he bundled him over the rail, and lowered him quickly yet carefully into the boat which fortunately remained where he had left it alongside.
"Cast off the rope, Pacha," he shouted in an agony of impatience, and Othman fumblingly tried to obey. Ken saw that he would never do it in time, so rapidly made fast his own end to the rail, and giving one pull to tighten the knot, sprang over.
Fifteen seconds more and he would have been safe. But hardly were his legs over the rail when the explosion came. There was a stunning shock, the whole ship seemed to melt beneath him. A blast of hot air struck him, and the next thing he knew was struggling in the water.
For a second or two he felt half paralysed, and as if he could not use his muscles. He realised that he was sinking, and this gave him such a shock that somehow he managed to pull himself together and strike out.
He came to the surface, dashed the water from his eyes, and the first thing he saw was the dinghy. By a miracle, she was floating unharmed among a ma.s.s of wreckage, but Othman was not in her.
Ken looked round, and saw the old Pacha dangling in the water alongside the swaying steamer. He was tied to her by the rope of which one end was around his body, while the other was still fast to the ship"s rail.
It was a ghastly fix, for it was clear that the steamer was sinking fast.
Another moment, and down she would go, dragging the unfortunate old man with her and Ken too. He knew well enough that, as she sank, she was bound to pull him also down into the vortex, and that from this great eddy he would never have the strength to rise. His one chance for life was to swim away as hard as he could go.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "Ken sprang over."]
But Ken was not the sort to leave a job half-done. It was both or neither, and treading water he fumbled frantically in his pockets for his knife.
With a sigh of relief, his fingers closed upon it; he whipped it out, and opening it with his teeth struck out with all his strength for Othman.
It is no easy matter to cut a slack rope with a small clasp knife, especially when the blade is none too sharp. Ken felt as though he would never get it through.
He heard shouts from the submarine, but could not distinguish words. The steamer was settling fast. Already her rail was almost level with the water.
The last strand parted, and dropping the knife, Ken seized Othman, who by this time was quite insensible, and made for the dinghy with all his remaining strength.
He reached it, and got one arm over the stern. But that was all he could do. It was out of the question for him to lift Othman into the boat. He could not even climb in himself. He was completely done, and could only hang on, panting so that every breath he drew was pain.
From the steamer came the sound of a fresh explosion. The air, confined below, was forcing up her decks. Ken knew that now it was only a question of seconds before she sank, knew, too, that escape was out of the question. The dinghy was bound to be drawn down, and it was not as if the submarine had a second boat which she could send to the rescue.
"All right, Ken. Hold tight. I"ve got you!"
It was Roy"s cheery voice, and Ken suddenly realised that he was there in the water alongside.
"Look out!" Ken managed to gasp. "You"ll only be dragged down too."
"Not a bit of it," Roy answered, as he raised himself and caught hold of the boat. "Don"t you worry, old man. I"ve a rope round me. I"ll hold her."
"Ah, there she goes!" he exclaimed, and as he spoke there was a queer sucking sound, and Ken felt the boat whirl away in the direction of the sinking steamer.