And now she spoke from her stern guns, but not allowing sufficiently for her height, the first stinging flight of sh.e.l.ls went over the catcher.
"Stand by the six-pounders!" cried the Captain, his voice rising to a roar. "Depress your muzzle, Mr Webster! Fire!"
Again there was another tremendous fusillade, continuous and deafening, while the men"s eyes smarted from the sulphur in the smoke, and their throats grew dry and husky. For five minutes the rain of lead was kept up, and from the three guns one hundred projectiles tore into the sloop, plunged along the port side, and shattered her rigging. Lieutenant Webster devoted his second storm of fire at the stern guns, and the stanchions and bulwarks about them were ripped up, and the guns themselves dismounted.
The order to cease fire was again given, and the Captain made a point to starboard just as the sloop was swinging round to bring her port broadside to bear.
The ships were now but two hundred yards off, the sloop bearing off from the port quarter of the catcher in her attempt to come round and bring her bow guns to bear. Once she could do that she could blow the _Swift_ out of the water, but Captain Pardoe had foreseen the manoeuvre and was ready for it. Counting upon the narrow turning power of his boat, he swept on, and suddenly put the wheel hard to port, bringing the vessel round within her own length, and bringing the boats stern to stern. At the same moment he flashed the signal below to fire the stern torpedoes.
Then he stepped out to watch the effect, and the men, with heaving chests and smoke-blackened faces, from which their eyes glared with the fever of battle, watched too. There was a cry from the deck of the sloop, as they saw the leap from the tubes of the two torpedoes, a hoa.r.s.e cry from the Captain to the man at the wheel, a terrible pause, and then two lines of bubbles below the water marked the swift rush of the deadly tubes. One line, it was seen, would continue free of the ship, the other went straight for her stern, and a sailor, in a mad fit of rage, first discharged his rifle at the approaching torpedo, then plunged overboard with a wild yell. A moment later there was a m.u.f.fled roar, a vast column of water was thrown up, followed by a rending and grinding noise. The stern of the sloop was raised, then settled down in the trough of a great sea raised by the explosion. The torpedo had reached its mark, and Captain Pardoe stood by to give what a.s.sistance he could.
There was the wildest consternation on board the sloop, and the rending noise continued; but though she lay helplessly on the water she showed no signs of sinking.
The men on board the _Swift_ set up a hoa.r.s.e cheer, and shook each other by the hand.
"It"s twenty minutes since we went into action," said Webster, wiping the blood from his brow. "Three cheers for our Captain, men!" and waving his hat, he led the hurrahs.
"For the love of G.o.d," cried a voice in English from the sloop, "help us!"
"Strike your flag!" cried the Captain.
The gay flag came down, and the Captain brought the _Swift_ nearer.
"What is the matter?"
"Your cursed torpedo has blown away our propeller, and the shaft--oh, Sancta Maria!--listen to it!--is breaking the ship."
"Why don"t you shut off steam?"
"Our engineer is dead. Demonios! Don"t talk, but act."
"I"ll send our engineer to you."
"Quick, quick!"
Mr Dixon came up from the bowels of the _Swift_, where, without the stimulant of action, he had stood by his work, animating his men with a quiet courage, which was the finer because he stood in absolute darkness regarding the progress of the fight, and knew that at any moment he might be sent to the bottom a helpless victim in an iron prison. His face was white and streaming with perspiration, and at the first touch of the cold air he reeled with dizziness, but when told what was required of him, he prepared for his new task without a word. The _Swift_ moved gently under the tall sides of the sloop, and the engineer, with Webster, Hume, and six men, were quickly on board. Mr Dixon went at once to the engine-room, whence proceeded a truly infernal din.
"Where Is the Captain?" asked Webster of a dozen men round him.
A short, thick-set, bullet-headed man, with a neck like a bull, and moustaches that reached up to his ears, stepped forward.
"Your sword, Senor Juarez!"
"I must know to whom I am asked to surrender."
"To the National flag," said Webster haughtily.
"Carambo! that is an excellent jest. Is the flag broad enough to cover the ships of every nation? And why should I surrender my sword?" he asked, with a fierce scowl, while his officers drew near threateningly.
Webster stepped quickly to the bulwarks, and called to Captain Pardoe to stand away.
That officer went at once full speed astern, and lay-to a cable length off, with the men at their guns.
"You see?" said Webster.
The Brazilian Captain, with a terrible malediction, broke his sword over his knee.
"A thousand thunders!" he roared, while the black blood swelled in his temples, "to think I should have been beaten by that--that thing--and scarcely a boat"s crew hurt!"
"It is the fortune of war," said Webster, looking around. "But while we talk the ship may be sinking for want of a little sailor-like care.
Have you a spare sail, senor?"
The Brazilian Captain folded his arms and spat on the deck.
"You surly brute!" cried Webster. "Here, men, cut away the mizzen sail!"
In a trice the British sailors swarmed up to the mizzen yard and cast loose the sail, which came down with a thud, knocking a couple of yellow-faced sailors off their legs, whereat the tars up aloft laughed.
At this a dozen of the enemy drew their knives and looked to their Captain for a word.
It was a ticklish moment, and Hume pulled out a revolver, which he instantly presented at Juarez.
"Good, my lad," said Webster. "Shoot him down if he moves a foot. Do you understand, senor?"
Juarez glared like a wild beast, and a hoa.r.s.e, unintelligible cry escaped from his thick lips, but he kept quiet, while Webster, without another look at the scowling group, quickly slipped the great sail over the side, and had it drawn round and up over the damaged stern.
In the meantime Mr Dixon, working down below, had stopped the engines and explored the shaft funnel, ascertaining the extent of the damage done by the shaft in its unchecked revolutions. He came on deck, wearied out, to be met by dark looks.
"What"s the meaning of this?" said he.
"The meaning is," cried Webster, with a bitter look of contempt round, "that these cowardly hounds won"t lift a finger to help us, and I"m d.a.m.ned if my men will do another stroke to save them! Let the ship sink, and she is sinking fast."
"And you"ll sink with us!" roared Juarez. "Down with them; slit their throats!"
There was a rush of men, and the little party were hemmed in.
A young officer bounded forward with drawn sword, and wheeling round, faced his men.
"Diavolo!" he hissed through his clenched teeth, "what devil"s game is this? You called to these gentlemen in your fear to help you, and now you would turn on them like base a.s.sa.s.sins. I tell you," he cried pa.s.sionately, "it shall not be!"
Webster and Hume, with their blue eyes flashing, ranged up on either side of their unexpected friend, while the British tars stood with their cutla.s.ses ready.
Captain Pardoe, seeing something amiss, drew near. "Do you hear," he shouted, "if you harm my men I"ll let go a torpedo."
The young officer repeated the message, and the men whispered among themselves, then threw down their arms.
Juarez shot a venomous look at his officer, and placed his foot upon a knife, which, presently, he drew toward him.
Webster thanked the gallant foe for his a.s.sistance, and a.s.sured him that the sloop would keep afloat until they reached Madeira. He then turned to the side to speak to Captain Pardoe, while Frank Hume walked aft to see what damage had been wrought by the fire of the catcher.
There was a cry, and they turned to see the young officer fall, struck to the heart by the vengeful Captain. The next instant Juarez himself was cut to the deck by a slashing blow from a cutla.s.s.