Orloff took the wheel, and said immediately with an air of great respect,
"You have laid a marvelously straight course, Captain. I was not aware that you were familiar with these waters. The Dogger Bank is right ahead, and we shall reach it in less than an hour."
An hour later I was conscious of a light shock as the submarine stopped.
We had grounded on the sandy shoal of the Dogger, in twenty fathoms of water, and overhead I could see great black shadows sweeping slowly past.
They were cast by the trawlers of the Gamec.o.c.k fleet.
It being still daylight I did not venture to let the submarine show itself on the surface of the sea.
Hugging the bottom, I steered in and out among the great trailing nets of the fisher fleet.
At the same time I ordered my crew to keep a sharp watch for the first submarine, promising fifty marks[B] to the man who sighted her.
[Footnote B: A silver mark is about twenty cents of our money.]
The rest of that day pa.s.sed without anything happening.
As soon as darkness fell I brought my boat up to the surface, partly in order to renew the air supply, and partly to scan the horizon in search of the oncoming Russian fleet.
But thanks to the promptness with which I had gone out to sea I had antic.i.p.ated Rojestvensky by twenty-four hours. The Baltic Fleet was still in Danish waters, waiting to pick up the German pilots who were to lure it from its course.
Finding there were no signs of the Russians, I submerged the submarine, all except the little conning tube, which was invisible in the darkness, and ran in among the English smacks.
As I heard the brave, hardy fishermen talking to one another, the temptation was a strong one to disclose myself, and warn them of the coming peril.
Only my experience of the uselessness of such warnings restrained me.
I knew that these simple, law-abiding citizens would laugh me in the face if I told them that they were in danger from the warships of a foreign Power.
As my unseen vessel glided softly past the side of one fishing-boat, whose name I could just make as the _Crane_, I overheard a few sc.r.a.ps of conversation, which threw a pathetic light on the situation.
"We shall have the Rooshians coming along presently," said one voice.
"No," answered another, "they won"t come anywhere near us. "Tis out of their course."
"They do say the Rooshians don"t know much about seamanship," a third voice spoke out. "Like as not we"ll see their search-lights going by."
"Well, if they come near enough, we"ll give the beggars a cheer; what d"ye say?"
"Aye, let"s. Fair play"s what I wishes "em, and let the best man win."
The words died away along the water, as I drew off and let my craft sink under once again.
That night I slept soundly, making up for the vigil of the night before. The submarine rested on the sea floor, in a hollow of the undulating Bank, and one of the crew kept watch in case a "trawl"
should come too close.
But there was no sign of the mysterious companion which had come out of Kiel Harbor in front of me, and was even now prowling somewhere in the dark depths around.
CHAPTER x.x.xIII
TRAFALGAR DAY
In the morning I was conscious of a certain stir and display on board some of the fishing boats among which I continued to lurk.
At first I supposed that the Baltic Fleet must have been sighted. But in the course of the day I gathered from various cries and shouts which were borne across the water, that the fishermen were keeping the anniversary of the most glorious day in the history of England, the day on which the immortal Nelson annihilated the united fleets of France and Spain, and shattered the dream of the great Napoleon that he could tame the haughty Island Power.
As long as daylight lasted I scoured the sea for a distance of five miles all around the devoted fishing fleet, without coming on the slightest trace of the other submarine.
A delusive hope a.s.sailed me that some accident might have overtaken it. But I did not relax my vigilance, and when night fell I took up a station about a mile in front of the English smacks, in the direction from which I had reason to expect the approach of Rojestvensky.
A few hours elapsed, then my watchfulness was rewarded.
Away down on the horizon toward the northeast, there glittered out a row of twinkling lights, one behind the other, as though a lamp-lit thoroughfare had got afloat and drifted out to sea.
The sinuous streak of lights, shifting as they approached like the coils of some great water-snake, glided toward us at what seemed a fearful speed, and as they drew near the white lights were interspread with green and crimson points, like rubies and emeralds set between rows of diamonds. And ever and anon the swift electric tongues of the search-lights spat forth and licked the dark face of the waters like hungry things.
Keeping my upper deck just awash, I lay still and beheld at last the great black sides of the battleships tower up, pierced with illuminated windows.
My heart began to throb wildly. If only the other submarine failed to appear; if only the English fishermen would realize their danger and flee in time, disaster might be averted.
The hope had scarcely formed itself in my mind when Orloff, who had come to repose confidence in me, respectfully touched my arm and pointed ahead.
Not two hundred yards from me, stealing along about a mile in advance of the Russian fleet, I perceived a small dark object, showing hardly a foot above the surface of the waves.
It was the rival submarine!
Instead of proceeding direct to the Dogger Bank, as I had done, the other boat must have joined Admiral Rojestvensky"s squadron, and come on before it like a jackal pointing out the lion"s prey.
"Go forward," I commanded the German mate. "Let no one disturb me till this business is over."
Orloff gave me a wondering look, but obeyed without an instant"s hesitation.
As soon as his back was turned, I swung the wheel around, put on the full power of the engines, and went after the craft I had been searching for during the last forty-eight hours.
Had the commander of the other submarine noticed mine, and did he suspect my intention to frustrate his design? It almost seemed so.
His boat, scarcely visible in the gloom, fled in front of me to where the foremost fishing boats were riding lazily over the shoals, dragging their nets along the bottom.
It was a weird chase. Neither of us showed a glint of light, or made the smallest sound. Like two great shadowing fish we darted through the depths of the sea, hunter and hunted.
In between the sagging nets with their load of cod and flounders, shot the phantom boat I was pursuing, and I followed, obliged to slacken speed as we twisted in and out under the keels of the unconscious fishermen.
And all this time the huge warships in two lines astern were plunging through the seas, heading straight for the unfortunate smacks.