Doris was leaning over the table by the side of Lieutenant Murphy. In front of her was a paper. The lovely face, oddly boyish under its cap, was wrinkled with scrutiny.
"It is special orders," she said at length, "addressed to Admiral Kiderlen-Waechter. The plans are to be taken on board the submarine at once." Her voice broke for the moment, but she made a great effort at control, and the next words came from her slowly and distinctly. To me, I think to all of us, they were like the strokes of a tolling bell.
"_The German battleship, Friesland, has eluded our Fleet in the North Sea. Our Fleet has been decoyed towards the Scotch coast by a sortie of the enemy from Kiel. The battleship is approaching this part of England.
She is attended by destroyers and submarines. She is convoying three troop-ships, each of which contains two thousand German troops. The rendezvous is for two o"clock to-morrow afternoon, when Captain von Benda is to deliver my stepfather"s plans to the German Admiral. The landing of the raiding force is to be effected on these marshes some time during to-morrow night._"
"To-night," said my brother, looking at his watch and snapping it into his pocket.
Then there was a dead silence.
Bernard sat down at the table and buried his head in his hands, motioning us to be silent. For fully five minutes he remained thus, and what was going on within his mind I could but faintly guess. I knew, at any rate, and so, I think, did old Lieutenant Murphy, how enormous and incalculable were the issues that hung upon the decision of the young Commander, whose face was hidden from us.
When Bernard looked up again his eyes were very bright and he was smiling.
"Go on deck, John," he said, "and order the men to come down."
They came down, and Scarlett had upon his arm another bundle of clothes.
"Attention!" said my brother.
The three sailors stood stiffly by the door.
"d.i.c.kson major!"--d.i.c.kson major came out of the galley.
"d.i.c.kson max.!"--the elder brother sprang to attention also.
"John!"--I stood as stiffly as the rest.
"These men are under my orders, and they will go to death with me. You three are different. There is no time to explain everything now, but there is just a chance of saving this country from disaster. It is only a chance, mind. It is a forlorn hope. We may fail in half an hour: we may fail in twenty-four hours. In fact, it is almost certain that we shall. Still, are you coming?"
Well, of course there wasn"t any palaver about that. It was settled in a minute. Then Bernard turned to old Murphy.
"Lieutenant," he said, "I am sorry that we are not going to have you with us, but you"ve got plenty to do ash.o.r.e."
"I"m d.a.m.ned sorry too, sir, for, by George, I"d like to have a smack at "em before I die!"
"You may yet. Now, please take your instructions. You know the marsh.
Get off with Miss Joyce as quickly as possible. Take her to join her sister at the Morstone Arms. Then call up the coastguard for miles round. Come here to this Hulk--you won"t see us in any case--and have the prisoners secured safely. Then send these despatches."
My brother sat down and began to write in cipher on leaves torn from his notebook. He looked up once.
"John," he said, "suppose you go up on deck with Doris. Make not the slightest noise, but make your adieux."
We stole up, and I held my girl in my arms for a minute. She did not see the dark stains which splashed the snow upon the boards.
"Good-bye, dear," I said. "Remember that I loved you more than anything else in the whole world!"
Oh, she was wonderful! "Of course, I shall always remember how you left me to-night," she whispered. "But you are coming back. Something tells me that. Yesterday I was a quiet girl living an ordinary life. To-night, nothing can disturb me, nothing can frighten me. I have supped too full of horrors, dear John, but I am glad, and proud and happy!"
It is hardly necessary to say more. Within five minutes the old lieutenant and my girl had pa.s.sed away like ghosts from the near sh.o.r.e and I was down in the cabin again.
Bernard was taking off his clothes and putting on those of the dead captain of the submarine. Scarlett and Adams were already dressed in the uniform of the German sailors. Bosustow stood in his shirt and drawers, and so did my two school-boys.
"You see, it"s like this, Johnny," Bernard said. "As far as we can judge, there are about twelve men in that submarine. We"ve got to kill them; there is no other way. We"ve got to take that submarine out into the North Sea and we have got to fight her ourselves. The Germans will be looking out for us. They will think us their despatch boat right enough. We may be able to stop them before our own supports get out of Harwich, for Lieutenant Murphy will be telegraphing all over the country within two hours. It is touch and go, but we"ve got to do it."
There was an odd, dual sound, instantly suppressed. I looked sternly towards the end of the saloon. It came from d.i.c.kson max. and d.i.c.kson major, and if it was not a chuckle of intense and supreme delight, it was a strangled "hooray." The three sailors standing at attention moved not an inch, but I caught Scarlett winking at his right-hand man.
Bernard smiled grimly for an instant. I knew the signs. He was really happy. Then he went on.
"Now, Scarlett and Adams will row the boat to the submarine. I shall sit in the stern impersonating the captain, who has recently been killed in action"--and, to my surprise, Bernard saluted. "You will be in the bows, John, and they may take you for that fellow, Schweitzer, in there.
Bosustow, and Mr. d.i.c.kson, and Mr.----" he looked inquiringly at d.i.c.kson major.
"Harold," was the reply.
"Oh yes, Mr. Harold d.i.c.kson will swim in the wake of the boat. We have eight magazine pistols. Three will be in the sternsheets. The brevet-lieutenants and the petty officer"--you should have seen my lads"
faces as they were commissioned!--"will swim to the ladder on the submarine"s quarter and follow us down. But be careful that, in the rough and tumble, you don"t shoot any of the first attacking party. Is all clear?"
"Certainly, sir," said d.i.c.kson max., with a sublime and effective impudence I could never have compa.s.sed. Already, in his magnificent mind, d.i.c.kson max. trod the quarter-deck and wore a sword. And the curious thing was, as we all crept up to the deck, that those tried veterans, Scarlett, Adams, and Bosustow, accepted the situation without a doubt.
Then we started. My brother gripped me by the hand as I went down the ladder, and it was the only sign of emotion that he showed.
"Good old John!" he whispered. "I"ve sent Marjorie a message by Doris."
The submarine lay in the middle of the Creek, a hundred and fifty to two hundred yards away. As our boat drew near, the moonlight became obscured and there was a sudden drift of snow. We shot alongside, and there was a gleam from a lantern shining down upon us.
It showed me a curving steel ladder, which went up over the fish-back of the thing to a long, low deck with a light railing running round it. Two men were standing there, and as we made fast, one of them came half-way down the ladder and held out his hand to me. I took it, stumbled for an instant, and found myself upon the steel platform. At my back, the conning-tower rose eight feet high above me. Within three yards was an oblong hatchway, from which a faint, orange light came upwards, turning the snowflakes to dingy gold.
Scarlett was beside me in a second. I took the man nearest and caught him by the throat. He had no time to gasp or cry out. I pressed him back over the rail, which held--Krupp steel, I suppose. There was a slight "snick"--it was not that of breaking metal--and I shot the sailor over the far side, where he sank like a log.
Then I turned. A furious and silent fight was going on between Scarlett and the other seaman. They swayed and rocked this way and that. They panted just like the sound of a bellows blowing up a fire. I waited, trying to get in a grip. Figures moved past me and disappeared down the hatchway, but I hardly saw them. Scarlett swung his enemy towards the conning-tower, and then I got my chance. I "collared him low"--Rugger three-quarter style--and brought him down upon the deck. The man gave a loud shout, but it was drowned by a furious noise below. There was no more necessity for silence. I pulled out my pistol and there was an end of the German. Scarlett jumped up like a gymnast, and together we heaved the body overboard.
"The swine"s bin and bit my ear!" said Scarlett. "Now then, sir, come on!" and he swung himself over the hatchway and dropped.
I followed. It is impossible to describe what I saw--at any rate, my pen is not equal to the task. For a moment, I was blinded by brilliant light, through which a mult.i.tude of figures danced and leapt, like people in a dream. My ear-drums were almost split by the noise. There was a horrible, bitter smell in my nostrils, and my throat felt as if I was swallowing a bullet of lead.
Then, as things cleared, and I suppose it could only have been an instant before they did so, I found myself in a gleaming tunnel, surrounded by unfamiliar machinery.
A man lying within three yards of me, his face like wet, red velvet, suddenly jerked up his body like a marionette. His arms shot out, there was a deafening explosion, and something rang behind my head like a gong smitten without warning. I shot him in the body, and then I saw three dripping figures growling and worrying upon the floor like wolves. They rolled about with a crash and clank of metal until the great arm of the Cornishman, Bosustow, rose and fell three times like a flail.
At the far end of the tunnel, there were more reports, and then I saw my brother walking along a sort of grating and coming towards me.
Everything seemed to rock and dissolve. I fell back against an upright of some sort or other and my senses nearly went. I thought I was in bed at Morstone House School and the seven-o"clock bell was tolling.
Once more, things cleared. Everything gradually became distinct. The infernal noise, the wild welter of sound, was hushed. Only two yards away from me, a man dressed as a sailor was kneeling before my brother, who held a pistol to his head. The man"s hands were held up, his face was a white wedge of terror, and a constant stream of words bubbled from his livid lips.
"Yes, sir. Karl, sir. Coming, sir. Porterhouse steak, sir, what you always used to like. No, sir--Swiss really--not a German. Oh, Captain Carey, don"t kill me, sir"--the voice rose into a shriek of agony--"_I am Karl, sir!_"--the words came in an ecstasy of conviction. "Karl, head-waiter at the Portsmouth Royal! Why, sir, you"ve tipped me half a crown twenty times. Oh, sir ..."
My brother"s face seemed cut in granite, but he began to laugh.