That was a dreadful scene and one I shall never forget. The loud shouting of the men for the Captain to come up to them; the mad running to and fro; the fierce beacon shooting its flames over the rolling waters; the Zero helpless in the trough of the sea—all, I say, contributed to a sense of panic and the belief that nothing could save us.' As for Osbart, his horrid curses made my blood run cold, and I shrank from him as from some devil whom danger had unchained. No lost soul could have uttered sounds more unearthly than this madman who had been touched by the finger of doom.
Here was the turnabout, this the disorder and panic of our decks, when Black appeared suddenly at the ladder's head and roared "Stand by!" in a voice which thundered over the waters.
Never have I seen a change so magical. Men, who had been blubbering like children, stiffened themselves and found tongues to cry, "Aye, aye, sir!" Osbart checked the curse upon his lips and waited with shining eyes to hear the Captain's word. Disorder gave place to the method and the silence of duty as though at the mere presence of the man whom all feared. You could have heard a pin drop while Black strode across the platform and raised his glass to espy the stranger.
"What do you make of her, Dingo?"
"She would be a Dutchman or a German, sir, by the cut of her top hamper."
"Nothing more than that, my man?"
"Unless she's a cruiser in her shore clothes, sir."
"Your eyes do you little credit—never believe more than you can see and but half of that. What has Jack-o'-Lantern got to say about it?"
His confidence in the one-eyed man had always been considerable, and I saw that he listened to him now with bent ear and puckered brow. Nor did the hunchback hesitate to speak his mind.
"I think she's German, sir, and no more than she looks."
Black nodded as though pleased.
"You think well, my man—she's the German liner Borkum, and she sailed from Hamburg to Cherbourg three days ago."
Well, it was a douche upon the panic, and the men started up at it, grown brave in an instant and contemptuous of "liners." I heard the bully Red Roger cry, "To hell with the black caps!" while as for the little Frenchman, he capered like a girl at a fair. The Doctor alone seemed unrelieved by the plain sense of the discovery. Still muttering, he crossed the platform and faced the Captain squarely.
"If she's a liner, what's she want with us, Captain?"
"She wants the twenty thousand pounds offered for you and me, Doctor, by those who have a fancy to see us dance on nothing."
Osbart stamped his foot.
"It's God's truth, and she'll get it."
And then to the men he said:
"I take you all to witness that this is none of my doing. There's a reward of twenty thousand pounds offered ashore for the ship that takes us. Well, that money is as good as paid. Our batteries are out—you know it. We lie here helpless for any man to strike. I say it's none of my doing. Bear witness all to that."
He made a wild appeal to them, but God alone knows what was in his mind. As for Black, I feared at first that he would strike him down where he stood—but that was not the great Captain's way of dealing with a coward; and presently I saw Osbart begin to tremble and quail as though he stood at a judgment seat and the sentence had been passed upon him. Still trembling and with the Captain's eyes fixed upon his face, he drew back as from a blow; and, never once averting his glance, he went slowly down the ladder to his own room. Then, and then alone, the Captain spoke.
"Yon man's no better for an English prison," says he quietly; "he'll be prescribing sulphur for the devil if he don't mind his ways. Take no heed of him, my lads. The Doctor's well enough when we're in southern latitudes; the rest of ye get your arms and stand by for trouble. I'll make those lousy Germans dance the polka, by thunder!"
He gave a secret order to Dingo and the latter went below. The rest of them, according to the command, appeared on deck presently armed to the teeth and as fine a looking lot of desperadoes as ever I hope to look upon. All carried a late pattern of rifle, and there was not a man among them who had not a couple of magazine pistols in his belt. Obedient to Black's order, they now raised a light hood of steel upon the starboard side of the platform and fixed it in its place with metal straps. Then the cover was taken from the gun and a shell thrust into its breech.
Observe that we were now in a measure shut in, the steel screen protecting us from any rifle fire upon our starboard side and forbidding us to take any other than a sitting posture. For all that, we had a clear vision of the open sea and of the steamer gradually drawing near to our beacon, which still flamed fiercely and shed a vast aureole as of blood upon the breakers. Reassured for the moment, the men had worked willingly enough; but when the work was done and we had but to wait for the issue, I could see that the Captain's splendid confidence was not shared by his fellows, and that a black despair again had fallen upon them.
Consider how it stood with us.
The batteries out of the Zero; the liner bearing down upon us; a great ship against which all our trickery could achieve little; other ships to be expected any hour in such a place. And there were but half-a-dozen men to be pitted perhaps against five hundred, and the latter inspired by the greatest reward ever offered by a Government. Was it reasonable to hope that we could weather such circumstances or dare to think of to-morrow? For myself I confess that I did not believe the Zero would be afloat at dawn.
If there were another side to it, Black's demeanour made that possible. I have seen him in many a dangerous hour, but never one which found him cooler. Disdaining the shelter of the platform, he had gone to the crest of the whale-back deck forward, and there he sat, smoking a great cigar and watching the liner's approach as though it were a common event of the day. When I crept up to him, he suffered me to sit there by his side and even deigned to tell me what he would do.
"Well, my lad," said he, "have you come to tell me we are done for?"
"Oh," said I, "that would be from one who did not know you, Captain."
He liked the compliment and nodded his head.
"We must bring her on a cable's length presently," he ran on; "the fire should not stand between us, I'm thinking. Don't you see, my lad, that they'll try to sink the batteries if they are clever. That's been in my mind since first I clapped my eyes on them. We must keep the lubbers off the batteries."
"But," cried I, "your engines are not working."
He laughed loudly.
"The Doctor's been at you," he said, with sly pleasure; "do you think I would sail a ship which must lie flat like a jelly-fish for any wave to swallow? We've a reserve, of course, enough to maœuvre her—no more."
"Then," said I, my heart beating rapidly at the thought, "you could sink if you choose, Captain? Osbart was telling a fool's tale when he said you were helpless."
"A fool's tale, my lad, for I'm never a man to be found helpless. What's truth is that we can't go below until the great battery is aboard. As well might a shark run away from his fins. We'll fight the cabbage-eating swine afloat and leave it at that. You tell me to-morrow whether Black was helpless."
I made no answer, for I could see that some movement on the liner's part had arrested his attention; and now, regardless of the place, he stood up and began to peer into the night. Ten seconds passed, perhaps, and found him motionless. Then he called to Jack-o'-Lantern and gave him an order.
"Dead