第13章 THE GREAT WAR SYNDICATE(13)

The motor-bomb had been in the cannon for nearly an hour, and everything had long been ready, when at precisely thirty minutes past four o'clock the signal to discharge came from the Director-in-chief; and in four seconds afterwards the index on the scale indicated that the gun was in the proper position, and the button was touched.The motor-bomb was set to act the instant it should touch any portion of the fort, and the effect was different from that of the other bombs.There was a quick, hard shock, but it was all in the air.Thou- sands of panes of glass in the city and in housesfor miles around were cracked or broken, birds fell dead or stunned upon the ground, and people on elevations at considerable distances felt as if they had received a blow; but there was no trembling of the ground.As to the fort, it had entirely disappeared, its particles having been instantaneously removed to a great distance in every direction, falling over such a vast expanse of land and water that their descent was unobservable.In the place where the fortress had stood there was a wide tract of bare earth, which looked as if it had been scraped into a staring dead level of gravel and clay.The instantaneous motor-bomb had been arranged to act almost horizontally.Few persons, except those who from a distance had been watching the fort with glasses, understood what had happened; but every one in the city and surrounding country was conscious that something had happened of a most startling kind, and that it was over in the same instant in which they had perceived it.Everywhere there was the noise of falling window-glass.There were those who asserted that for an instant they had heard in the distance a grinding crash; and there were others who were quite sure that they had noticed what might be called a flash of darkness, as if something had, with almost unappreciable quickness, passed between them and the sun.When the officers of the garrison mounted the hill before them and surveyed the place where their fort had been, there was not one of them who had sufficient command of himself to write a report of what had happened.They gazed at the bare, staring flatness of the shorn bluff, and they looked at each other.This was not war.It was something supernatural, awful! They were not frightened; they were oppressed and appalled.But the military discipline of their minds soon exerted its force, and a brief account of the terrific event was transmitted to the authorities, and Sergeant Kilsey was sentenced to a month in the guard- house.No one approached the vicinity of the bluff where the fort had stood, for danger might not be over; but every possible point of observation within a safe distance was soon crowded with anxious and terrified observers.A feeling of awe was noticeable everywhere.If people could have had a tangible idea of what had occurred, it would have been different.If the sea had raged, if a vast body of water had been thrown into the air, if a dense cloud had been suddenly ejected from thesurface of the earth, they might have formed some opinion about it.But the instantaneous disappearance of a great fortification with a little more appreciable accompaniment than the sudden tap, as of a little hammer, upon thousands of window-panes, was something which their intellects could not grasp.It was not to be expected that the ordinary mind could appreciate the difference between the action of an instantaneous motor when imbedded in rocks and earth, and its effect, when opposed by nothing but stone walls, upon or near the surface of the earth.Early the next morning, the little fleet of the Syndicate prepared to carry out its further orders.The waters of the lower bay were now entirely deserted, craft of every description having taken refuge in the upper part of the harbour near and above the city.Therefore, as soon as it was light enough to make observations, Repeller No.1 did not hesitate to discharge a motor- bomb into the harbour, a mile or more above where the first one had fallen.This was done in order to explode any torpedoes which might have been put into position since the discharge of the first bomb.There were very few people in the city and suburbs who were at that hour out of doors where they could see the great cloud of water arise toward the sky, and behold it descend like a mighty cataract upon the harbour and adjacent shores; but the quick, sharp shock which ran under the town made people spring from their beds; and although nothing was then to be seen, nearly everybody felt sure that the Syndicate's forces had begun their day's work by exploding another mine.A lighthouse, the occupants of which had been ordered to leave when the fort was evacuated, as they might be in danger in case of a bombardment, was so shaken by the explosion of this motor- bomb that it fell in ruins on the rocks upon which it had stood.The two crabs now took the steel net from its moorings and carried it up the harbour.This was rather difficult on account of the islands, rocks, and sand-bars; but the leading crab had on board a pilot acquainted with those waters.With the net hanging between them, the two submerged vessels, one carefully following the other, reached a point about two miles below the city, where the net was anchored across the harbour.It did not reach from shore to shore, but in the course of the morning two other nets, designed for shallower waters, were brought from the repellers andanchored at each end of the main net, thus forming a line of complete protection against submarine torpedoes which might be sent down from the upper harbour.Repeller No.1 now steamed into the harbour, accompanied by Crab A, and anchored about a quarter of a mile seaward of the net.The other repeller, with her attendant crab, cruised about the mouth of the harbour, watching a smaller entrance to the port as well as the larger one, and thus maintaining an effective blockade.This was not a difficult duty, for since the news of the extraordinary performances of the crabs had been spread abroad, no merchant vessel, large or small, cared to approach that port; and strict orders had been issued by the British Admiralty that no vessel of the navy should, until further instructed, engage in combat with the peculiar craft of the Syndicate.Until a plan of action had been determined upon, it was very desirable that English cruisers should not be exposed to useless injury and danger.This being the state of affairs, a message was sent from the office of the Syndicate across the border to the Dominion Government, which stated that the seaport city which had been attacked by the forces of the Syndicate now lay under the guns of its vessels, and in case of any overt act of war by Great Britain or Canada alone, such as the entrance of an armed force from British territory into the United States, or a capture of or attack upon an American vessel, naval or commercial, by a British man-of-war, or an attack upon an American port by British vessels, the city would be bombarded and destroyed.This message, which was, of course, instantly transmitted to London, placed the British Government in the apparent position of being held by the throat by the American War Syndicate.But if the British Government, or the people of England or Canada, recognized this position at all, it was merely as a temporary condition.In a short time the most powerful men-of-war of the Royal Navy, as well as a fleet of transports carrying troops, would reach the coasts of North America, and then the condition of affairs would rapidly be changed.It was absurd to suppose that a few medium-sized vessels, however heavily armoured, or a few new-fangled submarine machines, however destructive they might be, could withstand an armada of the largest and finest armoured vessels in the world.A ship or two might be disabled, although this was unlikely,now that the new method of attack was understood; but it would soon be the ports of the United States, on both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, which would lie under the guns of an enemy.But it was not in the power of their navy that the British Government and the people of England and Canada placed their greatest trust, but in the incapacity of their petty foe to support its ridiculous assumptions.The claim that the city lay under the guns of the American Syndicate was considered ridiculous, for few people believed that these vessels had any guns.Certainly, there had been no evidence that any shots had been fired from them.In the opinion of reasonable people the destruction of the forts and the explosions in the harbour had been caused by mines-- mines of a new and terrifying power-- which were the work of traitors and confederates.The destruction of the lighthouse had strengthened this belief, for its fall was similar to that which would have been occasioned by a great explosion under its foundation.But however terrifying and appalling had been the results of the explosion of these mines, it was not thought probable that there were any more of them.The explosions had taken place at exposed points distant from the city, and the most careful investigation failed to discover any present signs of mining operations.This theory of mines worked by confederates was received throughout the civilized world, and was universally condemned.Even in the United States the feeling was so strong against this apparent alliance between the Syndicate and British traitors, that there was reason to believe that a popular pressure would be brought to bear upon the Government sufficient to force it to break its contract with the Syndicate, and to carry on the war with the National army and navy.The crab was considered an admirable addition to the strength of the navy, but a mine under a fort, laid and fired by perfidious confederates, was considered unworthy an enlightened people.The members of the Syndicate now found themselves in an embarrassing and dangerous position--a position in which they were placed by the universal incredulity regarding the instantaneous motor; and unless they could make the world believe that they really used such a motor-bomb, the war could not be prosecuted on the plan projected.It was easy enough to convince the enemy of the terrible destruction the Syndicate was able to effect; butto make that enemy and the world understand that this was done by bombs, which could be used in one place as well as another, was difficult indeed.