第20章 THE GREAT WAR SYNDICATE(20)

She now moved slowly through the water, and her men greeted the advancing crabs with yells of defiance, and a shower of shot from machine guns.The character of the new defence which had been fitted to the Llangaron was known to the Syndicate, and the directors of the two new crabs understood the heavy piece of work which lay before them.But their plans of action had been well considered, and they made straight for the stern of the British ship.It was, of course, impossible to endeavour to grasp that great cylinder with its rounded ends; their forceps would slip from any portion of its smooth surface on which they should endeavour to lay hold, and no such attempt was made.Keeping near the cylinder, one at each end of it, the two moved slowly after the Llangaron, apparently discouraged.In a short time, however, it was perceived by those on board the ship that a change had taken place in the appearance of the crabs; the visible portion of their backs was growing larger and larger; they were rising in the water.Their mailed roofs became visible from end to end, and the crowd of observers looking down from the ship were amazed to see what large vessels they were.Higher and higher the crabs arose, their powerful air-pumps working at their greatest capacity, until their ponderous pincers became visible above the water.Then into the minds of the officers of the Llangaron flashed the true object of this uprising, which to the crew had seemed an intention on the part of the sea- devils to clamber on board.If the cylinder were left in its present position the crab might seize the chains by which it was suspended, while if it were raised it would cease to be a defence.Notwithstanding this latter contingency, the order was quickly given to raise the cylinder; but before the hoisting engine had been set in motion, Crab Q thrust forward her forceps over the top of the cylinder and held it down.Another thrust, and the iron jaws had grasped one of the two ponderous chains by which the cylinder was suspended.The other end of the cylinder began to rise, but at this moment Crab R, apparently by a single effort, lifted herself a foot higher out of the sea; her pincers flashed forward, and the other chain was grasped.The two crabs were now placed in the most extraordinary position.The overhang of their roofs prevented an attack on their hulls by the Llangaron, but their unmailed hulls were so greatly exposed that a few shot from another shipcould easily have destroyed them.But as any ship firing at them would be very likely to hit the Llangaron, their directors felt safe on this point.Three of the foremost ironclads, less than two miles away, were heading directly for them, and their rams might be used with but little danger to the Llangaron; but, on the other hand, three swift crabs were heading directly for these ironclads.It was impossible for Crabs Q and R to operate in the usual way.Their massive forceps, lying flat against the top of the cylinder, could not be twisted.The enormous chains they held could not be severed by the greatest pressure, and if both crabs backed at once they would probably do no more than tow the Llangaron stern foremost.There was, moreover, no time to waste in experiments, for other rams would be coming on, and there were not crabs enough to attend to them all.No time was wasted.Q signalled to R, and R back again, and instantly the two crabs, each still grasping a chain of the cylinder, began to sink.On board the Llangaron an order was shouted to let out the cylinder chains; but as these chains had only been made long enough to allow the top of the cylinder to hang at or a little below the surface of the water, a foot or two of length was all that could be gained.The davits from which the cylinder hung were thick and strong, and the iron windlasses to which the chains were attached were large and ponderous; but these were not strong enough to withstand the weight of two crabs with steel-armoured roofs, enormous engines, and iron hull.In less than a minute one davit snapped like a pipe- stem under the tremendous strain, and immediately afterward the windlass to which the chain was attached was torn from its bolts, and went crashing overboard, tearing away a portion of the stern-rail in its descent.Crab Q instantly released the chain it had held, and in a moment the great cylinder hung almost perpendicularly from one chain.But only for a moment.The nippers of Crab R still firmly held the chain, and the tremendous leverage exerted by the falling of one end of the cylinder wrenched it from the rigidly held end of its chain, and, in a flash, the enormous stern- guard of the Llangaron sunk, end foremost, to the bottom of the channel.In ten minutes afterward, the Llangaron, rudderless, and with the blades of her propellers shivered and crushed, was slowly turning her starboard to the wind and the sea, and beginning to roll like a log of eight thousand tons.