Category: Historical Novels
"It's verra far from weel, sir," replied Jock McBride, chief engineer of the SS. "Saraband." Captain Ramshaw folded his arms and waited. He knew that it was practically a matter of impossibility to urge the rugged Scottish engineer beyond his usual gait. McBride could and did...
He sprang out of bed with his customary alacrity, only to find his knees give way under him. Then it gradually dawned upon him that his last fully conscious moments were whilst...
24. CHAPTER XXIV.BEFORE eight on the following morning Terence rejoined the "Strongbow." The heartiness of his welcome almost banished the sense of disappointment he felt at having to serve on p...
23. CHAPTER XXIII.POSSIBLY no one was more astonished than Terence to find himself a full-blown lieutenant. Yet it was a fact and a pleasant surprise, especially when he had misgivings as to the...
16. CHAPTER XVI.He thoroughly appreciated the brief spell of leisure. It was simply great to be able to turn in at night and sleep soundly till seven o'clock the next morning. There was no insi...
22. CHAPTER XXII."THE swine!" ejaculated Gilroy furiously. "They know we play the game, but if I had my will, I really believe I'd ship a couple of captured German officers on board every mercha...
29. CHAPTER XXIX.ON the evening following the return of the "Sunderland" to Dover, Terence obtained leave to go ashore in order to visit a brother-officer who, owing to his ship being under repa...
15. CHAPTER XV.Mrs. Aubyn put down her newspaper and took the orange-coloured envelope which her sister's maid had just brought in on a tray. Telegrams were rather unusual at "Anchor Cottage,"...
14. CHAPTER XIV.H.M. torpedo-gunboat "Terrier" lay at anchor just within the limits of one of the numerous shallow estuaries of the Essex Coast. By the aid of the lead-line and an Admiralty cha...
20. CHAPTER XX.AN hour after sunset "E Something" rose to the surface. Her hatches were opened and the crew allowed on deck, five men at a time, to enjoy the cold, fresh air. Owing to the poss...
18. CHAPTER XVIII.THE reason for this order was obvious to the officers of the "Livingstone." The "Lion" had been disabled: whether by torpedo (for several of the enemy submarines had been sighte...
8. CHAPTER VIII.A clean sweep was made of her sumptuous cabin fittings. The white enamelled woodwork of the promenade and boat-decks was ruthlessly "scrapped." Over the engine and boiler-rooms...
25. CHAPTER XXV.THE Norwegian skipper saw the twin periscopes almost at the same time, as, owing to the "jump" of the submarine, they bobbed up and down in the raging sea. At one moment they wo...
19. CHAPTER XIX.THE seaman was right. It was a British submarine, one of the E class. Terence could hardly believe his eyes to see the craft emerge from beneath the waves almost within sight of...
17. CHAPTER XVII.THE "Livingstone," second destroyer in the port-column of the flotilla, was speeding through the long undulations of the North Sea at a modest twenty knots. It was barely a quar...
6. CHAPTER VI.THE new course taken by the "Saraband" was in accordance with the instructions given by the lieutenant of H.M.S. "Padstow." Avoiding Las Palmas the vessel made for the African c...
2. CHAPTER II.FOURTH Officer Aubyn knew that it was for no ordinary purpose that he had been sent with a message to the chief engineer. It was most unusual for a deck-officer to have to go to...
12. CHAPTER XII.TWELVE hours later H.M.S. "Strongbow" was on her appointed station. It was night. The wind had moderated considerably, yet there was quite a heavy sea running. The young moon pe...
27. CHAPTER XXVII."Ay, and death," agreed Terence. "Unfortunately, yes; but it's part of the work. It was the future to which I was referring. Fancy, mother, a real cruiser at last--not an armed...
11. CHAPTER XI.Sub-Lieutenant Aubyn rubbed his eyes with the back of his lamb-skin glove. The action was necessary, for his face was encrusted with frozen spray--icicles that, driven with terr...
28. CHAPTER XXVIII.LATE that evening the "Sunderland" brought up in the Admiralty Harbour at Dover, in company with three other light cruisers, two monitors, and a flotilla of destroyers. All nigh...
26. CHAPTER XXVI.WHEN Terence recovered his senses he was lying in a crofter's cottage. A white-haired venerable dame was busying herself with a large iron pot over a peat fire, while an old fis...
10. CHAPTER X.ALREADY the vessel indicated--H.M.T.B.D. "Lawley"--was within three miles of the captured trawler, and at a good twenty-five knots was momentarily decreasing the distance. Her l...
5. CHAPTER V.WHILE von Eckenhardt was recovering consciousness and the two young officers were pulling themselves together after their trying ordeal, Captain Ramshaw, who had been informed o...
3. CHAPTER III.JUST before eight bells (4 a.m.) Terence Aubyn was called to prepare for his spell of duty on the bridge. Hastily dressing and donning his pilot-coat--for in spite of being with...
4. CHAPTER IV.Accordingly Lymore and Aubyn, as representatives of the deck-officers, and McBride and Raeburn for the engine-room staff, were called to the captain's cabin. For once that cosil...
9. CHAPTER IX.UPON regaining the "Lonette," Aubyn descended into the diminutive cabin and made hasty preparations for his adventure. Unbuttoning his great-coat he drew a small revolver from t...
1. CHAPTER I."It's verra far from weel, sir," replied Jock McBride, chief engineer of the SS. "Saraband." Captain Ramshaw folded his arms and waited. He knew that it was practically a matter...
7. CHAPTER VII.Ordering full speed ahead, Captain Ramshaw directed a course to be steered for the sinking "Osnabruck." While the carpenter and his men were still working feverishly in the boat...
21. CHAPTER XXI."Fact," continued Gilroy. "You are under notice to appear as principal witness at the trial of Major von Eckenhardt. The business was to have come off to-day, but in consequence...