CHAPTER X

CLEARED FOR ACTION

IT was six bells in the forenoon watch. The _Olive Branch_, her speed reduced to a bare ten knots, slipped noiselessly through the oily waters, the tropical sun beating down fiercely upon the awning that had been spread over the quarter-deck.

Seated upon chairs abaft the after-turret were the ship's officers, while on either hand were mustered as many of the crew as could be spared from their duties. There was an air of sternness about the assembly, for Taylor, the scientist, was about to be tried on a charge of desertion and treachery.

"Bring in the prisoner!" ordered the captain, and escorted by two armed seamen the culprit was marched on deck and directed to take up a position facing his judges.

"Mark Taylor," exclaimed Lieutenant Palmer, who appeared as prosecutor, "you are accused upon direct evidence of having broken out of this vessel and having sought to obtain a refuge on board the German ship _Afrika_. That in itself is a serious charge; but not content with that breach of discipline you wittingly informed the master of the aforesaid _Afrika_ of the secrets appertaining to the ordnance of this cruiser, the _Olive Branch_. Do you plead guilty or not guilty?"

"Not guilty," replied the accused man, with a forced tone of defiance. "I----"

"That will be sufficient for the present," said the lieutenant. "Your evidence will be taken in due course."

Five witnesses for the prosecution having been called, the prisoner was allowed to speak on his own behalf.

The accused scientist tacitly admitted that he had broken out of the ship, but strenuously denied having given any information regarding the cruiser to the master or any member of the crew of the _Afrika_. At first his speech was delivered in perfectly pure English, but by degrees he waxed excitable and spoke with a decided foreign accent.

"And I claim," he continued, "ze protection of ze German flag, for I am a German by nationality."

"Is that so?" demanded Captain Brookes. "How is it that this fact was concealed when you joined this vessel? And why has it remained a secret till this moment?"

"I am a German," reiterated the prisoner. "My name is Schneider, not Taylor. I told zese gentlemen it was so," indicating Gerald and Jack with a wave of his hand. "I told zem I was a German subject, and zat I was about to run away from ze ship as soon as I was able, and zey know it."

"Then why did you not report this to me, sir?" asked Captain Brookes, turning to Gerald.

"The man came into my cabin one evening in an excited manner," replied Gerald, calmly. "He certainly said his name was Schneider, and began to tell us a long rigmarole concerning his private affairs. We told him that if he had a grievance, you, sir, were the best person to hear it. With that we kicked him out."

"Thank you," said Captain Brookes, and, addressing the prisoner, continued, "Are you in a position to inform us where are the drawings and specifications relating to the 6in. shells?"

The accused turned a shade paler than before.

"In one of ze lockers in ze laboratory," he replied.

"If I send you to the laboratory under escort, can you produce them?"

"Hein! If zey are not zare zey haf been stolen," exclaimed Schneider. "Perhaps you haf hidden zem."

"They _have_ been stolen, sir," rapped out the captain, harshly; "and by you. They were found in the cabin of the master of the _Afrika_ by Lieutenant Slade. What have you to say to this?"

Schneider's limbs were trembling so violently that one of the seamen had to support him, otherwise he would have fallen to the deck.

"Well, gentlemen, your verdict?"

"Guilty on both counts."

"Mark Taylor, otherwise Schneider, you stand convicted on charges of desertion and treachery. With reference to the first crime I now admit that you are a German subject, and that I was in error in removing you from the protection of the German flag. However, the mischief is done, and I must abide the consequences, though I fear not the whole naval force of that Empire. As to your traitorous act, I can only point out that while in my pay and holding a position of trust on board this cruiser you wilfully betrayed your position as a responsible officer of the _Olive Branch_. In every community treachery against the supreme authority is punishable by death, and it is in my power to inflict that penalty upon you. As, however, your wretched crime has failed to achieve its object, and these drawings are again in our possession, I will waive the capital punishment. You are sentenced to solitary confinement, with sufficient exercise for the maintenance of your health, as long as the _Olive Branch_ remains in commission. Remove the prisoner."

Escorted by the two armed sailors, Schneider was led from the quarter-deck. Grimly defiant, he marched between his guards, till on arriving at the companion ladder one of the men preceded him, the other stepping one pace in the rear.

The prisoner descended two steps, then, suddenly turning, he butted the seaman at the head of the ladder. The man fell, and Schneider, seizing his advantage, sprang over his prostrate body, cleared the rail with a single bound, and leapt into the sea.

There was a rush to the side to see the termination of the tragedy, but the luckless man was never seen again.

"That has saved us a great deal of trouble," said Captain Brookes; "unless the mischief's already done," he added, under his breath.

On the following day the _Olive Branch_ was running off the east coast of Patagonia, the rugged barren heights of that inhospitable country being plainly visible on the starboard hand.

"Ah, good morning, Mr. Tregarthen," exclaimed Captain Brookes as Gerald made his appearance on deck. He spoke with an affability that had been missing during the last few days, but on this particular morning his customary geniality seemed to have reasserted itself. "At last I think that this vessel is fit for action; that is, as far as her armament is concerned. Of course, there may be failures, but these can be easily rectified. I mean to make an experiment to demonstrate the power of the _Olive Branch_, beyond that of her electrical means of offence. In another hour we ought to sight Carlos Rock--you've heard of that, perchance?"

"No, sir," replied Gerald.

"Carlos Rock is a small uninhabited island of less than a quarter of a mile in extent, and towering to a height of 600ft. How many rounds from a 13.5in. gun would demolish it, do you think?"

"I cannot say, sir; but one hit would make a great difference in its appearance."

"Then you'll have an opportunity of seeing what our 6in. gun will do. By the bye, why are most of the British Dreadnoughts able to fire two more guns astern than they can ahead."

"Merely the result of circumstances," replied Tregarthen, bridling under the sting of the suggestion. "The position of the after-turrets is to facilitate the broadside fire."

"Other nations may not think so."

"They can think what they like, sir," replied Gerald.

"So they can, so they can," rejoined Captain Brookes, with an air of a man wishing to remove a wrong impression. "Now, if you will accompany me to the conning-tower, we'll see what's to be done."

The order for general quarters was given by means of a bugle-call, and in a few minutes the scanty crew of the _Olive Branch_ were busily engaged in un-shipping stanchions and rails. Then, in response to another order the decks were deserted.

"Do they call this 'cleared for action,' I wonder?" thought Tregarthen, but barely had his mind expressed the thought ere Captain Brookes thrust home a pair of levers. Silently the massive steel windshields athwartships sank flush with the deck; the funnel dropped out of sight; the steel boats and other deck lumber disappeared into yawning cavities prepared for their reception; while simultaneously every watertight door in the ship was hermetically sealed. From end to end of the upper deck everything was cleared, save for the four turrets, the light quick-firers, and the massive conning-tower.

"How's that?" asked Captain Brookes, enthusiastically. "Here we are cleared to rapid torpedo-boat attack. Now, watch while I move this lever."

This time the light quick-firers disappeared below the armoured deck, leaving only the principal armament, while heavy steel plates slid noiselessly over the pits into which they had vanished.

"This is where we score again. In modern battleships most, if not all, of the light torpedo-repelling armament is badly protected. In a general engagement the lighter guns would be dismounted in five minutes, and the ship would fall an easy prey to a torpedo-boat attack, especially if carried out with a combined dash. Here the guns are ready whenever they are required. Now, here's Carlos Rock."

Gerald glanced ahead and saw a mass of stone rising almost perpendicularly from the sea, its base lashed by the milk-white surf that pounded incessantly upon its iron-bound shores.

Meanwhile Captain Brookes had given directions to the quartermaster to encircle the rock at a distance of two miles so as to make sure that it was inhabited by no human beings. Ten minutes were sufficient for this manoeuvre, during which time the occupants of the conning-tower swept the desolate-looking island with their glasses; but beyond the presence of myriads of sea-birds the rock showed no signs of life.

"Now, stand by!" exclaimed the captain to Gerald. "I cannot go into details, but you will easily follow what I mean. All eight guns are coupled, ready to fire a broadside. You see those three index-hands? One shows the speed of the ship, the second the range of the object to be fired at, and consequently the required elevation, the third corrects the effect of windage. When set, a resultant pointer fitted with telescopic sights gives us the correct aim. Stand here and look through this aperture."

Tregarthen did so, and at that moment Captain Brookes depressed the firing-key. Instantly there was a slight tremor throughout the ship, an almost imperceptible recoil, and then a thin haze of brownish smoke, but no noise was audible save the shriek of the projectiles as they left the muzzle with a velocity of 2,500ft. per second. Four seconds later the whole face of Carlos Rock was covered by a dense cloud of dust, and with a dull rumble thousands of tons of rock slid into the sea.

"You've altered Carlos's features, sir," exclaimed Gerald, when he had recovered from the effects of watching this wonderful broadside.

"Ay!" assented Captain Brookes. "What ship would stand up to that, d'you think? Now you can go below and watch the loading operations, for we are going to keep up a rapid fire for half a minute."

Descending a spiral steel ladder which led from the conning-tower to below the armoured deck, Tregarthen found nearly the whole of the ship's company, including those men whom he knew to be captains of turrets. Why the latter should be away from the turrets he could not quite understand.

Seamen, stripped to the waist, were running small trucks laden with shells from the after-magazine. These were placed in a metal hopper at a position corresponding with the base of the foremost turret. When twelve rounds had been deposited in this hopper its doors were closed, and a red light instantly appeared in a dial overhead.

Once again a slight jar shook the ship, followed by eleven others in less than twice that number of seconds. The next instant the hopper door fell open and twelve empty and still smoking cylinders fell upon the floor; a seaman dashed a bucket of water into the compartment, and the work of reloading was repeated.

Then a bugle sounded the "Cease fire," and the officers returned on deck to observe the effects of the terrible ordnance of the _Olive Branch_.

"How's that for going into action?" asked Captain Brookes. "With the exception of three men and myself all hands were safe beneath the armoured deck. Automatic loading and firing, unerring aim, and the victory's won, eh?"

"I certainly should not like to be on board a craft that received one round from those guns, sir," replied Gerald. "But suppose, in the heat of an engagement, one pair of guns was trained so that some portion of this ship intercepted the line of fire?"

"That has been arranged for," said the captain. "Directly the arc of fire on one pair of guns is exceeded, that turret remains locked till the other guns are trained backward sufficiently for that pair to be automatically linked up, so that damage to our own ship from that cause is impossible. Of course, if necessary, each turret can be worked independently, and in that case the captains of the guns would have the control of the firing arrangements."

Further conversation was interrupted by the arrival of a signalman.

"Wireless message just received, sir," he reported, handing a sealed envelope to the captain with a salute.

Captain Brookes broke open the envelope, and read and reread its contents without moving a muscle; then he beckoned to those of the officers who happened to be on the quarter-deck.

"Gentlemen," he exclaimed, "a wireless of extreme importance has just been handed to me. The captain of the _Afrika_ has reported an outrage by a ship flying the White Ensign, and representations have been made by the German Ambassador in London. The British Government has rightly repudiated the suggestion that the delinquent was a British man-of-war, and has asserted that, from the description given, it can only be the ex-Brazilian cruiser _Almirante Constant_. Consequently the British and German Governments have issued a joint note branding that vessel as a pirate, and have stated their intention of hounding her down at all costs, and invite the navies of all nations to join them in their task. So, gentlemen, the _Olive Branch_ is a modern buccaneer. Every port and harbour is closed against her. However, I'll stick to my purpose, but, rest assured, I will never fire a shot against a British ship--I'll trust to the _Olive Branch's_ speed to shake off pursuit. But"--here his face clouded ominously--"should a vessel of any other nationality attempt to interfere with us, I'll give her a fair warning. If she persist, by Jove, I'll blow her sky high!"