The Stolen Cruiser Page 3

  CHAPTER III

  THE DESTROYER'S QUEST

  WITHIN a quarter of an hour of the termination of the match Fieldingand Cardyke were on board the destroyer, Drake having gone post-hasteto the commander-in-chief to receive definite instructions as to thecourse of action.

  Already the water police were busily engaged in hunting up theabsentees of the crew. Those who were gone away from the port onleave could not conveniently be recalled, and other men were draftedin to fill up the complement. Stores were being hastily dumped onboard, the usual "red tape" formalities having perforce to bedispensed with. Fresh water was being supplied to the tanks by oneset of hoses, while another pipe was in use filling up the doublebottom petrol tanks with liquid fuel. Fortunately, owing to the factthat the night-firing had not taken place, the magazines were filledwith quick-firing ammunition, and the delay occasioned by having to"ship powder" at one of the buoys in harbour was obviated. It wasprimarily on this account that the _Frome_ was selected for thepurpose of investigating the mystery enshrouding the _Impregnable_.

  "I wonder if there will be a scrap?" asked the mid. "It's about timewe had something exciting. What do you suppose is the matter?"

  "Goodness only knows. You heard what Drake said," replied Fielding,as he struggled into his uniform with more haste than he usuallydisplayed, for the sub. had the reputation of being a careful,deliberate man in the matter of dress, and gold lace won't standrough usage.

  "He said 'seized on the high seas,'" continued Cardyke. "By whom?"

  "County Court officials, probably. Don't take it for granted thatthere's anything serious, Cardyke. We may be sent on a fool's errand.Ah! Here's Drake coming aboard!"

  "A rummy affair, by George!" exclaimed the lieutenant-commander as heentered the wardroom, and threw a bundle of papers on the table. "Thenews came from the ss. _Wontwash_, an American tramp that put intoDover this morning. Her master reports that he was somewhere betweenthe Owers and the Royal Sovereign lightships, the weather beingthick. A temporary lifting showed him the _Impregnable_ lying aquarter of a mile or so on his port bow, with a large cargo vessel,name and nationality unknown, lashed alongside with a considerablelist to port. Two hundred yards astern of the _Impregnable_ was a tugwith red and yellow bands on her funnel--that's one of the Dutchmen,you'll remember. The tug was sinking by the head, apparentlydeserted. There was no mention of the second tug.

  "Captain Emory, the master of the _Wontwash_, thinking that acollision had occurred, hailed to know whether he could be of anyassistance, but to his surprise he was peremptorily ordered, inbroken English, to sheer off.

  "He complied slowly, he says, and before the fog shut out the_Impregnable_ and the vessel alongside her he saw what he believed tobe a number of small quick-firers being hoisted out of the latterinto the cruiser, whose decks were swarming with men.

  "Being without wireless Emory could not communicate with the shoreuntil he came within signalling distance of the Royal Sovereignlight. The lightship forwarded the report by wireless, and, allowingfor errors in transmission, the story seems remarkably mysterious.

  "The Admiralty is in a bit of a hole. Nominally the _Impregnable_,sold to a Dutch private firm, is beyond their control. The DutchGovernment has been communicated with, and they are sending adestroyer to make inquiries. But since, by virtue of the conditionsof sale, the cruiser is to be broken up, and not to be used as avessel, we still hold a certain amount of authority over her, and myorders are to see that the terms of sale are complied with. Now,gentlemen, you know as much as I do about the business. We must findthe _Impregnable_, take possession of her--by force, ifnecessary--and bring her back to port pending Admiraltyinvestigation. All ready, Mr. Spanner?" he added, addressing theengineer-lieutenant.

  "All ready, sir," repeated Spanner. "The whole of the petrol-tanksare filled."

  The officers went on deck. Men were busily engaged in easing off thesteel hawsers by which the destroyer was secured to the jetty. Thesignal for "permission to part company" was fluttering from her mast.head. Aft the awnings had been unrigged, and were being handed downfor stowage below.

  Presently a hoist of signal flags was run up to the yard-arm of thesemaphore tower.

  "Permission, sir," reported the signalman of the destroyer,laconically.

  The engine-room telegraph bell clanged, the water churned under thedestroyer's stern as her propellers began to revolve. The last"spring" that held her to the shore was cast off, and the _Frome_started on her mission of investigation.

  Three hours later she was off Beachy Head, but, although keeping intouch with Portsmouth Dockyard by means of wireless, andcommunicating with every vessel that passed up and down that busyhighway--the English Channel--the _Impregnable_ seemed to havevanished, leaving no trace behind her.

  "Wreckage, sir," reported the look-out.

  Heading towards the spot, and ordering the propellers to be stopped,Drake got his glasses to bear upon the spot. There were a number ofoars, some gratings, a large hatch, and a yellow-painted lifebuoy,bearing the name "_Hekla_, Rotterdam."

  "That's the name of one of the tugs, sir," said Fielding. "So themaster of the _Wontwash_ has not been telling a mere fairy tale."

  "That's so," assented the lieutenant-commander. "I suppose we oughtto secure that lifebuoy as evidence. Stand by with a boathook there."

  Slowly the _Frome_ forged ahead, but with little way on she wasscarcely under control. The lifebuoy was passed ten yards to leeward.

  "Be careful of the propellers, sir," cautioned Fielding. "There's alot of wreckage about. Shall we pipe away the collapsible?"

  Drake assented, but as Cardyke went aft to take charge of the Berthonone of the starboard propellers became entangled in a length offloating grass-rope. In a second the fibre was wound round the tailshafting as hard as a steel band.

  "Hang it!" muttered Drake. "That's done it. I wish to goodness I'dsent away the boat instead of drifting into the middle of thisstuff."

  In four minutes the Berthon was slung outboard by means of thequadrant davits, and her crew rowed towards the derelict lifebuoy.

  "Here you are, sir," said the bow-man to Cardyke, as he dexterouslywhisked the salvaged object into the boat. "There's some scrawl onit."

  Scored deeply into the canvas were some words written in pencil. Themidshipman examined the writing, but it was beyond him to decipherits meaning. It was in Dutch, a language that Cardyke was notfamiliar with, although it bore a slight resemblance to German.

  On returning to the _Frome_ the mid. produced his prize; but hissuperior was too intent upon the damage to the propeller to take verymuch notice of it. Nor was it till Cardyke pointed out that there waswriting upon the buoy that Drake gave his attention to it.

  "Scuttled. Finder please notify V. der Coote, Rotterdam.--Stalkart, master, tug _Vulkan_."

  "We've some good evidence here, by Jove!" exclaimed Drake. "Now comesthe task of running down the miscreants."

  "But the propeller?"

  "Let it rip. We'll run her on three."

  "That ought to give her twenty-three knots at the very least, sir,"suggested Spanner, who had come up from the engine-room to report.

  "Not with the helm slightly over to counteract the unequal drive,"observed Drake. "She'll do seventeen comfortably, and I doubt whetherthe _Impregnable_ in tow will be making more than seven. I'll carryon, even if there's only one propeller left."

  Communicating his find by wireless Drake received instructions tocruise eastward, in order to effect a junction with two destroyerssent out from Dover, unless she picked up definite information frompassing vessels that might enable her to follow in the track of thefilibustered battle-cruiser.

  "It won't do to fall in with the Dover t.b.d.'s," remarked Fielding."They'll know we are crippled, and our chances of gaining kudos willbe knocked on the head."

  "I don't mean to if I can avoid it," agreed Drake. "We'll shape acourse S.S.E. for a couple of hours, and then N.N.E. for another twohours, and so on. We'll
still be carrying out instructions, you see,but it will be a precious long time before we get in touch with theDover destroyers."

  Fielding and Cardyke smiled. They knew Drake well enough by now toknow that if there were a way of gaining his end he would generallydo it successfully and diplomatically.

  "It's my private opinion," continued the lieutenant, "that the_Impregnable_ is not heading up-Channel at all, but rather towardsthe Atlantic. I don't know why, but that's my firm conviction; so thelonger we take before we hear any news the sooner we'll be able toretrace our course. I only hope that the other destroyers sent fromPortsmouth and Portland won't snap her up."

  "So do I, sir," agreed Fielding.

  "Sail-ho, on the starboard bow," sung out the look-out man.

  "A tramp, judging by the smoke," remarked the sub. after the lapse ofa few minutes.

  Soon the vessel was observed to be steaming eastwards, so slowly thatthe following wind drove her smoke in a dense, trailing cloud overher bows.

  Directly the _Frome_ was within signalling distance the tramp madeher number.

  "SS. _Steephill Castle_ of Hull," announced Fielding, afterconsulting the register. "She's light, by George! One blade of herpropeller is quite clear of the water."

  "Yes; I shouldn't care to be caught out in dirty weather in a craftso high in ballast as that," added Drake. "We'll close, and ask herif she has any information to give."

  Drake made known his request by megaphone, and in reply the master ofthe tramp shouted from the bridge--

  "Cruiser, two masts and three funnels, in tow. Passed her three and ahalf hours ago. Thought she had broken down."

  "On what course?" asked Drake, eagerly.

  "Due west, I should think, sir," replied the "old man." "Anythingamiss?"

  "We hardly know till we find her," replied the lieutenant, guardedly.

  The _Steephill Castle_ dipped her ensign in farewell, and the _Frome_returned the compliment; then, describing a quarter-circle, thedestroyer headed due west on her quest for the filibustered_Impregnable_.