I lay down in the captain’s berth and tried to sleep. But the excitement and, I may say, the romantic interest of the adventure proved too strong for me.
I rose again, and came to where my deputy was seated, carefully conning the boat out of the dockyard basin into the Baltic end of the great Canal.
We were already submerged, only the tip of our conning staff being out of the water. But by an ingenious system of tiny mirrors the steersman was able to see his way as plainly as if he had been on deck above the surface.
On approaching the lock by which the basin opened into the Canal, no signal appeared to be given. Silently, as if of their own accord, the huge sluices opened and shut, and we glided out into the great waterway which has made the German Navy independent of Danish good-will.
The voyage along the Kiel Canal in the silence of the night was deeply interesting, and were I not obliged to restrict myself severely to the naked outline of such facts as bear directly on the catastrophe, I should like to attempt a description of the weird and picturesque scene.
Keeping steadily just under the surface, we proceeded swiftly past ports and villages and lonely wharves, till the stars paled and disappeared and a faint flush overspreading the sky in front warned us that day was breaking behind us.
I searched the banks for anything resembling the craft of which I was in search, but in vain. We passed many other ships, chiefly merchantmen bound for Lubeck and Dantzig and other Baltic ports, but of course without being perceived ourselves.
When we reached the mouth of the Canal, I ordered Orloff to stop.
“I must go ashore here, and inquire about the other boat,” I explained.
I saw from the expression of his face that this step was not quite to his liking, but he did not venture on any remonstrance.
He brought the boat alongside the bank, and raised her gently to the surface, to enable me to step on shore.
But my quest proved useless, as perhaps I ought to have foreseen.
The harbor-master, or port captain, to whom I addressed myself, affected the most entire ignorance of the exit of any submarine within the last week or more.
“What you suggest is impossible,” he assured me. “Every submarine is well known and carefully guarded, and if one had been permitted to leave Kiel by way of the Canal, I should have been notified in advance. No such notification has reached me, and therefore, as you will see, no such boat can possibly have left.”
I suspected that he was lying, but I thought it unsafe to persist.
It occurred to me too late that I had been guilty of some imprudence in showing so much anxiety on the subject. It was only too probable that my inquiries would be reported to the Kaiser, who would draw his own inferences in the event of anything going wrong.
I returned on board my own boat, saying nothing to Orloff, and gave the order to proceed.
Orloff had handed over the wheel to one of his subordinates, who steered the submarine out into the blue waters of the North Sea.
As soon as we were well out of reach of the Slesvig shore, I said to the steersman,
“Now I will take the helm.”
Instead of promptly relinquishing it to me, the man turned his head in search of Orloff, saying at the same time,
“Do you understand the course, sir?”
I saw that if I meant to be master of the vessel, I must prove that my words of the night before were spoken in earnest. I drew my revolver, and put a bullet through the mutineer’s head.
CHAPTER XXXII
THE DOGGER BANK
The sound of the explosion reverberated through the little craft like thunder. Orloff and half a dozen more men came rushing up.
“This man disobeyed me,” I said, quietly, slipping a fresh cartridge into the smoking chamber of my revolver. “Throw the body overboard, and return to your duties.”
What instructions Orloff and his men had received it was impossible for me to guess. But they clearly did not authorize any breach of discipline at this stage of the voyage.
Without the slightest demur they lifted up the body, and carried it off. I had learned the way to manage the submarine by watching Orloff during the night, and I now pressed a lever which brought us swiftly to the surface. There was a sound of trampling feet overhead, followed by a splash, and I saw the mutineer’s body drift past.
It would be idle to seek for words in which to describe the overpowering anxiety which racked my nerves as we tore through the water. The peace of Europe, the safety of Japan and Great Britain, perhaps the future of the world, might be at stake.
Everything depended on my finding the other submarine before it had launched its bolt against the great war fleet which was even now steaming through the Danish Belts, officered by men, some of whom I knew to be ready to take advantage of any pretext for outraging the peace of the seas.
It did not take me long to decide that the neighborhood of the Dogger Bank was the most likely place, in fact the only place, for my search.
I am not wholly unskilled in navigation, having given up a good deal of my spare time to yachting. With the aid of a chart which was on board, I had little difficulty in keeping a fairly straight course for the famous fishing ground.
On the way I did not neglect the opportunity of acquiring a complete command over the movements of the submarine.
It was driven by electricity, and so designed that by means of various knobs, one man could control it entirely, steering it, raising or lowering it in the water, increasing or slackening speed, stopping, backing, and even discharging the torpedo which was its only weapon of attack – with the exception of a small sharp ram at the bow.
Having asserted my authority, and acquired the practical knowledge I needed, I at last called Orloff to me, and gave him the wheel.
“Take me to the Dogger Bank. Warn me as soon as we get near any fishing-boats, and above all keep a careful lookout for our consort.”
It was by this name that I thought it most prudent to refer to the object of my search.
Orloff took the wheel, and said immediately with an air of great respect,
“You have laid a marvelously straight course, Captain. I was not aware that you were familiar with these waters. The Dogger Bank is right ahead, and we shall reach it in less than an hour.”
An hour later I was conscious of a light shock as the submarine stopped.
We had grounded on the sandy shoal of the Dogger, in twenty fathoms of water, and overhead I could see great black shadows sweeping slowly past.
They were cast by the trawlers of the Gamecock fleet.
It being still daylight I did not venture to let the submarine show itself on the surface of the sea.
Hugging the bottom, I steered in and out among the great trailing nets of the fisher fleet.
At the same time I ordered my crew to keep a sharp watch for the first submarine, promising fifty marks2 to the man who sighted her.
The rest of that day passed without anything happening.
As soon as darkness fell I brought my boat up to the surface, partly in order to renew the air supply, and partly to scan the horizon in search of the oncoming Russian fleet.
But thanks to the promptness with which I had gone out to sea I had anticipated Rojestvensky by twenty-four hours. The Baltic Fleet was still in Danish waters, waiting to pick up the German pilots who were to lure it from its course.
Finding there were no signs of the Russians, I submerged the submarine, all except the little conning tube, which was invisible in the darkness, and ran in among the English smacks.
As I heard the brave, hardy fishermen talking to one another, the temptation was a strong one to disclose myself, and warn them of the coming peril.
Only my experience of the uselessness of such warnings restrained me. I knew that these simple, law-abiding citizens would laugh me in the face if I told them that they were in danger from the warships of a foreign Power.
As my unseen vessel glided softly past the side of one fishing-boat, whose name I could just make as the Crane, I overheard a few scraps of conversation, which threw a pathetic light on the situation.
“We shall have the Rooshians coming along presently,” said one voice.
“No,” answered another, “they won’t come anywhere near us. ’Tis out of their course.”
“They do say the Rooshians don’t know much about seamanship,” a third voice spoke out. “Like as not we’ll see their search-lights going by.”
“Well, if they come near enough, we’ll give the beggars a cheer; what d’ye say?”
“Aye, let’s. Fair play’s what I wishes ’em, and let the best man win.”
The words died away along the water, as I drew off and let my craft sink under once again.
That night I slept soundly, making up for the vigil of the night before. The submarine rested on the sea floor, in a hollow of the undulating Bank, and one of the crew kept watch in case a “trawl” should come too close.
But there was no sign of the mysterious companion which had come out of Kiel Harbor in front of me, and was even now prowling somewhere in the dark depths around.
CHAPTER XXXIII
TRAFALGAR DAY
In the morning I was conscious of a certain stir and display on board some of the fishing boats among which I continued to lurk.
At first I supposed that the Baltic Fleet must have been sighted. But in the course of the day I gathered from various cries and shouts which were borne across the water, that the fishermen were keeping the anniversary of the most glorious day in the history of England, the day on which the immortal Nelson annihilated the united fleets of France and Spain, and shattered the dream of the great Napoleon that he could tame the haughty Island Power.
As long as daylight lasted I scoured the sea for a distance of five miles all around the devoted fishing fleet, without coming on the slightest trace of the other submarine.
A delusive hope assailed me that some accident might have overtaken it. But I did not relax my vigilance, and when night fell I took up a station about a mile in front of the English smacks, in the direction from which I had reason to expect the approach of Rojestvensky.
A few hours elapsed, then my watchfulness was rewarded.
Away down on the horizon toward the northeast, there glittered out a row of twinkling lights, one behind the other, as though a lamp-lit thoroughfare had got afloat and drifted out to sea.
The sinuous streak of lights, shifting as they approached like the coils of some great water-snake, glided toward us at what seemed a fearful speed, and as they drew near the white lights were interspread with green and crimson points, like rubies and emeralds set between rows of diamonds. And ever and anon the swift electric tongues of the search-lights spat forth and licked the dark face of the waters like hungry things.
Keeping my upper deck just awash, I lay still and beheld at last the great black sides of the battleships tower up, pierced with illuminated windows.
My heart began to throb wildly. If only the other submarine failed to appear; if only the English fishermen would realize their danger and flee in time, disaster might be averted.
The hope had scarcely formed itself in my mind when Orloff, who had come to repose confidence in me, respectfully touched my arm and pointed ahead.
Not two hundred yards from me, stealing along about a mile in advance of the Russian fleet, I perceived a small dark object, showing hardly a foot above the surface of the waves.
It was the rival submarine!
Instead of proceeding direct to the Dogger Bank, as I had done, the other boat must have joined Admiral Rojestvensky’s squadron, and come on before it like a jackal pointing out the lion’s prey.
“Go forward,” I commanded the German mate. “Let no one disturb me till this business is over.”
Orloff gave me a wondering look, but obeyed without an instant’s hesitation.
As soon as his back was turned, I swung the wheel around, put on the full power of the engines, and went after the craft I had been searching for during the last forty-eight hours.
Had the commander of the other submarine noticed mine, and did he suspect my intention to frustrate his design? It almost seemed so. His boat, scarcely visible in the gloom, fled in front of me to where the foremost fishing boats were riding lazily over the shoals, dragging their nets along the bottom.
It was a weird chase. Neither of us showed a glint of light, or made the smallest sound. Like two great shadowing fish we darted through the depths of the sea, hunter and hunted.
In between the sagging nets with their load of cod and flounders, shot the phantom boat I was pursuing, and I followed, obliged to slacken speed as we twisted in and out under the keels of the unconscious fishermen.
And all this time the huge warships in two lines astern were plunging through the seas, heading straight for the unfortunate smacks.
The chase seemed to be aware that it was a case of now or never. I was catching up with it fast; I was able to mark its course by the broken water churned up by its propeller; when, all at once, I saw it rise with the swift motion of a bird.
I had no alternative but to do the same.
As I emerged upon the surface I found my boat in the very center of the full glare of a search-light which lit up the whole scene with dazzling radiance.
Fresh from the depths below, where all had been dark, my eyes fairly blinked in the sudden splendor of light.
Then, for what might have been from three to five seconds, I saw everything that passed.
The foremost vessels of the Russian fleet had already gone past the group of drifting trawlers. One large cruiser was passing within a stone’s-throw of the nearest fishing-boat, and the English fishermen were playfully holding up some of their freshly-caught fish, as though offering it to the Russian sailors.
Another line of warships was coming up behind, with its search-lights thrown out in front.
And then, right across the range of lights, and in a straight line between the Russian battleships and the English smacks, I saw the phantom torpedo boat pass deliberately, as high out of the water as she could show.
What happened next took place so swiftly, and with such confusion that I cannot pretend to describe it with accuracy.
Shouts rang out on some of the Russian ships, the submarine headed around as though to seek refuge among the trawlers, and then a gun was fired, and a cannon-ball struck the water within a few feet of me.
All at once, it seemed to me, and as though by some preconcerted plan, half the ships of the Baltic Fleet opened fire on the English fishermen, who seemed too surprised and horrified to do anything. I saw ball after ball crash into one luckless smack, which quickly began to fill and sink. But, generally speaking, the marksmanship of the Russians was too wild for the firing to have serious effect.
As soon as I realized that I had become a mark for the Russian guns I sank beneath the surface. It is no doubt this voluntary move on my part which has given rise to the belief cherished by some of the officers of the Baltic Fleet, and indorsed by Admiral Rojestvensky, that a torpedo boat was sunk by their fire.
But I knew that the massacre – for it was nothing less – would go on as long as the other submarine remained on the surface, mixing among the luckless fishing boats with the deliberate intention of drawing on them the Russian fire.
I marked her course, put my engines to their fullest speed one more, and rushed after her.
This time my coming was not watched by the hostile commander. Like Admiral Rojestvensky, he may have believed that my boat had been sunk by the ball which had come so close. Or else, perhaps, in his exultation at having brought about an event which seemed to make war inevitable, he had forgotten his former fears.
But the truth will never be known.
I brought my own boat right under the demon craft, and then, tilting her up at a sharp angle, rammed the other in the center of her keel.
There was a concussion, a muffled sound of tearing iron, and as I backed away at full speed astern, I saw the waters of the North Sea pour through a long jagged rent in the bottom of the doomed submarine, and watched her go down staggering like a wounded vulture through the air.
The shock of the collision had brought Orloff and the rest of my crew running aft.
“An accident,” I explained coolly. “I have sunk some boat or other in the dark.”
The men exchanged suspicious glances.
“It was the other submarine, sir,” said Orloff, still preserving his respectful tone. “Will you permit us to see whether it is possible to save any of the crew?”
“Do as you please,” I returned, leaving the helm. “My work here is done, and I am ready to go back.”
I intended them to think I referred to the attack on the fishing-boats. The cannonade died away as I spoke.
We went down through the water to where the wrecked submarine was lying half over on her side. Some frightened faces peered at us out of the upper portholes, where a supply of air still lingered.
It was impossible to do anything for them down there without being swamped ourselves. We could only invite them by signs to forsake their own craft and let us carry them up to the surface where it would be safe for us to take them inside.
In order to receive them on our upper deck we circled slowly around to the opposite side of their vessel. And there I beheld a sight which will haunt me for years to come.
The whole side of the submarine had been wrenched open, revealing the interior of the cabin. And on the floor, lying in the peaceful attitude of one who had just resigned herself to sleep, I beheld the drowned form of the beautiful, desperate, perhaps wicked, but unhappy, woman from whose mad love I had fled.
So, in the midst of the wild North Sea, in their strange coffin, the bones of Sophia, Princess Yernoloff, lie and rock on the incessant tides that sweep across the Dogger Bank.
Requiescat in pace!
As our boat, laden with the rescued survivors, shot up again to the surface, I felt a noosed rope drawn tightly around my throat and heard the voice of Orloff hiss in my ear,
“I arrest you in the name of the Kaiser!”
CHAPTER XXXIV
THE FAMILY STATUTE
My task is done. At last the reader knows all that ever will be known – all there is to know, in short – concerning the tragedy of the North Sea.
My personal adventures can possess little interest after the all-important transactions I have had to describe. But in case there should be a reader here and there who is good enough to feel any curiosity as to my fate, I will briefly tell what followed on my arrest.
My revolver was taken from me and I was conducted under a strict guard back to Kiel.
Off the mouth of the Canal we were boarded by a despatch-boat flying the German naval ensign, and a police officer with three men took me off the submarine.
The first proceeding of my new captor was to handcuff me. He then warned me,
“If you speak a single word to me or any one else till you are in the imperial presence, my orders are to shoot you through the head.”
I nodded. I had as little wish to speak as the Emperor could have to let me. My thoughts were busy with the memory of the woman of whose tragic death I had been the unwitting cause, and with the measures that remained to be taken to extenuate, so far as extenuation was possible, the fatal action of the Baltic fleet.
As for myself, I can say truly that I had become almost indifferent to what was in store for me. My feeling toward the unfortunate Princess had not been such as that which makes a man desire a woman for his wife; it had not deserved the name of love, perhaps; and it was certainly free from any taint of a less noble passion.
Nevertheless it had been a powerful sentiment, colored and strengthened by my knowledge of her love for me.
Sophia had loved me. She had saved my life. And I had taken hers in return.
Must I accuse myself of weakness for feeling as if happiness for me were over, and the best fate I could wish would be to lie there beside my victim on the lonely Dogger sands?
When I came before Wilhelm II. he was not in the Hall of the Hohenzollerns, indulging his vein of extravagant romance, but in his private cabinet and in his most stern and business-like mood.
“Give the prisoner a chair, and wait outside,” his majesty commanded briefly.
I sat down, still handcuffed, and the guards withdrew.
“Now,” said the Kaiser, fixing me with an eagle glance, “be good enough to explain your proceedings.”
I met his look with a steadfast one in return.
“I have carried out your majesty’s orders scrupulously. I have taken out the submarine torpedo boat, engaged a crew, proceeded to the Dogger Bank, and drawn the fire of the Baltic Fleet on the fishing-boats from Hull. I have not seen a newspaper since, but I assume that the British Navy has already arrested Admiral Rojestvensky and his squadron, and that the two Powers are at war.”
The Kaiser gnawed his moustache.
“Things have not gone quite so well as you pretend, M. Petrovitch.
“The Russian cannonade ceased after a few minutes,” the Emperor resumed. “You did not remain on the surface after the first shot; you did not launch your torpedo, neither did you permit the other submarine to do so. In fact you sunk her.”
“I had no orders with respect to another submarine, sire. I was entitled to treat it as an enemy.”
“Nonsense, you know that it had left Kiel before you, on the same errand.”
“On the contrary, sire, I could not possibly know anything of the kind.”
“Why, you saw it had disappeared from the dock. You inquired after it along the Canal. When you got out to the Dogger you were searching for it the whole time.”
“And when I found it, sire, it was leading the Russian squadron, of which it appeared to form part. I had every right to assume that it was a Russian man-of-war.”
“A German boat!” thundered the Kaiser.
“A boat not flying any flag must be presumed to belong to the country of those who are in control of it. I found this submarine under the control of a Russian subject.”
“The Princess was my agent.”
“Your majesty had not told me so. On the contrary, I understood that you wished my own boat to be considered a Russian vessel, in case of any question. I shipped a Russian crew therefore.”
Wilhelm II. frowned angrily.
“Do not play with me, M. Petrovitch. I know all about your crew. Explain why you, a Russian subject, should have attacked what you are pleased to pretend was a Russian ship.”
“I regret to have to say that your majesty is laboring under a mistake. I am not a Russian subject.”
This time the Kaiser was fairly taken aback.
“What subject are you?”
“A Japanese.”
Wilhelm looked thunderstruck.
“Japanese!” was all he could say.
“If your majesty pleases. That being so, as soon as I took possession of the submarine, with your permission, of course it became a Japanese ship.”
“What you tell me is monstrous – ridiculous. Your name is Russian, your face is at least European.”
“My name, sire, is Matsukata. I received it in Tokio at the commencement of the war, on being adopted into a Japanese family.
“If your majesty doubts my statement, I ask to be confronted with the Japanese Ambassador in Berlin.”
The Kaiser looked as if he would have liked to doubt it, but found himself unable to do so.
“Then on your own showing you are a Japanese spy,” he pronounced slowly. “As such I am entitled to have you shot.”
“Pardon me again, sire. In Petersburg I admit, that was my character. In Germany I have been your majesty’s agent, and have literally fulfilled your commands.”
“You are a very acute quibbler, I see,” was the retort, “but quibbles will not save you. You have stolen one of my ships to sink another with, and at the very least you deserve to be hanged as a pirate.”
“I demand to be tried,” I said boldly, knowing that this was the one step to which the Emperor, for his own sake, could not consent.
As I expected, he frowned uneasily.
“In this case I must exercise my right of refusing a civil trial, in the interest of the State. I will give you a court-martial with closed doors.”
