Part 28 (2/2)
”You may join as a correspondent, but must not tell your experience till the place is taken--if you survive.”
”He said so?”
”Yes. 'Let him come and die, if he wishes it,' he said.”
”Then I just _will_ go--and chance it!” I said boldly.
”All right. He is waiting. Good luck to you.”
I hurried away, and in a short time was on board the little boat which was tossing and plunging in the lumpy sea in the lee of the large vessels. Retreat was now impossible. The die was cast.
CHAPTER XVIII
ON BOARD THE TORPEDO-BOAT--BREAKING OF THE BOOM--CAPTURE OF WEI-HAI-WEI--CONCLUSION
My first impressions regarding a torpedo-boat were, firstly, that the deck rests dangerously near the water; and secondly, that the craft itself is unsafe--at least, unsteady. Then the vessel,--or ”s.h.i.+p,” as I believe it is called,--is, if cabined, certainly ”cribbed and confined.” There is not much s.p.a.ce to live in; perhaps the sailors who man her are not expected to live--much. Where they usually sleep, unless in the coal-bunkers or in the engine-room, I do not exactly know. They did not sleep at all while I was on board, and I understand that they never change nor wash (or ”hardly ever”), under service conditions. So far as my rather limited experience goes, existence on board this s.h.i.+p is by no means enjoyable, save when in harbour, and then it is useless. When at sea in roughish weather, and on service particularly, the ”pleasure” must be deadly-lively.
The torpedo-boat is about one hundred and twenty-five feet long, and perhaps twelve feet at beam. There are larger craft than this, I think, but these dimensions will suffice for the usual limits. The torpedoes are fixed from the tubes, which, in my ”s.h.i.+p,” extended one on each bow and astern. There is a steering-tower, or ”conning-tower,”
fore and aft, and very small s.p.a.ce for living in. There are no bulwarks to prevent one sliding away into the sea in a calm, only a rail with stanchions, upon which a wire rope is stretched as a protection. But in bad weather the sea does not wait for the sailor, it invades him, and washes everything overboard which may be loose, carrying the men off if they do not go below or lash themselves. The rolling is absolutely fearful, and I am informed that when the officers eat they must feed each other like infants, one holding the cup, or plate, while the other drinks, or eats, from it. All the services are tinware, and the food is also tinned, and water is plentiful inside and out, and leaks.
To this kind of experience I was quite new, and the haggard spectre of _mal-de-mer_ presented itself all the time. How the sailors usually manage I do not know; they must suffer, I imagine, at sea. But a dozen sick men in that boat! Well--curtain!
February the 3rd was the most anxious night I had hitherto pa.s.sed. I was a.s.sisted on board, and I think Tomi introduced me to the officers as a British newspaper correspondent. At anyrate, I was politely received, fed, and entertained so far as possible, but the accommodation was decidedly very limited--much more than the welcome.
I managed to understand that we would not actually attack. The idea was to make the breach sufficient to admit other boats next time; so, after all, we should not run any fearful risk, I fancied. But I did not know then that we were to go inside the boom,--into the harbour,--as I had little opportunity to talk, even had I been acquainted with the j.a.panese tongue, I made only mental observations--I was afraid of making mistakes in my language again.
The day died; the moon rose and disappeared; then came the turn of ”No.
6.” When blackness fell upon the water--a darkness in which the boat was almost buried--the engines began to beat silently, the screws revolved almost noiselessly, and we skimmed away towards the places already determined upon. The men lay close, only the helmsman, the officer himself, was visible. I lay by him, by permission, and two men watched forward. This was no torpedo attack, it was a survey.
An hour pa.s.sed. There was no spot at which an entry could be made on the west side, and a long search only revealed a small s.p.a.ce between the rocks on the eastern side and that end of the enormous boom which stood up threatening us in the dark. This barrier seemed bigger than I had ever imagined, and its ma.s.s seemed, from our small craft, so enormous, that I almost despaired. Dynamite could not injure it from outside. Perhaps gun-cotton or powder would, if applied inside the harbour where the resistance was less.
At last! Searching closely, the boat found the spot where the barrier ceased,--a very small pa.s.sage, through which it seemed almost impossible to drive the boat in safety. But the hands which held the helm were incapable of nervousness. No tremor shook those iron muscles as the boat's head was turned rock-wise. It was sink or swim then--a torpedo in the path would end it for us. But unheeding, or rather disdaining, the danger, the skipper turned the boat's head to the small s.p.a.ce in the sea.
The rocks grumbled at us as we slowly and deftly pa.s.sed. The sullen murmurs of the waves were supplemented by the swis.h.i.+ng of the revolving screws, or drowned perhaps by the former. Still the boat skimmed on, and then almost noiselessly brought up in the harbour, within the range of the Chinese torpedo-squadron, which speedily perceived the intruder.
The situation was peculiar. We were in hostile waters; the s.h.i.+ps and torpedo-boats, and even the forts, quickly woke up. Sh.e.l.ls came whizzing in our direction. We could see them streaking the blackness, like meteors, then flying shrieking over our heads, and plunging or bursting in the sea beyond the boom, or within it. But not one touched the j.a.panese boat, which lay dark and silent by the boom, though had an electric searchlight been used by some approaching vessel we must have been discovered at once.
The cold was intense as the devoted vessel cracked the ice which lay on the agitated surface of the harbour, but we did not mind it. The sound of the ice, one imagined, must have announced our whereabouts to the Chinese, but as we moved swiftly the aim was not accurate, and we lay alongside the barrier, silently, to prepare for the charge which the master had determined to explode against it.
The mine was laid with great difficulty, not only because of the darkness and the penetrating cold, but because of the unsteadiness of the little craft, which surged against the boom, and crackled loudly at every concussion. At length the job was complete, the charge was laid, the battery by which it was intended to explode the powder was prepared, the wire already extended.
Now the critical moment approached. A few directions, a few words of warning, a caution to the engineers, an order to the steersman, then: Ready? Fire! Away! away! Get out of reach as quietly and as quickly as possible.
We made tracks, noisy ones too. The island fort burst into fire, and more sh.e.l.ls came tearing around us, but nothing else happened. The mine had failed!
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