CHAPTER IX
THE FRIENDLY DEEP
Prince Von Hertzwohl looked up from his bureau. He was sitting in his stateroom, which was of some considerable size, and opened out of the saloon. His ears had caught the sound of a hasty entrance of the latter. His luminous eyes were alert and questioning. The man was completely changed from the simple inventor who had told the story of his submersible to Sir Andrew Farlow and his son. There was a restless, nervous tension about him, altogether at variance with his customary calm.
He leapt from his seat. His thin, bent figure moved almost electrically towards the door. The next moment he had entered the saloon. The other side of the room, and just within the entrance doorway, stood Ruxton Farlow, still clad in his German naval uniform, and still bearing in his arms the two brass cylinders. There was an urgent look in his eyes, and, at the sight of it, the Prince's question came sharply.
"What is it?" he demanded, with the imperiousness of a man accustomed to high command.
"Von Salzinger," replied Ruxton quickly. A laugh followed his pronouncement. It was the laugh of a man who is alive to the danger of a situation.
"Yes?" The Prince's further enquiry was surcharged with eagerness, and in broad contrast.
"He demands my presence. I have to conform to regulations and register my visit to Borga at – headquarters. He has sent an officer to conduct me to him – at once. The officer is awaiting me on the landing-stage. The situation has possibilities."
Ruxton's outward calm was not shared by his companion. The Prince displayed his realization of the necessities of the moment. His eyes were bright and concentrated. Ruxton watched the emaciated features with their crowning, upright white hair. There was an ominous sparkle beneath the bushy brows.
"I saw it in Von Salzinger's eyes when I sent him off," the Prince said at last. "That is why I left you. Had his order come in my presence, while ashore, it would have been awkward. That is also why I left you to bring those cylinders, and with instructions to bring them straight here. I knew you would make this vessel with me on board." He pressed an electric bell in the panelling.
A moment later a uniformed officer appeared. He stood awaiting the Prince's commands. The latter seemed absorbed in thought. Quite abruptly he broke the silence with a series of sharp orders.
"Send a man ashore at once, Captain Ludovic. There is an officer waiting there with certain orders from the Captain-General. Convey to him my compliments, and ask him to step aboard as I wish him to convey an important message to the military governor. For yourself, you will stand-by. The moment he enters the tower you will have the moorings cast off. Just keep the boat held to the quay fore and aft by light lines which can be released at a moment. When the officer reappears you will, the instant he has passed ashore, clear the gangway, cast off the light moorings, and full power ahead out of the harbor. I do not know the effect of my message on the military governor, but I expect he will endeavor to stop me. This must not be permitted. You understand?"
"Yes, Excellency." The man offered no further comment.
"For the present that is all."
The man saluted and retired.
"Is that man a German, or a – ?" Ruxton began as the man disappeared.
"He is a Pole." Then the Prince clasped his fingers and bent them back, cracking the joints. It was an expression of intense excitement. He laughed. "He hates Prussians, and Von Salzinger is a Prussian."
"The matter is going to be serious?" Ruxton's eyes searched the smiling face of the Prince.
"I cannot tell – yet. Von Salzinger has given an order that is about to be disobeyed. Von Salzinger is a powerful force in Borga. Even I have no right to disobey the military governor's regulations here, nor to defy openly his orders. Von Salzinger may do anything. Remember, he is a Prussian. One thing is certain, he does not get you before his inquisitors. No, I cannot tell what he will do. Ah, here comes our visitor. Give me the cylinders."
The Prince possessed himself of the cylinders and was closely contemplating them when the youthful Prussian officer appeared in the doorway. He was so intent upon his study of them, tenderly handling their shining cases with his long fingers, that he did not appear to observe the officer's entrance, and, in gently modulated voice, continued to address his pretended nephew.
"You have, my dear Leder, committed the great fault which belongs to your age. Practice and Principle must ever go hand in hand. I do not know yet, of course, but I fear you have let Principle get his nose in front of Practice. It may mean much serious delay. We will take these, and have them more fully tested, and then – "
He broke off and looked up as an impatient clearing of the throat announced the presence of the officer. In a moment the cylinders were deposited on the table, and the big eyes were beaming simple kindliness upon the visitor.
"You have an order from the Captain-General, is it not so?" he enquired blandly.
The young Prussian pulled himself up with due regard for his office. Just for a moment his conceit had been a little overborne by the presence of the Prince.
"Yes, Excellency," he said, with a sharp return to his military habit. "It is an imperative order that I conduct, without delay, Herr Leder von Bersac – "
"Ach, so!" exclaimed the Prince, his eyes suddenly flashing and his whole manner absorbing all his recent blandness in a quick-rising heat. "Does the Captain-General think he can give his orders to men under the command of Prince von Hertzwohl? Your Captain-General has yet to learn. And those who serve under him also. My nephew, Herr Leder von Bersac, is under the command of his uncle, and no one else. Your Captain-General knows that as well as I. The regulations of Borga are no concern of mine. But when I visit this pestilential place its manners are. Convey to your Captain-General that the manners of Borga had best be improved. I shall not visit here again until I have seen that they are. You can go back, and tell him that I leave at once, and that Herr Leder von Bersac has no time to comply with any order issued by the military governor of Borga."
The tide of the Prince's anger was too swift for the youthful Prussian's armor of official effrontery. He came near to withering before it. It was only the understanding of Von Salzinger's supreme command in Borga that helped him to weather the storm. He waited one moment to see if anything further was to be said, then, under the stern eyes of the Prince, he saluted and departed, darting up the companionway with hurried steps, and made his way ashore to the telephone station on the landing-stage.
Had he paused to glance about him he might have been surprised that the Prince's threat had been so promptly put into execution. As it was he did not notice even that the gangway followed him ashore, almost immediately in his wake. But these things, however they might have surprised him, were no real concern of his. It was for him to report promptly to the Captain-General, and make matters as safe as he could for himself.
By the time he reached the telephone station the vessel was gliding silently from the landing-stage.
The throb of the powerful engines told Ruxton Farlow all he wished to know. He sighed quietly, and it was the outward expression of the relaxing of his feelings.
He was smiling into the face of the man before him.
"Well?" he said.
But the Prince had become curiously abstracted. His eyes were on the cylinders in an unseeing contemplation. Ruxton watched him thoughtfully after his monosyllabic interrogatory. He was filled with not a little wonder at the alertness of this man's mentality in a moment of crisis. It was an almost confounding realization in the midst of his early impressions of him. For himself he could not see ahead with any degree of certainty. The Prince had committed himself to a dangerous course in defying the German Government's representative in the place, which was the most treasured secret in the Teuton heart. He judged that certain pursuit would follow, or at least armed interference. Even with a power such as the Prince's, at whatever cost, Von Salzinger must enforce obedience to his order, or —
The Prince broke in upon his reflections.
"It is good to defy a – Prussian. It did me much good. But Borga is his nursery. He is its nurse. He must act. I wonder – Ach, if he should try to stop us I will see him in the deepest pit of hell."
He threw up his hands with his final explosion and in an action of almost schoolboyish delight. Then he smiled into the Englishman's face, half questioningly, half eagerly.
"Between us and the open sea lie a hundred batteries of heavy, compressed-air guns. One shell from any of those guns could send us to the bottom, if it caught us at the surface. Then there is the mined channel. We are without a pilot. If we submerge the mines are thicker still. For myself and my vessel I do not care. For you?"
Ruxton shrugged.
"If I am caught and questioned I shall be shot. And you, too, for bringing me here. A gambler's chance is always attractive, even to a man who never gambles."
"Then we amuse ourselves at the expense of our friend Von Salzinger. When you are safe in England I will forestall him in Berlin. I have no fear when you are – safe. Let us go on deck."
Five minutes later they were standing on the deck of the submersible. They were standing at the rail, with the conning-tower intervening between them and the shore. They were the only souls visible on the deck. The captain of the vessel was in the turret, but the crew were all below.
Ruxton observed this at once, as he also observed that the skylights were all sealed ready for submersion.
"Your captain is ready for any emergency," he said, indicating these preparations.
But the Prince was searching the harbor side of the shore with a pair of powerful glasses.
Receiving no reply Ruxton permitted his attention to wander over the rapidly passing panorama. They were travelling very fast, and a great white wake was thrown up behind them. The moored shipping dropped astern of them at an almost incredible speed. Ahead he could see the frowning narrows coming towards them shrouded in their gloomy hood of mist, like the cowled skulls of skeleton sentinels. But even such a threat was preferable to the intolerable, sulphurous atmosphere they were leaving behind.
"There is no movement from the shore," said the Prince presently, lowering his glasses. Then he passed into the conning-tower to confer with his chief officer.
In a few moments he returned.
"He thinks it is the narrows where we shall be held up. He says the Captain-General would not believe a Pole would face that mine-field. Perhaps it is that he is right – Ludovic, I mean. We will wait." Then he rubbed his hands with absurd glee. "It is interesting."
Ruxton was forced to smile. A delightful sensation of excitement was growing within him again. He had told himself that it was life or death, but the full significance of his assurance had been powerless to possess him. He had often dreamed of Death. He had imagined it in almost every form. Nor, in his dreams, had it ever succeeded in terrifying him any more than the thought of it did now.
No, the whole situation had contrived an impersonal atmosphere for himself. He was looking on, watching a great contest between the brain of this man, his courage and soul, against the military rule and power of the Captain-General Von Salzinger.
A low chuckling laugh broke upon his reflections.
"It is an illustration," said the Prince, his eyes now steadily fixed upon the jaws of the narrows ahead.
"The test is even greater than I could have hoped. We are an unarmed submersible merchantman. Such as we have talked of. Here we are, under the enemy's batteries – at war. We are carrying butter, hey? Butter to your shores, in war time, in face of a blockade. Your countrymen are starving for – butter. We must reach them, and so save your country from destruction – with butter."
"Make it copper, Prince," smiled Ruxton.
"Ha! Yes, copper. It is very necessary in war time." The Prince smiled in appreciation. Then he pointed ahead. "But see, Ludovic is right."
He was indicating a dark object moving towards them on the water out of the gloomy shadows of the rocky sentries of the narrows.
"It is a patrol. Under normal conditions it would gladly pilot us through the mine-field. Now it has no such friendly desire."
His regard became less smiling, and he relapsed into silence. The dead flat water was thrown up into two great wings as the patrol boat pressed on towards them.
The excitement was more and more taking possession of the Englishman. His faith in the Polish prince was invincible.
"Shall you hear what he has to say?" he enquired presently, his breathing quickened in spite of an outward calm.
The Prince did not turn to answer, but his slight laugh was full of quiet confidence.
"Why waste time – valuable time?" he retorted whimsically. "We are in a hurry to reach the open sea. No, I do not listen to the Captain-General's commands to me. He is my subordinate." Then he added with the ingenuous subtlety of a schoolboy, "If I listened to the order to stop, and refused to obey, I should commit myself in the eyes of Berlin. No. Come below. It is time."
The patrol boat was less than four hundred yards away, and travelling at a great pace. It was almost within hailing distance. Ruxton could even count the occupants at that distance. He was certain there were six at least. The other patrol boat had contained only two officers besides the engineer. The difference was significant.
He followed his host into the conning-tower and the steel door was closed with a slam behind them. It automatically sealed itself.
The Prince's voice at the foot of the steel companion-ladder, leading up to the chief officer's post, rang out sharply.
"Submerge!"
Then he turned to his companion.
"We will go below. We will go forward, where Ludovic will join us in a moment. I will show you that which I hope may interest you. We have seen the last of Von Salzinger and his command – for some time."
The nervous energy of the Prince led Ruxton at a rapid rate. They passed down the companion, and, instead of entering the saloon, turned for'ard, down an alleyway which took them past the moving steel bowels of the vessel. The low purr of the great Diesel engines fell pleasantly upon the Englishman's ears. There was no hiss of steam. There was none of the clanging of high-pressure mechanism. Just a steady, powerful throb which vibrated throughout the length of the vessel's hull, and told him of the enormous mechanical effort going on.
They left the engine-rooms behind and passed by the kitchens, to which very careful and elaborate attention had been given. They left the quarters of the crew, beautifully kept and equipped, and without a sign or suggestion of that inferiority of appointment which is to be found on all commercial vessels. They passed a number of carefully disguised bulkheads, and finally came to a doorway in a steel bulkhead which seemed to mark the limit of the forward end of the vessel. The Prince withdrew a key from his waistcoat pocket. He opened the door, and both of them passed within.
Once the door was closed he slid his fingers up the steel wall in the darkness and pressed a switch. In a moment the room was flooded with light, and Ruxton blinked under its power as he gazed about him.
The Prince was standing in front of him gazing half smilingly at the expression of his face. He was seeking that surprise which to his simple nature meant much satisfaction.
Nor was he disappointed. The moment Ruxton recovered under the dazzling glare he realized that that which he now beheld he had witnessed in the vessel at Borga, whence he had brought the cylinders. This was the U-rays room of the private submersible. It was – yes, it was the U-rays in active operation.
A question promptly sprang to his lips.
"But the light is perfect," he said. "There is nothing wrong with it here?"
He moved across the narrow triangular room to its apex, where a great disc of magnifying glass, like a porthole, came in direct contact with the water outside. He stood for a moment peering out through it. The water beyond was lit with a ruddy glow that left it extraordinarily translucent. It was powerful, and seemingly the power of the rays extended a considerable distance. But though the water was thus lit it was not rendered transparent. For some silent moments he gazed out, then a shadow moved across the field of light – and he understood.
He turned to the silent inventor.
"That was a fish which crossed our bows," he said, in suppressed tones which indicated something of his feelings. "I think – yes, I understand. This light will reveal any solid body ahead, any obstruction – mines, rocks, any danger to progress."
The Prince beamed his satisfaction.
"The submersible need no longer be a blind lumbering monster," he said. "The mine-field we are shortly going to pass through is not the danger you may have anticipated. The moment we have passed the patrol boat we shall rise till our periscope is above water. Then we shall move slowly. The helmsman will remain in the conning-tower, but he will be controlled from here by – Ah, here is Captain Ludovic."
The steel door was thrust open and the chief officer entered the room.
"The mines begin about sixty fathoms on, Excellency," he said, with a brevity and utter lack of anything approaching the servility one might have anticipated in his relation to so powerful a master as the Prince. But Ruxton understood. The Prince's simple nature demanded nothing of that from those intimately associated with him. Hence, perhaps, the devotion of those who served him. "If you will forgive, Excellency, I will take _sole_ charge here."
The Prince turned to his guest with a laugh of genial humor.
"Come, my friend, we will leave the excellent Ludovic to his work. We are dismissed." Then he turned to the captain, who had taken his place at the forward porthole, and had adjusted the telephone receivers over his ears. He raised his voice so that the man could hear. "Once clear of the last batteries, Ludovic, we travel on the surface," he said.
"Yes, Excellency." The man made no attempt to turn from his watch upon the ruddy field ahead.
CHAPTER X
THE FUTURE
On the way back to the saloon a further truth began to dawn upon Ruxton. Nor did he lose a moment in challenging his host when they reached the luxurious apartment.
"You have brought those cylinders away. May I ask why?" he enquired.
The Prince had seated himself, and was in the act of lighting a cigar. He desisted, and held his case out towards his guest. Ruxton helped himself and waited.
The other stared thoughtfully at the cigar which remained poised in his lean fingers. Then he raised his brilliant eyes, and the Englishman realized that the moment of lightness, of almost schoolboyish delight at the sense of danger had entirely passed. The eyes shone passionately, and reminded him sharply of the expressive eyes of the woman who had appealed for humanity with him on the brink of the Yorkshire cliffs.
"Why? Because I have convinced you of my submersible. Because for that reason I have determined to deprive the German Government of the use of my U-rays for an indefinite period. Perhaps forever. Listen, there is only one man knows that I have an installation of that light on my ship besides ourselves, and that man is – Ludovic. I have installed it with my own hands. The installation on the submersible dreadnought which you saw was the first effort in that direction, and the Government believe it to be purely experimental. Well, the experiment has – failed. That is all." He shrugged.
"But you will be forced to try again."
"And it will fail – again. Ach, so! I would rather unship my plant, and fling my models to the bottom of the sea, where they may help to light up the world of crabs, than that my Government should acquire one single added threat against humanity."
The next few moments were silently occupied in lighting their cigars. Ruxton had no words with which to answer him. He was thinking deeply, comparing this man's attitude towards the country which claimed him with his own feelings for his island home. He wondered what his attitude would have been had their positions been reversed; if he, as an Englishman, had been such a power, through his discoveries, for aiding his country. To his shame he was forced to the conclusion that this white-haired Pole was a greater man than he could ever hope to be.
The difference between them lay in the difference between a perfervid patriotism, and the Prince's overwhelming love of humanity inspired by the abyss of horror into which a blind devotion to his country had flung him. This man had passed the great dividing line where the uplifted spirit renounces the claims of earthly passion in favor of the call of the voice of the soul. The cause of humanity now dominated every other emotion. Somehow his own fervor of patriotism suffered severely by the comparison, and so he found himself with no words in which to answer.
The old man rose from his chair and passed into his private stateroom. A few moments later he returned with two rolls of papers, neatly secured by tapes and seals.
He had closed the door. He was about to cross over to his guest. But in a moment he was held rigid where he stood. A dull boom roared out somewhere overhead and vibrated down the entire length of the vessel.
His eyes were wide and attentive. But there was no fear in them. Ruxton started up from the lounge on which he had been sitting. A thrilling excitement shone in his eyes.
"Is it a – mine?" he cried sharply.
The Prince shook his head.
"There would be nothing of us left at this moment," he said. "Wait! You can feel the steady throb of the engines. No, it was a gun. It was a bursting shell from one of the silent guns. They can see our periscope, and are firing across us – to heave to. Hark! There goes another."
Again came a terrific detonation. But the vessel ploughed on.
"Presently they will fire to hit our periscope and make us rise to the surface. Von Salzinger has gone further than I had dared to hope."
"Hope?"
"He will pay for this with his position."
"But if they hit our periscope?"
The Prince shrugged.
"It will make no difference. We shall not rise till it suits us. We have the light. Already we must be nearly through the mine-field. Once we are through the mines Ludovic could make the journey seawards blindfold."
The Prince crossed over to his chair, and laid the sealed rolls on the table beside him. He did not speak. He was obviously listening.
Presently another sharp explosion sounded overhead, and his eyes lit.
"Ah, I thought Von Salzinger would not resist it. You see, he is a Prussian." He smiled, but his eyes had lost their humor. "That was shrapnel," he went on. "Its bursting is unmistakable. But he will not hit the periscope."
Again silence fell between them, and both smoked on with every sense alert. There was another explosion overhead. Then another and another. Still the vibrations of the engines continued. The two waited some time for the next explosion, but it was delayed. At last the Prince rose from his seat and passed out of the room. He was away for some moments. During his absence Ruxton never stirred a muscle. His cigar had gone out. He was still listening acutely.
Finally the Prince returned, and Ruxton's eyes put their question plainly.
"We have completely passed the mine-field. We are also completely submerged," said the Prince. "We need no longer concern ourselves with Von Salzinger."
Ruxton drew a deep breath. He relit his cigar, while the other seemed to dismiss the subject from his mind entirely. The excitement of the escape had passed, and with the passing of it, it had robbed him of all lightness. His large eyes darkened, and a frowning of his bushy brows gave him an appearance of depression.
Ruxton, watching him, wondered what next was to be the display of this extraordinary creature. Nor had he long to wait.
"You have seen at – Borga?" he demanded.
"More – than I was prepared for, in spite of all you and the Princess had told me."
"Yes. Tell me. Tell me about it."
Ruxton drew his feet up on the lounge. His dark eyes were on the white-whiskered face of his host, but they had become deeply introspective.
"I wonder how many years we have before it – comes."
"Perhaps – ten."
"Ten? Yes, I suppose so." The Englishman's eyes were full of a deep pondering. "And then war. War upon Britain alone. The rest of the world cajoled into quiescence through self-interest, and the memory of the horrors of the late war. Yes, a sudden and swift descent upon our overseas commerce. The wholesale wrecking, and terrorizing by slaughter. Every ship bound for our shores must be captured or sunk. This must occur simultaneously in all parts of the world. Then the complete ringing round of these islands, and a naval warfare against us with this new type of battle-ship, the submersible dreadnought. From a naval point of view, with our own submarine vessels, doubtless it is calculated that we might hold our own. But meanwhile our islands would be starved, and our country brought to its knees. All our defences against submarine attack in the past would be rendered useless by the U-rays light. It is certainly a picture to intimidate the stoutest heart. And then? What lies behind this? I can see it in your eyes that – there is more behind it all."
The Prince leant forward with that swiftness of action which indicates a tumultuous stream of thought surging to find expression.
"Ach, that is so. That is all so. But you are right. There is more – much more," he cried, his lean hands tenaciously grasping the polished arms of his chair. "You have all talked world domination. You have all vaguely known that that was Germany's object in the last war, and in which she failed. No one knows better than Germany why she failed. It does not need the Englishman to remind her. Since then she has changed her whole plans, and now they are more far-reaching than ever. She has abandoned Napoleonic for the ancient Roman methods. Germany, once she has wrested sea power from Britain, will live in a state of war with the whole world. The procedure will be an attack upon, and annexation of, every small state in turn. And each small state so acquired will pay its own bill. She will consolidate each territory as she possesses it, and so long as her war methods continue they will be bled white. So she will build up in every corner of the earth, and in the process she will prosper exceedingly, as did the great Roman Empire. And throughout this reign of terror, while the outward seeming of civilization will increase a hundredfold, all spiritual life, and the culture of the human soul, will go back some two thousand years. We are this moment at the world's greatest crisis. One slip, one wrong move, and the great structure of the human soul will fall with a crash to the bowels of an abyss two thousand years deep. For the moment every seeing eye looks to Britain. For the moment, at this terrible crisis, Britain alone stands a bulwark that can save the human race from its tragedy. Salvation lies in the supremacy of the seas, which, thank God, is still in the keeping of your country. Britain must keep it. She must hold to it with all the bulldog tenacity for which she is famous. She must keep that mastery, not alone for her own security, but for the security of the whole human race!"
The man ran his lean fingers through his shock of white hair. And the action was an expression of relief from tension. A great light was shining in his eyes, a light which told Ruxton Farlow of the hot soul burning within. He knew, had known before, the truth of all this man had just stated, and the corroboration of his own knowledge, through the lips of another, fell with added weight.
He shifted his position. The urgency of all that had been said, all he had witnessed, now, as such things always did, drove him to considerations which bore actively upon the situation.
"Yes," he said, without emotion, "you have drawn a true picture. A picture which we, who care, have held in our imagination ever since the signing of that disastrous peace. Now I have witnessed for myself all that Germany is preparing." He paused, in deep thought, and the other waited anxiously.
"Let us consider now the risks and dangers of the moment," Ruxton went on again presently. He glanced up at the ceiling. The artificial lights were still shining. "We are still submerged. Therefore we are not yet in the open sea. A very real threat still hangs over us – over you. It will still hang over you when I am safely landed on my Yorkshire coast."
The shining light of the Prince's eyes was passing. His interest was not in his own safety. He shrugged.
"There is no danger for me. With Van Salzinger it is different."
"But you have broken the most vital of Borga's regulations. Can the German naval authorities overlook that? Will there be no question? Will you not be forced to produce your nephew to be confronted by – Von Salzinger?"
A look of doubt crept into the old man's eyes, and Ruxton knew that his warning had struck home.
"That possibility had not occurred to me," he said, with undisturbed simplicity.
For some moments Ruxton watched him in silence.
"How will you meet – that?" he demanded at last.
The man shrugged again.
"I must think of it. There will be a way."
"Just so. There is a way, Prince," said Ruxton, suddenly bestirring himself. "It is simple. Your real cause is the cause of humanity. Why not defy the claims of Germany? Abandon her, and yield your life to the cause so dear to your heart. Will you not land on the Yorkshire coast with me? A great welcome will await you. And – your daughter – she is in England already."