Be warned in time, and give over this piratical attack, the
very threat of which may be the cause of much bloodshed." CAPTAIN (_violently_). "Do you dare to threaten me, and, moreover, my
ship's company? We are one, I tell you, in this ship; and the last man
shall perish like the first ere this enterprise fail. Go!" With a bow, the Gospodar turned and went down the ladder, we following
him. In a couple of minutes the yacht was on her way to the port. FROM RUPERT'S JOURNAL. _July_ 10, 1907. When we turned shoreward after my stormy interview with the pirate
Captain--I can call him nothing else at present, Rooke gave orders to a
quartermaster on the bridge, and _The Lady_ began to make to a little
northward of Ilsin port. Rooke himself went aft to the wheel-house,
taking several men with him. When we were quite near the rocks--the water is so deep here that there
is no danger--we slowed down, merely drifting along southwards towards
the port. I was myself on the bridge, and could see all over the decks. I could also see preparations going on upon the warship. Ports were
opened, and the great guns on the turrets were lowered for action. When
we were starboard broadside on to the warship, I saw the port side of the
steering-house open, and Rooke's men sliding out what looked like a huge
grey crab, which by tackle from within the wheel-house was lowered softly
into the sea. The position of the yacht hid the operation from sight of
the warship. The doors were shut again, and the yacht's pace began to
quicken. We ran into the port. I had a vague idea that Rooke had some
desperate project on hand. Not for nothing had he kept the wheel-house
locked on that mysterious crab. All along the frontage was a great crowd of eager men. But they had
considerately left the little mole at the southern entrance, whereon was
a little tower, on whose round top a signal-gun was placed, free for my
own use. When I was landed on this pier I went along to the end, and,
climbing the narrow stair within, went out on the sloping roof. I stood
up, for I was determined to show the Turks that I was not afraid for
myself, as they would understand when the bombardment should begin. It
was now but a very few minutes before the fatal hour--six bells. But all
the same I was almost in a state of despair. It was terrible to think of
all those poor souls in the town who had done nothing wrong, and who were
to be wiped out in the coming blood-thirsty, wanton attack. I raised my
glasses to see how preparations were going on upon the warship. As I looked I had a momentary fear that my eyesight was giving way. At
one moment I had the deck of the warship focussed with my glasses, and
could see every detail as the gunners waited for the word to begin the
bombardment with the great guns of the barbettes. The next I saw nothing
but the empty sea. Then in another instant there was the ship as before,
but the details were blurred. I steadied myself against the signal-gun,
and looked again. Not more than two, or at the most three, seconds had
elapsed. The ship was, for the moment, full in view. As I looked, she
gave a queer kind of quick shiver, prow and stern, and then sideways. It
was for all the world like a rat shaken in the mouth of a skilled
terrier. Then she remained still, the one placid thing to be seen, for
all around her the sea seemed to shiver in little independent eddies, as
when water is broken without a current to guide it. I continued to look, and when the deck was, or seemed, quite still--for
the shivering water round the ship kept catching my eyes through the
outer rays of the lenses--I noticed that nothing was stirring. The men
who had been at the guns were all lying down; the men in the
fighting-tops had leaned forward or backward, and their arms hung down
helplessly. Everywhere was desolation--in so far as life was concerned. Even a little brown bear, which had been seated on the cannon which was
being put into range position, had jumped or fallen on deck, and lay
there stretched out--and still. It was evident that some terrible shock
had been given to the mighty war-vessel. Without a doubt or a thought
why I did so, I turned my eyes towards where _The Lady_ lay, port
broadside now to the inside, in the harbour mouth. I had the key now to
the mystery of Rooke's proceedings with the great grey crab. As I looked I saw just outside the harbour a thin line of cleaving water. This became more marked each instant, till a steel disc with glass eyes
that shone in the light of the sun rose above the water. It was about
the size of a beehive, and was shaped like one. It made a straight line
for the aft of the yacht. At the same moment, in obedience to some
command, given so quietly that I did not hear it, the men went below--all
save some few, who began to open out doors in the port side of the
wheel-house. The tackle was run out through an opened gangway on that
side, and a man stood on the great hook at the lower end, balancing
himself by hanging on the chain. In a few seconds he came up again. The
chain tightened and the great grey crab rose over the edge of the deck,
and was drawn into the wheel-house, the doors of which were closed,
shutting in a few only of the men. I waited, quite quiet. After a space of a few minutes, Captain Rooke in
his uniform walked out of the wheel-house. He entered a small boat,
which had been in the meantime lowered for the purpose, and was rowed to
the steps on the mole. Ascending these, he came directly towards the
signal-tower. When he had ascended and stood beside me, he saluted. "Well?" I asked. "All well, sir," he answered. "We shan't have any more trouble with that
lot, I think. You warned that pirate--I wish he had been in truth a
clean, honest, straightforward pirate, instead of the measly Turkish swab
he was--that something might occur before the first stroke of six bells. Well, something has occurred, and for him and all his crew that six bells
will never sound. So the Lord fights for the Cross against the Crescent! Bismillah. Amen!" He said this in a manifestly formal way, as though
declaiming a ritual. The next instant he went on in the thoroughly
practical conventional way which was usual to him:

"May I ask a favour, Mr. Sent Leger?" "A thousand, my dear Rooke," I said. "You can't ask me anything which I
shall not freely grant. And I speak within my brief from the National
Council. You have saved Ilsin this day, and the Council will thank you
for it in due time." "Me, sir?" he said, with a look of surprise on his face which seemed
quite genuine. "If you think that, I am well out of it. I was afraid,
when I woke, that you might court-martial me!" "Court-martial you! What for?" I asked, surprised in my turn. "For going to sleep on duty, sir! And the fact is, I was worn out in the
attack on the Silent Tower last night, and when you had your interview
with the pirate--all good pirates forgive me for the blasphemy!