“I’ll throw the first man who leaves his post to the sharks!” yelled Herc, and, although they couldn’t understand what he said, the crew appeared to comprehend the import of his words. At any rate, they rallied, and began serving the guns once more.
Suddenly a loud cheer went up from the bridge of the Barrill. A black, gaping2 hole appeared in the foreworks of the Calvo, and two of her guns were silenced. This cheered them hugely. It meant that their fire was taking effect at last.
“Close in!” shouted Captain Gomez to the men at the wheel in the conning3 tower below.
The space between the two vessels5 began to close. Ned at once understood the meaning of these tactics. They were to demolish6 the Calvo before the other vessel4, which was hastening to the rescue, arrived. Thus they would have only one foe7 to tackle at a time. For a space the two vessels jockeyed, but, deprived of officers as she was, the Calvo was no match for the tricky8 destroyer at this game. As he found his broadside fairly raking the other’s quarter, the Spanish-American captain gave the word. The range was about two thousand yards, and that tornado9 of steel was in position to do the most deadly work of which it was capable.
Before the few officers remaining on the Calvo could swing her bow on to avoid the full effect of the Barrill’s fire, Stanley and Herc received the signal from the bridge. As the tempest of shell took effect, the Calvo careened, till her underbody showed, and then staggered drunkenly[247] back on an even keel. But she seemed water-logged, and began drifting down on the destroyer.
“Hooray! we’ve smashed her steam steering10 gear!” yelled Ned, half crazy with excitement.
But, crippled as she was, the Calvo could still fight. Suddenly two bright flashes showed at her midship section, and a couple of six-inch projectiles11 shrieked12 toward the Barrill. The bridge was carried half away before they could stir. Ned caught Midshipman Stark13 as the young officer was hurled14 back against him. Captain Gomez stood grimly at the engine-room telegraph, which, luckily, had not been carried away. Nor, by good fortune, had the range-finder and fire-control instruments.
At the same instant as the Calvo’s shell shrieked its way through one end of the destroyer’s little bridge the other missile from the same vessel carried away the canvas forward funnel15. The little destroyer stood revealed in her true colors.
An instant’s glance served to show that the midshipman was not seriously wounded. A deep[248] cut on his head from a steel splinter was his only injury. But it had temporarily disabled him, and two sailors carried him to the small cabin, in which the surgeon had established himself.
Ned now stood alone on the bridge by Captain Gomez. A thrill ran through the boy as he realized this. They were in a real battle, and he was actually second in command!
“Shall we let them have it again, sir?” he asked, as the shouts and cries of the terrified crew died out under Stanley’s persuasion16 and Herc’s reckless flourishing of his weapon.
“Yes, my boy. This time we’ll sink them, if possible. It will be in revenge for the terrible fright they gave me when I saw our brave young friend wounded.”
As the signal was transmitted, Stanley’s battery mingled17 its fire with Herc’s. This time the Calvo did not answer. Instead they could see that the greatest confusion prevailed on her decks.
“Give her some more!” shouted the captain.
But even as he spoke18 there resounded19 from[249] the crippled ship a terrific explosion. She seemed to lift for half of her length upward out of the water, and then, in a shroud20 of dense21, white vapor22, she settled back.
“Her boilers23 have exploded!” shouted Ned, as he gazed with horror-stricken eyes on the tragedy.
“Lower the boats; we must save all we can!” exclaimed Captain Gomez. “Alas! my poor countrymen!”
The Calvo wavered only for an instant after the explosion, and then, with a dreadful roar and a furious hissing25, she vanished amid clouds of white steam. As the vapor cleared away, all that remained on the surface to show her end were a few ash-streaked pools of grease, amid which human heads showed like black dots.
The Barrill steamed among the debris27, and many a man owed his life to her heroic efforts. But hardly had the work of rescue terminated before the destroyer was called upon to face a fresh emergency. The other vessel was within[250] four thousand yards, steaming furiously toward them.
“It is the Bolivar!” exclaimed Captain Gomez, as he gazed through his glasses.
For a flash hope almost died in Ned’s heart. The newcomer was the torpedo28-equipped craft. As we know, of this class of weapon the Barrill had but four on board. What chance would she stand, crippled as she was, against this new enemy? Hastily Stanley and Herc were called to the bridge and the situation explained to them. It was decided29 to get the Barrill’s torpedo apparatus30 in order, and at least discharge all the Whiteheads she carried at the Bolivar—provided, that is, that the other vessel gave them a chance. On came the Bolivar, her officers apparently31 not the least dismayed by the fate that had overtaken the Calvo. The Barrill’s batteries opened fire on her at three thousand five hundred yards. The accuracy of Stanley and Herc’s fire halted her for a moment in the same manner as a ferocious32 bulldog pursuing a cat will halt, in a puzzled way, as her claws encounter his nose.
The hesitation33 was only for an instant, however, and then the craft began to swing.
“They are going to try a broadside!” exclaimed Captain Gomez, signaling “astern,” and swinging his vessel till her bow pointed34 at the other’s beam. It was an effective position, and gave the destroyer the advantage for the moment. Stanley, with his bow guns, took full advantage of it. He opened fire with his two rapid-fire weapons forward and succeeded in opening up several holes in the Bolivar’s bow.
But the insurgent35 vessel retaliated36 fearfully. Her steel projectiles ripped and tore the forward structure of the little Barrill, putting Stanley’s two bow-chasers out of commission, killing37 two of his men and, of course, driving them all from that part of the vessel. Fortunately, however, not one of all the rapidly fired missiles struck the Barrill below the water line, or in any vital spot.
The screech38 and hiss24 of projectiles were now incessant39 on both sides. About the Barrill the water shot upward in a hundred geysers as the steel rain roared about her. As fast as their[252] gunners were killed or wounded, Herc and Stanley replaced them by men rescued from the sunken Calvo. The revolvers both Americans carried proved wonderful persuaders in driving them to the guns.
“Where are their torpedoes40?” asked Ned anxiously, as, after ten minutes of this hot work, no sign of one of those deadly messengers of death had appeared.
There was no time for the silent, anxious figure beside him to reply.
A sudden puff41 of white smoke showed low down on the Bolivar’s bow. The sunlight glinted for a breath on white metal, and then came a splash. Ned grew pale and clutched the rail desperately42 as he realized that five hundred pounds of high explosive had been launched at the destroyer.
He wanted to shout out, but his lips refused obedience43. All he could do was to keep his wide-opened, staring eyes fixed44 on the line of white air bubbles which marked the path of the approaching torpedo. But while Ned stood paralyzed,[253] the Barrill’s commander had acted. He did the only thing possible to do. Skillfully he man?uvered his vessel till her sharp bow pointed toward the oncoming torpedo.
But even as she swung, it seemed to the watchers of the approaching steel tube that the Barrill must swing herself directly in the path of the messenger of death. By some subtle wireless45 telegraphy the news of the peril46 had already traversed the decks. White under their yellow skins, the frightened crew showed twitching47 faces and nervous, shaky hands. Even the revolvers of Stanley and Herc seemed powerless now to drive them to duty. In their fatalistic way they argued that death was upon them, and that it was no worse to be shot by a revolver than to be blown to atoms by a striking torpedo.
Ned, ashen48 to his lips, leaned forward above the shattered rail and watched through his glasses the approach of the Whitehead. It was running but a short distance under the surface, and once or twice he thought he could detect a shimmering49 flash as it shot through a wave. The[254] bursting bubbles marking its way were clearly apparent. It could only be a few minutes now.
Fascinated, like one in a trance, the boy kept his eyes glued on it. Below him, on the decks, he could hear the shouts and screams and prayers as the thoroughly50 demoralized crew rushed about, leaping over the dead and the wounded, and then stopping short, baffled at the impossibility of escape.
The torpedo was now so close that a few seconds would decide all. Without realizing it, Ned gripped the rail and braced51 himself with his feet. Silently he waited for the terrific impact of the explosion he knew must come when the deadly point of the gun-cotton “war-head” plowed52 into the steel plates of the Barrill.
But death was not destined53 for them at that moment. With a flash of bright steel, a whirr of her tiny propellers54 and a white streak26 of foam55, the awful menace swept by, missing her prey56 by a hand’s breadth. Ned felt sick and weak as he realized that the Whitehead had dashed close[255] by and gone onward57. Its mission of death had proved futile58.
“Back to your posts, every one of you!”
Captain Gomez’s sharp voice cut the tense silence on the decks.
“You put them out of business this time!” yelled Stanley, “or they’ll let loose another of those, and blow us all to a dago heaven.”
“Can’t two play at that game, captain?” asked Ned, as the fire broke out afresh. “Why can’t we try a torpedo at them?”
“A good idea, my boy! Give the orders.”
Ned hailed Stanley in an interval59 of the fire and gave the necessary command. The torpedo was rigged in a stern tube, and the Barrill swung to deliver it. It was dangerous work. At any moment one of the enemy’s shots might have struck the “war-head” of the implement60 and blown them all to eternity61. But by the same good fortune that had so far protected those on the bridge, Stanley and Herc managed to get the torpedo in the tube and the compressed-air connections made.
Ned snatched up a megaphone as the Barrill’s blunt counter swung till it was aimed at the leaden side of the converted yacht.
“Now, then, boys!” he cried at length.
Stanley took careful aim and released the catch.
There was a sharp hiss, as of outrushing steam, a splash, accompanied by a bright flash of whirring metal. The Whitehead was speeding on her errand of annihilation.
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1
appalled
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| v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的 | |
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2
gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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3
conning
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| v.诈骗，哄骗( con的现在分词 )；指挥操舵( conn的现在分词 ) | |
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4
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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demolish
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| v.拆毁(建筑物等)，推翻(计划、制度等) | |
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7
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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tricky
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| adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的 | |
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tornado
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| n.飓风，龙卷风 | |
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10
steering
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| n.操舵装置 | |
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11
projectiles
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| n.抛射体( projectile的名词复数 )；（炮弹、子弹等）射弹，（火箭等）自动推进的武器 | |
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12
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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13
stark
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| adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地 | |
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14
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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15
funnel
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| n.漏斗；烟囱；v.汇集 | |
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16
persuasion
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| n.劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派 | |
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17
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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18
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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19
resounded
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| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
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20
shroud
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| n.裹尸布，寿衣；罩，幕；vt.覆盖，隐藏 | |
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21
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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22
vapor
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| n.蒸汽，雾气 | |
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23
boilers
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| 锅炉，烧水器，水壶( boiler的名词复数 ) | |
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24
hiss
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| v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满 | |
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25
hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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26
streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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27
debris
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| n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片 | |
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28
torpedo
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| n.水雷，地雷；v.用鱼雷破坏 | |
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29
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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30
apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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31
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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32
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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33
hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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34
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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35
insurgent
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| adj.叛乱的，起事的；n.叛乱分子 | |
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36
retaliated
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| v.报复，反击( retaliate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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38
screech
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| n./v.尖叫；(发出)刺耳的声音 | |
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39
incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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40
torpedoes
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| 鱼雷( torpedo的名词复数 )； 油井爆破筒； 刺客； 掼炮 | |
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41
puff
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| n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气 | |
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42
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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43
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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44
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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45
wireless
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| adj.无线的；n.无线电 | |
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46
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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47
twitching
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| n.颤搐 | |
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48
ashen
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| adj.灰的 | |
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49
shimmering
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| v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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50
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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51
braced
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| adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
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52
plowed
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| v.耕( plow的过去式和过去分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
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53
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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54
propellers
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| n.螺旋桨，推进器( propeller的名词复数 ) | |
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55
foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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56
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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57
onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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58
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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59
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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60
implement
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| n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行 | |
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61
eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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