Long before dawn Howard was astir. Possessing in an eminent1 degree the not very rare faculty2 of being able to awake at any hour desired, he had set his mental alarm-clock for four o’clock, and, in spite of his fatigue3, had awakened4 within fifteen minutes of that time.
Without disturbing any of the others, who lay stretched in more or less uneasy postures5 on the comfortless floor of the Seashark, he made his way first to the conning-tower for a last examination of the fixtures6 there; then to the deck, where a brief inspection7 showed that the propeller8 was still clear; and, at last, to the pilot’s seat, where, taking his place, he pulled the lever that let the water into the ballast tanks.
Swiftly the tanks filled, and silently and smoothly9 the Seashark sank down[250] through the water. For a time the weed scraped against her sides, but soon this ceased, and the electric beam showed only black water before the tiny windows of her conning-tower. When fifty feet of depth was registered on the gage10, Howard turned on the power and, gathering11 way, the Seashark drove along beneath the sea.
Three hours later, when the weary sleepers12 began to stir, he was still at his post, tirelessly staring before him. As the day waxed, a faint light, interspersed13 with occasional stronger beams, filtered down from above, giving token that the canopy14 of weed had grown thin, and was broken here and there by channels of open water. Soon it would be safe to go to the surface.
Suddenly, with terrifying swiftness, came a sound and a shock that shook the Seashark from stem to stern. Simultaneously15 the black hull16 of a great ship showed across the path, not a hundred[251] feet away. There was no time to stop; no time to check the speed; scarcely time to deflect17 the course. But quicker than thought, quicker than lightning, automatically, Howard’s trained brain and hand met the danger.
The horizontal rudders sent the Seashark diving down, down, down, in a desperate endeavor to pass beneath the obstruction—down till Howard saw clear water in front of him.
Under the keel of the ship sped the Seashark, still diving desperately18. For one agonizing19 instant she touched, scraped, shrieked20; then tore free.
But the danger was not passed; though, with reversed rudders, the Seashark strove to beat her way upward. A glance at the dials showed that the depth was increasing—not diminishing; a glance behind showed that the black hull was ominously21 close. The slant22 of the Seashark grew steeper, steeper; almost it stood on end. The rumble23 of falling[252] objects came from below, followed by startled shrieks24, as the sleepers, rudely awakened, slid in a tangled25 heap to the after-end of the boat. Howard clung wildly to the steering-wheel to save himself from being hurled26 down upon the rest. As he clung, confused, not understanding, the tiny vessel27 was shaken like a rat in a dog’s jaws28. Her machinery29 began to tear loose from its bed. Mere30 peas in a pod, her passengers tumbled right and left as willed by the mighty31 power that grasped them.
After turmoil32 peace. Howard pulled his dazed wits together to the realization33 that the Seashark was lying quiescent34 on the surface of the water, though by no means on an even keel. Her engines had stopped, and her lights were out. Only a faint glimmer35 through the windows of the conning-tower illumined the scene of wreckage36 around him. Wild with anxiety, he lowered himself into the blackness of the sleeping room, and called Dorothy’s name.
[253]“Here I am, Frank,” came the answer.
Howard groped his way toward the sound. “Are you hurt?” he asked in trembling accents.
“No! I think not—certainly not seriously.” The girl’s tones were broken, but brave as ever.
“The rest of you? Is everybody alive? Answer as I call. Joyce?”
“I’m alive, sor, and so is Kathleen.”
“Jackson?”
“Here.”
“Mr. Willoughby?”
“I, too, have escaped.”
Howard drew a long breath. “Thank God! We seem to have our lives, at any rate.”
“What was it, sor?”
“I’m not certain. But I think a wreck37 must have chosen the very moment of our passage to sink, and must have drawn38 us down into her vortex. We escaped at last, and are now at the surface. But I fear our machinery is ruined. I’ll open the manhole.”
[254]Turning, Howard clambered back to his perch39, and tried to push back the bolts. They were badly jammed, and it took him some time to loosen them; but at last they gave way, and he shoved back the cover and thrust out his head.
The Seashark was rolling gently on smooth weed-clear water. A quarter of a mile away lay a white cruiser, and not a hundred yards distant was a boat rapidly approaching.
Howard rubbed his eyes. “Ahoy, the boat,” he called.
The officer in charge gasped40. “Way enough,” he ordered. “Ahoy, the submarine. Where in heaven did you come from?”
“That’s what we did. We’re destroying derelicts, and hunting for a party of castaways from the Queen. Do you know anything about them?”
Howard nodded affirmatively in answer to the officer’s question. “Yes,” he answered. “We are the castaways—we and three others who escaped with us in this submarine from the little king of the Sargasso Sea. I suppose you know the story that I sent by wireless42?”
The boat scraped along. “Know it! I should say so,” exclaimed the startled officer. “The whole country knows it. I suppose you are——”
“Frank Howard. Come, Dorothy,” Howard climbed to the deck, and helped the girl to follow him. “This is, or, rather, was—Miss Fairfax,” he explained. “And you——”
The officer suppressed a whistle of admiration43 at sight of Dorothy’s flower-like face. “I’m McCully!” he answered, as he stood up and took off his cap. “I say! This is awfully44 lucky. Colonel Fairfax will be wild with delight.”
“My father! Where is he?”
[256]“On board the Duluth, yonder. The navy department ordered us to look for you, and he came along. There are a dozen searching for you.”
Dorothy’s head swam. The month of stress was over, and the revulsion of feeling was too great not to affect her. Tears started to her eyes as she turned to Howard. “Oh! Frank!” she cried. “Father is here.”
“Yes. He’s here, sure,” interjected Mr. McCully, “and if you’ll get into this boat we’ll take you to him in a jiffy.”
Dorothy looked at Howard inquiringly, and he nodded. “Yes, you’d better go,” he assented45. “You and Mrs. Joyce and Willoughby, perhaps. The rest of us will stay here for the present. Mr. McCully, will you kindly46 ask your captain if he cannot come alongside us? The Seashark, though damaged by your torpedo, is still valuable, and, besides, we have about two million dollars in gold bars on board of her.”
[257]The lieutenant47 looked his astonishment48. What manner of man was this who carried two millions of gold about in a submarine. “Two millions?” he gasped.
“Yes! We found an old Spanish galleon49 with five or six millions on her, and brought away all we could. Look! There’s another boat coming. Is that your father on her, Dorothy? And—why, yes, it’s Loving, too, isn’t it? How frightfully ill he is looking.”
Another boat was close at hand. Dorothy looked at her, and clasped her hands with excitement. “Oh! It is!” she cried. “Father! Father! Don’t you know me?”
The gray-bearded civilian50 stood up. “Dorothy! Dorothy!” he trumpeted51. “Is it you! Is it really you?”
“Yes! Yes!” As the boat touched the Seashark, the girl fairly sprang into her father’s arms. “Oh! father! father!” she cried. “How good it is to see you.”
Meanwhile, Lieutenant McCully had turned to Howard and the others, who[258] had now climbed up on the deck. “The Duluth is moving,” he explained. “Captain Morehouse probably intends to come alongside without being asked. Hadn’t you all better get into this boat, and let my men fasten your manhole down? The waves from the Duluth might swamp her, you know.”
“Thank you. If you’ll be so kind. But first let me present my fellow travelers.”
In a few moments the Seashark was made safe against swamping, and her former passengers were about to enter the cutter, when Dorothy called to Howard: “Frank, dear, I want you.”
Everybody started. Not one there was ignorant of Howard’s record, and the use of his Christian52 name by the girl was somewhat surprising.
“Frank, dear!” cried the girl, alive with excitement. “This is my father. Father, this is Lieutenant Frank Howard, who saved me from death and from worse than death. See, I wear his ring.”
[259]She held up her hand, and, at the sight of the plain gold band, Colonel Fairfax’s outstretched hand dropped heavily to his side. “A wedding ring,” he gasped.
“Yes, father. I am not Dorothy Fairfax any more. I am Dorothy Howard now. Mr. Willoughby married us day before yesterday.”
All Colonel Fairfax’s coolness; all the aplomb53 that had made him a master of men; all his traditional self-possession dropped from him, and he stood stammering54 like any schoolboy.
Dorothy’s eyes sparkled. “It’s all right, father,” she declared. “Frank married me to save me from that horrible Forbes. He didn’t want to do so because of that ridiculous accusation55 against him, but he couldn’t help it. I insisted on it. Shake hands with him. You and I are going to find the real murderer, and clear his name.”
“But—but—Mr. Loving——”
Loving, his face pale, but with a forced[260] smile on his lips, struck in. “Hallo, Howard, old man,” he said, holding out his hand. “I was just waiting my chance to speak to you. Frank Howard is all right, colonel,” he continued earnestly, turning to the elder man. “I’ve told you so before, you know.”
Colonel Fairfax had recovered his poise56 somewhat. “Well,” he said, “this isn’t the time or place to talk about it, though it is the time to thank you, Mr. Howard, for saving my girl’s life. It nearly killed me when I lost her. Come, let’s get on board—Good Heavens! Loving! What’s the matter?”
Loving’s face had grown white as death, and his distended57 eyes seemed popping from their sockets58. Following his gaze, the others saw Mr. Willoughby picking his way along the Seashark toward them.
“Ah! Mr. Howard,” he said, holding out his hand to Loving, “I’m glad to see you here, for, of course, it means that you[261] must have cleared yourself of that terrible charge. Quite a coincidence having another of the same name in our little party, isn’t it? I had meant to speak to him about you, but we have been in such a turmoil that I haven’t had the chance.”
The changing expressions in the faces of his listeners suddenly caught the good man’s attention. “Why! What is the matter?” he explained. “I—I hope I don’t—— Surely you have cleared yourself of that charge, Mr. Howard?”
Loving’s dry lips moved, but no sound came. The other men, too, were stricken dumb. Only Dorothy found breath.
“This gentleman is Mr. Loving, Mr. Willoughby,” she gasped. “Why do you call him Howard?”
The missionary59 turned a bewildered face to the girl. “I don’t understand,” he stammered60. “I knew this gentleman as Mr. Howard in Porto Rico, where I married him to Dolores Montoro. Later she followed him to New York, and he[262] was reported to have murdered her. I was coming to testify when I was wrecked61, and——”
Loving burst suddenly into a fit of jarring laughter. “You needn’t say any more, Mr. Willoughby,” he cackled. “You’ve put the noose62 around my neck all right. Yes, I did it, I did it. I married that she-devil under your name, Howard, and when she followed me to New York I killed her. I didn’t mean to get you into it, but you got a letter she intended for me, and butted63 in just in time to get accused. You’ll bear me witness that I tried to save you; and I would have done it, too, if those fools in Porto Rico hadn’t identified your photograph as the man who married Dolores. All smooth-faced men in uniform look alike to them, I suppose. Well, it’s all up now, and I’m glad of it. Maybe you won’t believe me, but I haven’t had a happy moment since you were arrested. I’m not so bad as you think; that woman was a fiend and—but[263] there’s the ship. I’ll go on board and write out a formal confession64.”
Unseen, the Duluth had approached and, as she ran smoothly alongside, Loving caught a Jacob’s-ladder swinging from a boom, and ran up it to the deck.
Before any one could follow, the Duluth swung past, and, when a moment later her reversed screw brought her to a halt, the sound of a pistol-shot in her ward-room told that Loving had signed his confession with his blood.
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1
eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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2
faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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3
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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4
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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postures
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| 姿势( posture的名词复数 )； 看法； 态度； 立场 | |
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6
fixtures
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| （房屋等的）固定装置( fixture的名词复数 )； 如（浴盆、抽水马桶）； 固定在某位置的人或物； （定期定点举行的）体育活动 | |
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7
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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propeller
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| n.螺旋桨，推进器 | |
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9
smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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10
gage
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| n.标准尺寸，规格；量规，量表 [=gauge] | |
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11
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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12
sleepers
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| n.卧铺（通常以复数形式出现）；卧车( sleeper的名词复数 )；轨枕；睡觉（呈某种状态）的人；小耳环 | |
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13
interspersed
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| adj.[医]散开的；点缀的v.intersperse的过去式和过去分词 | |
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14
canopy
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| n.天篷，遮篷 | |
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15
simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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16
hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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17
deflect
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| v.(使)偏斜，(使)偏离，(使)转向 | |
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18
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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19
agonizing
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| adj.痛苦难忍的；使人苦恼的v.使极度痛苦；折磨(agonize的ing形式) | |
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20
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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21
ominously
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| adv.恶兆地，不吉利地；预示地 | |
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slant
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| v.倾斜，倾向性地编写或报道；n.斜面，倾向 | |
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23
rumble
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| n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说 | |
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24
shrieks
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| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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25
tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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26
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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27
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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28
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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30
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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31
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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32
turmoil
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| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
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33
realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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34
quiescent
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| adj.静止的，不活动的，寂静的 | |
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35
glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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36
wreckage
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| n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏 | |
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37
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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38
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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39
perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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40
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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41
torpedo
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| n.水雷，地雷；v.用鱼雷破坏 | |
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42
wireless
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| adj.无线的；n.无线电 | |
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43
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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44
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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45
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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47
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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48
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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49
galleon
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| n.大帆船 | |
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50
civilian
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| adj.平民的，民用的，民众的 | |
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51
trumpeted
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| 大声说出或宣告（trumpet的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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52
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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53
aplomb
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| n.沉着，镇静 | |
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54
stammering
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的现在分词 ) | |
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55
accusation
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| n.控告，指责，谴责 | |
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56
poise
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| vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信 | |
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57
distended
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| v.（使）膨胀，肿胀( distend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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58
sockets
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| n.套接字，使应用程序能够读写与收发通讯协定(protocol)与资料的程序( Socket的名词复数 )；孔( socket的名词复数 )；（电器上的）插口；托座；凹穴 | |
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59
missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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60
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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61
wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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62
noose
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| n.绳套，绞索（刑）；v.用套索捉；使落入圈套；处以绞刑 | |
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63
butted
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| 对接的 | |
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64
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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