The Fight for Constantinople Part 6

"How goes it?" enquired Crosthwaite laconically, after ten minutes of silence.

"All correct, sir," replied the middy confidently.

"We'll make that chap all right," continued d.i.c.k, pointing to a black shape "broad on his starboard bow" as he expressed its position.

Two minutes later he was not so certain. The vessel seemed to be changing course. Just then a search-light played full upon the heads of the swimmers. There it hung with irritating persistency.

"Hope they don't think we're a couple of drifting mines, sir," remarked Sefton. "Perhaps they'll give us a few rounds."

That possibility had entered d.i.c.k's mind. Raising his arm out of the water he waved it frantically. In so doing he completely forgot the other side of the question, and a crackle of musketry from the sh.o.r.e announced the disconcerting fact that the alert Turks had noticed the commotion in the water.

The bullets ricochetted all around the swimmers. The Sub turned and gave a swift glance at his companion. He was still "going strong", unperturbed by the leaden missiles that sung like angry bees.

A lurid flash burst from the fo'c'sle gun of the destroyer.

For a brief instant the Sub was in a state of suspense; then he gave a gasp of relief, for the projectile was not aimed at the two dark objects in the ray of the search-light. With a crash it landed on the hillside, and the rifle-firing ceased with commendable promptness.

The destroyer turned and, still maintaining a high speed, made straight for the two swimmers.

"Way enough!" exclaimed d.i.c.k cheerfully. "They're going to pick us up."

Suddenly, as the vessel's engines were reversed, the destroyer lost way. The creaking of tackle announced that her crew were lowering one of the Berthon boats--and within four hundred yards of the Turkish batteries.

Yet for some reason the field-pieces did not open fire until d.i.c.k and the midshipman were picked up and were in the act of being transferred from the boat to the destroyer _Calder_. Then, with a vivid and a sharp detonation, a sh.e.l.l burst a couple of hundred feet short of the British craft, quickly followed by another that missed by similar distance beyond.

Having revealed their ident.i.ty, d.i.c.k and his companion were taken below and furnished with dry clothing. Quickly the Sub returned on deck and approached the Lieutenant-Commander on the bridge.

"Field-pieces lowered over the cliff, eh?" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed that officer.

"Jolly plucky of those fellows. We're engaged in trying to draw their fire. Sorry I can't put you on board the _Hammerer_. The battleships and cruisers have withdrawn until the mine-field is cleared a little higher up. They're going to tackle Chanak and Kilid Bahr to-morrow.

We're just off to reconnoitre. The _Calder's_ taking the European and the _Irwell_ is trying her luck on the Asiatic side."

"Can I be of any service, sir?"

"I'm afraid not--as far as I can see at present. We'll find room for you in the conning-tower."

The _Calder's_ search-lights had now been switched off. She was steaming slowly in a northerly direction, and had already pa.s.sed the innermost of the mine-sweepers and their attendant destroyers.

d.i.c.k entered the limited expanse of the conning-tower, in which was a Naval Reserve sub-lieutenant and two seamen. The Lieutenant-Commander, called by courtesy the Captain, stood without on the bridge, in company with the mate and a yeoman of signals.

Presently the Lieutenant-Commander glanced at the luminous dial of his watch.

"Time!" he exclaimed decisively, in the tone of a referee at a boxing tournament. "Full speed ahead."

The engine-room telegraph-bell clanged. Black smoke tinged with lurid red flames belched from the four squat funnels, and, like a hound released from leash, the _Calder_ raced on her perilous mission, her whole fabric quivering under the rapid pulsations of her engines.

The _Calder_ was not one of the latest type of destroyers. Her tonnage was a little over 550, her speed supposed to be 24 knots, but by dint of terrific exertion on the part of her "black squad" that rate was considerably exceeded.

Almost everything depended on her pace. She had to draw the fire from the hostile batteries. If she were hit and sunk the British navy would be the poorer by the loss of a useful destroyer and a crew of seventy gallant men--and nothing would be gained except the glory of having died for their country. If on the other hand the _Calder_ returned in safety, the British Admiral would be in possession of important information with reference to the position of new batteries that the Turks had thrown up to supplement those which were already known to be in existence. Moreover, there had been a report that The Narrows had been obstructed by a boom in addition to rows of mines, and a verification of the information or otherwise was urgently required before further extensive operations could be conducted.

On and on the _Calder_ tore. Now she was abreast of the powerful batteries of Tekeh and Escali. Almost ahead, owing to the sinuosity of The Narrows, lay the huge fortress of Chanak. Each of these positions mounted guns heavy enough to blow the frail destroyer clean out of the water, while there was known to be rows of deadly mines which might be anch.o.r.ed sufficiently far beneath the surface to allow a craft of the _Calder's_ draught to pa.s.s unscathed--but they might not. It was facing death at every revolution of the propellers.

Yet for some unknown reason the Turks made no attempt to open fire. It might be that they relied upon their mines, and were loath to disclose their positions by opening fire upon an insignificant destroyer. If such were the case, it showed that the Ottoman had learned a new virtue--forbearance under provocation.

It was useless to suppose that the enemy had not spotted the swiftly-moving destroyer. The flame-tinged smoke was enough. Besides, she had already crossed the path of three powerful fixed search-lights that swept the entire width of the Dardanelles.

"The beggars are going to spoof us," remarked the Naval Reserve officer to d.i.c.k. "We'll have our run for nothing. I wish they'd do something."

Before Crosthwaite could reply, the whole of the European sh.o.r.e between Tekeh and Kilid Bahr seemed to be one blaze of vivid flashes. Then, to the accompaniment of a continuous roar that would outvoice the clap of thunder, a hundred projectiles sped towards the daring British destroyer, some falling short, others bursting ahead and astern, while many flew harmlessly overhead. Yet in all that tornado of sh.e.l.l the _Calder_ survived. Although her funnels were riddled with fragments of the bursting missiles and a sh.e.l.l penetrated her wardroom, she sustained no vital damage.

Zigzagging like an eel, in order to baffle the Turkish gun-layers, she held grimly on her way, her skipper, standing coolly on the bridge, sweeping the sh.o.r.e with powerful night-gla.s.ses.

Fragments of metal rattled against the thin armour of the conning-tower. Wafts of cordite drifted aft as the crew of the 4-inch on the foc'sle blazed away against the powerful sh.o.r.e batteries. A dozen streams of smoke from the perforated funnels eddied aft in the strong breeze caused by the destroyer's speed, and rendered it impossible for the after 4-inch gun to be worked.

Making a complete circle the _Calder_ entered the belt of dense smoke previously thrown out by the funnels. A lot depended upon this manoeuvre, for she was lost sight of by the Turkish gunners. While they were congratulating themselves upon having sunk another of the Giaour's ships, the destroyer emerged from the bank of vapour, and in a position that necessitated an alteration in the sighting of the hostile guns.

It was grimly exciting, this game of dodging the fire of a hundred guns. Without giving a thought to the fact that the conning-tower afforded little or no protection, d.i.c.k revelled in the situation, now that the first salvo had been fired. Possibly the sight of the Lieutenant-Commander scorning to take shelter helped to steady d.i.c.k's nerves. He felt as much at home on that frail craft, the plating of which was a little thicker than cardboard, as he did behind a heavy-armoured casemate of the _Hammerer_.

From both sides of the Dardanelles sh.e.l.ls, large and small, hurtled through the air. It seemed as if nothing could prevent the projectiles from Kilid Bahr and the adjacent batteries ricochetting into Chanak and the forts on the Asiatic sh.o.r.e. Yet, hit many times, the _Calder_ held grimly and swiftly on her course till she came abreast of Nagara.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "THE _CALDER_ HELD GRIMLY AND SWIFTLY ON HER WAY"]

She had traversed the whole extent of The Narrows. Mines she missed, possibly by a few feet. More than once torpedoes, launched from the tubes mounted on the sh.o.r.e, tore past her, the trail of foam looming with a peculiar phosph.o.r.escence, showing how near they had been to getting home; while the sh.e.l.ls that struck her, although inflicting considerable damage, failed to strike in any vital part.

Satisfied that no boom existed at Nagara, and that the Turkish cruisers and destroyers which were thought to have left the Sea of Marmora and had taken shelter beyond Nagara were not in their expected anchorage, the Lieutenant-Commander of the _Calder_ ordered the helm to be put hard over.

Listing outwardly as she turned till her normal water-line showed three feet above the water, the destroyer began her return journey. Before she recovered her normal trim a 4-inch sh.e.l.l penetrated her thin plating, and, fortunately without exploding, missed one of the boilers by a fraction of an inch and disappeared out of the starboard side.

Then, as the destroyer steadied on her helm, the aperture a few seconds previously clear of the water was now eighteen inches beneath the surface. It poured a regular cascade that threatened to flood the engine-room.

In an instant one of the artificers saw the danger and acted promptly.

Seizing a bundle of oily waste he thrust it into the irregular-shaped hole, and coolly sat with his broad shoulders hard against the impromptu plug and kept it in position.

"There's the _Irwell_," suddenly exclaimed the Royal Naval Reserve officer, who was looking through one of the slits in the conning-tower on the port side.

d.i.c.k also looked. At two cables' length from them was their consort, which, having circled to starboard, had closed in upon the _Calder_.

Both were now running on parallel courses and at approximately the same speed.

The _Calder's_ skipper also saw the other destroyer. He realized the danger of the formation, for both craft were in a direct line of fire from the forts.

"Hard-a-port!" he shouted.

The quartermaster heard in spite of the terrific din. Round spun the wheel of the steam steering-gear, and with a lurch that gave those below the impression that she was turning turtle, the destroyer made a complete circle. By the time she had steadied on her helm the _Irwell_ was nearly a mile ahead.

A repet.i.tion of the terrible fire from k.u.m Kale greeted the _Calder_ as she tore past the southern-most of the forts, badly mauled but still in fighting trim. Her exploit had been successfully accomplished.

"Can anyone oblige me with a cigarette?" asked the Lieutenant-Commander, as he was rejoined by the officers from the conning-tower.

The Royal Naval Reserve officer hastened to comply.