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Not a ship was in sight; there was not a trace of the battle cruiser that the Dewey had sent to her doom during the earlier hours of the night. "Didn't have a chance, did they?" Ted said to his churn in contemplation of the fate of the German warship. Jack felt different about it. "Sure they had a chance," he answered. "They would have gotten us if we hadn't landed them first."
On October 29 an act which was regarded in Russia as equivalent to a declaration of war by Turkey was committed at Theodosia, the Crimean port, when that town was bombarded without notice by the cruiser Breslau, flying the Turkish flag, but commanded by a German officer and manned by a German crew.
For a moment there was tense silence, then Thurid, with a roar of rage sprang for my throat; just as Xodar had upon the deck of the cruiser. The results were identical. I ducked beneath his outstretched arms, and as he lunged past me planted a terrific right on the side of his jaw. The big fellow spun around like a top, his knees gave beneath him and he crumpled to the ground at my feet.
"'Tis a Frenchman, or I am a whale' One may see it, by his short yards, and the hoist of his sails; ay, and 'tis a cruiser, too, for no man who had a profit to make on his freight, would be lying there under short canvas, and his port within a day's run." "Your opinion is my own; would to Heaven our people were all here!
The awful lesson of the night before had taught him that this beautiful cruiser of the air which lay within a few yards of him could in a few moments rise into the air and scatter indiscriminate death and destruction around her, and so the flags came down, the old Jack once more went up, and Aldershot was English ground again.
The stationary position of la Fontange, and his own efforts to get to windward, were already proving advantageous to Queen Anne's cruiser. There was some indecision on the part of the other ship, which instantly caught the eye of one whose readiness in his profession so much resembled instinct.
I gave him my name and then I said in a quiet confidential way, "Forgive this intrusion, Mr. Rendall, but the fact is my ship has evidently been called away." I glanced towards the window, and following my look he could see the smoke of the cruiser just visible on the horizon. He gave a little nod but said nothing.
But while Saumarez, in his turn, was occasionally employed in frigate and light cruiser service, and always with great credit, his heart was with the ship-of-the-line, whose high organization, steady discipline, and decisive influence upon the issues of war appealed to a temperament naturally calm, methodical, and enduring.
But if their shouts and gestures were understood aboard the cruiser, they were ignored. She slowly turned in a wide curve and headed straight for the Neptune which had drifted to leeward of her. What was in the minds of the officers on that cruiser's deck will never be known.
This was just the canvass to give a cruiser a wicked look, since it denoted a lazy preparation, which might, in an instant, be improved into mischief. As all cruising vessels, when on their stations doing nothing, reef at night, and the hour was still early, it was possible we had made this ship before her captain, or first-lieutenant, had made his appearance on deck.
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