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The last hope of running through the hostile fleet unperceived had now vanished. There was nothing for it but to go ahead full-speed, and trust to the chances of a running fight to get clear. With a view of finding out the strength of the enemy, the British cruisers now turned their searchlights on and swept the horizon.
He stopped and shut his eyes for a minute or two, and Kit did not know if he was conscious or not. Then he resumed in a strained whisper: "All's ready; ring for full-speed. I'm going to meet my wife." He drew a hard breath, sighed, and did not speak again. An hour afterwards, Mayne met Kit coming out of the room, and glancing at his face took off his cap.
Then she sped on again at full-speed to meet the Oceana and the two cruisers, which were about fifty miles behind. By one A.M. the three cruisers and the three liners had joined forces, and were steaming westward at twenty knots an hour, the liners in single file led by a cruiser, and having one on each beam. Soon the flashes on the horizon grew more frequent, always drawing closer together.
Still, the old boat was fast, and Davies would drive her full-speed. The captain's job would not be easier when he left the shoals. The easterly gale would send the floes up stream. Cartwright knew the strange chill one felt when ice was about and the faint elusive blink that marked its edge in the dark.
"I am convinced," said the captain, "that, 'running' is out of the question.* Take my advice now and don't attempt it. It's dangerous, and of no use at all." *The method of hunting called "running" consists in attacking the buffalo on horseback and shooting him with bullets or arrows when at full-speed.
I had no difficulty in deciding how to employ my time. I was at an age when, in such contingencies, there is always a feminine alternative; and even now I don't know how it was that, on my way to a certain hospitable luncheon-table, I suddenly found myself in a cab which was carrying me at full-speed to the Twenty-third Street ferry.
Again Edgar was signalled "Half-speed," then as the captain looked into the darkness ahead, and saw, or thought he saw, it deepen horribly came the sharp order, "Astern, full-speed!" Full well did Edgar know that this implied imminent danger. Quick as lightning he reversed the engines. Next moment there was an appalling crash that overturned everything in the vessel.
Men ran furiously. The gongs rang. The ensign said politely: "I'll take you below now." He led them very swiftly to a flight of stairs. There was a monstrous bellowing on the carrier's deck. Something dark went hurtling down its length, with a tail of pale-blue flame behind it. It vanished. Men were still running. The elevator shot into full-speed ascent. A plane rolled off it.
He ran down the steps and as he started the car the others jumped up. Mordaunt had not meant to take Carrie, but he did not stop and the car sped away. He let her go full-speed down the hill, dashed through the awkward gateway, touching the post, and drove furiously to the bend where the road ran on to the marsh.
At last there was shouting from the bridge, the tender cast off, the bell in the engine-room gave four strokes, the signal for full-speed ahead, and ere long we were steaming past that clanging beacon the Bell Buoy, and heading for the open sea.
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