<h4>CHAPTER XIII.</h4>
<h4>GOD BE WITH IT.</h4>
<p><i>From August 29 to September 10</i>.—Thirteen days have gone by and the
<i>Ebba</i> has not returned. Did she then not make straight for the American
coast? Has she been delayed by a buccaneering cruise in the neighborhood of Back
Cup? It seems to me that Ker Karraje’s only desire would be to get back with the
sections of Roch’s engines as soon as possible. Maybe the Virginian foundry had
not quite finished them.</p>
<p>Engineer Serko does not display the least anxiety or impatience. He continues
to greet me with his accustomed ironical cordiality, and with a kindly air that
I distrust—with good reason. He affects to be solicitous as to my health, urges
me to make the best of a bad job, calls me Ali Baba, assures me that there is
not, in the whole world, such an enchanting spot as this Arabian Nights cavern,
observes that I am fed, warmed, lodged, and clothed, that I have no taxes to
pay, and that even the inhabitants of the favored principality of Monaco do not
enjoy an existence more free from care.</p>
<p>Sometimes this ironical verbiage brings the blood to my face, and I am
tempted to seize this cynical banterer by the throat and choke the life out of
him. They would kill me afterwards. Still, what would that matter! Would it not
be better to end in this way than to spend years and years amid these infernal
and infamous surroundings? However, while there is life there is hope, I
reflect, and this thought restrains me.</p>
<p>I have scarcely set eyes upon Thomas Roch since the <i>Ebba</i> went away. He
shuts himself up in his laboratory and works unceasingly. If he utilizes all the
substances placed at his disposition there will be enough to blow up Back Cup
and the whole Bermudan archipelago with it!</p>
<p>I cling to the hope that he will never consent to give up the secret of his
deflagrator, and that Engineer Serko’s efforts to acquire it will remain
futile.</p>
<p><i>September 3</i>.—To-day I have been able to witness with my own eyes the
power of Roch’s explosive, and also the manner in which the fulgurator is
employed.</p>
<p>During the morning the men began to pierce the passage through the wall of
the cavern at the spot fixed upon by Engineer Serko, who superintended the work
in person. The work began at the base, where the rock is as hard as granite. To
have continued it with pickaxes would have entailed long and arduous labor,
inasmuch as the wall at this place is not less than from twenty to thirty yards
in thickness, but thanks to Roch’s fulgurator the passage will be completed
easily and rapidly.</p>
<p>I may well be astonished at what I have seen. The pickaxes hardly made any
impression on the rock, but its disaggregation was effected with really
remarkable facility by means of the fulgurator.</p>
<p>A few grains of this explosive shattered the rocky mass and reduced it to
almost impalpable powder that one’s breath could disperse as easily as vapor.
The explosion produced an excavation measuring fully a cubic yard. It was
accompanied by a sharp detonation that may be compared to the report of a
cannon.</p>
<p>The first charge used, although a very small one, a mere pinch, blew the men
in every direction, and two of them were seriously injured. Engineer Serko
himself was projected several yards, and sustained some rather severe
contusions.</p>
<p>Here is how this substance, whose bursting force surpasses anything hitherto
conceived, is employed.</p>
<p>A small hole about an inch and a half in length is pierced obliquely in the
rock. A few grains of the explosive are then inserted, but no wad is used.</p>
<p>Then Thomas Roch steps forward. In his hand is a little glass phial
containing a bluish, oily liquid that congeals almost as soon as it comes in
contact with the air. He pours one drop on the entrance of the hole, and draws
back, but not with undue haste. It takes a certain time—about thirty-five
seconds, I reckon—before the combination of the fulgurator and deflagrator is
effected. But when the explosion does take place its power of disaggregation is
such—I repeat—that it may be regarded as unlimited. It is at any rate a thousand
times superior to that of any known explosive.</p>
<p>Under these circumstances it will probably not take more than a week to
complete the tunnel.</p>
<p><i>September 19</i>.—For some time past I have observed that the tide rises
and falls twice every twenty-four hours, and that the ebb and flow produce a
rather swift current through the submarine tunnel. It is pretty certain
therefore that a floating object thrown into the lagoon when the top of the
orifice is uncovered would be carried out by the receding tide. It is just
possible that during the lowest equinoctial tides the top of the orifice is
uncovered. This I shall be able to ascertain, as this is precisely the time they
occur. To-day, September 19, I could almost distinguish the summit of the hole
under the water. The day after to-morrow, if ever, it will be uncovered.</p>
<p>Very well then, if I cannot myself attempt to get through, may be a bottle
thrown into the lagoon might be carried out during the last few minutes of the
ebb. And might not this bottle by chance—an ultra-providential chance, I must
avow—be picked up by a ship passing near Back Cup? Perhaps even it might be
borne away by a friendly current and cast upon one of the Bermudan beaches. What
if that bottle contained a letter?</p>
<p>I cannot get this thought out of my mind, and it works me up into a great
state of excitement. Then objections crop up—this one among others: the bottle
might be swept against the rocks and smashed ere ever it could get out of the
tunnel. Very true, but what if, instead of a bottle a diminutive, tightly closed
keg were used? It would not run any danger of being smashed and would besides
stand a much better chance of reaching the open sea.</p>
<p><i>September 20</i>.—This evening, I, unperceived, entered one of the store
houses containing the booty pillaged from various ships and procured a keg very
suitable for my experiment.</p>
<p>I hid the keg under my coat, and returned to the Beehive and my cell. Then
without losing an instant I set to work. Paper, pen, ink, nothing was wanting,
as will be supposed from the fact that for three months I have been making notes
and dotting down my impressions daily.</p>
<p>I indite the following message:</p>
<p>“On June 15 last Thomas Roch and his keeper Gaydon, or rather Simon Hart, the
French engineer who occupied Pavilion No. 17, at Healthful House, near
New-Berne, North Carolina, United States of America, were kidnapped and carried
on board the schooner <i>Ebba</i>, belonging to the Count d’Artigas. Both are
now confined in the interior of a cavern which serves as a lair for the said
Count d’Artigas—who is really Ker Karraje, the pirate who some time ago carried
on his depredations in the West Pacific—and for about a hundred men of which his
band is composed.</p>
<p>“When he has obtained possession of Roch’s fulgurator whose power is, so to
speak, without limit, Ker Karraje will be in a position to carry on his crimes
with complete impunity.</p>
<p>“It is therefore urgent that the states interested should destroy his lair
without delay.</p>
<p>“The cavern in which the pirate Ker Karraje has taken refuge is in the
interior of the islet of Back Cup, which is wrongly regarded as an active
volcano. It is situated at the western extremity of the archipelago of Bermuda,
and on the east is bounded by a range of reefs, but on the north, south, and
west is open.</p>
<p>“Communication with the inside of the mountain is only possible through a
tunnel a few yards under water in a narrow pass on the west. A submarine
apparatus therefore is necessary to effect an entrance, at any rate until a
tunnel they are boring through the northwestern wall of the cavern is
completed.</p>
<p>“The pirate Ker Karraje employs an apparatus of this kind—the submarine boat
that the Count d’Artigas ordered of the Cramps and which was supposed to have
been lost during the public experiment with it in Charleston Bay. This boat is
used not only for the purpose of entering and issuing from Back Cup, but also to
tow the schooner and attack merchant vessels in Bermudan waters.</p>
<p>“This schooner <i>Ebba</i>, so well known on the American coast, is kept in a
small creek on the western side of the island, behind a mass of rocks, and is
invisible from the sea.</p>
<p>“The best place to land is on the west coast formerly occupied by the colony
of Bermudan fishers; but it would first be advisable to effect a breach in the
side of the cavern by means of the most powerful melinite shells.</p>
<p>“The fact that Ker Karraje may be in the position to use Roch’s fulgurator
for the defence of the island must also be taken into consideration. Let it be
well borne in mind that if its destructive power surpasses anything ever
conceived or dreamed of, it extends over a zone not exceeding a mile in extent.
The distance of this dangerous zone is variable, but once the engines have been
set, the modification of the distance occupies some time, and a warship that
succeeds in passing the zone has nothing further to fear.</p>
<p>“This document is written on the twentieth day of September at eight o’clock
in the evening and is signed with my name</p>
<p>“THOMAS HART, Engineer.”</p>
<p>The above is the text of the statement I have just drawn up. It says all that
is necessary about the island, whose exact situation is marked on all modern
charts and maps, and points out the expediency of acting without delay, and what
to do in case Ker Karraje is in the position to employ Roch’s fulgurator.</p>
<p>I add a plan of the cavern showing its internal configuration, the situation
of the lagoon, the lay of the Beehive, Ker Karraje’s habitation, my cell, and
Thomas Roch’s laboratory.</p>
<p>I wrap the document in a piece of tarpaulin and insert the package in the
little keg, which measures six inches by three and a half. It is perfectly
watertight and will stand any amount of knocking about against the rocks.</p>
<p>There is one danger, however, and that is, that it may be swept back by the
returning tide, cast up on the island, and fall into the hands of the crew of
the <i>Ebba</i> when the schooner is hauled into her creek. If Ker Karraje ever
gets hold of it, it will be all up with me.</p>
<p>It will be readily conceived with what anxiety I have awaited the moment to
make the attempt: I am in a perfect fever of excitement, for it is a matter of
life or death to me. I calculate from previous observations that the tide will
be very low at about a quarter to nine. The top of the tunnel ought then to be a
foot and a half above water, which is more than enough to permit of the keg
passing through it. It will be another half hour at least before the flow sets
in again, and by that time the keg may be far enough away to escape being thrown
back on the coast.</p>
<p>I peer out of my cell. There is no one about, and I advance to the side of
the lagoon, where by the light of a nearby lamp, I perceive the arch of the
tunnel, towards which the current seems to be setting pretty swiftly.</p>
<p>I go down to the very edge, and cast in the keg which contains the precious
document and all my hopes.</p>
<p>“God be with it!” I fervently exclaim. “God be with it!”</p>
<p>For a minute or two the little barrel remains stationary, and then floats
back to the side again. I throw it out once more with all my strength.</p>
<p>This time it is in the track of the current, which to my great joy sweeps it
along and in twenty seconds, it has disappeared in the tunnel.</p>
<p>Yes, God be with it! May Heaven guide thee, little barrel! May it protect all
those whom Ker Karraje menaces and grant that this band of pirates may not
escape from the justice of man!</p>
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