Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 183 by Maxwel l Grant

Author:Maxwel,l Grant
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf

CHAPTER XI. PIRATES LAIR

IN the chaos that swept the fo'c's'le, The Shadow had no choice except to get clear before it reached him. Lugger and Steve were out of reach; they had grabbed the Javanese, slung him into a bunk, and dived for other shelter of their own.

Drowsy Malays, roused by their pal's shouts, were coming out in wild stampede. Some were yanking knives, expecting battle with the ship's officers, and had they spied The Shadow on their way, they would have surged upon him en masse.

But The Shadow was gone, up the steep steps to the deck, where he swung to a darkened corner ahead of the ascending herd. He was in time to see what had caused the alarm, for the menace was still on its way in from the open sea.

Playing searchlights showed the white wake of a torpedo churning shipward at high speed. Though the searchlights roved far toward the southern horizon, there was no sign of any submarine that could have dispatched that explosive messenger.

Gunners were at their posts, but they lacked an enemy. Seemingly, the Marmaduke had fallen prey to a ghost submarine, a ship as elusive as the famed Flying Dutchman. But there was nothing imaginary about the torpedo. It was real enough, and would prove its power further if it found the hapless freighter.

The Marmaduke was no Flying Dutchman. She couldn't leap into the clouds like that famous ghost of sea tales. The Marmaduke was a squatty plodder, and her efforts to elude the torpedo were pitifully ridiculous. Bells were clanging from the bridge, but the urge for speed produced nothing more than a sidewise quiver from the freighter's hull.

Guns ripped. They were beginning a rapid fire at the only possible target, the wave-cleaving torpedo. To pick off that cigar-shaped streak was impossible. Slashing half beneath the waves, the torpedo was gobbling the last few hundred yards like a whippet after a mechanical rabbit.

There was only one hope that the torpedo would miss its mark. At a distance, that had seemed likely, for the point of the torpedo had shown itself to be aimed at an angle. But the next flash of its nose, only a few hundred yards away, showed it coming dead ahead.

The torpedo had curved, as if some magnetic force had drawn it back to its target!

It was then that a single second became a vast expanse of time. Machine guns seemed to clutter that interval with their rattle, all to no avail. There was an instant when the oncoming torpedo was lost in the white-flecked wash from the freighter's prow. Then, from the streaky foam, the devastating messenger struck.

THE blast seemed to lift the Marmaduke clear of the water. Reeling amidships, the freighter heaved and quivered, threatening to buckle. Flattened, The Shadow could feel the deck bulge upward.

Rolling to port, the Marmaduke held her tilt while the reverberations of the explosion continued. Then, reeling to starboard, the ship gave a thump that was followed by the gurgling surge of water cascading in through the blasted hull.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.