_The Chronicle_ appeared next morning with an apology and manifesto from
Captain Restronguet. He regretted that, owing to the proximity of the
two aero-hydroplanes, he was not able to give his promised token
precisely at the hour of twelve, and trusted that the British public
would realize that the slight delay was due solely to his desire to
avoid loss of life and property to His Majesty’s subjects. He once more
repudiated any suggestion that the Kiel outrage was carried out at his
instigation, and, further, as a proof of good faith, he hoped to give an
exhibition of the forces at his command this time in Plymouth Sound. At
6 a.m. on the following day, unless unforeseen circumstances prevented,
he would make known his presence in Cawsand Bay.
As soon as this decision was communicated to the Admiralty telegraphic
orders were sent to Portsmouth, ordering the "Investigator" to proceed
at once to Plymouth, where, co-operating with the surveying-vessel
"Mudlark," she was to make every effort to effect the capture of Captain
Restronguet’s submersible ship.
CHAPTER V.
CAPTURED.
At 4 a.m. the "Investigator" arrived off the eastern arm of Plymouth
Breakwater, whence she signalled to Devonport Dockyard the news of her
arrival. The lights of the "Mudlark" were soon afterwards observed as
she threaded her way through the tortuous passage between Drake’s Island
and the mainland, and in company the two vessels bore away in the
direction of Penlee Point.
Officers and crew were in a state of suppressed excitement. If Captain
Restronguet were a man of his word, as he evidently was, his capture
seemed certain, for the waters of Cawsand Bay were admirably suited to
the arrangements which Captain Tarfag had made for his great coup.
By dawn the vicinity of the bay presented a scene of animation. The
cliffs between the village of Cawsand and Penlee Tower were black with
people. Thousands of the good folk of the Three Towns had crossed over
to Cremyll and thence, mostly on foot--for the number of vehicles
available was quite inadequate--had tramped the hilly road across Maker
Heights. Kept at a respectful distance by a strong patrol of
picquet-boats were hundreds of crafts of all sizes, from the frail
pleasure skiff to the weatherly fishing-smacks and the local ferry
steamers. Beyond these lay several battleships and cruisers whose
presence had not yet been required in the North Sea; and since they were
of an older type, with masts and unprotected decks, they were literally
covered with human beings.
A better place to effect the capture of the submarine could hardly be
found, for the depth shelved gradually from twenty feet close inshore to
forty along a line joining the extremities of Penlee and Picklecombe
Points.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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