Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/201

Rh A moment later a file of men entered the cave and took up the instruments that were lying on the table and carried them up a sloping passage to a ship that was waiting outside. It was now midnight, but the sky was lighted up by the flashes of the cannon, and the air shook with the continual explosions. Then James Tarrant and the officers went on board, and the captain held his hand on the lever ready to start.

'Mind you come back as Prince of Kairet,' said the Admiral-in-Chief, as he waved his cocked hat. 'The safety of the Anglo-Saxon Empire rests with you.'

The other officers waved their hats and cheered, and the captain pulled the starting-lever. The ship dashed forward into the air, its bows pointing to the West. A moment later it was rushing along like the wind, taking care, however, not to run foul of any of the enemy's ships. But the latter were engaged in trying to batter to