The Ruler of the Ocean of the Air/Chapter V

Chapter V: Odessa's Day of Horror
It was a gloomy morning, dark clouds were hanging in the sky, a cold, icy rain was falling.

But still all of Odessa was up and about, in spite of the weather being of the kind where you wouldn't even send a dog out. Thousands of people with frightened faces were in the streets, thousands were looking toward the harbor with frightened curiosity.

Social order seemed to have broken down, and only a small part of the military could still be relied upon. Drunken soldiers were walking through the streets, singing and yelling.

But on the ships in the harbor there was not a soul to be seen. The crews of the merchant ships had all been frightened and fled ashore.

And this was no surprise, for in front of the harbor in frightening proximity there were black monsters, large and small ships which were all flying the red flag of the insurrection.

There were ironclads, torpedo boats, and a ship which appeared to be designed for the transport of military supplies, and all of them seemed to be in the hands of mutineers.

The uproar in town was tremendous, many families fled on foot, taking their most valuable possessions with them. Carriages could not be had at any price. The trains had stopped running, because the conductors and other workers were drunk in the pubs. Everywhere there were shocked faces.

"Mutineers have taken control of some of the ships of the Black Sea fleet." it was said. "They have killed their officers, they have hoisted the flag of the insurrection, the city is ordered to pay a huge ransom, otherwise these ships will fire upon Odessa."

And this seemed indeed to be that case. The crews of the ships were threatening the city, they had sent an emissary who demanded millions in ransom from the city. Otherwise, they threatened, they would reduce the city to rubble and ruins.

The first messenger was rebuffed, but now the mutineers were getting bold, they sent a large detachment of heavily armed soldiers ashore, and these repeated their demands in an imperious tone.

A catastrophe was looming, it seemed as if part of the military wanted to join the mutineers, others refused orders and stayed in their barracks, others still were kept busy just keeping their mutinous comrades under control. The worst had to happen at any moment.

No one dared to offer any resistance to the mutineers who were now coming ashore heavily armed.

There was no doubt that they were acting on the orders of a leader. This had to be some conspirators who were not members of the regular crew. These men were on the transport ship. Orloff, Gregor and Wassil were their leaders, and now they had thrown off their masks.

From on board the transport ship, which was also heavily armed, they directed the mutiny, and they did this from cool calculation.

If the battery on the shore opened fire it would surely shoot at the ironclad first, it would be less likely to shoot at the transport ship, which would be regarded as less dangerous. This showed that the mutineers were being careful to save their own precious skins.

The confusion was getting greater and greater when suddenly a man appeared who made a tremendous impression.

He was wearing a coat, but underneath there was what looked like a blue captain's uniform. This man had pulled his hat down over his face, his left eye [there is a line illegible here, but it says something about an eye patch]

But his right eye was glaring all that much more brightly. When this man, whose high, imperious figure made the most profound impression, saw the frightened faces of the people of Odessa he pushed his way forward.

"Do you want to let yourselves be intimidated by these cowardly assassins?" shouted the stranger whom no one knew with a thundering voice. "Do you want to seal your own doom by paying huge sums to those who have taken control through assassination and betrayal? Forward, throw these mutineers out of the city and answer them with the batteries!"

Men are curious animals. What the officers had been able to accomplish neither through begging nor through threats happened now.

A detachment of Cossacks was the first to attack the bold sailors with lightning quickness and there was a loud cheer as these loud mouthed heroes suddenly took to flight without firing a shot. The man had accomplished it, the man whose mighty voice and imposing appearance had broken the reign of terror. This man had joined the Cossacks for a little while, but now he left them while they pursued the fleeing insurrectionists.

No one suspected that this man, whose magnificent appearance prevented the most terrible outcome, was the same who was wanted by the authorities, who was considered a criminal who deserved death at the hand of the executioner.

Captain Mors, the commander and builder of the strange maneuverable airship, he was the one who by his appearance had saved the city from the most terrible fate.

Now he cast a gloomy look toward the harbor, where the shouting and screaming of the mob could be heard. There were occasional shots, there was the piercing battle cry of the Cossacks with which they encouraged each other.

"The ball has been got rolling," he said.

"I have done it, I have averted the worst. Now I know where to find the wretches who once destroyed my happiness. But the harbor is not the place where I will settle with them. I must drive them onto the blue water, onto the Black Sea, and then the longed for hour will arrive."

Immediately afterwards the man disappeared in the crowd which was moving toward the harbor. Captain Mors had every right to be proud of his accomplishment. He had given hope to the despondent ones, and the resolution which the city's government was now displaying seemed to be deterring the insurrectionists from doing their worst.

But still the threatening, mutinous ships were anchored outside the harbor, there was desultory shooting, and now and then a machine gun could even be heard.

Only a portion of the delegation which had been so bold as to demand millions made it back. Of the others some had become acquainted with the pointed lances of the Cossacks, or they had been captured by the cavalry.

The rest of the delegation made their way to the boats and hurriedly rowed back to the ships.

Now the time had come to make a decision. Those who had returned demanded that the town be fired upon.

But Captain Mors had calculated correctly when he thought that he had averted the worst by his actions. Many of the mutineers were undecided, and arguments and confrontations broke out.

It was true that they had managed to take over some of the ships of the Black Sea fleet, but they could expect that ships that had remained loyal to the government would arrive soon and attack them.

So they became restless, they kept looking anxiously out upon the ocean, at every moment they expected the hostile fleet to appear on the horizon.

Orloff, Wassil and Gregor and their companions who had once been disguised as their servants at the villa were beside themselves with anger.

Gregor and Orloff, who had the most authority, had the transport ship brought up next to the ironclad.

"Let's get to work," they shouted. "Where is Matuschewsko?"

He made his appearance after a few moments, a wild looking, almost Mongolian man in the uniform of a sailor.

His shirt and his uniform were splattered with blood, for this monster had been one of the first to start killing the officers. He had even killed the ship's doctor in the most barbaric manner.

This man looked more like wild beast than a human being. His slit-like eyes glowed like those of an animal.

"What the hell, Matuschewsko, let's get to work," Orloff shouted. "We need to get this money, it will take large sums for us to accomplish anything. Only with millions can we realize our plans. There is enough ammunition on board, start firing on the city! When a few hundred houses have been reduced to rubble they will start cooperating."

The maniac Matuschewsko was grinding his teeth, he was showing his yellow teeth like a beast.

"These people are indecisive," he shouted back. "They refuse to open fire on the city. The sudden attack of the soldiers has confused them. They are especially frightened of the batteries on shore."

Orloff howled and raved, but that didn't help matters any. This was a time to preserve a cool head.

"We can't do anything here," Matuschewsko shouted again. "The men are afraid of the batteries, they want to go to other, unfortified towns and extort money there."

"But no other city is as rich as Odessa," Orloff yelled. "I know this, here there are millions and millions, here we can extort immense sums."

"I will try and see what I can so with the men," Matuschewsko said after a while. "I will talk to them again. Something strange must have happened over there in town, at first there was just an unruly mob, but then some resolute man must have appeared and changed all that. To hell with this guy."

The maniac ran over to the mutineers and it looked indeed like they would start firing at the city.

But then there was a flash from the batteries, a second and a third shot followed, and then there was the sound of the grenades.

Orloff shook his fists when he saw the mutineers turn their ships about. The ironclad was the first to head out to the Black Sea, the two torpedo boats followed, and now the armed transport ship with the leaders of the insurrection followed them.

"The best opportunity has been missed," Wassil shouted angrily. "But now we will attack other ports. And they will have to pay, otherwise we will fire at them and pillage them."

But for now the ships sailed for the high seas by taking a southwesterly course.

They did this in order to escape anyone following them, because there was no doubt that the battle ships of the fleet would be looking for them.

But the men started to regain their courage when no such ships appeared.

Now Matuschewsko came over to the transport ship.

"I don’t think that we have to worry about any kind of pursuit," said the monster when his companions started to question him. "It is true that the crews of the other ships have not joined our mutiny, but they will not act hostile toward us. They sympathize with us, they even cheered us on when we sailed off under the red flag. There is no way they will obey their officers."

"All the better," Orloff smiled, and his good humor started to return. "All the better. We will attack unfortified ports for now and rob and pillage to our hearts' content."

"The men will follow you," Matuschewsko replied. "Once they warm up to it they will be all right, we just have to give them lots of brandy. Let's sail onto the high seas, so that no one will know where we are. Then we will attack a city out of nowhere when they least expect us."

Around noon they were out of sight of the people of Odessa, the coast had faded into nothing more than a gray band.

The sky was still covered by gray, dark clouds. But the rain had stopped, only the clouds remained like a black shroud.

Suddenly there was loud shouting and yelling. Gregor, Orloff and Wassil, who were always together, looked up and saw that all the sailors were pointing at something in the sky.

There, from out of the low clouds, something appeared, something huge, black, sinister looking. The superstitious sailors made the sign of the cross when they saw this strange object coming out of the clouds.