THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF BAILEY CATFORD,

Otago Witness, Issue 2929, 4 May 1910, Page 77

THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF BAILEY CATFORD,

Br P. D'A. C. De L'lsle.

SCIENTIST AND INVENTOR,

[All Rights Reserved.] No. V.—THE STOLEN SUBMARINE. Bailey Catford was deep in his studies and investigations. He was experimenting with a simple apparatus with which he wished to revolutionise the art of flying. The cumbersome biplanes, monoplanes, and airships of the day did not appeal to him. He felt that man ought to be able to fly as easily as. the eagle, the vulture, or the albatross. Therefore he was experimenting with an invention of 'his own, a small machine no bigger than a bicycle, and not nearly so heavy. It •was fitted with but two sails, that stretched out at right angles to the machine, between and below which sat the aerial navigator. The engines and propeller were light, yet powerful, the mechanism of the simplest. The rudder, of aluminium, defied destruction, and the tanks, of the same alloy, were capable of carrying a store of considerable quantity. It was his charming little wife, who always worked with him, who gave him the idea of the patent safety parachute that made the danger of death by falling from great heights an impossibility. Above the sails, sticking out like the prow and stern of a torpedo, working on spring hinges, it lay, always ready for use. It detached itself automatically . in times of accident, sprang erect, like a po verful iron telegraph pole, and the 'chute opened out like a huge mushroom controlled by wires of immense power over the falling machine. Thus in case of any of the parts coming to grief or refusing to work the navigator of the machine was saved from being smashed to atoms by falling with Jightning-like rapidity to the earth. The many trials of this simple airship had been attended with much success. When things had gone wrong high in air the parachute had opened automatically, and the airship had descended slowly to the ground. Did the machine dip by the head, the duplicate 'chute at the rear sprang to the rescue, and the dip was immediately rectified. Ever and always the machine would reach mother earth in its wonted horizontal position. Owing to its lightness the machine suffered if the weather was rough. Suctions many hundreds of feet up would seize the toy-like 6tructure, lateral currents would lay it on its. beam ends, vortices would thrust it ruthlessly out of its course, but the ever-ready parachutes and the well-bal-anced, ball-bearing cog wheels of the tanks would force it to return to the horizontal course it ever pursued. Catford had organised a band of fearless, quick-witted men to work his invention. Huge salaries tempted them, as well as the danger and excitement of the work. The rigor of the game appealed to them, and this army of conquerors of the air were men of iron nerve, instant action, and boundless intrepidity. They had all to pass through the technical schools in Catford's Streatham laboratories, and only after the most careful tuition were they allowed to take control of the air machines. The older hands, with matured experience-, were equal to flights of two or three hundred miles in fail- weather; in rough weather they could still battle against the elements with much success. With the many and frequent trials came the corrections (that finally made tin© Catford flying man the perfect an<? safe medium of air-travel that it now remai is. In the Streatham workshops were fifty of these machines, and attached ■■ to each ona was an engineer-pilot-captain of proved knowledge. As is only natural, there were many and fruitless attempts made by the various nations of the world to become possessed of the oatents of this simple invention; end Catford had to de-vise-methods )f protection such as the ordinary layman could barely believe possible. His men were not to be bribed : that "means always failed, to the distress of the unscrupulous ones who had tried bribery. To steal the seemed impossible, since Catford had surrounded his works with such infernal contrivances — electric steel floors, electric wires, and Hertzian wave contacts controlling every inch of space around his inventions. So long as they remained under his control they wwe .safe, and Bailey Catford could proudly boast that no one in the world knew the secrets of his inventions but himself. But scarcely had the British Government secured the patents of his submarine before the trouble began. Catford, in view of disturbing rumours from the East, where black and ominous clouds threatened to gather at any moment, had sold to his motherland the patents of ihis submarine; and fifty vessels, similar to the Ravager were ordered forthwith. The keels of the submarines were laid in the various Government dockyards, and their completion was hastened by every means in human power. These submarines were to be fitted with the Catford patents, which comprised the Catford negative electric current that made the pressure of the sea of no avail against the vessels descending far into its depths; the all-round-eye periscope for the surface of the sea, as well as for the bottom of the 6ea, an invention of Catford's that assisted the navigator of a submarine to see everything above, below, and around him for a distance of many miles; the electrically magnetised signal-box for recording danger ahead; the Catford compressed air cells battery: the JJertzian wave currents that ■acted with the magnets for drawing steel and iron "vessels out of their, courses: the Catford concussion tube torpedo; and others of lesser note. When the first of these demons of the under seas was completed, and about to {be launched, there was a ferment of 'excitement agitating the various diplo-

matio embassies in England. Their anxiety to see the new wonder was only exceeded by their desire to become possessed of its secrets. The night before the official launching, there was a mild scare in London, owing to a rumour that all was not well in the East, where the despotic Government of Japan had caused much friction in Korea and also China. The various embassies were crowded with diplomats, tequerries, ambassadors, and attaches, who were discussing, with bated breath, the report of a protest from the British Government. It was an established fact that the cordial relations hitherto existing between Great Britain and Japan were much strained. The brown man was getting too big for his boots; he smarted under the treatment meted out to his countrymen by the Australian, colonies, and had commenced a protest more vigorous than politic against the exclusion of the Jap. The colonials were stubborn and determined —their creed of Australia for the Australians was being carried out with Spartan impartiality, and they would not be guided by older and wiser heads. The Japanese, puffed up with pride in their success against Russia, now began to adopt a hectoring tone, and they were not slow in showing their antagonism to Australia. Their cruel treatment of Korea was known to the whole civilised world, but they were callous as to what the western nations might think. The moment when an eruption might occur was drawing nearer and nearer, the tension was painful, and all eyes in Europe were riveted on the British "Navy and the additions to the already well maintained two-power standard. Hence the launching of the new type of submarine was looked forward to with eager and anxious interest. Bailey Catford and his charming wife were the lions of the British Embassy and the Home Office that. night. Magnificently uniformed representatives of Continental Governments and their armies and navies hung about the great inventor, anxious to hear more about the Hertzian wave contacts and the negative theory of magnetised electrons. Bold, dashing, brilliant, charming officers paid court to Mrs Bailey Catford", and turned her head with compliments of her husband. She had seen the Ravager on active service; she had had personal experience of the negative Hertzian waves contacts; she knew of the magnetic apparatus that had been so effectively employed in the recovery of the stolen death tube; therefore she could tell them of all the marvellous capabilities of the Ravager and her coming sister submarines. A Royal prince, an admiral of the fleet, covered with decorations and crosses, garters and sashes, bent confidingly over the chair where, like a queen enthroned, Jeannie, ex-vaude-ville star, sat. surrounded by half the nobility of Europe. "Tell me, fair Madame Catford, did you actually behold the shells of the insurgent warship Aconcagua fall fruitlessly round the magnetic traps of your illustrous husband in Alfogasta Barbour?" " Yes, certainly I did !" replied pretty Mrs Catford, raising her very arched eyebrows empkhatically. '' I must have seen quite a hundred of them falling round the butter, boxes !" . "The butter boxes! 'Ma foi! But how familiar one gets in the atmosphere of genius!" exclaimed the Russian Prince. " Does your brilliant husband call his superb invention a collection of butter boxes, then " " Oh, no! That's what I call them. The true scientific names of those things always puzzle me. I have to name them myself. _ But they J.ooked just like salt butter boxes." "del!" murmured the Russian admiral—"from the sublime to the ridiculous ! And did not even one shell pass that cordon of wonderful—butter boxes, madam?" "Not one! They kept up the firing even after it got dark, but we could hear a splash after every shell was fired, and we knew what it meant." "Tiens; one moment, fair lady!" exclaimed the Prince fervently. " That wireless apparatus on the shore—surely that attracted some of the most powerful shells? No:" " There was never a shell got as far as that," exclaimed Mrs Catford positively. " Not a single shot ever reached the shore that day !" "Then. why the telegraph pole of steel and the iron hut on the beach ? Of what use were they?" "I really don't know, Prince. There's Bailey just passing with the German Ambassador : ask him !" But the Prince apparently did not care to leave the side of the fascinating little lady. He looked quizzically at an old warrior on his left, and slightly raised his shoulders. • "Did your so fine a submarine really decoy the Hiscanian warship to the shoals of your Godwin Sands when you were pursuing that unhappy boy, St. Joux? You were one of her crew, madam, were you not ?'' asked the veteran, who had received the Prince's signal. " I was with my husband on the Ravager, Admiral Bogatieff 1" assented Mrs Catford smilingly. ■'-And has the submarine that magical power attributed to it by Dame Rumour ? Can it really divert the course of a ship in that extraordinaray manner?" "It can, admiral; and it has done so. I can give you some information on that point. This is what my husband tells me. It appears that in the sea there are often currents of magnetic power that throw ships right out of tbeir course, and sometimes bring destruction to them That is the theory my husband has adopted, and he can do more than the electric sea currents now." "Ah! but how, madame—how?" eagerly asked the Prince, bending impressively over her. '--v "That is the vital question!" '•'You 1 -must'ask*'Bailey," murmured Mrs. Catford" plaintively. *" "I really nothing abdut that." '"'■ "Da ya, po' ; ni-mai-u !" replied the Russian resignedly. "And these new British submarines are all to be fitted with these splendid inventions! Mon Dieu! if we only had them, how we would play with

the monkey-man!" His sombre brown eyes flashed dusky lightnings, and his compatriot frowned savagely, and bit his trembling lips. "It has always been a surprise to me. Prince, how you came to let the Jap outwit you. Surely your Government must have known the strength of the enemy? "Ah! we were too careless; the enemy so contemptible! But next time, madame, next time; by the beard of Peter the Great we will crush them out of existence ! They are pride-stricken; they would even now dictate terms to you! That alliance must cease; it is unworthy a great white nation. Pah! to be joined to a brown barbarian in amicable alliance! It is contemptible!" The gathered diplomats around them smiled significantly and exchanged meaning glances together. The gallant warrior with the Legion of Honour at his coat lapel quoted audibly: Ilcria, vive la France! Et l'echo respondit, France! En avant! "The time approaches," said the Italian attache, apropos nothing. "Formez vos batillions!" "Feat steht und tren die. Wacht am Rhein!" murmured a dazzling warrior in the uniform of German Uhlans. "Pray what do all these patriotic sentiments refer to?" asked Mrs Catford. "Does your husband not know, fair madame? Has not the great scientist told you as yet? No?" asked the Russian Prince bending courteously towards the little lady. "Told me? He Eas told me of many things; but to what do you refer?" ■ "To the Chinese press of late. It prates of Armageddon of the East- coming to the West," said the Prince, a veiled sarcasm in his words. "How absurd," exclaimed Mrs Catford, with all the pride of the white woman showing in her mocking eyes and scornful lips. , "Bailey has mentioned some of the rumours to me. • Why, our laundryman is a Chinese, and the rickshaw men who raced about with us " "Just so, madame." The Russians both smiled and showjed their gleaming teeth. "Such beauty as yours has fired their black blood. They have aspirations!" "Let them come, and let them try!" laughed the German Uhlan. "Methinks, Bogatieff, that your ancient Kalmuck revolt has not left the imperishable memory that hist->ry would have us think. The revolt and flight of the Tartars is forgotten; they want another lesson." they will doubtless get if ever they succeed in crossing the Volga again. We have yet some of the old Kirgbises and Bashkirs left, to say nothing of the Cossacks of the Don." And the Russian grinned grimly as the thoight of the cruel Bashkirs crossed his mind. "We have little to fear." said the Italian attache, gallantly, with a bow towards Mrs Catford, "bo long as Signer Catford controls the destinies of the world with his inventions. The East will pause awhile when they hear of his submarines and negative Hertzian wave contacts." "Ma foi, yes," laughed the chevalier of the Legion of Honour. "Pardon, madame, but your so distinguished husband is not human! He is a destroying angel!" "That is the last thing Bailey hopes to be," exclaimed Mrs Catford emphatically. He means to secure for the whole world a univdisal peace." "Then he must openly demonstrate his great powers in Yokohama and Pekin; otherwise, I am afraid, the monkey and the dragon will have to be obliterated from natural history!" replied the German officer flippantly. "No doubt their aspirations will receive a check when they hear of the launching of the Catford submarines. To-morrow will mark a new era in naval history," said the Italian attache. "And the brown man will be there in force to learn what he can of this new terror. It is a pity that he should be forewarned," remarked the Russian Prince. They, none of them, even in their wildest thoughts, ever dreamt of the sensation in store for them; or of the despeTate possibilities lying dormant in the serene bodies of those same little brown men. On the following day the new Catford submarine was launched at Woolwich, and the Princess of Wales christened it the "Destructive," in the usual fashion. The whole afternoon was given over to an official inspection of this marvel of the underseas. and the evening papers were flooded with columns of froth and foam about this wonderful engine of destruction, whose sole possessor was Great Britain. The people of the United Kingdom retired to rest that nignt more than ever certain of the securitv of their tight little islands. Imagine, then, the tremendous sensation, the agony of apprehension, and the exceeding excitement of the following morning when the submarine was missing! Gone ! Vanished ! Stolen ! The sensation, in London more especially, defies description. The huge city was a seething mass of uncontrolled excitement ; on 'Change there vas almost a panic; in the city huge crowds surged aimlessly about shouting incoherent words of warning and advice; in Downing street Ministers came and went in hurried and expressive silence; at the Admiralty there was a riot of hurrying messengers and couriers. The Destructive had evidently disappeared between 2 and 3 o'clock in the morning. She had been seen at 1.50, and missed at 4 in the morning: For four hours the authorities at Woolwich and the Admiralty had scoured the Thames, was no sign of the submarine* anywhere. \ She had disappeared without leaving,',sp much as a specie of foam to point.where she had gone. There were but two ..theories at the time : the first-—that the submarine had been stolen by a gang of desperadoes—was the most universally accepted ; the second—that the officers and crew were traitors—was barely hinted at.

British honour could never descend to so horrible a crime as that of betraying its nation to a foreign foe. Immediate slept were taken to warn the North Sea and Channel fleets to scour their stations for two hunnred miles around, on the lookout for the submarine. Every, ship, steam or sailing, leaving British ports was advised to be on the lookout. The wireless telegraph was found invaluable in communication with ships far out to *ea; and it can safely be said that every point of the compass at sea was being watched by British vessels for some of the missing submarine. The Admiralty had immediately secured the services of Bailey Oatford and the Ravager. If the submarine was to be recovered it would be by the ingenuity of its inventor. Only the Ravager was capable of searching for the lost Destructive in the depths of the sea. Truly it appeared an almost superhuman task. Bailey Catford, his wife, and three of the great Lords of the Admiralty discussed the question of the lost submarine early on the morning of the discovery of its theft. "The main points to consider are these, said Catford: "Supposing the Destructive to have been, stolen, how much do. the thieves know of the navigation of the submarine? If they are experts, they will doubtless get her out to sea. Then, where would they make for? It could not be *ar, because the Destructive, I understand, had not been provisioned. Tbtro was barely a whole day's food supply on board of her. That's immensely in our favour*. She' was absolutely unprepared for a long voyage. The thieves, whoever they might have been, could not have furnished her for a voyage of any length in the short time at their disposal; therefore, they must get supplies from some near-by port. They cannot leave the coast of Europe." "Why not?" asked Lord B . "If they are desperate men, they will go straight across the Atlantic and levy toll on half a dozen helpless transatlantic passenger steamers. Before a warship could reach them, they could disappear, and make tracks for the Horn or the Cape, the Mediterranean and the Pacific !" " But the Destructive is not as yet in commission. I understand that she has only some dozen or so of dummies in her torpedo racks. They have no other weapons except whatever they may have taken on board! I admit they might put up a big bluff, but it is essential to their success that the engine room be properly equipped. I think they will make for some near-by port." "I feel sure ->f it!" exclaimed Sir W. F -. "They have . twenty prisoners to feed; though they may be barbarous enough to get rid of them by murder! God help the poor fellows! Well, Mr Catford, what do you intend to do?" "Watch every port in Europe. To-day I am sending out 50 of my fleet of flying men; they will answer for every port in the Atlantic and Mediterranean; on the Baltic or North Sea Fleet you must rely for the patrolling ol the North Sea ports ; the Channel Fleet must answer for the coasts of France and Spain in the Atlantic. I can suggest no better plan." "You don't think the dash across the Atlantic and the looting of nassenger steamers feasible, then?" asked Mrs Catford. "No, it is too open and too risky a game for desperadoes to play. They want the. submarine as a model. They have to get her away to some distant, unknown harbour to study and learn all her points, works, and fittings. They will skulk along by night, going slowly, and husbanding their limited resources. We should catch them before they get away from European waters." "Very well, Mr Catford," said Lord B . . "To you I leave the patrolling of the South Atlantic and the Mediterranean.; we shall attend to the other and more northern waters." Thus it came to pass that within twenty-four hours Catford's army of flying scouts were keenly watching, from high in the air, every port in Europe south of Gibraltar; while the Channel and North Sea fleets were scattered from the Bay of Biscay to the Gulf of Bothnia, on the qui vive at their various posts. The Ravager lay ready for instant departure, every mar at his post, at Portsmouth. Bailey Catford, his wife, and Lord B were waiting there for the first telegraphic note of warning. When it came, their surprise was greater than they could have imagined, for the stupendous nature of the theft and its results were only then made certain to them. It meant war!— hideous, ghastly war, with the whole world plunged into the balance ; the dark races against the white! From Cape St. Vincent a wireless came, passed from warship to warship of the cordon patrolling the Atlantic. One of Catford's flying fleet had sighted a man of war, under full speed, making northward at twenty-four knots ar> hour. The warship was manned by a brown crew; it was carrying no flag or ensign of any kind. Along the cordon the warship had raced by night, and off Bordeaux a submarine had joined her, evidently by arrangement. The flying fleet was recalled ; and from thence on the warship and submarine were under constant surveillance of the British Fleet; while the Ravager, doing forty knots, tore through the British Channel, and down the Bay of Biscay, in pursuit. Over the strange man-o'-war hovered half a dozen of Catford's flying men, out of range of all gun fire, a stolid and stern squad of scouts. The warship was steaming south again as fast as the great triple-expan-sion engines could drive her, and it was certain .that she knew she was being watched. The submarine had sunk from view. ... On the third day the Ravager had reached the vicinity of the unknown warship,, and her signalling apparatus aninounced the presence of a submarine ahead of her, on the jport side. The two British warships in the vicinity closed in on the stranger, and, steaming knot for knot with her, kept her under close surveillance. Meanwhile a strange ccmbat was pre*

ceeding Bnder the sea. As darkness set in above, t->£ Ravager had located the other submarine, and so far as it was possible had mado certain of the fact that it was the stolen British submarine Destructive. Catford se', his magnetic waves to work in the bows of the Ravager, buti to his surprise he found them ineffectual, whilst his own craft commenced to run. round in a wide circle. Then he knew that the commander on the stolen sub-; marine tyas ®a£ tg the same force, with the result that wat'to vessels could do nothing but circle round at a distance of 600 yards from each other. "That proves that there are smart electricians among those rascals," said Catford to Lord B ,as they studied the course of the Ravager. "The batteries on the Destructor* were fully supplied during the trial at hi,* launching. Those beggars know more tjhan we think about my patents'?" "What can we do?" asked Lord B . "Is it possible for us to break away from their magnetic attraction; or must wa go on round and round until one or other of us is exhausted or wrecked?" "I might manoeuvre to break from them by sinking or rising, but we want that submarine, and I think our best plan is to exhaust them, if possible. They may not have discovered the secret of replenishing the magnetic electrons. At the rate we are using up electric force they t ought ts be exhausted in eight hours. £ am in favoor of trying it." "There is no fear of shipwreck?" "We shall not shift two degrees out of this circle as long as both vessels hold on!" "Then we'll starve them out!" said Lord B . For ski hours the Bavager circled unweariedly ro lad and round, everyone on. the submarine watching the battle of forces with eager faces. Then the indicator showed that the Bavager had a tendency to rise. "They're going up!" said Catfordv "There is something they wish to dodge* We had better go with them." "After them!" said Lord B . The Ravager rose to the surface. Sh« had ceased to revolve in a circular diree-: tion. "They are exhausted!" said Lord B 1 a note of triumph' in his voice. "I- think so," said Catford. "Noiv t« locate the submarine. We must be cam tious. 1 dcj't want a torpedo plumped, into us by that suspicious .stranger." The night was pitch dark. From the turret of the submarine the lights of two cruisers could be seen about two miles to port. "My boys!" chuckled Lord B . "Bnt wlnre is the Jap? Playing 'possum, eh?" There was not a speck visible. The Ravager was going dead slow, ahead. The watchers peered eagerly around. "If we only dared to use our searchlights!" whispered Catford. '.' Suddenly the signalling apparatus in the bows of the Ravager rang warningly. "Something ahead!" muttered Catford* And he quickly signalled "Stop her!" ttf the engine-roo n And still the signal rang oil, rapidly and persistently. "Hard a starboard! Back herj halt speed astern ; stop her ; half speed ahead ;; full speed!" wes signalled by Catford quickiy, and the Ravager gradually turned and forged swiftly away from the approaching danger. "G-ood God! Here they come !" cried someone excitedly, and a huge, towering grey mass came plunging through the sea on the port side of the Ravager. Not a light was to be seen. The enormous warship raced through the water like a ghost, back on its tracks. "Doubling on us!" exclaimed Lor<s B . ■ "Where on earth is the submarine?" . "There, astern of her. Now is our time. If we can board her before they, signal the warship. Why. bless me, they've abandoned it! No, by Jove! I have it. The tow has parted. Did you hear the splash?" said Catford as he sprang to the communication tubes. The strange warship had disappeared in the gloom, and two cables' length away showed the turrent and whale back of a submarine bobbing helplessly on the water. In five miiutes the Ravager was alongside of her, and the Destructive was once rrore in possession of the British nation. On the Destructive they found the whole crew, strongly ironed and confined in the main cabin, but unharmed otherwise. Not a sign of a stranger was there on board. "They must have swum off and been picked up by the warship." said Lord B-—-. "I wonder if she Will return? Better sink under for safety's sake." Down went ths Destructive, under the command of her original crew, while the Ravager dashed away aftei.' the two British warships on the horizon. Some hours later they returned together, and the Destructive wis located and brought to the surface by the Ravager. The strange warship had disappeared, and at daylight was nowhere to be seen. On being questioned, the commanding officer of the Destructive was positive that the men who had captured the submarine

were not Japanese. They looked more lik.3 Malays or Javanese. They must have swum off to the submarine, for no boat liadk come alongside of her, as the sentry could swear to. He had been taken by surprise, as had all the remainder of tha weary crev.f They had been fairly well fed. The submarine had evidently been provisioned when off Bordeaux, as the .soimds of the shipment of cases from some vessel alongside were perfectly audible to the prisoners in the state cabin.

That was all. The stolen submarine had been recovered, without bloodshed; the pirates who had so daringly captured her had escaped, and the strange warship that had aided them had made good her disappearance. "So there is to be no war after all," exclaimed Bailey Catford with a glad sigh. "Thank heaven for that. It would have pained me very much to have seen my inventions employed in dealing wholesale slaughter, when I am working towards a universal peace!" "We shall see !" said Lord B grimly. "I have not done with that strange warship. There is more in this than we know of. I must find that warship again." And thus, with the stealing of the Catford submarine, and the identification of the desperadoes who were concerned in the affair, was discovered the plot of that awful naval war that caused the whole world to stand agape, and gave Great Britain the opportunity of showing her enemies that her navy's proudest boast was the motto, "Nunquam non Paratus."