Perhaps they
imagine on board that Thomas Roch has not given up his last and
greatest secret to the pirates--and, as a matter of fact, he had
not done so when I threw the keg into the lagoon. If the commanders
propose to land storming parties and the ships advance into the
zone of danger there will soon be nothing left of them but bits of
shapeless floating wreckage.
Here comes Thomas Roch accompanied by Engineer Serko. On issuing
from the passage both go to the trestle that is pointing towards the
leading warship.
Ker Karraje and Captain Spade are awaiting them.
As far as I am able to judge, Roch is calm. He knows what he is going
to do. No hesitation troubles the soul of the hapless man whom hatred
has led astray.
Between his fingers shines the glass phial containing the deflagrator
liquid.
He then gazes towards the nearest ship, which is about five miles'
distant.
She is a cruiser of about two thousand five hundred tons--not more.
She flies no flag, but from her build I take her to belong to a nation
for which no Frenchman can entertain any particular regard.
The four other warships remain behind.
It is this cruiser which is to begin the attack.
Let her use her guns, then, since the pirates allow her to approach,
and may the first of her projectiles strike Thomas Roch!
While Engineer Serko is estimating the distance, Roch places himself
behind the trestle. Three engines are resting on it, charged with
the explosive, and which are assured a long trajectory by the fusing
matter without it being necessary to impart a gyratory movement to
them--as in the case of Inventor Turpin's gyroscopic projectiles.
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