The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-04-06

upon the harhor and adjacent shores;
but the quick, sharp shock which ran
under the town made people spring from
their beds, and although nothing was
then to be- seen, nearly everybody felt
sure that the syndicate's forces had be,
gun their days work by exploding an
other mine.
\ lighthouse, the occupants of which
had been ordered To leave when the fort
was evacuated, rs they might be in dan
ger in case of Il Commandment, was 50
shaken By the explosion of this motor
bomb that it fell in ruins on the rocks
upon which it had stood.
The two crabs now took the steel net
from its mornings and carried it up the
harbur. This was rather difficult on ac-
count OF the islands. rocks and sandbars;
but the leading crab had on board pilot
acquainted with those waters. With the
net hanging between them, the two sub
merged vessels, one carefully following
the other, reached a point about two
miles below the city, where the net was
anchored across the harbor. 1t did not
course of the morning two other nets,
designed for shallower waters, were
brought from the repellers and anchored
at each end of the main net, thus form
ing line of complete protection against
submarine torpedoes which might be
sent down from the upper harbor.
Repeller No. | now steamed into the
harbor, accompanied by Crab A, and
anchored about quarter of mile sea-
ward of the net. The other repeller,
with her attendant crab, cruised about
tho mouth of the harbor, watching a
smaller entrance to the port as well as
the larger one, and thus maintaining an
effective blockade. This was not diff
cult duty, for since the news of the eX-
traordinary performances of the crabs
had been spread abroad no merchant
vessel large or small, cared to approach
that port; and strict orders had been
issued by the British admiralty that no
vessel of the navy should, until further
instructed, engage in combat with the
peculiar craft of the syndicate. Until a
plan of action had been determined
upon, it was very desirable that English
cruisers should not DO exposed to useless
injury and danger.
This being the state of affairs, mes
sage was sent from the office of
the syndicate across the border to
the Dominion government, which
stated that the seaport city which
had been attacked by the forces Of the
syndicate now lay under the guns of its
vessels, and in case of an overt act of
war by Great Britain or Canada alone
such as the entrance of an armed force
from British territory into the United
States, or capture of or attack upon an
American vessel, navel or commercial,
by a British man-of-war, or an attack
upon an American port by British YES
sells, the city would DO bombarded and
destroyed.
This message which was of course in
stantlv transmitted to London, placed
the British government in the apparent
position Of being held by the throat by
the American War Syndicate. But if
The British government or the people Of
England or Canada recognized this posi-
ton at all it was merely as a temporary
condition. In short time the most
powerful men-of-war of the royal navy,
as well as fleet of transports carrying
troops, would reach the coasts of North
America, and then the condition of
affairs would rapidly be changed. 1t
l1,,rI 10 that faU
dunn sized vessels, however heavily
armored, or a few new tangled subma-
rine machines, however destructive they
might be, could withstand an armada of
the largest and finest armored vessels in
the world. a ship or two might be dis
abled, although this was unlikely, now
that the new method of attack was I'M
derstood; but it would soon be the ports
of the United States, on both the Pacific
and Atlantic coasts, which would lie
under the guns of an enemy.
But it was not in the power of their
navy that the British government and
the people of England and Canada placed
their greatest trust, but in the incapacity
Of their petty foe to support its ridicu-
GUS assumptions. The claim that the
city lay under the guns of the American
syndicate was considered ridiculous, for
few people believed that these vessels
had any guns, Certainly there had been no
evidence that any shots had been fired
from them. In the opinion of reasona-
bic people the destruction of the forts
and the explosions in the harbor had
been caused by mines-mines of new
and terrifying power-which were the
work of traitors and confederates. The
destruction of the lighthouse had
strengthened this belief, for its fall
was similar to that which would have
been occasioned by great explosion I'M
der its foundation.
But however terrifying and appalling
had been the results of the explosion of
these mines, it was not thought probable
that there were any more of them. The
explosions had taken place at exposed
points distant from the city, and the
most careful investigation failed to dis
cover any present signs of mining opera
tons.
This theory of mines worked by con-
federates was received throughout the