Mechanized Masterpieces: A Steampunk Anthology (15 page)

“I am sorry that we cannot join you for a round of drinks, Mr. de Sousa, but you will understand if we return to our ship.” Dawkins smiled again.

Then they hurried to the
Golden Mary
.

“Did ye manage to get anything worthwhile, Mr. Dawkins?” Weller asked as they raced back to the ship.

“Bo’sun Weller, you do not think that I would resort to my former trade? I am one of Her Majesty’s officers!”

“Aye sir, and of course, them leopards ain’t be losing any spots, now.”

“Well, we shall just tell the captain that certain items fell from the pockets of Mr. de Sousa. I might have picked them up when they fell, and plumb forgot to return them.”

Lieutenant Dawkins removed from his jacket a sheaf of papers and proudly waved them about. Daniel had to wonder exactly what kind of education the lieutenant had gained in the streets of London.

Captain Micawber wasted little time in recalling the crew from leave and readying the
Golden Mary
for flight. He retired to his cabin to look at the papers that Lieutenant Dawkins had retrieved.

Two hours later, the captain paced on the starboard side of the quarterdeck. He ordered Weller, the bo’sun, to compile a roll of who had not yet returned to the ship. Daniel noted twelve missing the last quarter hour before the watch ended. One of those, a man who had tried to jump ship the last time the
Golden Mary
was in port in Kimberley.

Lieutenant Gay called Daniel over. “Aloft with you, Mr. Copperfield. It will be day soon and we will ascend. Your station is in the crow’s nest. There might be enough light for you to look about the streets of the city and see if any of our lads are trying to reach the ship.”

Daniel climbed up to his post. He learned later that a short debate had occurred amongst the captain and his officers. They could prepare to ascend promptly at dawn, or start preparations to ascend immediately, giving stragglers a few more minutes to return to the ship. The captain chose the latter, yet when the mooring lines were cast off and steam raised in the balloons to send them aloft, four men hadn’t returned to the ship.

Daniel did see from his glass two large parties of Germans struggling back to their own ship, with men in the groups clearly drunk and being carried. That had not happened amongst the men of the
Golden Mary
, though a few were unsteady on their feet.

Daniel and the lookouts reported what they saw. It was fairly evident the
Frederick
prepared to make way, as well. It was the laws of science that it took an idling steam engine a quarter hour to more than two hours to fill the balloons. A good deal of time to where they would create hot air to lift a ship to reach the highest it could go. The German ship would be left behind.

There was much speculation on the
Fredrick’s
capabilities, for it was a larger ship, and of course had a heavier weight of shot. That could be telling, for even should a good part of the broadside hit, they would feel it. Though gunnery practice, which Daniel had yet to partake of, had showed the inertia a ship of the Navy displaced was absorbed by the waves of the ocean. In the sky, the blast of a cannon pushed against the ship and caused it to alter its place in the sky.

To those on a dirigible, it felt much like jumping about on the ground. And the more guns firing at the same, or near the same time, caused the ship to take much bigger jumps.

That they had seen the German getting up steam, even as the
Golden Mary
made way, warranted gunnery practice that day. The captain briefed the officers after the course was laid in. A slight change to course had been made. They steered not for Pretoria, but for a bank of clouds.

The Captain said he hoped the clouds would be big enough for them to get lost in, else, he said, “We shall have to lose these fellows this night, which is easily done, just as if we were at sea. We shall have to run with no light, of course, for here, in the sky without clouds on such a night, a light can be seen for miles. We do not head for Pretoria directly, gentlemen.”

The captain pointed to a spot on the chart. “Lieutenant Bagnell and I have thought that we need to patrol this area. The men who have taken the diamonds should be reaching this area sometime no sooner than tomorrow. I know it encompasses a lot of empty space, but we have a great platform that can see for scores of miles from the sky. I intend that we should espy any caravan of men, and then set down and question them. Even search them, should it be necessary to do so.”

Lieutenant Gay spoke up. “Sir, such men will have rights, and they will be armed.”

“They do have rights, but we shall be armed as well. Cannister and grape will play hell from our twelve pounders. The Marines also have a few sharpshooters, I believe. Is that not so, Lieutenant Bagnell?”

“Yes, sir,” the Royal Marine commander replied.

“We shall make it seem innocuous enough. Ensign Baldrick, Mr. Copperfield, and Mr. Weller shall head the party.” Why Captain Micawber chose him was a mystery. The man said he did not plan to play favorites based on their ancient connection.

The captain explained. “Can’t afford any of you lieutenants should we have to fire, and you young gentlemen, Copperfield is the oldest man amongst you. These Boers, I expect, will be older still. Even older than Mr. Bunsby.”

That brought a smile, but it did not bode well for the junior warrants’ mess, where the midshipmen ate. Daniel knew that the rest of the midshipmen would be upset. He also knew, if they could not see it, going amongst the Boers they found would be very dangerous. Perhaps a chance to win glory, but more of a chance to win a bullet. He had not been in country a week, and he knew the Boers were considered excellent marksmen.

They shot from greater distances than soldiers of the Army or Royal Marines, with much better accuracy. With the Zulu War over, perhaps it was expected that there would be a war against the Boers.

Daniel had three hours sleep before he was crudely awakened by Jarndyce. “Hurry, you bleedin’ nummie. The call is clear for action and you’ve already lost three minutes!” Jarndyce was laying it on.

All the other midshipman had to do was get aloft with the top-men. Jarndyce had bruised ribs from the fight at the Three Cripples, so had light duty. Daniel oversaw the gun crews’ readiness, clearing the decks of all the crew’s dunnage in the middeck. Midshipmen lived a deck below that, and their space, if needed, would be turned over to Mr. Sawyer and the surgery.

During gun practice, few injuries resulted for the doctor to respond to. With a few seconds to spare, Daniel joined Lieutenant Dawkins in the middle of the deck, and saw that Wemmick had taken care of the starboard side of the ship. Gunner’s mate Tartar had taken care of the port watch, the half of the deck that nominally reported to Daniel. All was well and ready with them.

Sub-Lieutenant Dawkins said to him, “Right. The captain is going to look for two things: accuracy and speed. We don’t have an up-roll; no seas to contend with. Just the wind and the force of our own making. If we could, we would fire guns on opposite sides of the ship at the same instance. The force would cancel itself out, but then half of the ordinance would fly off to no avail, and we already have spoken about those on the ground below, if there should be anyone below, are apt to not appreciate such gestures. A twelve-pound ball makes a small crater when it lands on the ground. The higher up we are, the larger the crater.”

New books were being written about gunnery practice in the sky, and more math was used to triangulate where the guns were to be aimed. Simple balloons, with weights, often were sent off and the ship moved a little further on, before doubling back for the practice. But should shot hit the balloon, as it frequently did, then another launched from the ship. Hence, triangulation and mathematics. The captain asked that shot be aimed for a space, often a hundred yards ahead of the balloons, and all would train their glasses to see how well the crews achieved this.

Daniel had participated in gunnery practice while at sea, in transit to the South African station. He found it shatteringly noisy on the dirigible, as it had been aboard a seagoing vessel. Yet with care and attention to detail, the shots rang truer. One less dimension of calculation that was more art than craft. There was no effect of waves upon the shot.

Captain Micawber’s displeasure at the results was noticeable. His foul mood showed in his appearance and choice of words. He had much to say to Lieutenant Gay. They did this in the captain’s cabin, the door closed. Yet ships are built thinly, so what was said was overheard by one crewman or another.

The captain asserted that their accuracy was fine, but the British Navy ruled the waves, and, he hoped, the sky, from the speed of their delivery of such shot. The British always got away three or four volleys, outpacing their enemies’ two. It meant that a ship with fewer weight of shot could defeat a larger ship.

That, every schoolboy knew to be true.

Something Daniel turned his mind to. Six gun crews were his responsibility on the middeck. He talked to the gun captains that evening after supper, and also the gunner’s mate for his watch. Daniel worried action might be soon. Throughout the day, they could not shake the sight of the
Frederick
tracking them.

Night came, and darkness. Every five minutes, give or take, the captain ordered a light be put out. It took two hours, the ship becoming blackened. Three lights remained, and the captain ordered the apparatus that the carpenter had put together.

The
Frederick
followed three or more miles behind. They could clearly see lights on the ship which followed them.

“Light the decoy, and prepare to douse our lights,” Captain Micawber ordered.

The three lights on the decoy were set, and the last lights aboard the
Golden Mary
then doused. The decoy was set to go forward on the course they had been heading with the wind, and generally towards Pretoria, while the ship went helm over and rose higher, with the making of more steam in the last of the six balloons.

To curb the noise the ship made, when they reached their new elevation, the propellers were turned off, and the steam engine idled. The ship lost altitude but was now on a new course. The sails also were brought down to eliminate the sound of their flapping in the wind. For three quiet hours they watched as the
Frederick’s
lights passed on the old course, on its way to Pretoria.

Daniel, once more in the crow’s nest, noted even with the looking glass, after the third hour, he could no longer see the lights of the German ship. Captain Micawber walked the bridge and nodded when he was apprised of this information. Daniel sought his bunk and sleep. He would wake with the first light and the landing duty, should there be any Boer parties to stop.

In the morning, their position was hundreds of miles south of Pretoria, along the route that the Captain seemed sure the men who had stolen the diamonds would travel. Captain Micawber confided in Ensign Baldrick, and him, “I did not question Mr. Rhodes, but he seemed well-informed as to the makeup of the thieves and their plans. That he knew this in Cape Town two days after it had occurred in Durban is due, of course, to the telegraph. That he knew so much can only be due to what Mr. Rhodes has made it his business to know. More than three hundred Boer men voted for annexation of the Transvaal. One can believe Mr. Rhodes has friends amongst them.”

Daniel though thought Mr. Rhodes might be quite dangerous if he tried to keep one foot in each camp. “Sir, twelve men, heavily armed—that shall be a challenge.”

“Yes. But I have confidence in you young men. And when you return with the diamonds, I shall invite the wardroom to my cabin where I shall make punch and we shall have a toast, eh?”

Two parties passed below, traveling north, while there was one traveling the road south. The northern-bound two had cattle, wagons, kaffirs. Captain Micawber ruled them out, though Daniel thought it could be the enemy they sought in disguise. Then the lookouts called out that another party was sighted fitting the description of the vagrants they looked for.

Captain Micawber took them to the ground, and Daniel, with the search party, quickly moved to encounter the riders, a group of people not happy to be met, but they had little to hide. A family party, and most of them were British—something not easily ascertained from miles away in the sky.

Less than an hour later, another party was spotted, and once again, the
Golden Mary
and her crew sank from the sky to investigate. This time, a party of Boer men, but they were farmers. Daniel realized that almost all Boer men were farmers, but he felt certain those who stole diamonds would seem much more guilty than these.

Three hours later, another group of travelers looked as if they could be the ones they were searching for.

The
Golden Mary
descended, with the sun directly behind them, allowing an element of surprise. Circling over the riders, Lieutenant Gay ordered the dozen horsemen, once more Boers, to hold fast. Some cannons were trained on them, and a few Marines with their guns aimed towards the party. Ensign Baldrick and Daniel descended ropes to the ground, with six marines, six airmen, and the bo’sun, Mr. Weller.

“I say, you men, we are conducting a search and must ask you to empty your pockets and show us what is in your saddlebags. I am afraid it’s quite important,” Ensign Baldrick called.

One Boer on a horse closest to the party from the
Golden Mary
said, “Damn Englishers. You have no right.” The man then spoke in his own language to the other riders.

Daniel spoke up. “We have a ship with more than two-hundred men and twenty-four cannon that says we do have such a right. We do not want to use force against you, but there are men of your nation who want us to be at war. They have done a thing to provoke such. And as you are aware, war causes men such as us to become killers. It is rather unpleasant.” Daniel had pulled out his sword. “Be a good man, now, and empty your pockets.”