CHAPTER V. ANTEKIRTTA.
Fifteen hours after leaving the coast of Tripoli the “Electric” was signaled by the lookout at Antekirtta, and in the afternoon she came into harbor.
We can easily imagine the reception given to the doctor and his companions.
Now that Sava was out of danger, it was decided to still keep secret her relationship to Dr. Antekirtt.
Count Mathias wished to remain unknown until the accomplishment of his work. But it was enough that Pierre, whom he had made his son, was the betrothed of Sava Sandorf for signs of rejoicing to be shown on all sides in the Stadthaus as well as in the town of Artenak.
We may judge what were Mme. Bathory’s feelings when Sava was given back to her after so many trials! And Sava herself soon recovered her health—a few days of happiness were sufficient for its complete re-establishment.
That Point Pescade had risked his life there could be no doubt. But as he seemed to think it quite a natural thing to do, there was no possibility of rewarding him—except with a few simple words. Pierre Bathory had clasped him to his breast, and the doctor had given him such a look of gratitude that he would hear of no other recompense. According to his custom, he gave the whole credit of the adventure to Cape Matifou.
“He is the man that should be thanked,” he said. “He did it all! If old Cape had not been so clever with that pole I should never have been able to jump into Sidi Hazam’s house, and Sava Sandorf would have been killed by her fall if Cape Matifou had not been below to receive her in his arms!”
“Look here! Look here!” answered Cape Matifou. “You are going too far, and the idea of—”
“Be quiet!” continued Pescade. “I am not strong enough to receive compliments of that caliber, while you—Come, let us look after the garden!”
And Cape Matifou held his peace, and returned to his pleasant villa, and finally accepted the felicitations that were thrust upon him “so as not to disoblige his little Pescade.”
It was arranged that the wedding of Pierre and Sava should took place on the 9th of December. When Pierre was Sava’s husband he could claim his wife’s rights in the inheritance of Count Sandorf. Mme. Toronthal’s letter left no doubt as to the girl’s birth, and if necessary they could obtain a formal statement from the banker. And this statement would be obtained in time, for Sava had not yet reached the age at which she would enter her rights. She would not be eighteen until six months later.
It should be added that in the fifteen years a political change had taken place favorable to the Hungarian question, and this had considerably ameliorated the situation—particularly with regard to the conspiracy of Trieste.
It was not intended to come to any decision as to the fate of Carpena and Toronthal until Sarcany had joined them m the casemates of Antekirtta. Then, and not till then, would the work of justice be completed.
But while the doctor was still scheming how to attain his object, it was absolutely necessary that he should provide for the safety of the colony. His agents in the Cyrenaic and Tripoli had informed him that the Senousist movement was attaining great importance, particularly in the vilayet of Ben Ghazi, which is the nearest to the island. Special messengers were continually on the move to the minor chiefs of the province from Jerboub, “the new pole of the Islamic world,” as Dr. Duveyrier calls it, the metropolitan Mecca, where lived Sidi Mohammed El-Mahdi, grand master of the order, and as the Senousists are the worthy descendants of the old Barbary pirates and bear a mortal hate to everything European, the doctor had to take steps to be very carefully on his guard.
In fact, is it not to the Senousists that we can attribute the massacres in African necrology during the last twenty years? The sanguinary brotherhood has put in practice the Senousistic doctrines against our explorers, and we have seen Beurman killed at Kanem in 1863; Vonder Decken and his companions on the Djouba River, in 1865; Mme. Alexine Tinne and her people in Wady Abedjouch, in 1865; Dournaux-Dupeire and Joubert, at the wells of In-Azhar, in 1874; Fathers Panlmier Bouchard and Menoret beyond the In-Calah, in 1876; Fathers Richard Morat and Poupiard, of the Ghadames mission, in the north of Adzjer; Colonel Flattore, Captains Masson and Dianous, Dr. Guiard, and Engineers Beringer and Roone on the road to Wargia, in 1881.
On this subject the doctor often talked with Pierre Bathory, Luigi Ferrato, the captains of the flotilla, the chiefs of the militia, and the principal notables of the island. Could Antekirtta resist an attack from the pirates? Yes, doubtless, although the fortifications were not complete, but on condition that the number of assailants was not too great. On the other hand, had the Senousists any interest in capturing it? Yes, for it commanded all the Gulf of Stora, which formed the coast of Tripoli and the Cyrenaic.
It will not have been forgotten that south-west of Antekirtta, at a distance of some two miles, there lay the islet of Kencraf. This islet, which there was no time to fortify, would constitute a serious danger if a hostile flotilla made it its base of operation, and so the doctor had taken the precaution to mine it extensively. And now a terrible explosive agent filled the fougasses amid its rocks. It would suffice for an electric spark to be sent through the cable from Antekirtta, and the island of Kencraf would be annihilated with everything that was on it.
With regard to the other defenses of the island this is what had been done. The flanking batteries had been completed, and only waited for the militia assigned to them to move to their stations. The fortress on the central cave was ready with its long-range pieces. Numerous torpedoes had been sunk in the channel and defended the entrance to the harbor. The “Ferrato” and three “Electrics” were ready for all eventualities, either in awaiting the attack or advancing on a hostile flotilla.
But in the south-west of the island there was a vulnerable spot. A landing might take place there in shelter from the guns of the fortress. There was the danger, and it might be too late to become sufficiently advanced with the works of defense.
After all, was it quite certain that the Senousists intended to attack Antekirtta? It was a big affair, a dangerous expedition which would require a good deal of material. Luigi still doubted, and he said so one day while the doctor and Pierre were inspecting the fortifications.
“That is not my opinion,” said the doctor. “Antekirtta is rich, it commands the Syrtic Sea; and these are sufficient reasons for the Senousists sooner or later to attack it.”
“Nothing can be more certain,” added Pierre, “and it is an eventuality against which we should be prepared.”
“But what makes me fear an immediate attack is that Sarcany is one of the brotherhood of these Khouans, and I know that he has always been in their service as an agent in foreign parts. Do you not remember that Point Pescade overheard in the moquaddem’s house a conversation between him and Sidi Hazam? In that conversation the name of Antekirtta was mentioned several times, and Sarcany knows that this island belongs to the Doctor Antekirtt, the man he fears, the man whom he made Zirone attack on the slopes of Etna. As he did not succeed in Sicily there is little doubt he will try to succeed here under better circumstances.”
“Has he any personal hate against you?” asked Luigi. “And does he know you?”
“It is possible that he has seen me at Ragusa,” replied the doctor. “In any case he would not be ignorant that in that town I was in communication with the Bathory family. Besides, the existence of Pierre was revealed to him when Sava was carried off by Pescade from the house of Sidi Hazam. In his mind he would see the association, and would have no doubt that Pierre and Sava had taken refuge in Antekirtta. He will, therefore, urge on against us the whole Senousistic horde, and we shall get no quarter if he succeeds in getting possession of our island.”
The argument was quite plausible. That Sarcany did not know that the doctor was Count Sandorf was certain, but he knew enough to wish to get away from him the heiress of the Artenak estate; and there was nothing surprising in his attempt to excite the Caliph to undertake an expedition against the Antekirttian colony.
However, they had reached the 3d of December, and there had been no sign of an imminent attack.
Besides, the thought of the approaching marriage of Pierre Bathory and Sava Sandorf occupied everybody. And the colonists tried to persuade themselves that the evil days had passed and would not return.
Point Pescade and Cape Matifou of course shared in the general sense of security. They were so happy in the happiness of others that they lived in a state of perpetual enchantment with everything.
“I can hardly believe it!” repeated Point Pescade.
“What can you hardly believe?” asked Cape Matifou.
“That yon are to become a big, fat annuitant, my Cape! I must think of marrying you.”
“Marrying me?”
“Yes, to some nice little woman.”
“Why little?”
“That would be only just! A large, an enormous fine woman! Eh! Madame Cape Matifou, we should have to look for you among the Patagonians!”
But pending the marriage of Cape Matifou, which would end well if he could find a companion worthy of him, Point Pescade busied himself about the marriage of Pierre and Sava. With the doctor’s permission, he was thinking of organizing a public festival, with foreign games, songs and dances, discharges of artillery, a grand banquet in the open-air, a serenade, and a torchlight procession and fire-works. That just suited him! He was in his element! It would be splendid! They would talk of it for long afterward! They would talk of it forever!
All this excitement was nipped in the bud.
During the night of the 3d and 4th of December—a calm night, but a very cloudy one—an electric-bell sounded in Dr. Antekirtt’s room in the Stadthaus.
It was ten o’clock.
At the call, the doctor and Pierre left the saloon in which they had passed the evening with Mme. Bathory and Sava Sandorf. On entering the room they saw that the call was from the lookout on the central cone. Questions and answers immediately passed by means of the telephone.
The lookout signaled the approach of a flotilla to the south-west of the island, the vessels appearing very confusedly in the thick mist.
“We must summon the council,” said the doctor.
In less than ten minutes afterward the doctor, Pierre, Luigi, Captains Narsos and Kostrik, and the chiefs of the militia were at the Stadthaus, considering the information sent down from the cone. A quarter of an hour afterward they were down at the harbor, at the end of the main jetty, on which the bright light was burning.
From this point, which was very little above sea-level, it would be impossible to distinguish the flotilla that the lookouts on the central cone could clearly see. But in brightly illuminating the horizon, toward the south-west, it would doubtless be possible to make out the number of ships and their plan of attack.
Was it not unwise to thus disclose the position of the island? The doctor did not think so. If it was the enemy expected, that enemy was not coming as a blind man. He knew the position of Antekirtta, and nothing could keep him away from it.
The machinery was put in action, and with the aid of the two electric beams projected into the offing, the horizon was suddenly illuminated over a vast section.
The lookouts were not mistaken. Two hundred boats, at the least, were advancing in line, xebecs, polaccas, trabacolos, saccolevas, and others of less importance. There was no doubt that this was the flotilla of the Senousists, recruited by the pirates in every port along the coast. The wind failing, they had had recourse to their sweeps. The passage between Antekirtta and the Cyrenaic was not a long one. The calm might even help them, for it would allow of a landing taking place under favorable conditions.
At the moment the flotilla was about four or five miles off, in the south-west. It could not reach the coast before sunrise.