第3章 THE GREAT WAR SYNDICATE(3)

The influence which for years had been exerted by the interests controlled by the men composing the Syndicate, had its effect in producing a popular confidence in the power of the members of the Syndicate to conduct a war as successfully as they had conducted othergigantic enterprises.Therefore, although predictions of disaster came from many quarters, the American public appeared willing to wait with but moderate impatience for the result of this novel undertaking.The Government now proceeded to mass troops at important points on the northern frontier; forts were supplied with men and armaments, all coast defences were put in the best possible condition, the navy was stationed at important ports, and work at the ship- yards went on.But without reference to all this, the work of the Syndicate immediately began.This body of men were of various politics and of various pursuits in life.But politics were no more regarded in the work they had undertaken than they would have been in the purchase of land or of railroad iron.No manifestoes of motives and intentions were issued to the public.The Syndicate simply went to work.There could be no doubt that early success would be a direct profit to it, but there could also be no doubt that its success would be a vast benefit and profit, not only to the business enterprises in which these men were severally engaged, but to the business of the whole country.To save the United States from a dragging war, and to save themselves from the effects of it, were the prompting motives for the formation of the Syndicate.

Without hesitation, the Syndicate determined that the war in which it was about to engage should be one of defence by means of offence.Such a war must necessarily be quick and effective; and with all the force of their fortunes, their minds, and their bodies, its members went to work to wage this war quickly and effectively.

All known inventions and improvements in the art of war had been thoroughly considered by the Syndicate, and by the eminent specialists whom it had enlisted in its service.Certain recently perfected engines of war, novel in nature, were the exclusive property of the Syndicate.It was known, or surmised, in certain quarters that the Syndicate had secured possession of important warlike inventions; but what they were and how they acted was a secret carefully guarded and protected.

The first step of the Syndicate was to purchase from the United States Government ten war-vessels.These were of medium size and in good condition, but they were of an old-fashioned type, and it had not beenconsidered expedient to put them in commission.This action caused surprise and disappointment in many quarters.It had been supposed that the Syndicate, through its agents scattered all over the world, would immediately acquire, by purchase or lease, a fleet of fine ironclads culled from various maritime powers.But the Syndicate having no intention of involving, or attempting to involve, other countries in this quarrel, paid no attention to public opinion, and went to work in its own way.

Its vessels, eight of which were on the Atlantic coast and two on the Pacific, were rapidly prepared for the peculiar service in which they were to be engaged.The resources of the Syndicate were great, and in a very short time several of their vessels, already heavily plated with steel, were furnished with an additional outside armour, formed of strips of elastic steel, each reaching from the gunwales nearly to the surface of the water.These strips, about a foot wide, and placed an inch or two apart, were each backed by several powerful air-buffers, so that a ball striking one or more of them would be deprived of much of its momentum.The experiments upon the steel spring and buffers adopted by the Syndicate showed that the force of the heaviest cannonading was almost deadened by the powerful elasticity of this armour.

The armament of each vessel consisted of but one gun, of large calibre, placed on the forward deck, and protected by a bomb-proof covering.Each vessel was manned by a captain and crew from the merchant service, from whom no warlike duties were expected.The fighting operations were in charge of a small body of men, composed of two or three scientific specialists, and some practical gunners and their assistants.A few bomb- proof canopies and a curved steel deck completed the defences of the vessel.Besides equipping this little navy, the Syndicate set about the construction of certain sea-going vessels of an extraordinary kind.So great were the facilities at its command, and so thorough and complete its methods, that ten or a dozen ship-yards and foundries were set to work simultaneously to build one of these ships.In a marvellously short time the Syndicate possessed several of them ready for action.

These vessels became technically known as "crabs." They were not large, and the only part of them which projected above the water was themiddle of an elliptical deck, slightly convex, and heavily mailed with ribs of steel.These vessels were fitted with electric engines of extraordinary power, and were capable of great speed.At their bows, fully protected by the overhanging deck, was the machinery by which their peculiar work was to be accomplished.The Syndicate intended to confine itself to marine operations, and for the present it was contented with these two classes of vessels.The armament for each of the large vessels, as has been said before, consisted of a single gun of long range, and the ammunition was confined entirely to a new style of projectile, which had never yet been used in warfare.The material and construction of this projectile were known only to three members of the Syndicate, who had invented and perfected it, and it was on account of their possession of this secret that they had been invited to join that body.