CHAPTER XXX.
THE LAST BATTLE.—CONCLUSION.
Jean Fevre proved to be a queer character. He was something of a French dude, and before the war had shone in social circles both in Paris and in Washington.
Oscar soon learned that the Frenchman knew Martha Adams fairly well, and the Frenchman raved over her beauty. When told that she was a prisoner on the Green Dragon, he was thunderstruck.
"Zat ees not right!" he cried with a shudder. "Poor la belle a prisoner of ze bad yellow men! Too bad! It must not be! She ees no soldier! It ees—ees, yes, it ees devilish!" And he stamped his boot on the deck.
Then he told Oscar that the Green Dragon was hiding in a bay on the Cuban coast not ten miles distant. He hated the Chinese, and was perfectly willing to see them defeated, so long as Martha Adams was rescued, and so long as it did not give final victory to the Americans.
The new Holland ran at once for the bay Fevre mentioned and reached it at noon of that day.
Sure enough the Green Dragon was there, at anchor, and the people on her deck could be seen plainly.
Bringing the Holland XI. to the surface behind a point of land out of sight of the Chinese warship, Oscar scrutinized those on the deck with his spy-glass.
"By thunder!" he cried, and dropped the spy-glass.
He had seen Martha Adams on the deck.
The girl was trying to escape from the clutches of a Chinese officer, who acted as if he had been trying to embrace her.
Suddenly the girl broke loose and ran to the bow of the ship, which was pointed out to the ocean.
The warship had a long bowsprit, and the President's daughter made her way to the extreme limit of this.
"Come back!" roared the Chinese officer, and ran after her.
"Let me be, or I will leap overboard!" screamed the unhappy maiden, and then, as the officer came closer, she made a dive and disappeared beneath the bosom of the ocean.
By this time Oscar had caught up one of his pistols.
His aim was true and the Chinese officer pitched headlong into the water, mortally wounded.
The officer was an admiral in the Chinese navy, and a howl went up when the fatal shot was fired, and all eyes were turned in the direction of the Holland XI.
"Quick, we must rescue Martha Adams, no matter what the cost!" cried Oscar. "Will you stand by me, men?"
"We will!" came from Andy and the others.
"Then forward at full speed to where she went down. But take care that the Holland XI. does not strike the young lady."
Word was passed along, and the submarine craft darted over the ocean like a thing of life, keeping her deck above water and the trap-door wide open.
Oscar stood on the deck, pistol in hand, and beside him was Andy, also armed.
Soon the boat was almost under the bowsprit of the Chinese warship.
In the meantime, Martha Adams had come to the surface and was battling bravely to save herself from drowning.
She could swim, but the weight of her clothes was dragging her down.
"Keep up! We will save you!" cried Oscar.
"Help!" panted the girl. "Oh, save me from those horrible Chinamen!"
She struck out feebly, then disappeared from view.
"Take my pistols, Andy!" exclaimed Oscar, and threw down the weapons. The next instant he was over the side of the new Holland and swimming after Martha Adams. A dive and he had the beautiful maiden by the shoulder.
In the meantime the Chinese were bewildered and knew not what to do.
But then several officers ran forward with guns and pistols.
"Shoot the foreign dogs!" they shouted, and one fired a gun at Oscar, but the bullet sped wide of its mark.
"Come with me, and I will take care of you," said the young captain of the Holland XI., encouragingly.
"Mr. Pelham!" burst from the girl's lips, and a smile lit up her anxious face. "Oh, how thankful I am!"
"There is no time to spare! Come, quick!" And he helped her through the water to the new Holland's side.
As they came up out of the ocean, several shots were fired, one of which took effect in Oscar's shoulder.
Andy returned the fire, and two other Chinese officers went to their death, while a third was badly disabled.
"Catch hold of her, Andy!" panted Oscar. And Martha Adams was placed on deck. Then Oscar tried to come up, but was too faint from loss of blood to do so.
"Give me your hand!" cried Andy, and hauled him on board. Then all three went below and the trap-door was closed as quickly as possible.
The movement came none too soon, for the Chinese gunners were already training their heavy guns in the direction of the Holland.
"Blow her up!" shrieked an officer, in Chinese. "Make dog's meat of her!"
"Back her, full speed!" yelled Oscar. "Quick, Dross, for our very lives depend on it!"
And back went the Holland XI. at full speed, churning up the ocean into a milky foam.
"Bang! bang! boom! boom!" went the Chinese guns.
All of the shots but one flew wide of their mark.
One shot hit the bow of the Holland and glanced off, leaving a badly cracked plate behind.
"Down we go!" sang out Oscar, and down they did go, and in another minute were safe for the time being.
Then the young captain fainted.
When Oscar came to his senses he found Martha Adams bending over him and binding up his wound for him.
"You are so brave!" she murmured. "I shall never forget you, never!" And she blushed deeply.
She, too, was weak, but insisted upon making him comfortable before caring for herself.
Oscar found that the submarine craft had run half a mile away from the bay in which the Green Dragon was located.
He ordered the boat back at once, and told Andy to torpedo the Chinese warship.
This Andy was very willing to do, and inside of an hour the new Holland had added another to her long list of victories.
"And now back to the States to tell the President that his daughter is saved," said the young commander.
On the trip that followed, nothing of special interest occurred.
The time passed all too quick for Oscar, who found Martha Adams' society dearer to him than ever.
When Chesapeake Bay was gained, important news awaited all on board of the Holland XI.
The foreign nations had given up the struggle against the United States.
"Hurrah! The war is over!" cried Andy. "And I must say that on the whole I am not sorry."
"There is only one cloud which rests upon the nation," said the officer who brought the Holland XI. the news. "President Adams' daughter is still missing."
"She is not missing—she is found," answered Oscar, and introduced the officer to Martha Adams.
The news spread like wildfire, and when the new Holland reached the Potomac it found a regular flotilla of warships there, ready to do her honor.
Cannon boomed, whistles blew, rockets flared, bells rang, and flags and bunting were everywhere in evidence. The President and his wife came down to the wharf, in their carriage, and received the girl and Oscar, in person, and at the happy meeting the crowd fairly shouted itself hoarse. It was a fitting end to a most glorious campaign on land and sea.
"You have fairly earned your reward," said the President to Oscar. "The money is yours and you shall be commodore of the new submarine fleet which is building."
Two years went by and the great war of all nations became a thing of the past.
Yet the United States were bound to profit by past experience, and lost no time in completing all the warships which had been building.
Instead of three, the government built twelve new submarine boats of the Holland pattern.
This fleet was divided into two squadrons, and Andy Greggs became the commodore of one, and faithful old George Dross the commodore of the other.
And Captain Oscar, do you ask?
It was no longer Captain Oscar, then, but Rear Admiral Pelham, commander of all the United States submarine craft afloat, a worthy officer and one to be trusted with any mission, no matter how sacred or how dangerous. He was known far and wide as a brilliant inventor and daring navy official. And his pretty wife, Martha, was equally known for her great beauty and her sweetness of heart. They were happy, and here we will leave them.
THE END.