Very little resistance was shown by the passengers. An American millionaire who had made a pile in Nevada, promptly whipped out a six-shooter, vowing he'd send the cowardly Dagoes to blazes. He was quick and deadly with his pistol, and four of the pirates pitched forward on the floor of the saloon; but one man against a score was too long odds, and the tough old backwoodsman fell riddled with bullets.
Having taken all the bullion and specie, together with the hostages, to the _Independencia_, the pirates proceeded to cripple the engines, leaving the liner helpless in the Atlantic. But they had not done with their prize, for directly the two boats returned to the cruiser Juan Cervillo ordered _L'Égalité_ to hoist out her own boats, fill them with provisions and stores, and bring them alongside the _Independencia_. Under a threat that the liner would be sunk if the demand were not complied with, the captain of _L'Égalité_ hastened to carry out Cervillo's order.
Two hours later, with her store-rooms filled to their utmost capacity, and nearly a million and a quarter pounds' worth of additional booty in her strong-room, the _Independencia_ bade an ironical farewell to the helpless liner.
From their place of confinement Fielding and his companions had watched the work of plunder and wanton destruction. They had seen the easy way by which the cruiser had replenished her stores, and the continuation of the policy of bringing off hostages to the ship in order to prevent any punitive vessel from firing at the modern buccaneer.
"This can't go on for long," he remarked. "What will the end be?"
"Goodness only knows," rejoined Fielding; "but we've a tough time before us!"
MEANWHILE, what had happened to Lieutenant Drake and the rest of the _Frome's_ crew, after the destruction of that little craft? Directly the boats pushed off Drake and those of the men who remained with him gathered on the fo'c'sle and turtle-back deck. Then, as the water came into contact with the red-hot plates, the destroyer's deck buckled amidships. Her motors went crashing through the flaming petrol in the double-bottoms as the vessel tilted and slipped stern foremost beneath the flaming surface of the sea.