Chapter 34 Chapter 4 Antakit

Fifteen hours after escaping from Tripolitania, the Electric Power Two entered the coast of Antekyt, entered the port in the afternoon, and dropped anchor. It is not difficult to imagine the warm welcome the doctor and his companions received. However, even though Sharapova was out of danger, the doctor decided to keep his father-daughter relationship with Sharapova a secret. Count Mathias Sanddorf will remain incognito until his career is fully completed.As for Pierre, formerly regarded as the son of a doctor, he is now the fiancé of Sara Sandov.This news was enough to make the people in the town hall and the small town of Atenac overjoyed and excited.

It is conceivable that when Sharapova returned to Mrs. Bathory's side after many hardships, how excited the lady was!The young girl will soon come back to life.Moreover, the happy life here will also heal the wounds of the soul. As for Boscade, there is no doubt that he did everything he could to save Sharapova.But he found it so natural that he was reluctant to accept even the most common verbal thanks.Pierre Bathory hugged him tightly, and Dr. Antakit looked at him with eyes of deep gratitude, he did not want to hear any more words of praise.Besides, he had always given Matiff the credit for taking the risk to save Sharapova.

"It's Matiff to thank!" said Boscade. "It's all a job well done. If our Matiff hadn't had that dexterity in his par-putting, I never would have jumped into the badass West in one jump." Dee Hassan's house, if my boatswain hadn't just stood there to catch Sawa, she might have died then!" "You... look at you..." Matiff said, "you're talking too much, look where you're thinking..." "Stop arguing, my Matiff," added Boscard, "that's enough, I can't stand the compliments, and you... let's go fix the garden!"

So Matif said nothing, and went back to his beautiful villa.In order not to offend his dear Burskard at last he accepts the compliments! The wedding of Pierre Bathory and Sawa Sandov is scheduled to take place in the near future.The day was set for December 9th.After marrying Sawa, Pierre proceeded to obtain recognition of his wife's claim to the estate of Count Matisse Sandov.Madame Doronta's letter is proof of the young girl's parentage.If necessary, the banker can come forward to confirm.Of course, this has to be done at the right time, because Sawa Judofu has not yet reached the legal inheritance age.In fact, she's only six weeks away from turning eighteen.

In addition, we must also see that in the past fifteen years, the political situation has greatly improved and the situation has greatly eased, which is very conducive to the solution of the Hungarian problem.The Hungarian independence movement that Count Mattis Sandov was engaged in back then has long since changed and been forgotten by politicians. As for the Spaniard Carpena and the banker Silas Doronta, their punishment could only be decided when Saccani was imprisoned, together with these two accomplices, in the bunker at Antekyte.Only then will the just cause be done. It's just that the doctor must go all out to achieve the goal, and at the same time urgently strengthen the defense to ensure the safety of the immigrant island.Spies distributed in Cyrenaica and Tripolitania reported that a large number of Sanusi believers were gathering, and the main gathering place was the province of Benghazi, which is the closest to Anteket Island.Special letters kept coming into Teb. "This is another holy place in the Islamic world," Mr. Duverrier commented, "like the holy place of Islam, Mecca." The then religious leader Sidi Mohammad Mahdi and his deputies in the province lived there.These Sanusi Cultists are the true savage descendants of the true old pirates.Because they have deep-seated hatred for everything in Europe, the doctor must strengthen his precautions and deal with them seriously.

In fact, what massacre of explorers on African soil in the past twenty years has not been blamed on these Sanusi?For example, Berman died in Kanem in 1863, Van der Dekamp and his companions died on the Juba River in 1865, Miss Alexina Tine and her companions died in Uadi Abumiq, Dunot-Duperre and Joubert died near Inn-Azhar in 1874, three priests Bormier, Bouchard and Menor died in 1867 - Carla, besides that, in 1881 the priests of the Gadamis Mission, Fathers Rishal, Mora, Pupra died in the north of Hezce, Colonel Ferratels, Captain Masson, De Di Captain Janu, Doctor Guyard, and two engineers, Berenger and Roland, died on the way to Ouargla, etc., all of which are bloodthirsty believers who died on the brave explorers. The result of practicing the teachings of the Sanusi order.

On questions of defence, the doctor consulted with Pierre, Luigi, the captains of the fleet, the chiefs of the militia, and the eminent persons of the island.Can Antaiket's defense force resist the attacks of those pirates?Yes, possible.Although the fortifications were not yet fully completed, they were able to hold off the intruders in small numbers.Another question is whether those Sanusi believers deliberately want to occupy this island?Yes, because the island has the entire Gulf of Siirt formed by the circular coasts of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania. Don't forget, Ken Clover Island, about 2 kilometers southeast of Antakit!The island has not had time to build fortifications.Once a fleet is entrenched on it and uses it as an attack base, it will threaten the safety of Antaiket, so the doctor planted landmines on the island in advance.The rocks on the island are now covered with mines made of this terrible explosive.

Just through the submarine wires connected to Antakit, an electric spark can reduce Ken Clover Isle and everything on the surface to ashes. There are other means of defense on the island: cannons are set up on coastal batteries, which can be fired as soon as the militia gunners are in position, and small forts on the conical hills have long-range cannons ready to fire at any time; The entrance of the harbor; the "Ferhato" and three electric speedboats are ready for everything, ready to wait for the opportunity to go out or rush to the incoming enemy fleet. However, the southwestern coast of the island is weakly defended.The enemy may land from this area.Because here you can avoid the attack of artillery and long-range shells.

There is a danger lurking here.Perhaps it was too late to start building adequate fortifications. Is it true that the Sanusi Cultists attacked Antakit?Once the attack is launched, it is a big operation by any means.It is an adventurous expedition that will consume a lot of weapons and ammunition.One day, when the doctor, Pierre, and Luigi inspected the fortifications on the island, Luigi expressed doubts about the enemy's invasion based on what he observed. "I don't see it that way," said the doctor. "Antakit is a rich island. It controls the passages to the Sea of ​​Silt. So, based on these few passages, the Sanusi Cultists will come to attack sooner or later. Occupy This island is of great benefit to them!"

"There is no doubt," added Pierre, "that such a possibility must be guarded against." "And what worries me above all is that such an attack is imminent," the doctor continued. "Sakani is one of the backbone of those cultists. I have also learned that he has been acting for them as a foreign agent. Serving. Friends, do you not remember the conversation between Hassan and Saqqani that Boscade overheard at Sidi Hassan's house? Why did they mention Antekyt so many times? And Sadi Hassan Carney was not ignorant that the island belonged to Doctor Antekyte, the man he feared, the man he had ordered Zirona to attack on the slopes of Etna. So, since he had failed in Sicily, he must We will try to take advantage of the favorable situation here to win!"

"Dear doctor, do you have any personal grievances?" Luigi asked. "Does he know you?" "He may have seen me in Rajuz," replied the doctor. "In any case, he knew of my dealings with the Bathory family in the city. Besides, Boscade went to Sidi Hassan's house to rescue Sarah. When he saw his baby, he would understand that Pierre was still alive. All of this would definitely be connected in his mind, and it would not be difficult for him to deduce that Pierre and Sharapova were hiding in Antekyte. That’s why he encouraged Sanusi Gangs are coming out to attack us. If they get their way and take my island, then we're all finished!" These words are very sensible.Saccani did not know that the doctor was Count Matthias Sanddorf, that was certain.But what he had heard was enough to give him the desire to take back the heiress of Atenac's domain.It would not be surprising, therefore, if he encouraged the caliphate to attempt an attack on the colony island of Antekyte. By December 3rd, however, there was no sign of an imminent attack. In addition, the joy of reunion gave the people on the island an illusion of peace, only the doctor was not deceived.Everyone was thinking wholeheartedly about Pierre and Sharapova's upcoming wedding.Gone are the days when people were trying to convince others of their misery. It must be said that Boscard and Matiff, like everyone else, believed that in general it was safe.They are happy for other people's happiness and anything that makes them happy. "I can't believe it!" Boscade kept saying. "What's unbelievable?" Matiff asked. "You're a classy man, Matiff, and honestly, I think it's time for you to have a family." "Get married?" "Yes, marry a petite and beautiful wife!" "Why is it petite?" "Yes! . . . to marry a tall, tall and beautiful wife! Mmm... Mrs. Matiff! . . . I must go to Patagonia and find one for you." Besides planning to find a suitable wife for Matiff, Boscade is also busy with Pierre and Sharapova's marriage.With the doctor's permission, he planned to organize a mass festival.Street juggling, singing and dancing, firing cannons, open-air large-scale banquets, serenade concerts for newlyweds, lantern shows, fireworks, etc., everything can be entrusted to him!This is his forte!How colorful it will be!I am afraid that after the festival, people will continue to talk about it! However, the good times did not last long. The night of December 3rd was dark and silent.Suddenly the bell rang loudly in the office of Dr. Antekit at City Hall. At this moment, it is ten o'clock at night. At the sound of the bell, the doctor and Pierre left Madame Bathory and Sawa.After dinner, they kept chatting in the living room.Walking into the office, it was a phone call from the observation post on the central cone of Antakit, and the news was immediately passed through the question and answer. Through the hazy night, the coastal sentry found a fleet approaching the island on the southeast sea. "An emergency meeting is called," said the doctor. In less than ten minutes, the doctor, Pierre, Luigi, Captain Narsos, Captain Trieste, and the captains of the militia had all arrived at the town hall.Everyone has heard the news from the Coast Sentinels.A quarter of an hour later they were all in the harbor and stopped at one end of the embankment.At this moment lights flickered on the breakwater. Here it was only slightly above sea level, and it was impossible to see the fleet as clearly as the sentinels.But as long as the powerful electric searchlight is illuminated on the southeast horizon, the number of convoys and the place of landing can be ascertained. Will doing so expose the situation on the island to the enemy?The doctor doesn't see it that way.If it is an expected enemy, he will never come blindly. He must be familiar with the coast of Antekyte Island, and they must be fully prepared. Then the searchlight was turned on, and the wide fan on the sea level was brightly illuminated by two beams of intense electric light. The Coast Sentinels were right.There were at least two hundred ships, barques, barques, brigs, barques, and some small boats lined up, heading straight for the island.There is no doubt that this is Sanusi's fleet, and these ships are all pirate ships collected from the coastal ports.There was no wind, and they came by boat.The distance between Cyrenaica and Antakit is relatively short.Previously, it could be reached only by wind power.Calm waters also help them reach their destination.Because it makes the landing situation more favorable. At this time, the fleet was still four or five kilometers away from the coast in the southeast, and it was impossible to dock before sunrise.As the doctor deduced, the enemy either forced their way into the port, or landed on the less fortified south coast, but either way was a rash move. After the first reconnaissance, the searchlights went out, the sea sank into darkness again, and everything had to wait for dawn. Even so, the doctor ordered all the militiamen to take their positions. We must be fully prepared to give the incoming enemy a head-on blow.Perhaps the first confrontation will determine the success or failure of the self-defense battle. Now, the enemy's vain attempt to surprise Antakit was hopeless.Because the searchlights allow people to clearly understand the position and number of enemy ships. During the few hours in the second half of the night, the guards were extremely vigilant. They turned on the searchlights many times to illuminate the distant sea surface in order to know the position of the enemy fleet more accurately. There can be no doubt that the enemy is numerous, and has enough weapons and ammunition to destroy the Antekyte battery.Perhaps they had no cannon at all, but they were so numerous that they could land on several coasts of the island simultaneously at the command of their leader.This shows how terrible the attack of the Sanusi believers is. It was finally getting brighter.The rising sun drove away the low-hanging sea fog from the sky. The defenders all turned their eyes to the sea, looking east and south. At this time, the enemy's fleet separated to the two regions, like a long arc, forming a siege around Anteket Island.There were more than 200 enemy ships, several of which carried 30 to 40 tons, and the entire fleet contained about 1,500 to 2,000 men. At five o'clock in the morning, the fleet arrived near Ken Clover Island.Will the enemy land there before attacking directly on Antakit?If only they had logged in!The landmines planted by the doctor before will show their power.Even if it can't solve all the problems, at least it can make the Sanusi believers who launched the attack suffer heavy casualties from the beginning. Half an hour passed, and everyone seemed restless, thinking that the enemy ship was gradually approaching the island and was about to land...but it was not.Not a single ship docked, the enemy ships lined up in an arc, the island was on the right, and they spread out straight to the south.It is now certain that the enemy intends to attack Antakit directly, and that the enemy will come within an hour, to be precise. "The only way out now is self-defense," said the doctor to the captain of the militia. As soon as the signal was sent out, all the people scattered in the countryside hurried back to the city and went to their pre-designated locations. The doctor ordered Pierre Bathory to take charge of the fortifications in the south, and Luigi to the east.There are at most 500 militiamen defending the island. They are distributed at various points where the enemy may attack by force, ready to resist the enemy.And the doctor will go wherever he is needed according to the situation. Madame Bathory, Sawa Sandov and Maria Ferharto remained in the hall of the town hall.As for the other women, once the city was taken, they took their children and hid in the bunkers as prearranged.The bunker was so strong that even if the enemy had a few cannons brought ashore, the women did not have to worry about being injured. After the Ken Clover Isle problem is settled--though this solution is very unfavorable to Antakit--then comes the question of the port, and the two small forts on the breakwaters are to be cross-fired if enemy ships storm into the port." The cannons on the "Ferhato", the electric torpedo boats and the torpedoes in the channel will all cause heavy damage to the enemy.If the enemy really came from this direction, it would be exactly what they wanted, and it would be considered a great fortune for Antakit. However, everything did not go as expected.The leader of the Sanusi Order is well aware of Antekyt's various defense methods.He knew it was easier to land on the south coast.Trying to attack the port directly, the fleet is in danger of being destroyed in an instant.His established plan was to land on the southern coast.So, avoiding the channel leading to the port, as he had avoided the isle of Kenclaver before, he led the fleet and paddled straight for the weak defense of Antekyt. As soon as the doctor noticed this situation, he immediately took emergency measures. Captains Trieste and Narsos each took a few sailors to board two torpedo boats and rushed out of the port. A quarter of an hour later, they had rushed into the enemy's line, ramming left and right, disrupting the lineup of the fleet, sinking five or six small boats, and destroying about a dozen boats.But the enemy was outnumbered, and in the hand-to-hand battle, the two captains were almost captured, so they had to take shelter temporarily and sailed back to the breakwater. And the "Ferhato" was already in place and started a lightning attack.However, the firepower network formed by the platoon of guns on the boat and the coastal turrets still could not effectively stop groups of pirates who came to land. Although a large number of the enemy was killed and a score of ships were sunk, more than a thousand of them landed on the rocks of the southern coast--easy to land in calm seas. At this time it can be seen that the Sanusi cultists also have cannons.The largest three-masted ships carried several field guns with movable mounts.The enemy wanted to unload these cannons on the coast, out of range of the towns, or even out of the range of the small forts on the hills. The doctor came to the prong of a bastion nearest the coast in that part of the country, and followed closely the whole process of the enemy's landing.If he fights back, his strength is not enough, and the disparity between the few and the few is too great.But he has strong walls and sheltered by fierce artillery fire. Even if there are many enemies, it is difficult to break through the city. The enemy with light artillery was divided into two columns.With their desire to plunder and their hatred of Europeans, they showed the bravery of Arabs and the adventurous spirit of religious fanatics. When they came within the effective range, shells and cannonballs flew together, and more than a hundred people fell down immediately.But the rest of the people did not retreat immediately. They set up field artillery and began to bombard the parapet wall between the two bunkers on the southern castle. The parapet wall was not completely completed, and was immediately blasted a gap. Although the people around him fell down one after another, the enemy leader remained calm and directed the battle.Sarkani stood beside him and incited him to charge, sending hundreds of cultists rushing towards the breach. From a distance, Dr. Antekit and Pierre Bathory recognized him, and he recognized them both. At this time, groups of enemies rushed to the gap in the wall.If they were allowed to cross the gap, if they were allowed to flood into the city, the resisters would be weak and would have to abandon their combat posts.And these bloodthirsty pirates will carry out a massacre driven by victory. Outside the breach, horrific hand-to-hand combat ensued.The doctor was fearless in the face of danger, as if bullets could not hurt him. Under his command, Pierre and his companions showed amazing courage and fear of death.Assisted by Boscade and Matif, they acted heroically and were lucky enough to avoid the criminal bullets that were aimed at them. The Hercules held a knife in one hand and an ax in the other, killing the enemy so hard that they couldn't get close. "Chop, Cap! Kill! Kill them," roared Boscade, brandishing his pistol, reloading and ejecting, firing like a machine gun. But the enemy did not retreat.After being repulsed many times at the gap, they finally broke through the gap and rushed into the city.At the same time, behind them, they suffered a devastating blow. It turned out that the "Ferhato" was less than three chains away from the coast, and the ship slowed down. The large-caliber short-barreled naval guns, long destroyer guns, Hotkis rotary guns, and Carter's guns were equipped on board. All the Lin-style heavy machine guns were turned to the side of the ship, aiming at the enemy on the shore, and blasting from behind.The enemies fell like harvested wheat. While firing at the enemy on the shore, the "Ferhato" also destroyed the landing craft moored at the foot of the rock. This was a surprise and fatal blow to the Sasinians.This made them not only vulnerable to the enemy, but also cut off their retreat if the landing ship was sunk by the "Ferhato". Under the tenacious defense of the militia, the enemy stopped attacking from the gap.More than 500 enemy corpses have been laid on the beach, while the casualties of the defenders are relatively small. The enemy leader knew that he must withdraw to the sea immediately, otherwise his troops would be severely damaged or even wiped out.Sakani tried in vain to let the believers continue to attack the city, because the order to withdraw to the shore had been issued, and the believers on the shore had begun to withdraw to the shore.These Sasinians obeyed orders, and if they were ordered to die, they would fight to the last man. These pirates must be punished so that they will never forget this lesson. "Go! Friends! Go!" cried the doctor. Under the leadership of Pierre and Luigi, more than a hundred militiamen rushed to the retreating enemy hastily towards the sea.Under the pincer attack of the "Ferhato" and the artillery in the city, the enemy was routed. They grabbed seven or eight small boats and fled in embarrassment. Fortunately, they got a good wind and some escaped death. In the melee, Pierre and Luigi tried their best to catch one person, that is, Sakani.They tried to capture him alive, and the villain shot at them multiple times, and miraculously, they avoided it. However, fate seems to have fooled justice once again. Under the protection of more than a dozen pirates, Sakani and the leader of the Sanusi religion finally boarded a small three-masted merchant ship that had just untied the cables, and hurriedly escaped from the sea. The "Ferhato" was too far away to order it to pursue.It seemed that the boat was about to escape. At this moment, Matif saw a field gun with its mount removed abandoned on the beach, still loaded with shells. He quickly ran to the gun, moved it to a rock with extraordinary strength, and grabbed it with both hands. Hold the gun lugs, put your shoulders against the gun body, and the voice is like thunder: "Come on! Puvante, hurry up!" Boscard had seen Matiff's action and heard his shout, and immediately understood, ran up to him, aimed the cannon with a man-mounted cannon at the three-masted merchant ship, and fired violently! "Boom!" There was a loud noise, the shell hit the hull of the ship, and the merchant ship was shattered... Although the cannon had a strong recoil, the Hercules didn't move. The leader of the Sanusi order and his accomplices were thrown into the waves, most of them drowned.As for Saccani, when Luigi jumped into the sea, he was still struggling in the rapids. Soon, Luigi handed Sarkani into the hands of Matif. The counterattack was a complete success. Of the more than 2,000 enemies who rushed to the coast, only a few hundred escaped back to the coast of Planica. It can be expected that for a long time, Antekyt will no longer be threatened by these pirate invasions.