The Boy Scouts for Uncle Sam Part 26

"Kre-ee-ee-ee!" he shrilled out.

"The call of the Eagle Patrol!" gasped Mr. Barr.

"Yes, and by all that's wonderful, that lad is Rob Blake!" fairly shouted the ensign, waving his cap.

By this time Tubby, too, had recognized his leader. The air rang with cheers, shouts, questions and answers in a perfect babble of sound.

"Well, who on earth but a Boy Scout could get himself kidnapped and then kidnap his abductors' boat!" exclaimed the ensign that evening as they lay at anchor off Rob's "Ivory Island."

The climax of a wonderful day had been reached. Only one thing marred it. The rascals who had pursued Rob, for he only got the engine going in the nick of time, had got clear away in the rowboat. Possibly they hailed a pa.s.sing steamer and were picked up.

But, after all, their escape, while annoying, was not of so much importance, for in their haste they had left behind the most important papers and models, and the ones they had taken were valueless, Mr. Barr declared, without the missing ones.

The next day, after a long evening of jollity, the _Viper_ set out for Jamesport, S. C., with the unfortunate Barton bound with ropes to keep him from further violent manifestations. The poor man never recovered his reason, but died shortly after being admitted to an asylum. It appeared that in his youth he had been an inmate of an inst.i.tution for the feeble-minded, but had been discharged as cured.

On the _Viper's_ return, work was begun on transferring the ivory, which was ultimately sold for an amount that netted all of them a handsome sum; for Rob insisted on sharing his good fortune with all his comrades.

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE ENDURANCE RUN.

The ensuing days, following the return to the island, were filled to overflowing with activity. Exhaustive tests only made the _Peacemaker_ appear to be more and more the ideal type of boat for her particular work. By means of the island wireless Ensign Hargreaves, using "code" of course, sent glowing accounts to Was.h.i.+ngton of the progress of the tests. In these despatches, too, the Boy Scouts were favorably mentioned for their pluck and heroism in the pursuit of Berghoff and his rascally companions.

One day, about two weeks after the return to the island, it was determined by the ensign and Mr. Barr to make quite a run out to sea to test to the full the endurance capacity of the _Peacemaker_. Rob and Merritt were chosen to accompany them. The rest of the boys were left to guard the island, which, among other valuable property, now housed the precious ivory h.o.a.rd recovered in such a strange manner.

The day dawned with a red, angry sky proclaiming nasty weather. But this, instead of dampening the ardor of the inventor and his aides, only increased it. It meant that the submarine was in for a real test in a bad sea.

By the time they were ready to start, the wind had freshened into half a gale and a high sea was running, heaping up big gray combers with white tops which broke angrily.

Into this storm the _Peacemaker_ was headed without hesitation. On board were the ensign, the inventor, Rob and Merritt. The two latter were to serve watch and watch in the engine room, while the inventor and the ensign placed themselves under a similar arrangement in the conning tower.

Both Rob and Merritt were by this time fully conversant with the running of the _Peacemaker's_ intricate machinery and were trusted to the full by their superior officers.

"Gee! This feels like being afloat in an empty bottle!" exclaimed Merritt as the _Peacemaker_ headed into the tumbling seas.

"It sure does," responded Rob, hanging on to a handhold while he oiled a bearing. "I suppose they want to see how much she'll stand on the surface."

"Wonder they wouldn't dive and give us a chance to get a little quiet,"

observed Merritt as the rolling, bucking _Peacemaker_ leaped, as it seemed, skyward and then plunged dizzily down again.

"There must be a hummer of a sea outside. Guess, as I'm off duty, I'll go up and see what's doing," said Rob presently.

He made his way with much difficulty toward the steel ladder leading into the conning tower. The pa.s.sage could only be made by fits and starts, and the boy for the first time realized the necessity of the handholds placed at frequent intervals on the cabin walls, to which reference has already been made.

Reaching the ladder he scrambled up into the conning tower, and, once inside, braced himself against the wild and erratic motions of the _Peacemaker_. To see through the lenses was impossible. The seas that swept over the little craft blurred the gla.s.s with green water and obscured everything outside. But on the _Peacemaker_ this condition did not matter. The contingency had been provided for.

The long arm of the periscope with its "eye" on top had been raised, and it reached far above the biggest combers. In front of the helmsman, who happened to be Mr. Barr, was a big plate of ground gla.s.s on which every object outside was plainly shown, although of course in miniature.

Those of my readers who have ever seen a "camera obscura" will recognize what I mean.

Upon the ground gla.s.s, as within a picture frame, was reproduced the motion of the furious seas, the scurrying clouds and the angry storm wrack. It was an inspiring marine painting, with the motion and sweep that an actual painting could never possess. It thrilled Rob as he gazed at it and realized that it was through this pandemonium of the storm that the _Peacemaker_ was bravely fighting her way.

"Better slow down a bit, hadn't I?" asked Mr. Barr as the _Peacemaker_, urged by her powerful engines, ploughed right through a mountainous sea.

As she bored her way through the mighty wall of green water, a roar like that of a railroad train resounded and the craft pitched as if she were going to plunge to the bottom of the sea. This latter, in fact, Rob rather wished she would do. He knew that in the depths all would be quiet and undisturbed.

In reply to Mr. Barr's question, the ensign nodded.

"The strain is already pretty strong," he said; "we don't want to force her too hard."

Accordingly the inventor, utilizing the auto control device, cut down the speed till, instead of ploughing through the waves, the _Peacemaker_ skimmed over them. Unlike most submarines, which cannot do otherwise than plunge into heavy seas, the _Peacemaker's_ hull was so constructed that she rode the waves like a duck.

After a while the sensation of heaving and falling began to get upon Mr.

Barr's nerves.

"I'm feeling a bit squeamish," he declared; "let's dive and get out of this."

The ensign nodded and laughed.

"Our friend Rob here is getting a bit pale, too," he said; "and as we don't want a sea-sick crew, maybe we had better seek the seclusion of Davy Jones' locker."

An instant later the _Peacemaker_ was plunging downward. At a depth of twenty feet the angry motion of the waves was unfelt. In those dim depths all was as quiet and undisturbed as if the elements were at perfect peace above.

Down, down dropped the submarine till her depth indicator showed that she was submerged five hundred fathoms.

"The chart gives seven hundred hereabouts," commented Ensign Hargreaves, glancing at it; "so I guess we are safe for forty miles more before the floor of the ocean slopes upward. We must go up a bit higher then."

The inventor nodded.

"I understand," he said, and then, "we are now running at what speed?"

The ensign turned to the speed indicator.

"A trifle under twenty miles an hour," he said.

Mr. Barr glanced at the clock before him, which was illuminated by a tiny shaded electric bulb.

"I'll keep on this course at this speed for about two hours then," he determined.

"That will be all right, I imagine," was the rejoinder, "but don't keep on too long. The bed of the sea, according to the chart, rises up very rapidly further on. It must be almost cliff-like in its sudden elevation."

"I'll be on the lookout," the inventor a.s.sured him.

Rob descended the ladder once more and reentered the engine room to find out how Merritt was getting along. He found the young engineer seated on the leather lounge alongside the engines watching them lovingly.

"Work smoothly, don't they?" he said.