The Brighton Boys in the Radio Service Part 11

So the four young men went to bed for some much-needed rest and sleep, and when they awakened it was almost time for mess--directly after which they were to take up their night watch again.

"I hardly think we will be troubled with U-boats to-night," the captain told them, "for it is perfectly clear and there will be a full moon. The sea is calm and we readily could discern a periscope a long distance away."

Truly it was a beautiful night. And it was in this alluring quiet of seemingly absolute peace that one of the tragedies of war soon was to be enacted.

The Brighton boys and their friend and superior officer, the lieutenant, had been in their appointed places hardly more than an hour when Joe and Jerry at the same instant caught the sounds of some sort of scuffle on the deck above.

It came nearer and clearer until finally, as it reached a point near to the top of the stairway under which Joe was concealed, the latter could discern the fog-horn voice of the first a.s.sistant engineer.

"G'wan with ye, now," he commanded, breathing heavily, as though from some violent physical exertion. "G'wan with ye, I say, or ye'll be findin' it mighty unhealthy fer ye. It's meself that'll be moppin' up the deck with ye if ye try to get gay once more."

The first a.s.sistant engineer was a mighty mountain of a man, but his voice broke off as the commotion started again. Certainly he must have a rough customer to deal with, thought Jerry, if he, with all his great physical strength, could not entirely quell him.

"Ye will, will ye?" hissed the voice of the engineer again. "Thry to bite me, eh?" and there was the terrible smash of a fist, and the unmistakable sound of a man falling upon the deck. "Ye dirty hound, I've a mind to boot ye into the sea."

And then there were other voices. Jerry heard the captain demanding an explanation, and the s.h.i.+p's doctor spoke.

"I found him tamperin' with the wires near the dynamos," the first a.s.sistant engineer was saying. "I niver liked his looks annyway, if ye'll pardon me, sir, fer sayin' it. And whin I asked him what he was about, he thried to git away. I grabbed him, and he showed fight. I guess I give 'im all he wanted, though, that last time."

"So?" said the captain, in a voice so stern it made Joe wince. "And what does this fellow do aboard the s.h.i.+p?"

"He's a third-cla.s.s machinist, sir," the engineer replied. "But if ye'll excuse a word from me, sir, I think he's a first-cla.s.s crook."

"Yes, and I believe he's worse than that," the captain added; and then, in a voice which seemed to shake the vessel: "Stand up!"

There was a strained silence for a moment. Then--

"Get Lieutenant Mackinson and those boys," the captain continued, and the s.h.i.+p's surgeon started down the stairway to find that Joe and Jerry already were summoning Slim and the lieutenant.

"It looks as though we'd caught the man," the doctor whispered.

As the four reached the deck where the captured man stood between the first a.s.sistant engineer and the captain, who had by this time taken out his revolver, there was a gasp of astonishment from Joe, followed by a louder "Holy smoke!" from Slim.

"Do you recognize this man?" the captain asked in a sharp tone.

"I should say I do, sir," Joe responded. "_He is the man who was planting ammunition in the waters near the navy yard that night before we sailed_!"

"The very same one, sir!" Slim exclaimed, with equal positiveness.

The s.h.i.+p's surgeon, who had followed the others upon deck, stepped closer for a better inspection of this enemy. At the same instant the prisoner, striking out with both hands, knocked the captain's revolver hand into the air, and thrust the engineer from him. Before anyone could interfere he was das.h.i.+ng down the deck toward the stern.

Just as he took a wild, headlong leap over the rail the captain fired.

While the captain, through a speaking tube, was instructing the man in the pilot house to signal below "Reverse engines," the others rushed to the stern of the s.h.i.+p.

Far behind them in the foamy trail left on the moonlit water by the vessel they saw what seemed to be the head of a man bobbing up and down--and then it entirely disappeared. The s.h.i.+p was turned, and that portion of the sea searched, but without avail.

"Gone," said the captain in tones of very evident relief. "Well, it was death for him, one way or another, and he took his choice."

As the captain and surgeon moved away from the stern rail of the _Everett_, the three lads and the lieutenant still stood there, gazing far out to sea.

"The man who made me nearly freeze to death in the water," spoke Joe, as though thinking aloud.

"And pummeled my stomach until it was sore for three days," echoed Slim, in sad reminiscence.

"And made me run a mile in nothing, flat," added Jerry.

"And fought me to a knockout finish later," mused Joe.

"And nearly smothered me to death," spoke the lieutenant.

"And was finally corralled by an Irish engineer!" said Slim.

"Gone," concluded Jerry, "and no one here will mourn his departure."

CHAPTER IX

THE PERISCOPE AT DAWN

That night the boys had ample evidence that they were inside the submarine zone, where anything might happen at any minute. Not a light was permitted on any of the s.h.i.+ps, and they traveled along in the most peculiar fas.h.i.+on and over the most irregular course, never going at more than half speed and not more than a mile or so without a complete change of direction.

For no apparent reason whatever the engines would slow down and entirely stop, and in that position they would remain for ten, fifteen, twenty minutes or even half an hour, and then start up again on another tack.

"I believe we've become separated from our convoy," said Slim, who had been upon deck, and now entered the wireless room where Joe and Jerry were watching Lieutenant Mackinson make some readjustments of the wireless mechanism. "The pilot doesn't seem to know the course. Say, wouldn't it be great sport if we should be lost from the others? But I wonder why the captain does not wireless them?"

"No need," Lieutenant Mackinson a.s.sured him, "for we are not lost, nor are we separated from them. Every vessel in this fleet is simply carrying out a program secretly arranged long in advance, and which was in the nature of a sealed order which the various captains did not open until this morning.

"I dare say that our convoy is as near us now as at any time during the voyage, and that it is maintaining the same position at all times, going through the exact maneuvers that the _Everett_ is performing."

"It is to fool the submarines?" asked Joe.

"Exactly," the lieutenant replied. "Our government is taking every precaution, and no unnecessary risks. You see, there is no way of keeping absolutely secret the departure of our transports. Nor is there any a.s.surance that the information does not go directly to the German authorities, and from them to the commanders of the submarines. Our actions are designed to prevent them from estimating our course or position.

"It was their knowledge of that fact, and their determination to learn our whereabouts in another way, which doubtless led to that spy being aboard this transport. I feel----"

Suddenly the lieutenant ceased speaking, and all four, as of one accord, sprang toward the radio instruments.

"Listen!" Lieutenant Mackinson commanded, as he jammed the headpiece over his ears.

"SOS"--the most tragic of all the calls of the sea, was coming to them as a frantic appeal sent out through the air to any and all who might hear and respond.

"SOS," the lieutenant wrote down hurriedly as the message came through s.p.a.ce. And then:

"American--_Memphis_--submarine pursuing--53-1/2 lat.--17 W.

lon.--running fifteen knots three points south of west."