The Boy Allies under Two Flags Part 29

"Frank, sir," said Jack.

"Come," said His Lords.h.i.+p, "I have a way to decide."

He took two toothpicks, and broke one off a little shorter than the other. He put them behind his back for a moment, and then held his hand out in front of him.

"Whoever draws the shortest stick," he said, "shall be my first officer. Draw!"

Jack took one of the toothpicks and Frank the other. Then they compared them.

Frank dropped his and slapped Jack heartily on the back.

"Good!" he said joyfully, "you've won."

CHAPTER XX

THE "EMDEN"

"The Emden," said Lord Hastings to Jack and Frank, "has probably done more damage to British, French and Russian s.h.i.+pping than all of the other German raiders and fleets at large."

"Has she accomplished anything lately?" asked Frank.

"Yes," replied Lord Hastings, "she has indeed. I suppose you have not heard the story of her raids?"

"No," replied both lads, and Jack added: "Will you tell us what you know of her?"

"Well," began Lord Hastings, "the Emden is commanded by Captain Karl von Mueller, a courteous gentleman and a competent officer--also, by the way, in times of peace, a friend of mine."

"Then you know him well?" asked Frank.

"Very well," returned Lord Hastings. "He has visited me more than once, and I have been his guest in Berlin. But to proceed.

The first report of the activity of the Emden was received on August 6, when word came that the German cruiser had sunk the steamer City of Winchester the day before.

"The Emden has contributed to the history of the war one of its most remarkable chapters. For sheer audacity and success it has few parallels. Twenty-two s.h.i.+ps, mostly British, have been sunk and one has been captured by this German cruiser, rightly named 'The Terror of the Sea.'

"Since early in August the Emden has been at work. Most of this time she has been preying on s.h.i.+pping in the Indian Ocean. The vessels destroyed by Captain von Mueller had a total value of about $4,000,000, exclusive of their cargoes. The Emden's largest guns, according to the best figures obtainable, are only 4-inch, and of these she has ten. Her speed of 24.5 knots is her greatest a.s.set, but the Sylph has the heels of her. She has been able to run down merchant s.h.i.+ps with ease and then escape from larger but slower vessels that pursued her. British, Russian, French and j.a.panese wars.h.i.+ps in the East have been trying for weeks to put an end to her, but without success."

"But," Frank broke in, "how has she been able to keep to sea month after month without replenis.h.i.+ng her coal supply?"

"That," said Lord Hastings, "is a mystery that is as yet unsolved. It is a.s.sumed, however, that she has obtained sufficient food and fuel to meet her needs from captured s.h.i.+ps.

In at least one instance this is known to have been done. The captain of the British steamer Exford, captured by the Emden, informed his owners that Captain von Mueller said that before he sank the Exford he intended to take on board his cruiser the 7,000 tons of steam coal with which the Exford was laden."

"Captain von Mueller must indeed be a capable officer," said Jack.

"He is," said Lord Hastings. "But to continue. After sinking the City of Winchester the Emden steamed into the Bay of Bengal, five days later, and sent two more British vessels to the bottom.

Within three days she had sunk four vessels there. She was accompanied by the Markommania, a converted liner, as a collier.

The collier was sunk off Sumatra October 16 by a British cruiser.

"Leaving the Bay of Bengal, the Emden sank three British steamers in the Indian Ocean on September 14. September 22 she appeared off Madras and sh.e.l.led the city, and, extinguis.h.i.+ng her lights, disappeared when the forts replied. Then she renewed her activity in the vicinity of Rangoon, where more British s.h.i.+ps fell to her prey. Where she is now I don't know."

"How large a vessel is she?" asked Jack, greatly interested.

"She has a complement Of 361 men," replied Lord Hastings. "Her armament, besides the ten 4-inch guns I referred to before, consists of eight five pounders and four machine guns. She is also understood to be equipped with two submerged 17.7-inch torpedo tubes. She displaces 3,600 tons. She is 387 feet long and has a beam of 43 1/3 feet. She was built in 1908. That's about all I can tell you about her."

"And Captain von Mueller," said Frank, "is he an elderly man?"

"No," replied Lord Hastings, "I should hardly call him that. I don't know his age, of course, but he is under forty. I understand that the Germans are bailing him as the modern Nelson and Paul Jones, in memory of two of the greatest sea fighters of all time."

"Well they may," declared Jack, "for he must be a man of exceptional ability. I should like to see him."

"So you may, with good fortune," said Lord Hastings. "It is my hope to see him again before he has done further damage to England."

Lord Hastings' account of the brief history of the Emden made quite an impression on Frank and Jack. The brief though active career of probably the greatest of German sea fighters interested them greatly, as it should all young readers.

The boys talked much of the gallant German captain as the Sylph II continued on her course from the Adriatic into the sunny Mediterranean once more, through the Suez Ca.n.a.l into the Red Sea, after a stop for coal at Port Said, and on into the warm waters of the Indian Ocean.

And more news of the Emden was not to be long forthcoming. Lord Hastings had no means of knowing just in what part of the sea the Emden might be in so, after two days of fruitless cruising, he put into the port of Penang, on Malacca Straits. Here Lord Hastings received first-hand information concerning the whereabouts of the German "Terror of the Sea."

There were two Russian cruisers, two French destroyers and one British vessel in the harbor, under the guns of the little fort, when the Sylph steamed in. These vessels also had been in search of the Emden, and had put in for coal.

The commanders of the various s.h.i.+ps exchanged visits. The Emden was practically the sole topic of their conversation. The Russian commander had just returned aboard his own s.h.i.+p after a visit to Lord Hastings. There came a call from the lookout-on the Sylph.

"Cruiser coming into the harbor, sir!"

Lord Hastings, Frank and Jack hurried to the bridge.

"She shows no colors," muttered Frank. "Wonder who she is?"

"Maybe the Emden come to pay a little social call," said Jack.

"No," said Lord Hastings; "this cruiser has four smokestacks; the Emden has but three."

"They could easily rig up another one," said Jack.

"Lord Hastings, some way I feel that all is not right."

"Nonsense," replied Lord Hastings.

There was the sound of a shot from one of the Russian cruisers.

"She'll show her colors now," said Lord Hastings.

All glanced toward the approaching vessel. A flag was run tip the masthead. Lord Hastings made it out immediately.

"j.a.panese," he said, unconsciously breathing easier.