CHAPTER XXII
AN EXCITING MOMENT
"You are on the crew, you and Seaman Hickey," said the boatswain's matelater in the evening. "I think I will put you in the stroke-oarposition, after all."
"The other man will be displeased, will he not!" asked Dan.
"Every man in that boat must be willing to do whatever he can toperfect our organization, to help us win the race, even if he has tojump overboard to do it."
Dan nodded his approval.
"I wouldn't jump overboard for any old race," muttered Sam. "I can getwet enough by staying on board."
Every day thereafter the racing crew went out. No change in the crewhad been found necessary, and her coxswain considered that he had thebest crew in the fleet.
Excitement was daily growing, as the time approached for the great gigrace, when boats from all the ships of the fleet would enter thecontest. A valuable silver cup was to be the trophy to be raced for.It would have a place of honor on the ship of the winning crew, whereit would remain for a year and perhaps longer--remain until some othership's racing crew should win it.
Each afternoon the gig's crew was turned out for a practice spin. Themen were working better and better, pulling almost as one man. Eventhe ship's officers felt that they had never had a better chance to winthe cup, and were proportionately elated.
A short cruise was made up to the Maine coast; then the ship returnedto her former anchorage to complete the torpedo practice that had beeninterrupted when the battleship went aground.
The first night on the anchorage proved an exciting one. Off some fourmiles, behind a point of land where her cage masts could be faintlymade out, lay the flagship with the admiral of the fleet on board. Hehad come in while the "Long Island" was off up the coast on her shortcruise.
When an admiral is about it behooves the commanders of other ships tobe on their guard, to keep a sharp lookout for surprises. Admirals areprone to give most unexpected orders at any time. For that reason thefirst night on the old anchorage saw more than one officer of the deckon duty. One was placed on the bridge and one aft on the quarter-deck.
The ship settled down to silence at the usual hour; the seamen were intheir hammocks and the officers had retired to their staterooms for anight's rest in the quiet waters of the bay.
Eight bells had just struck, midnight, when a messenger rushed down tothe captain's quarters from the quarter-deck. Without waiting toknock, he called loudly, as he poked his head in through the curtaineddoorway.
"What is it?"
"Abandon ship, sir!"
Without an instant's hesitation the commanding officer reached up overhis bed, pulling down a brass lever with a violent jerk.
Gongs began to crash all over the ship, from the stoke hole to thenavigating bridge.
"Abandon ship!" bellowed boatswain's mates and masters-at-arms."Abandon ship!" sang voices in the forecastle, the cry being taken upfrom lip to lip from one end to the other of the great battleship.
Men tumbled from their hammocks, and, without waiting to pull on theirclothes, dashed for the open decks. From far below black-faced stokersran up the companion ladders and burst out on the topside.
"Man the lifeboats! Everything overboard!" sang an officer through amegaphone.
The signal gongs were clanging automatically all through the ship.They would continue to do so for full five minutes, giving no excusefor any one to be left on board. Boats and rafts were going over at arapid rate, the great cranes swinging out the heavier boats with speedand precision. Most of the men were working coolly while others--thenewer men on board--were showing signs of excitement.
A red-haired boy came dashing up to the top of the superstructure.
"What's the matter--what's the matter?" he shouted.
"Oh, the ship's on fire," answered some one.
"On fire--where?"
"Over there. She's going down. You'll have to hurry or you'll getcaught in the suction. Look over the side and you'll see the firecoming right up out of the sea."
Sam Hickey dashed to the side of the ship and leaned forward to peerover. He did not know that the rope railings had come down at thefirst alarm in order to facilitate putting over the rafts and otherdeck equipment.
When Sam leaned, there was nothing to lean upon. The result was thathe toppled right on over.
"Man overboard!" came the familiar cry. "Cast the life rings."
"Look out below there. Man overboard!" roared an officer through histrumpet.
"Where away?" answered a voice from the boats down in the darkness.
"He fell over from topside," answered another.
"Who is the man?"
"Seaman Hickey."
"Find him, find him! What are you doing down there, you lazy lubbers?You stand there letting a man drown without making an effort to savehim!"
"Who's drowning?" demanded a voice over the heads of the men in thesmall boats.
"Hickey; Seaman Hickey!"
"Pshaw! Seaman Hickey isn't drowning, and I don't believe the ship'son fire, either. What's the matter with you fellows! Whole ship'sbeen having bad dreams, I guess."
"Who are you?"
"I'm Hickey. I guess I ought to know."
"Where are you?"
"I'm sitting on top of the steamer's awning just now, but if you wigglearound much more below there, I'll be in the foaming brine."
"Is that you, Hickey?" called an officer from the quarter-deck.
"Yes, sir."
"How did you get there?"
"Fell here, sir. I didn't jump, sir. Honest, I fell off the ship. Imight have been going yet if----"
"That will do," commanded the officer in a stern voice. "Get off thesteamer's hood, and be quick about it!"
Sam slid down a stanchion, causing the small steamer to careendangerously. Two sailors grabbed him by the legs and hauled himaboard, Hickey's head and shoulders being plunged into the sea as theydid so.
Sam came aboard choking, sputtering and threatening to thrash the wholesteamer's crew.
"Silence in steamer number one!" roared an officer.
"Aye, aye," answered Sam.
"You shut up!" ordered the coxswain. "Do you think you are runningthis boat?"
"I nearly ran my head through the roof of the confounded thing,"retorted Sam, wringing the water out of his red hair. "What's all thisrow about, anyway? I don't see any fire or anything else worth gettingout of bed for at this time of night."
"Sam, is that you making all that noise?" questioned Dan Davis, from awhaleboat that had pulled alongside.
"I don't know about the noise. I'm in steamer number one, if that'swhat you mean."
"What happened to you?"
"I didn't change my mind this time, and I fell overboard, that's all."
"Did you fall in?"
"No, I fell on--and that's worse."
"On what?"
"I fell on top of the steamer. I was headed all right, but the steamergot in my way. I'd have made a beauty dive into the salt sea if thesteamer hadn't got in the way. But what's all this ruction for?"
"It is a drill."
"A drill!" exclaimed Hickey in disgust.
"Yes."
"What kind of drill?"
"Abandoning ship."
"Pshaw, if I'd have known that I'd stayed in bed. The idea of a drillin the middle of the night, and after I've rowed half way to Europe inthe racing gig. Who started this thing, anyway?"
"The admiral signaled all ships in the harbor to abandon ship. Ipresume all of them are taking the time, and we shall see who succeededin getting away from their ship first."
"I'll bet I'd have broken the record if they had taken my time. That'sthe only way to abandon ship in a hurry."
"How's that, Hickey?" questioned a shipmate.
"Head first," answered Sam.
"Return to ship," came the command. "Be lively there, men. Thiscounts on record, too. All boats to be hoisted aboard as they we
re."
The men piled over the side of the ship to the decks in fully as quicktime as they had left. In a very brief time the small boats wereemptied, excepting for the men who were manning them, two men in eachboat to attend to making fast the falls for hoisting and riding up tothe decks in the little craft.
The drill was ended without a mishap, save that which had occurred whenHickey tried to lean against the ship's rail and failed.
Lights, red, white and blue, were twinkling from the masts of thevarious ships at anchor in the bay, while officers on the bridge of the"Long Island" were reading them.
"Is signalman there?" called the captain from the bridge.
"Aye, aye, sir," came the response.
"Signal the flagship that the 'Long Island's' crew abandoned ship infour minutes and twenty seconds."
The signalman did so, working the keyboard of his signalapparatus--that somewhat resembled a typewriter machine--causingcolored lights to flash and twinkle far up on the forward mast of hisown ship.
"'Good work, sir,' the admiral says."
"Ask him for the best time."
"Flagship signals that the 'Long Island' has made a record forabandoning ship. Five minutes best time in previous record.To-night's second-best record, four minutes and fifty seconds."
"Mr. Coates, will you pass the word to the men by megaphone?" asked thecaptain.
"Aye, aye, sir. Battleship crew, there!"
"Aye, aye, sir," roared a hundred or more voices.
"The 'Long Island' beats all competitors in abandoning ship by thirtyseconds, and has broken all previous records."
A roar went up that fairly shook the ship; then two hundred voices wereraised in song:
"Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?"
The strains of the inspiring song floated out over the waters of thebay until one verse had been sung, the officers offering no objectionto the jollification. But, ere the men could begin on the secondverse, the bugle blared loudly, piping all hands back to hammocks. Tenminutes later the battleship was silent and the decks deserted. The"Long Island's" crew, almost to a man, was sound asleep.