CHAPTER XVIII
HARD AND FAST AGROUND
"Wow!"
Sam, who had climbed to the top of the signal box for a better view ofsea, was so startled that he lost his footing in leaping to one side.
"Look out below!" he howled. "I'm coming!"
"Gangway!" cried half a dozen sailors at once, as, with quickintuition, they discovered what was occurring.
Hickey, in attempting to right himself, had plunged head foremost fromthe signal box. In his descent he caught a signal halyard. He boundedup into the air like a tight-rope walker. The next instant he struck achain that had been rigged as a railing on the companionway to thelower bridge.
"Look out below!" bellowed a voice. "Torpedo coming your way."
Sam balanced, for one awful second, on the companionway chain, thenpitched downward through the open hatchway. He disappeared in thedirection of the gun deck. From the commotion below it was evident tothose on the lower bridge that he had reached his destination.
"What's all that racket?" demanded the captain, looking aft from thenavigator's bridge.
"Signalman fell off, sir."
"Fell off where?"
"Off the signal box, sir."
"Where is he?"
"I think the gun deck stopped him, sir."
"Get another man up there to attend to the signaling. We cannot botherwith such clumsy lubbers."
"No other signalmen on board, sir."
The captain uttered an exclamation of impatience.
"Find out if he is hurt. Watch that torpedo, Mr. Coates."
"We're watching it, sir. It is following a very straight course."
For a few seconds after leaving the torpedo tube, far below the surfaceof the water, the torpedo wavered as if uncertain what course it shouldfollow.
All at once it straightened out and darted away off toward Gardiner'sIsland, where the target could be faintly made out through theofficer's powerful glasses. The gyroscope, with which all torpedoesare equipped, caused the projectile to right itself. At its rear endmight be seen, in that brief glance, a propeller whirling so rapidly asto cause the water to boil, the propeller being operated by acompressed-air engine within the shell of the torpedo itself.
After righting itself the torpedo dived under the water several feet,but its course could be followed by the foam it left in its path.
One of the dinghies, far out, lay too close to the course, the captainthought.
"Signalman--where's that signalman?" he shouted.
"He's coming, sir."
Hickey's red head appeared through the open hatchway, followed by thebody of the limping Sam.
"Get on your station!" commanded the captain. "What's the matter withyou?"
"I got shot off the signal box, sir."
"Shot off the signal box!" grumbled the commanding officer, in a toneof disgust. "Are you able to use the flag?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then signal that dinghy that they are in the path of the torpedo."
By the time Hickey had clambered clumsily to the signal box again, hewas too late to be of service. Fortunately the men in the dinghy hadseen the torpedo just in time. A quick pull at the oars had turned theboat in such a way that the projectile shot past with only a few feetto spare.
"She's heading very straight, sir," the executive officer informed hissuperior.
"Yes; that's a fine run. But it isn't the fault of our signalman thatthe torpedo didn't run down the dinghy. Hickey, that was about theworst performance of its kind that I ever saw. See that you do not letit happen again. If you do, I shall take you off signal work entirely."
"Aye, aye, sir," answered the Battleship Boy, whose face was now redderthan the shock of fiery hair that was standing straight up on his head.
"I'll show him," muttered Sam. "I'm a clumsy lummox, but I know mybusiness just as well as he does his. Wait till I get a chance towiggle this flag! I'll make those fellows out in the small boats thinkthey're getting struck by lightning. I'll----"
"Ask them if they can see the torpedo," broke in the voice of thecaptain.
Sam set his flag dancing. The moment he began to work with it all hisnervousness left him. The red-headed boy was himself again.
"Steamer number one says they are after it, sir."
"Do they know where it is?"
"Yes, sir; they have it located."
"Did you see the way that man Hickey, handled the signal flag, Coates?"
"Yes, sir; I observed him."
"The boy is all right, in spite of his clumsiness. Can you make outthe torpedo, Coates?"
"No; but I see the whaleboat putting off for it. The water there isevidently too shallow for the steamer to get in."
Sam's glass was at his eye, as he balanced himself lightly on the ironrailing surrounding the signal box.
"Whaleboat number one signals that they have the torpedo, sir," sangout Sam Hickey.
"Very good. You will fire the starboard torpedo next, will you not?"asked the captain of the ordnance officer.
"Yes, sir, as soon as the men get that one on board."
The whaleboat made fast a rope to the torpedo, and then the steamer,taking the smaller boat in tow, headed for the ship, towing the monsterin their wake. Beaching the ship, the torpedo was hauled aboard with aderrick and placed on the deck, to be taken apart and shipped back tothe torpedo room below.
It had made a splendid flight, and all hands were pleased with thefirst shot. It had been fired exactly as it would be in war time,except that it carried no explosive on the practice flight.
Dan, out on the water, was now improving his opportunity to put hissignal corps through a series of practice messages. He was drillingthe men of the signal corps in quick reading. First he would wig-wag amessage to the fleet of small boats; then they would repeat it back tohim as fast as they were able to operate the flags.
"They're signaling out there, sir," said the executive officer to thecaptain.
"Signalman, attention! Attend to your business."
Hickey looked up to the bridge in surprise.
"Aye, aye, sir."
"Don't you see them signaling to you out there?" demanded the captain.
"I see them signaling, yes, sir. I've been watching them for the pastten minutes, sir."
"What do they want?"
"Nothing, sir."
"Then what are they wig-wagging for?"
"Seaman Davis is drilling the squad, sir."
"Oh!"
The captain turned on his heel, giving the boy a view of his broad back.
"Mebby that one didn't land under the belt!" chuckled the red-headedBattleship Boy. "I guess I know my business, I do."
The ordnance officer announced that he was ready for another shot.
"Very well; we will get under way," announced the captain, the shiphaving laid to while the torpedo was being shipped aboard. "Pull overpretty close to that shore there before you swing. Chains, there!"
"Aye, aye, sir," answered the men in the chains, the little platformfrom which the lead is cast to determine the depth of water under theship.
"How much water have you?"
The leadsman made a cast.
"By the mark, ten," he called in a sing-song voice.
"Keep it going."
The ship was slowly drawing near a high, sandy bluff.
"By the mark, seven."
"Slow down both engines," commanded the captain. "Give us anothersounding."
"By the deep, six.... And a quarter, five."
"Seaman Davis signaling, sir," called Sam Hickey.
"What does he say?"
"Begging the captain's pardon, when he went out on the range he crossedyour present course. He says there is shoal water less than a fathomdeep three ship's lengths ahead of you, sir."
"How's your lead?" thundered the captain, turning to the men in thechains below him.
"Quarter less ten," was the answer.
"That is plenty
of water. No cause for alarm there. Tell the engineerto go ahead."
The "Long Island" took a bone in her teeth at once, and began forgingahead.
"Signals again, sir."
"What is it?"
"Signalman wig-wags that there is a deep hole about where you are now.On the other side of it is shoal water."
"Back both engines, full speed!" commanded the captain with almostexplosive force. "Keep casting your lead! Tell me when she begins togo astern."
"Aye, aye, sir."
"Do you know of any shoal in here, Lieutenant Douglas?" questioned thecaptain of the navigator.
"No, sir; there is nothing on the chart to show it. I guess the boy isin error."
"If so, it is the first time I ever knew him to be. Ah! What's that?"
There came a slight jolt, then a steadying of the ship.
"She's stopped, sir," called the man with the lead. "And a half, two."
"Is she backing?" The captain's voice showed deep concern.
"No, sir. She's aground, sir."