CHAPTER III
BOMBARDED BY BIG GUNS
Dan was cool under the dreadful situation in which he found himself.His mind was clear and active now. He felt no sense of fear.
Glancing about, he finally located the battleship, though he was ableto see it only when the schooner rose on some mighty swell. The shipappeared to be far away, but from her forward cage mast a broad beam oflight was being thrown down on the water. After a time Dan made out aspeck on the water near the warship.
"That's the cutter," he muttered. "Thank goodness, they have not beenswamped. I wonder what became of the other boat? They must havegotten aboard before this. But how came the cutter to go away andleave me so soon, I cannot understand."
Dan did not know that his warning to the cutter to wait for him had notbeen heard by the coxswain of the latter boat, the lifeboat havingpulled away almost at once. The lad now shouted at the top of hisvoice, but he could not have been heard a ship's length away.
Once the big searchlight fell across the wave-swept decks of the"Oriole," hovered there a moment, then was quickly withdrawn.
"The boats are safe on board, I guess," decided Dan. "The ship ismoving. They are going away. I am left. I guess I had better gobelow or I shall be swept into the sea. As it is, I shall not havevery long to wait for the end, judging from the way the schooner islisting. Good-bye, old 'Long Island,'" muttered the boy, saluting, ashe fixed his eyes on the spot where he figured the stern of thebattleship should be. Then all was shut out in a blinding wave thatswept the deck of the disabled craft.
When the wave had passed, Dan was gripping the deck house, gasping, forhe was almost choking with the salt water he had swallowed. He wasstill clinging to the bird.
"Come, Tom, we had better go below," he said, quickly raising thehatch, letting it fall over him with a bang as he leaped down into thecorridor that led to the cuddy. But, quick as he was, a flood of saltwater poured down with him. For a moment Dan seemed to be swimming init.
"Tom Lubber, it strikes me that the safest place for you, just now,will be in your old billet up there. If you are going to be saved, Iguess some one else will have to do it. I do not seem to be an entiresuccess as a life saver."
The bird-cage was placed on its hook, after which the lad stripped thecovering from it, bringing from the parrot a chorus of protests andscornful epithets.
Dan curled up on a bunk, leaning against a bulk-head. He was drippingwet, but to this he gave no thought. He did not even realize that suchwas the case. He was wondering how long it would be ere the oldschooner would take a plunge to the bottom of the ocean.
"It must be a long way to the bottom," decided the Battleship Boy. "Ishan't know when we reach there, anyway, so what's the odds how far itis? Perhaps it would be better for me to jump overboard and put aquick end to it. Yet," he reflected, "while I am alive I am alive. Iguess that's good sense, and it gives me an idea."
For several moments the boy was lost in deep thought.
"If the rudder is still in place I may be able to do something thatwill ease matters a little. Of course I do not know how much waterthere is in the hold. Perhaps the bottom has been burst open, and allthat is keeping us together is the lumber. I'm going to make aninvestigation, at any rate. I wonder if they have discovered myabsence on board the battleship?"
* * * * *
They had not discovered his absence. In boarding the battleship withthe rescued crew the whaleboat had been wrecked, as had its mate instarting out. One of the rescued men was drowned in the sea just as hewas reaching for a rope that had been cast to him by a sailor on thedeck of the warship.
For a time there was great excitement on board the battleship. Atlast, however, all hands were hauled aboard. The cutter's crew andpassengers were landed without disaster, the daughter of the master ofthe "Oriole" looking upon the whole affair as a most delightfulexperience.
After the rescued sailors had been cared for by their comrades on thebattleship, and the master's family made comfortable in one of thecabins of the captain, the latter made his way to the bridge.
"Let us get under way now, Coates," said the captain, addressing theexecutive officer. "I don't like to lie near that floating hulk thereany longer than I am obliged to."
The ship began to move.
"I'll tell you what, Coates, I believe we had better break her up,don't you?"
"The schooner, sir?"
"Yes."
"An excellent idea. Shall I do it?"
"Yes. Use the seven-inch port battery."
"Boatswain's mate!" roared the executive officer.
"Aye, aye, sir."
"Turn out the seven-inch starboard gun crews. Order them to take theirstations and stand ready with six rounds of solid shot."
"Aye, aye, sir."
The orders were quickly transmitted to the gun crews by the mate. Themen went to their stations on a run. This was an opportunity thatdelighted the hearts of every jackie on board. It was something morethan the ordinary target practice. It was, in reality, battlepractice. Ammunition was quickly hoisted to the seven-inch gun turret,and, taking a wide circle, the ship began swinging back toward the spotwhere the "Oriole" had last been seen. The searchlights were playingover the mountainous seas in search of her.
"There she is, four points off the starboard bow, sir," shouted alookout.
"What is the range, Mr. Coates?" asked the captain.
"About four thousand yards."
"Better make it three."
The outlines of the schooner could be faintly made out by focusing thesearchlight upon her.
"Within the range, sir."
"Very well, when you are ready."
A bell buzzed in the starboard seven-inch forward turret, while anindicator told the waiting gun crew that the doomed ship lay threethousand yards from them. An instant later a projectile had beenshoved into the big gun, the breech closed and the gun pointer crawlingto his station, was sighting the piece on the ghostly outline of the"Oriole."
"Fire!"
The battleship heeled ever so little, followed by a report as if theship had blown up.
Again the bell in the turret buzzed.
"Aye, aye, sir," answered the gun captain.
"An excellent shot," came the information in the voice of the executiveofficer. "You shot away the foremast. The schooner lies very low inthe water. You will have to depress your gun a little more this time,or wait until the target rises on a swell. Drill her this time."
"Aye, aye, sir; we'll drill her."
"Boom!" roared the big seven-inch, as it hurled the second heavyprojectile straight at the unfortunate schooner.
"Fair hit," shouted the executive officer in a tone of exultation.
"Hit her hard, sir?"
"Dead amidships. Smash another in the same place and you'll have heron the way to Davy Jones's ditty box."
Again the forward starboard seven-inch spoke.
"Miss," came the warning. "Poor work. Cease firing and give the afterturret's crew a chance."
"Aye, aye, sir."
The after-turret's crew sprang to their work with a shout of joy. Inan incredibly short time after receiving the command, their weaponbegan to roar, shot following shot, as if they were engaged in recordtarget practice for the silver cup.
"Hit," came the call down the speaking tube after each shot.Projectile after projectile landed in the hull of the doomed schooner.
"There she goes!" cried the captain, catching a faint glimpse of the"Oriole" as she slipped down a great sloping hill of water. "That'sthe last of her."
"Shall we give her another round, sir?"
"No; cease firing. She is no doubt broken to pieces by our shot bythis time. You do not see her, do you?"
"No, sir. The searchlight doesn't seem able to find the schooner."
"Then we need trouble ourselves no further about her. It's a good job,Coates," smiled the captain, rubbing hi
s palms together in keensatisfaction. "We have rescued the crew of a disabled ship in one ofthe worst gales that I ever saw on the Atlantic coast. We have lostnone of our own men and only one of the seamen belonging to theschooner. Of course I'm sorry that he was lost, but we did all thathuman beings could accomplish."
"We did, sir."
At that moment the captain's orderly approached.
"What is it?" demanded the captain, observing that the orderly wishedto say something to him.
"Seaman Sam Hickey asks permission to speak to the commanding officer,sir."
"What does Seaman Hickey wish to say to me?"
"He did not say, sir."
"I will see him."
Sam, his red hair standing straight up, for he was hatless as well ascoatless still, approached the captain, came to attention and saluted.
"Well, lad, what is it?"
"I have not seen my friend Dan Davis since the boats returned, sir," hesaid.
"What's that?"
"I find that Davis did not return in either the whaleboat or thecutter. He went back to save some one that the girl begged him tosave. I've made inquiry and learn that the somebody was a miserableparrot."
"Seaman Davis on that schooner?" demanded the captain in a startledvoice.
"Yes, sir, I think so, sir."
"And we have shot the decks from under him with our seven-inch guns!"groaned the captain.
He immediately ordered that the searchlights try again to pick theschooner up. But no search revealed her. By reason of the violence ofthe gale, the battleship, for her own safety, had been compelled tosteam some distance away. But she lay to throughout the night, andonly when the early daylight revealed nothing of the schooner was sheheaded for the Delaware Breakwater.