CHAPTER VIII
THE NIGHT'S STRUGGLE TO FREE THE VESSEL
The boys wondered at the remark which the captain had made, and wereabout to ask him for an explanation, when the electric lights suddenlydied out, and all were left in total darkness. The captain crawled pastthe boys and felt his way toward the stern of the vessel.
"The storage batteries!" was all he said.
That there was confusion on the part of the crew of the vessel, wasapparent, for the sub-lieutenant shouted one order after the other,until he seemed to be incoherent, and, as a result, no one knew what wasexpected of him or what to do.
Evidently, the captain knew the trouble and how to remedy it, for withina minute the lights were again in commission, and the captain wasnoticed at the main switch. From that point he shouted to thesub-lieutenant:
"I found a box on the switchboard. It had slipped down and thrown outthe switch bar at the time the boat made the last lurch."
"Thank you for the service," said the sub-lieutenant, to the surprise ofthe captain and boys.
As the captain returned to their room he remarked: "The sub-lieutenantwas very polite; probably he would not be so likely to thank me for someother things I have done."
"What! since you left us two minutes ago?" asked Ralph.
The captain nodded. "But I started to say a few minutes ago," hecontinued, "that we ought to have our work planned out ahead andthoroughly understand each other. There is one thing I must impress onyou, and that is, we must not again be locked up in this room. I have nofaith in the present commander, and would be very much mistaken if hepermits us to have our freedom after we once get free of the nets."
"What must be done if he again orders us locked up?" asked Alfred.
"That brings us to the point where we must make a canvass of thesituation as it confronts us. Let me see; there are three men inaddition to the commander, who need not be reckoned with in a contest.Fortunately, one of the men is a machinist, and the only other manexcept the sub-lieutenant, of any intelligence, is the doctor. I doubtif he would be a strong factor against us," said the captain.
"The fellow who had charge of the men carrying the boxes is nothing buta chump," said Ralph. "I wouldn't be afraid of him."
"I am considering more the character of the men who are able to handlethe boat, and who know the intricacies of the mechanism. I can see wheremen of that sort will be able to make it very interesting for us if weshould attempt to capture the officers and crew," said the captainthoughtfully.
It was evident that the vessel was slowly righting itself, for everyminute or two there would be a slight sinking movement, which was verygratifying.
"Where are the revolvers?" asked the captain.
"I found a dandy place for them, and can get them in a minute, ifwanted," said Ralph.
"Captain, I wanted to ask you some time ago what you meant by sayingthat the sub-lieutenant didn't know any more about submarining than heought to. What did you mean by that?" asked Alfred.
"One of the things I had in mind was, when he was trying to start thepropellers, that he could have found an easier way to learn whether theywere in the water or not," was the answer.
"How so?" asked Ralph.
"The indicator board in the conning tower shows just how far the vesselis under water," replied the captain.
"But," said Alfred, "would that tell it correctly if one end of thevessel should be up and the other down, as this is?"
"Why not? It would indicate how far down in the water the hull would beamidship, and it would not require much involved calculating to figureout where the stern of the vessel would be if he knew the angle at whichthe hull was resting," answered the captain.
"I would just like to know how far we are down," said Ralph, looking upthe stairway into the conning tower.
"Do you think you could spot the right dial face if you went up?" askedthe captain.
"I think I could," said Ralph, rather doubtingly, it must be admitted.
"Then I'll give you a little hint, if you'd like to try to make aninvestigation," said the captain. "Directly forward of the table, whichcontains the chart, and below the three levers, you will see a glasscolumn with red colored liquid in it,----"
"I know what you mean now," said Ralph, interrupting.
"Well, simply get the number on the card on the right side of the glasscolumn. Do you understand?" remarked the captain.
"Yes; but why not take the numbers on the left side also?" asked Ralph.
"They merely indicate the pressure. Depth below the surface is all wewant," rejoined the captain.
"Well, here goes; and I hope they won't catch me at it," said Ralph, ashe slowly moved out.
"One moment," said the captain, as he put forth a restraining hand."What will you do, or how will you act if some one should catch you inthe tower?" he asked.
Ralph hesitated: "I hadn't thought of that; why,--well,--I suppose Ishould try to explain it in some way or other," he said.
"I am afraid that would not do. Allow me to make a suggestion. Go upboldly, as though you had a perfect right to, or that you did notsuspect it was a forbidden place; if some one accosts you look at him ina surprised way, make an apology, and retire; I give you this pointerbecause you may be flustrated and unable to make a prompt reply, andthat would show guilt of some kind," said the captain.
Ralph went out and loitered about, gazing at the various pieces ofmachinery, and finally stood on the steps of the conning tower, which,at the angle of the boat in its inclined position, were almosthorizontal. He stretched himself out on the stairs, and turned his head.From that point he could see the red liquid in the glass column, but itwas difficult to read the figures.
The glare from the electric light interfered with his sight, and beforehe had an opportunity to get a glimpse of the figures from his newposition, one of the petty officers crawled along the passageway, and,noticing him lying on the stairs, peremptorily ordered him to get down.
Ralph glanced at the man, smiled at him, and promptly complied,chagrined at his failure. As he entered the little room the captaineagerly questioned him: "What did it say?" he asked.
"That fellow ordered me away before I could make out the figures," saidRalph, "but I'm going to try it again."
"How near was the liquid from the top of the glass tube?" asked thecaptain.
"Well, I should say about so far," replied Ralph, indicating spacebetween his thumb and finger. "I guess it was about an inch."
"How long do you think the tube is?" asked the captain.
"I think it must be a foot long; probably more," was the answer.
"I asked you to give me an estimate of the length of the entire tube soas to give me some assurance that you knew the value of an inch. Youwere right; those tubes are twelve inches long. Now let me see; I oughtto know what figures are an inch from the top!" remarked the captainthoughtfully.
"Pardon me, Captain, but how does it come that you know all about theseboats?" asked Alfred.
"I used to be an officer on a French submarine," he replied in a quiettone, and immediately proceeded to make certain mental calculations.Then he continued: "One inch below the top! That is twenty."
"Twenty what?" asked Ralph.
"Twenty feet; the Germans have the English foot on all their boats. Iwonder they didn't think about that, and make a change before startingout."
"Maybe it's twenty meters," said Alfred, with a slight laugh.
"Oh, no," replied the captain. "That would be too Frenchy for theGermans. Besides, it would be too much by all odds. I am sure theconning tower is not more than twenty feet below the surface of thewater."
"Then the stern of the submarine must be sticking out of the water,"remarked Alfred.
"Unquestionably," replied the captain.
"How far, do you suppose?" asked Ralph.
"We can easily figure that out," said the captain. "Let me see; we mustfirst get the angle at which the boat is lying."
_The Entangl
ed Submarine_]
After looking about for some time he continued: "The door jamb is builtin vertically; that is sure. A string, or piece of thread will make aplumb-bob; here it is: now let us see; according to the plumb line theboat is at an angle of 33 degrees, as nearly as our imperfect deviceindicates. There, now this line A shows the top of the boat and B thebase of the conning tower. A line C, from the top of the water to thecenter of the conning tower, measuring 20 feet, shows where the waterline is. Do you understand how I am doing it?"
"That is very plain," said Alfred, "and it is an interesting way to getat it, too. Then how far is the tail of the boat out of the water?"
"I should say it is about nine feet," replied the captain.
"No wonder the propellers didn't do any good when they sent themspinning!"
"There is one thing I forgot about," said the captain, as he shook hishead. "Why didn't I tell you to note the time. We are in the greatestdanger, I fear."
"Why, what makes you think so?" asked Ralph.
"This accident happened during the night, and we have now been in thiscondition for at least four hours. If we are caught here at daylight itis all up with us," remarked the captain.
"Why, is it any more dangerous then than now?" asked Alfred.
"Because the patrol boats and submarine chasers will spy us, and then ashot, and all will be over," replied the captain with a solemn voice.
"Then I think we ought to do something right away," said Ralph, as hehalf rose and glanced out.
"I am afraid that will put the burden of getting out of the nets on ourshoulders," replied the captain. "No, let them work at it, as long asthey care to, but we must try by some means to determine the time."
"Do you think the seamen would object to telling us?" inquired Alfred."Just let me alone; I am going to try it on, anyway," he said, as heslipped out of the door, picked up a box and stowed it away snugly atone side out of the way of a young fellow who was making his way up theincline toward the stern.
Alfred struck up a conversation, and asked: "Can I help you in any way?Tell me what to do."
The request seemed to warm up the fellow, and the information was giventhat the officer had instructed him to remove the stray boxes from themachinery. The two engaged in this work for more than fifteen minutes.Finally Alfred said: "How are you, pretty tired? You haven't had muchsleep so far?"
"Oh, no; but we're used to that," he replied, "why, in the last run wehad hardly an hour's sleep in the last four days before reaching port."
"That must be very trying," rejoined Alfred. "But it must be neardaylight."
"It is just about an hour off; and when the day comes I don't know whatwill happen," remarked the seaman.
"Why, what are you afraid of?" asked Alfred, appearing to be greatlyalarmed.
"They have caught us this time for good, as I heard the lieutenant,----"
The sentence was never finished, for at that moment there was anotherrasping sound, and the stern of the boat came down with a sudden spring,then rebounded, and after two or three oscillations, rested quietly inthe water, still at quite an angle.
The sub-lieutenant sprang toward the conning tower as fast as he couldscramble. The signal was given to reverse, the motors began to hum andthe ship vibrated. It was a glorious feeling, and the captain graspedthe hands of the boys in an ecstacy of joy.