CHAPTER XIII
THE SURVIVORS
Jack's knees sagged for a moment and it seemed his heart stood still.His old Brighton chum and good old Bill Witt still unaccounted for!Out there in the dark and the water somewhere they were floating alone!
Then he heard "Little Mack" speaking.
"We'll stay right here until we find them," he was saying.
Megaphones were brought on deck and the _Dewey's_ officers begancalling into the darkness of the sea. Another searchlight was run upthrough the stern hatch and affixed aft to sweep the sea from thatend of the vessel. For a time there was no response to their calls;then, when it seemed that all hope had fled, there came a hoarse cry,now seeming far away, now closer and louder.
"Something there to starboard just off our bow!" shouted Jack, who hadclimbed up on the conning tower.
McClure directed that both searchlights be flashed in the direction ofthe muffled calls and was rewarded by the faint outlines of a smallboat buffeted about in the water like a cork.
"Well, they are not our boys," said the _Dewey's_ skipper listlessly.Then, taking Jack's megaphone, he shouted: "Who are you?"
A tail, gaunt figure loomed up in the bow of the lifeboat. He waswaving a life-belt frantically with an appealing gesture for aid.
"Survivors from der German gunboat Strassburg," came the reply inbroken English.
McClure ordered them to come alongside and cautioned his men to be onguard against any surprise attack.
Out of the gloom came the lifeboat like a weird specter, propelled bythe sweeping oars of half a dozen frantically working seamen. It wascrowded with a motley crew of bedraggled sailors. They presented apitiable spectacle as their craft slowly made its way toward the_Dewey_ and into the bright rays from the searchlights.
"We have two of your men in here," shouted the leader of the party,who was evidently an officer of the sunken warship. At the sametime two boys well to the stern waved their arms frantically towardthe group on the conning tower of the _Dewey_.
"Here I am, Jack, and Bill Witt is right with me," came the familiarvoice of Ted Wainwright.
"Hurrah!" the cry arose from the deck of the American submersible.Overcome with joy, Jack could scarce restrain his emotions as heclutched the periscope pole and shielded his eyes with his otherhand to make sure that his ears had not deceived him. Yes, it wasTed---and there was Bill just behind him!
Making its way clumsily forward, the boat finally drew up alongside.Willing hands helped Ted and Bill up the steep side of the _Dewey_and they were tendered such a reception as they had never known before.Then ensued a parley between the petty officer of the sunken gunboatStrassburg and the commander of the _Dewey_.
"We are very happy to be your prisoners, under the circumstances,"began the German officer in his best English.
"I thank you for rescuing my men," said McClure. "Sorry I can't takeyou aboard, but I'll tow you to the Dutch coast or transfer you to thefirst inbound trader. Satisfactory?"
"Thank you, sir," said the German.
Before making fast the towline from the lifeboat to the stern of the_Dewey_ for the journey toward the coast McClure had Jean Cartier andhis commissary assistant bring up pots of steaming hot coffee and doleit out to the forlorn Teutons.
Jack went below with Ted and Bill Witt to hear the story of theirescape. It appeared that they had floated around together in thedark; had witnessed the sinking of the gunboat Strassburg and, whenit went down, had been caught in the swell of the water and carriedfar from the lights of the _Dewey_. They had seen the submarine whenit turned on its powerful searchlights.
"Bill and I thought we were done for," said Ted between gulps ofcoffee. "We had just about given up for good. We tried to swim,but our clothes and the life-belts weighed us down, and our legsand arms were so cramped we couldn't make any headway. Then whilewe were trying to keep our eyes on the faint lights of the _Dewey_,what should we see but a boat steering right at us! Without anywords, the Germans stooped right down and dragged us into their boat.None of us could see each other very well, but we soon made out theywere Germans. They discovered our nationality about the same timeand they wouldn't believe us when we told them we were from the U.S.submarine that had sunk them."
"Did they try anything rough on you?" put in Jack.
"No," continued Ted, "they were so thankful to be in that boat insteadof floundering in the sea they didn't care much about anything else.When we told them our vessel was somewhere close by they wouldn'tbelieve it until we showed them the faint streaks of light from the_Dewey_ through the fog. Then Bill Witt told them they would stand abetter chance for their lives if they got in touch with the Americansubmarine. They parleyed a while over that and finally decided theywould take Bill's tip. That's how we got up within range of youfellows and got back here again. We might have floated around allnight and been picked up in the morning and then again we might not."
"Well, I'm glad you're back again, chum," added Jack with an affectionatehug. He now hurried back to the conning tower to be within call ofhis commanders. The _Dewey_ was headed due east; running on thesurface, with her boatload of prisoners trailing behind.
Two hours' running brought the _Dewey_ within the ten-mile zone ofthe Dutch coast, and suddenly she ran into the hail of a hugebrigantine that appeared to be becalmed. She lay quiet in the waterwithout a tangible sign of life except her binnacle lights.
Watchful against any deception, McClure ordered the gun crews on deckand the "Twins" ready for action. Then he challenged the sailing craft.
The answer came in German. Likely the watch thought his vessel hadbeen approached by a U-boat of the Central Powers. Challenged againin English, the fellow went below and returned in a moment with anEnglish-speaking companion. Lieutenant McClure briefly made knownhis desire to turn over the German prisoners.
"But we don't want them," came the reply.
Jack and Ted, standing out on deck together, grinned. This seemed sounlike Dutch hospitality.
"Holland doesn't seem to be so fond of Germans, does she?" joked Jack.
"Can't much blame them," Ted replied soberly. "They have enoughmouths of their own to feed without any more outsiders."
Lieutenant McClure insisted, however, on putting the Germans aboardthe brigantine and finally won out. The lifeboat went alongsideand the _Dewey_ stood by until every Teuton had climbed up the side.
"Auf Wiedersehen and thank you, sir," called the German officer asthe _Dewey_ backed away and turned her nose out to sea again.
The days that followed were crowded with colorful incidents for theband of Americans aboard the gallant little submarine. With thearrival of Uncle Sam's submarines in the North Sea and their activeparticipation in the warfare against the Imperial German Navy theforages of the cruiser and destroyer raiders out of Wilhelmshavenand other German ports were decreasing in number.
The Belgian coast is but forty-two miles long, extending from Zeebruggeat the northern extremity to Ostend---the Atlantic City of Belgium---atthe south, but there are a number of tiny harbors along the strip ofcoastline, and these were infested by the light draft German warships,particularly the destroyers. The American submarines in particularwere directing their attention toward these destroyers and seekingto kill them off as they dashed out of their "fox holes" for flyingattacks against the allied navies.
One night, after a quiet day on patrol off the Belgian coast, the_Dewey_ settled for the night close to shore at a point about fivemiles southwest of the Belgian coast town of Blankenberghe, a tinyfishing port with a small and almost land-locked harbor. It was astrategic position directly on the course that would be taken byGerman destroyers out of Zeebrugge bound for a raid off Dunkirk orCalais. Lying under the sea, the _Dewey_ could hear approachingvessels.
Furthermore, Lieutenant McClure had reason to believe that Germandestroyers were making a rendezvous of the little harbor ofBlankenberghe. He was determined to find out and to "get somebody."<
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Jack was on duty in the conning tower and Executive Officer Cleary inthe control chamber underneath. Floating here at a depth of onehundred and ten feet the _Dewey_ was to spend the night resting andwith a vigilant ear for any passing vessels.
Thousands of miles from home, more then a hundred feet deep down inthe North Sea, bottled up in a submarine while the rest of his churnsslept peacefully as though at home in their beds, the Brighton boy satalone in the conning tower of the submerged _Dewey_.
"Some difference between where I am now and where I was a year agothis time!" he was reflecting, when he heard the night wirelessoperator reporting to Executive Officer Cleary the approach of avessel overhead.
Jack descended into the control chamber and, at Officer Cleary'sdirection, called Lieutenant McClure, who had turned in for severalhours' rest, leaving instructions that he be aroused in case anyships were reported overhead.