CHAPTER XVIII
IN THE RAT'S NEST
Trapped in the German wireless station with a burly Prussian at theother end of the business-looking revolver, Jack Hammond wascompletely at the mercy of his captor. For a moment the Americanlad debated in his mind the advisability of knocking the weapon outof the hand of the German; but he noted the forefinger firmlypressed on the trigger and knew full well the least show of resistancewould take him out of life altogether.
"Where come you from?" asked the German in his best and gruffest English.
Jack declined to answer, but instead sat staring insolently at thetowering figure. His reply was a shrug of the shoulders.
From the wireless operator on the floor came a low moan as he slowlyregained consciousness. The fellow had been merely stunned. Nowhe rolled over and struggled into a sitting posture.
The two Germans conversed together for a few minutes in their ownlanguage. Jack, who had studied German at Brighton before the war,was able to gather from their conversation that the wireless operatorwas telling his companion of the surprise attack. Soon the wirelessman was able to get upon his feet and as he did so glowered at Jackas though he would like to leap upon him.
Again they tried to question him; but he refused to answer theirquestions. This only angered them the more. The wireless operatorshuffled over to a closet in the corner and returned in a moment witha coil of rope which he handed to his superior, who was apparently theofficer of the guard.
"Sit down in that chair," commanded the German officer.
At that he thrust a revolver under Jack's ear and motioned with hisother arm for the American to wheel around facing the wireless withhis back to the door. Securely they bound him to the chair. Hisarms and legs were pinioned so tightly that the rope cut into hisflesh. One of them now withdrew from the room and the other remainedon guard at the door. Every once in a while the German officer onguard walked over to Jack and glared at him with a fiendish sort ofgrin; kicking at the boy's bound legs and brandishing his revolverin a menacing fashion.
"B-z-z-z-z," the wireless began to talk. But not for long, for theGerman on guard, who apparently knew little about the operation ofthe wireless apparatus, scurried over to the table and, afterfumbling about for a moment madly and in haste, succeeded eventuallyin shutting off the key and stopping the flow of words that hadbeen filtering in over the wires. But not before Jack, alert to themessage in code that he had heard, was able to translate in part.As near as Jack could make out it was the U.S. destroyer _Farragut_speaking a United States battleship in the North Sea at somethinglike seventy-five miles away. But now the wireless was stopped andthe lad sat helplessly in the power of the enemy.
After about twenty minutes' wait Jack heard the sound of approachingfootsteps outside and the clink of accoutrements that denoted theapproach of an armed body of some sort. The sentry at the door cameto attention and saluted the leader of a file of some ten men whohalted and set their guns down with a thud that Jack could plainlyhear in the wireless station. There was a short exchange of wordsat the door and then the commander of the detail stalked over andtook a look at the prisoner. Jack looked up to see before him abrawny German in the uniform of a lieutenant of the Imperial GermanNavy.
"Who are you?" the officer demanded.
Jack shook his head in reply.
"How did you get here?" came the command more sharply.
Still Jack kept silence.
"Search him!" ordered the officer, and after a search that revealednothing, he added in German:
"Take him away---we'll go into his record later. He's only a boy anyhow,and boy spies are not worth bothering about in this man's war."
Jack was marched off to the canal bank and, following the towpath fora time, the party reached a small fishing village of not more thanthirty or forty huts built upon the banks of a stream that Jackrealized immediately was the same waterway up which he had made hisway to the wireless station. Now he was a mile or more inland fromthe lagoon and the seacoast.
In the water, moored alongside a wharf, was a huge submarine---one ofthe latest type of U-boat. This, no doubt, was its hiding place andthe rendezvous of other U-boats. Like a flash it occurred to theAmerican boy that he had penetrated, or rather had been escorted, intothe heart of one of the submarine bases.
"If I ever get out of this mess," he resolved to himself, "I'll putUncle Sam wise to this rat hole."
Down into the village he was led and directly to the headquarters ofthe base officer. The party paused before a cottage that once hadbeen the happy home of a Belgian fisherman. The German lieutenanttapped him on the shoulder and motioned for him to follow. In amoment Jack was ushered into the presence of a corpulent Germannaval captain with sleepy eyes, who looked without interest at theyouthful prisoner and yawned as he heard the story of the capture.
"Shoot the wireless man who fell asleep," he drawled. "Lock up theboy for the present. I'm not in the mood to cross examine a youngspy." And yawning again he waved dismissal.
Jack was conducted to an old boat house that in the days before thewar had been used by the Belgian fishermen as a repair shop fortheir fishing craft. He was glad of a chance to rest. The ropeshad bound his legs and arms painfully, and his muscles ached fromthe battering he had received in the sea while making his escapefrom the _Dewey_. The _Dewey_! Jack thought now of his good oldship and wondered what "Little Mack" and the rest of the boys weredoing.
Completely tired out, he climbed into a dilapidated old fishing doryand stretched himself out in the bottom of the boat. Using atarpaulin for a cover, he made himself as comfortable as possibleand dozed off.
So fatigued was he that he slept soundly, unconscious of the activitywithout, where the moored U-boat was being fitted for another voyageinto the North Sea.
It was several hours past noon when he was awakened by the roar ofguns, hoarse cries of men, and the stamp of feet outside his prison.As he jumped to his feet and clambered out of the boat a shell burstjust over the fish-house, scattering a hail of metal over the flimsyroof and tearing a jagged hole in the wall above the doorway. Runningto a window that looked out over the canal wharf, Jack saw Germansscrambling up out of the hold of the U-boat, some of them carryingrifles, others lugging a machine gun. The village was in wild confusion.
"Am I dreaming?" Jack asked himself incredulously, "or is the villagebeing attacked?"
For answer came another shell that ripped its way clean through theframe building in which he was housed, bursting with a roar thatbrought the flimsy structure crashing down upon the head of theimprisoned boy. Blinded by the dust and splinters, he fought hisway madly through the mass of debris until he emerged clear of thewreck. The first thing he stumbled upon was the body of the Germansentry who had been posted outside the guardhouse. He had beenstruck down by a fragment of the shell and blood flowed from anugly wound in the head.
Jack paused only long enough to rip off the sidearms and ammunitionbelt of the stricken German and then ran pell-mell across the openspace that fronted the old guardhouse to one of the village streetsup which the stream of German sailors had vanished. As he got anunbroken view up the street and on to the higher ground that stretchedaway from the village, Jack beheld a pitched battle in progress witha skirmish line stretched out as far as the eye could carry. TheGermans had raffled to the defense of their hiding place and hadhurriedly thrown up an emplacement for their machine guns."Crack---crack----crack!" came the spitting of the rifles, interspersednow and then with the louder detonation of light artillery.
Whoever they were, whether English, French, or American, Jack saw ata glance that the village had been attacked. He thought of the U-boatat the wharf and forthwith decided that his bit in the spectaculardrama now being staged was to prevent the escape of the craft.Hurriedly retracing his steps, he made for the wharf, running at topspeed and drawing the revolver he had appropriated from the woundedsentry. As he came dashing down to the wharf he discerned a
Germanat the quay-post endeavoring to cast off the towline.
"Drop that rope!" he commanded. The German turned, saw the approachingboy and the menacing pistol. He threw up his hands instantly.
"Now get aboard as fast as you can," commanded Jack, pointing the wayover the gangplank, after he had relieved his captive of a brace ofrevolvers. Jack followed hard on the steps of the German and once onthe deck of the U-boat, ordered the fellow below.
"Close that hatch as you go down and keep it closed," ordered Jack."And if there are any more below deck tell them to stay right wherethey are. If anybody shows head above deck I'll blow out his brains."
Soon Jack was in command of the situation. Making sure that thesubmarine was securely moored ashore, he retreated again to thedeck of the U-boat, drawing after him the heavy plank that had beenlaid down as a gangplank. The battle on the outskirts of the villagewas still raging with fury. Shells were bursting all around thesubmarine. Running to starboard, Jack took up his position directlybehind the conning tower with the steel turret between him and thevillage. Crouching with a revolver in either hand, he kept sharpwatch at the closed hatches for any attempted outbreak from within.
Soon they came, pouring in wild retreat down the village streettoward the wharf, running pell-mell for the U-boat. At a glanceJack could see the tide of battle had turned against the Germans andthey were being worsted. He resolved to stand his ground and preventthe escape of the enemy by way of the submarine.
On they came, a dozen or more of them, heading directly for theU-boat. The leader of the column, looking in vain for the gangplank,called to a companion and together they attempted to swing anothertimber into position. Leaning around the turret Jack took carefulaim and fired. The foremost of the pair threw up his hands anddropped. Maddened at this unexpected turn of affairs, the infuriatedGermans began raining a hail of fire at the turret of the U-boat.Shielding himself as best he could, Jack returned the fire, makinga special effort to keep the Germans away from the towline ashore.
As he fired again at a skulking figure, Jack felt a sting in his rightarm and at the same moment his revolver fell from his fingers andsplashed into the canal. He almost despaired of holding out longerwhen with a great cheer the attacking party burst through the villageand hurled themselves upon the remnants of the Germans making theirlast stand at the wharf.
Risking a glance over the top of the turret between the bases of theperiscope poles, Jack was stunned with joy to see the familiaruniforms of the bluejackets and marines of the United States Navy!