CHAPTER XXV
CHLORINE GAS
Confident of security behind the mass of mines and submarine trapsspread ingeniously across the harbor entrance, devoting their attentionalmost solely to the artillery duel with the dreadnoughts outside, theGerman cruiser knew naught of the stealthy torpedo from the daring_Monitor_ until it shot suddenly forward below the surface of thewater, revealed in the glare of her own searchlight. But it wastoo late then to avoid the deadly missile and it struck home abaftthe engines and directly at the after magazine chambers. With a greatroar and the upheaval of a mighty column of water the torpedo explodedagainst the side of the warship. One carefully aimed shot from theleading American submarine had laid low a ten-thousand-ton cruiser!
"Quick, down we go!" shouted McClure to his navigating officer. The_Monitor_ shot down now out of sight, and the helm was thrown hard tostarboard. That one shot was sufficient to apprise the Germans ofthe presence of submarines and McClure realized full well he would bea marked man next time he showed his periscopes above water.
It was in mid-channel that the _Monitor_ ventured to the surfaceagain. The periscopes showed another vessel, a second line battleshipof the pre-dreadnought type, off the starboard beam. Undaunted bythe hail of lead slugs that splashed the sea all around, the _Monitor_swerved and ran straight for the battleship's bows.
"This one ought to settle scores for that poor old mine sweeper!"yelled the Yankee skipper as he sighted through the periscope glasson the wide target in front of him not more than six hundred yardsaway.
"Give it to 'em, Mack! Give it to 'em!" cried Jack.
Again, a torpedo leaped from the bowcap of the _Monitor_ and hurledits ton and a quarter of steel gray mass directly upon the port bow ofthe German craft.
As the _Monitor_ dived away again her captain beheld the battleshiplisting badly, going down by the bow at a rapid rate.
"Two strikes!" he exclaimed enthusiastically.
"Some night!" gasped Ted as he clutched the foot rail that ran up theside of the conning tower.
"And some battle!" responded Jack at his side.
With engines slowed down the _Monitor_ ran along a hundred and fiftyyards and then turned her nose upward again for another stab at theGerman fleet. As her periscopes cleft the crest of the waves againand she emerged into the arena of activity McClure caught sight ofa destroyer off the starboard bow not more than five hundred feet away.A searchlight on the forward deck of the German vessel swept the waterin front of the _Monitor_ with a long white finger of light that fellin a moment upon the eyes of the American submarine.
"A destroyer driving directly at us at full tilt with all her guns inaction!" roared McClure.
At the same moment he touched off another torpedo; but, in his eagernessfor another "bull's eye" the American commander had fired too soon,and the torpedo shot past the destroyer, missing the mark by ten yards.
In retaliation, the forward guns of the German craft belched forth asalvo of leaden hail that followed the path of the searchlight's raysdirectly upon the eyes of the _Monitor_. With unerring aim theGerman gunners had found their mark. A sharp crash; a roar as thewater above the _Monitor's_ conning tower was converted into a boilingmaelstrom, and the impact of steel against steel betokened the factthat a shot had struck home in the superstructure of the attacking sub.
"Our periscope's cutoff clean as a whistle," exclaimed McClure as hebacked away from the tube through which he had been observing theapproach of the enemy craft.
"Quick, lower away!" he commanded.
Shipping ballast in all her tanks, the _Monitor_ began dropping intothe depths.
"Look, look!" yelled Jack as he pointed to the steel dome roof of theconning tower.
In consternation McClure and Ted followed the extended finger to a spotin the steel casement where a jagged hole had been torn by a fragmentof the German shell fire and where now a thin stream of water waspercolating through the crevice.
"We've got to submerge, boys; that destroyer is almost on top of usnow!" cried McClure in frenzied tones. "Get down into the controlchamber---hurry!" he commanded.
Ted dived down the hatch as fast as he could scramble, followedclosely by Jack, who observed by now a steady stream of water pouringinto the turret of the _Monitor_ and splashing on clear through tothe flooring of the chamber deep down into the hold.
As Jack lowered himself away into the inner chamber amidships the_Monitor_ was clutched suddenly by a terrific explosion that rockedthe already crippled submarine with the force of a hurricane andswamped it as though by a tidal wave. She quivered under the whipof the mighty lash of steel from above.
The German destroyer, driving full speed at the spot where they hadsighted the periscopes of the American tormentor, had crossed directlyover the _Monitor_ and dropped a depth bomb that had exploded nearlyupon the turret of the doughty fighter!
A great gap was torn in the turret through which the sea swept ina torrent. Fighting madly for the exit hatch into the chamber below,McClure was dashed off his feet by the lurch of the smitten submarineand sprawled against the steel side of the conning tower. With thespray dashing in his face Jack had a fleeting glimpse of his commander,and by a superhuman effort drew himself back into the turret againstthe mass of water. Hurling himself forward, he groped about for hiscaptain and found him finally on the floor of the turret. Exertingall his strength, he succeeded in hurling "Little Mack" down intothe control chamber.
Blinded by the swirling water, the youth dived headlong for the openingin a mad effort to escape the flood and get below that he might shutoff the crushed turret from the rest of the submarine and hold thedeluge in check.
"Close the steel partition!" he yelled to Ted as he leaped for theopening.
His chum, grasping the air lever, rolled shut the heavy curtain, butin such precipitate haste that it caught Jack just above the kneesand pinned him fast. There he hung head down with the water pouringin all around his body.
"Pull me through, Ted! Hurry! Pull me through!" gasped the youngexecutive officer, as he winced in pain from the smashing blow dealthis limbs by the steel partition.
Grasping his chum under the armpits, with the water splashing in hisface, Ted braced himself against the side of the control chamber andpulled with all his might. Inch by inch Jack's body was draggedthrough the aperture, Navigating Officer Binns leaping to the assistanceof Ted and hauling away until finally Jack's limbs cleared the openingand the steel partition closed entirely, shutting off the volume ofwater above.
"Are you hurt, chum?" asked Ted.
"Yes, but don't mind me," came the reply, as Jack sprawled out withboth legs hanging limp and useless. Gritting his teeth to stifle agroan, Jack drew himself up into a sitting posture. By his side layMcClure unconscious. All around them flowed water, working its wayfore and aft through the submarine.
"Go aft, Ted; find out how things are in the engine room," directedthe injured executive officer. "And you, Binns, make an inspectionforward."
The two officers hurried to make an investigation, returning soon toreport that the boat had not suffered from the depth bomb so far ascould be ascertained except for the damage to the conning tower.Jack directed that the _Monitor_ be submerged until she rested on thebottom of the channel. The vessel dropped away until it came torest shortly with the depth dial showing one hundred and forty-two feet.
McClure, stunned by a blow on the head, sustained when he was hurledagainst the side of the conning tower, was carried away still unconsciousto his bunk. Jack, his limbs bruised, torn and partially paralyzed,insisted upon remaining at his post of duty and directed the dressingof his wounds.
"I'll be all right in a little bit," he murmured in response toinquiries.
Ten minutes passed, twenty and then a half hour, while the crippledsubmarine lay inactive with a foot of water in her hull and hercommanding officers seriously injured. And then came an added horrorwhen the electric lights throughout the vessel began slowly to fa
deaway into darkness. Chief Engineer Blaine came hurrying into thecontrol chamber:
"Batteries short circuited by the saltwater!" he exclaimed in a toneof dismay.
"And that means chlorine gas," added Jack.
"Yes, we notice it already aft," said Blaine all righted.
The pungent odor of the deadly fumes swept into the control chamberas he spoke!
CHAPTER XXVI
THE STARS AND STRIPES
The salt water worked its way into the batteries of the _Monitor_ thedeadly acid was generated and the gas permeated the air. Gasping forlife, half the engine crew retreated forward, covering their eyes andnoses to escape the asphyxiating vapor. With bloodshot eyes ChiefEngineer Blaine stumbled into the control chamber.
"Impossible to stay back there longer!" he exclaimed brokenly, addressinghimself to Hammond.
"Any chance of putting a bilge pump on the water?" asked Jack.
"Not a chance in the world; no man can work back there," repliedthe engineer.
By now the gas had increased in such volume that every man in theconning tower base was choking and coughing. The only thing to do insuch an emergency was to roll shut the steel partition shutting offthe engine room from the remainder of the vessel. To make mattersworse the lights throughout the _Monitor_ went out, leaving the vesselin utter darkness.
"Every man out of the engine room?" asked Jack.
"I'll find out," answered Blaine.
In the darkness the chief engineer called off the names of his men,getting a response, one by one, from the electricians, oilers andmachinists who composed his crew. Not a man was missing, but many ofthem were suffering from the effects of near-strangulation. Jackordered the opening of the reserve oxygen tanks, and this gave thesufferers temporary relief.
"Come here, Ted!" called Jack out of the darkness.
Groping his way to where his chum sat propped against the side of theconning tower, Ted bent over the prostrate form of the ship's executiveofficer.
"I'm growing weak, chum," said Jack feebly. "My limbs are numb and Ifeel so cold. In case I go under keep the _Monitor_ down here abouthalf an hour and then take your chances on going up. Better to betaken prisoners than die here like a lot of rats in a trap. Do youunderstand, Ted?"
His teeth chattering with mingled fear and cold---fear for the lifeof his old Brighton roommate and cold because of the falling temperaturedue to the cutting off of all electrical energy---Ted answered in theaffirmative.
"I guess that's about all we can do, chum," he added.
Ted and Navigating Officer Binns conferred together in the controlchamber.
"Better to go up and take our chances on the surface than to remainhere under these conditions," counseled Binns.
"I agree with you, Mr. Binns," replied Ted.
And so, after another ten minutes' wait, the two decided to emptythe ballast tanks.
In another moment the weight of water filling the ballast tanks wasbeing thrown off under the force of the compressed air and the_Monitor_ lifted off the bed of the harbor. Striking a match, Binnsleaned over the depth dial, watching the fluctuating hand that markedfoot by foot the progress of the _Monitor_ upward. To lighten theload as much as possible and counterbalance the weight of water inthe wrecked conning tower Ted released the torpedoes remaining inthe tubes. In a few minutes the indicator hand pointed to zero andthe _Monitor's_ officers realized that now their craft was ridingawash with her deck fully exposed.
Making his way forward through the gloom, Ted sprang to the hatch andraised the lid. As the morning light streamed in through the openinga muffled cheer resounded from the interior of the sub. Vaulting upthe ladder, Ted leaped on deck and looked around him. There tostarboard, not more than five hundred feet away, loomed a giantcruiser. From her stern tailrail trailed a familiar emblem.
"The Stars and Stripes!" exclaimed the youth as his comrades swarmedup about him from the hold of the prison ship.
A glorious victory had been won by the allied fleets. All about the_Monitor_ were warships of the American, English, and French nations.Reducing the land fortifications after a terrific bombardment, thecombined fleet had "rushed" the harbor in the wake of theirmine-sweepers, engaged and overwhelmed the larger units of the Germanfleet there assembled, and driven some of the smaller craft intothe Zeebrugge Canal. Thousands of marines and blue-jackets, formedinto landing parties, had been set upon shore and were now takingformal possession of the German stronghold.
"Hurrah for the _Monitor_!" the cry reverberated over the waters asthe plucky American submarine was made fast alongside the U.S.S._Chicago_ and the story of her night's exploits became heraldedabout. Willing hands assisted in reclaiming the wounded and gasvictims from the hold of the ship. Jack and his captain, the latterstill unconscious, suffering from a severe concussion of the brain,were lifted over the side and carried to the cruiser's sick bayfor their wounds to be dressed. It was found upon examination thatthe ligaments and muscles in Jack's limbs had been severely tornand the flesh lacerated, but that his injuries, while painful, werenot serious.
Great jubilation reigned on all the ships. A band on the forwarddeck of the Chicago was playing "Stars and Strips Forever," whilefrom a nearby British battleship came the strains of "Rule Britannia."Their last rendezvous on the Flemish coast wrested from them, thebackbone of the German U-boat campaign was broken by the concertedland and sea attack. Several of the allied warships had gone downin the spectacular engagement of the night, but a notable victoryhad been won, and the boys of the navy were in raptures over theirsuccessful engagement.
Later in the day Jack was transferred to a hospital ship. All theallied wounded from the sea battle off Zeebrugge were to be sent toEngland. Captain McClure was grievously wounded. Jack would not beable to resume active service for some time, so his surgeon said, andwould probably be invalided home.
In due time Jack arrived in London, where for a time he was a patientin one of the American-endowed hospitals. Within a week he was joinedby Ted. The latter had been granted a leave of absence. Together thetwo young lieutenants took passage on a steamship bound for New York,and, braving the perils of the submarine-infested sea, crossed totheir own dear old U.S.A.---"the home of the free and the land of thebrave."
And now we shall leave them. Suffice to say that after a severalmonths' sojourn at home they returned again to the field of activityto resume their places in the U.S. fleet and continue in serviceuntil the end of the war, reaping new honors for themselves, theiralma mater and their country.
Of course, before they went back to rejoin "Little Mack," Bill Witt,Mike Mowrey and all their old seafaring mates, they visited Brighton.
It was late afternoon of an October day when the young lieutenants,spic and span in their uniforms, walked briskly up old Pine Street tothe campus of Brighton. Many of the students were loafing about thecampus awaiting the ringing of the dinner gong when the boys arrived.
Hardly had they climbed the gray stone steps leading to the campus,however, before they were recognized.
"Hurrah for Jack Hammond and Ted Wainwright!" the cry resounded. Wordof their arrival spread through the dormitories and soon a mob ofchattering schoolboys surrounded the two young officers. As the dinnergong sounded, the heroes were hoisted to the shoulders of their oldchums and carried into the dining room. There they met all the"profs" and were compelled to hold an impromptu reception while thedinner waited.
The study period that night at Brighton was set back an hour. Brightonhad her heroes at home, and she was doing them full honor. Many ofthe boys had enlisted in the various branches of service and were now"over there." But those who remained held a joyous reception in honorof the two whose stirring deeds had brought such signal honor to theschool that had sent them forth.
A few minutes after ten o'clock, when all the boys had been rung totheir rooms and lights were out, two young naval lieutenants stood atthe foot of the campus, gazing back at the facade of the familiarold d
ormitory, its windows framing the heads of many youths who wereshouting a farewell to their old friends.
The boys stood in silence contemplating the picture---listening to thechorus of good-bys.
Ted was first to speak.
"I guess it was worth while, chum---our going away to serve our countryand coming back to get a reception like this," he faltered.
"And then some!" came Jack's answer. "For Brighton and for Uncle Sam!That's us!"
THE END
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