CHAPTER VII
IN A MINE FIELD
Without any further ado the _Dewey_ got under way. While the inspectionof the hull had been going on the submarine's batteries had beenrecharged and she was ready again for further diving upon a moment'snotice. Lieutenant McClure climbed into the deck steering station---thebridge of a submarine---and assumed charge of the electric ruddercontrol, the wheel of a submersible.
Jack and Ted were ordered onto the bridge with their commander andinstructed to keep a sharp lookout on the horizon with powerfulglasses. The wireless was snapping away exchanging messages with theallied fleet and getting a line on the pursued raiders. The cool freshair felt invigorating after the night's cramped vigil in the fetidair of the submarine.
When mess call sounded, Jack and Ted, relieved from duty, went belowto get some "chow" and snatch an hour or two of rest.
A radiogram was handed Lieutenant McClure while at breakfast givingthe position of the U.S.S. _Chicago_. A little later H.M.S. Congo, a"limey," was spoken. Soon the sub was hearing the chatter of half adozen American and English warships.
Hastening back to the conning tower, Lieutenant McClure conferred fora few moments with his executive officer and as a result of theircalculations the course of the _Dewey_ was altered. Headed due north,it was the aim of the submarine officers to intercept the retreatingcolumn of German raiders whom they knew now to be in full retreat,hotly pursued by the allied squadron.
Not half an hour had elapsed when the lookout reported a blur on thehorizon that, despite the mist of early morning, was easily discernibleas the smoke of several vessels under forced draft. Very soon the headof the column loomed over the horizon---a German cruiser in thelead---followed closely by a destroyer that was belching forth denseblack smoke from its funnels.
"They are making for home under a smoke screen from their destroyers,and I'll bet some of our ships are not very far away either," wasLieutenant McClure's observation as he stood surveying the field ofaction through his glass.
"Yes, and that destroyer there is probably the chap who nearly ran usdown last night," added Executive Officer Cleary.
Lieutenant McClure nodded assent and then turned toward Jack, who hadbeen watching the approaching Germans from a position on deck just aftthe conning tower.
The _Dewey's_ commander motioned the young seaman to climb into thesteering station.
"I want you to stand right by and act as my aide," said McClure."That goes, not only now, but until further orders. You and Mr.Wainwright will relieve each other as my aides. Go below and tellChief Engineer Blaine we are about to close in on the Huns and wantall the speed possible during the next hour or so."
Jack saluted and lowered away into the conning tower hatch. As heclimbed down into the hull he heard the sound of heavy cannonadingacross the water. It was certain now that a running fight was inprogress and that behind the veil of the black German destroyersmoke were allied warships.
The retreating column was well off the port bow and racing eastwardtoward the shelter of the big guns at Heligoland. Coming up out ofthe south the American submarine had run at right angles into the lineof the Hun retreat. The _Dewey_ held a strategic position. Sheviewed the approaching squadron as though looking down the hypotenuseof the angle. The Germans were speeding along the base. The _Dewey_had but to slip down the perpendicular to intercept the panickyPrussians.
And that was just what Lieutenant McClure proposed doing. All handswere ordered below and the hatches sealed. Running on the surface,the oil engines were put to their best endeavor and the _Dewey_ cleftthe whitecaps at her best speed.
"Go forward, Mr. Hammond, and inquire of Chief Gunner Mowrey how manytorpedoes we have aboard," ordered Lieutenant McClure.
Jack hurried away and returned in a few minutes to report that allfour tubes were loaded and two auxiliary Whiteheads in the racks.The _Dewey's_ torpedo range was two miles, but her commander preferredto be within less than six hundred yards for a sure shot.
McClure could now see the leader of the German squadron---a powerfulbattle cruiser---crowding on all speed. His guns astern, powerfulfourteen-inch pieces in twin turrets, were in action, firing hugesalvos at his pursuers. The destroyer rode far to starboard of thecruiser, emitting a steady stream of smoke designed to blind the eyesof the pursuers.
Jockeying into position after another twenty minutes' run, the _Dewey's_commander decided to let loose with a torpedo. The cruiser had pulledup now until it was nearly dead ahead of the American submersible. Thedestroyer was dancing along several hundreds yards in the rear of thecruiser.
So intent were the Germans on keeping away from the pursuing warshipsthat they had not noticed the sly little submarine that had slipped upout of the south!
Jack had now an opportunity to witness the actual firing of a torpedoat an enemy vessel at close range. Directly in front of the _Dewey's_commander, just above the electric rudder button, glowed four littlelight bulbs in bright red---one for each of the torpedo tubes in thebow bulkhead. When they were lighted thus it indicated that everychamber was loaded. As soon as a torpedo was discharged the bulbcorresponding with the empty tube faded out. Lieutenant McClure hadbut to touch the electric contact under each bulb to send one of thedeath-dealing torpedoes on its way. This Jack was to see in a moment.
Crouching with his eyes to the periscope until the racing Germancruiser drew up to the desired fret on the measured glass McClureclutched the lower port toggle and released a torpedo. Again thejarring motion that indicated the discharge of the missile and theswirl of the compressed air forward. Through the eye of the forwardperiscope the commander of the _Dewey_ followed the course of thetorpedo as it skimmed away from his bow.
"There she goes!" exclaimed Executive Officer Cleary as the mirrorreflected the frothing wake of the giant Whitehead.
For a moment or so there was a breathless silence in the conningtower of the Yankee sub as the two officers followed their shot.Only for a moment however, for Commander McClure, knowing full wellthe German destroyer would sight the speeding torpedo and immediatelyturn its fire on the Yankee's periscopes, gave orders to submerge.But as the _Dewey_ lowered away he gazed ahead once more. Thespectacle that greeted him made the blood leap fast in his veins.
"It's a hit!" he yelled in sheer delight.
So it proved. Officer Cleary, still straining at the reserve periscope,beheld the same picture. The torpedo had shot across the bow of thedestroyer and leaped forward to finally bury its steel nose in thegreat gray side of the cruiser.
"Almost directly amidships," called out "Little Mack."
And then, as the _Dewey_ plunged beneath the waves, Lieutenant McClureexplained eagerly how he had beheld the explosion of the torpedo justaft the main forward battery turret directly on the line of theforward smoke funnel.
"Giving them a dose of their own medicine," ejaculated Cleary as hiscommander turned laughingly from the periscope.
"This will settle a few scores for the Lusitania, to say nothing ofthe many more ships with defenseless men and women that have been sunksince the beginning of the war," added McClure seriously. Then turningto Jack Hammond he added: "I guess you are the good-luck chap. We gotboth those Boche boats since I called you into the turret as my aide.Don't forget, you are to stay right here permanently."
Jack saluted mechanically, but his heart beat high and he could scarcerepress an exclamation of delight.
At a depth of sixty feet the _Dewey's_ engines were slowed down and shefloated gracefully out of range of the German destroyer. Aftertraveling ahead for half a mile the submersible was stopped again andbegan slowly to ascend.
As the eye of the periscope projected again out of the sea LieutenantMcClure hastened to get a glimpse of his surroundings.
There, off the port bow, lay the crippled German cruiser---the samevessel that had been hit by the _Dewey's_ torpedo. She was listingbadly from the effect of the American submarine's unexpected stingand had turned
far over on her side. A British destroyer was standingby rescuing members of the Teuton crew as they flung themselves intothe water from their overturning craft.
Far off the _Dewey's_ starboard bow could be seen a moving column ofwarships---the remnants of the German raiding fleet in the van,followed by the English and American patrol vessels.
"Useless for us to follow them," declared McClure, as he took in thesituation. "Might as well stand by this stricken Hun cruiser and pickup some of her floating crew."
"There's a lot of them in the water," said Cleary, as he swung theother periscope to scan the open sea well to the sinking cruiser'sstern.
In a few minutes the _Dewey_ ascended and made herself known to theBritish "limey." Over the decks of the latter clambered several scoreGerman seamen who had been fished from a watery grave.
A stiff wind had come up out of the southeast and was kicking the seainto rollers with whitecaps. However, the men of the _Dewey_, armedwith life preservers, steadied themselves on the turtle-back deck oftheir craft, and started the hunt for swimming Germans.
Ted had joined Jack forward, carrying a coil of rope, and they werescanning the sea, when their attention was diverted by the gesticulationsof Bill Witt standing well forward. He was pointing off to port.
"Look---a floating mine!" he shouted. Almost at the same moment Jackspied another mine closer up off the starboard quarter.
In a mine field! The retreating German warships had strewn the seawith the deadly implements of naval warfare, and the _Dewey_ had comeup almost on top of a number of the unanchored explosives!