CHAPTER XII.
TUTNO.
The sea was comparatively calm and quite warm. If it had been anythingbut a shipwreck, our young men would have enjoyed the experience. Theycongratulated themselves that they had trusted to their own enduranceand the life preservers rather than to the crazy boats when they saw oneof the overloaded vessels come within an ace of turning turtle.
The submarine was now on top of the water and was slowly steamingtowards the scene of disaster. The boats made for the opposite directionas fast as the oarsmen could pull. They had not realized that all thesubmarine wanted was to destroy the pork and beef cargo. The hungrierthe French army got the sooner they would be conquered by the Germans.
"Well, my friend the book agent, what do you think about swimming inthe direction of the enemy? Remember we are Americans, just plainAmericans with no desire to do anything in the way of swattingPrussians.--Neutral noncombatants!" said Kent, swimming easily, thelife preserver lifting him so far out of the water that he declared hefelt like a bell buoy.
"Yes, I'll remember! My line is family albums and de luxe copies ofRuskin. I hope those poor devils in the boats will make land or getpicked up or something."
"Me, too! If the sea only stays so smooth they can make a port in lessthan a day, if they don't come a cropper. We are almost in the EnglishChannel, I should say, due south of the Scilly Islands."
"Well, I feel as though I belonged on them--here we are shipwrecked andfloating around like a beach party, conversing as quietly as though itwere the most ordinary occurrence to book agents and damsel seekers!"
"There is no use in getting in a stew. I have a feeling that the Germansare going to pick us up. They are heading this way and I don't reckonthey will let us sink before their eyes. If they don't pick us up, weare good for many hours of this play. I feel as fresh as a daisy."
"Same here!"
"Thank God, there weren't any women and children on board!" said Kentfervently.
"Yes, I was feeling that all the time. I'd hate to think of their beingin those crazy boats."
The German boat was quite close to them now. The deck was filled withmen, all of them evidently in great good humour with themselves and Fatebecause of the terrible havoc they had played with the poor _Hirondellede Mer_, who was now at her last gasp, the waves washing over her upperdecks.
"_Wei gehts?_" shouted Jim, raising himself up far in the water andwigwagging violently at the death dealing vessel.
It was only a short time before the efficient crew had Kent and Jim onboard, in dry clothes and before an officer. The fact that they wereAmericans was beyond dispute, but their business on the other side wasevidently taken with a grain of salt by the very keen looking, alertyoung man who questioned them in excellent English.
Jim was quite glib with his book agent tale. He got off a line of talkabout the albums that almost convulsed Kent.
"Why were you going to Paris to sell such things? Would a country at warbe a good field for such an industry?"
"But the country will not be at war long. We expect the Germans to haveconquered in a short time, and then they will want many albums for thesnapshots they have taken during the campaign. I have been sent as anespecial favor by my company, who wish to honor me. I hate to think ofall my beautiful books being sunk in the _Hirondelle_." Jim looked sosad and depressed that the young officer offered him a mug of beer andurged him to try the Bologna sausage that was among the viands waitingfor them.
Kent's reason for going to Paris was received with open doubt. It wasvery amusing in a way that they should be completely taken in by Jim'singenuous tale of albums while Kent, telling the truth, the whole truth,and nothing but the truth, should be doubted.
"Going to Paris to bring home a young lady? Is she your sister?"
"No, she is a friend of my sister," answered Kent, feeling very much asthough he were saying a lesson.
"Do you know Paris?"
"Yes, I studied architecture at the Beaux Arts last winter."
"Ah, then your sympathies are with France!"
"I am an American and my nation is remaining neutral on the war."
"Yes, your nation but not the individuals! What were your intentionsafter finding the young lady?"
"To take her back to United States as fast as we could go."
"Well, well! I am afraid the young lady will have to content herself inParis for some weeks yet, as we are bound for other ports now. Makeyourselves at home," and with a salute the officer left them to thewelcome meal which had immediately been furnished them after theirducking.
If the Kentuckians had had nothing to do but enjoy life on thatsubmarine, no doubt they could have done it. They were treated mostcourteously by officers and men. The food was plentiful and wholesome,the life was interesting and conversation with the sailors mostinstructive, but Jim was eager to strike that blow against Prussia andit was extremely irksome to him to have to keep up the farce of being abook agent. Kent was more and more uneasy about Judy, realizing, fromthe sample of Germans he now came in contact with, that ruthlessness wasthe keynote of their character. They were fighting to win, and win theywould or die in the attempt; by fair means or foul, they meant toconquer the whole world who did not side with them.
"Gee, if I don't believe they can do it," sighed Jim, as he and hisfriend were having one of their rare tete-a-tetes. "They have suchbelief in their powers."
"Yes, they seem much more stable, somehow, than the French. Did you everimagine anything like the clockwork precision with which this monster isrun?"
"When do you reckon we will get off of her? We have been on a week nowand I see no signs of landing us. I am always asking that human questionmark, Captain von Husser, what he is going to do with us, and he justsmiles until his moustache ends stick into his eyes, and looks wise. Ifeel like Hansel and Gretel and think maybe they are fattening us to eatlater on. I am getting terribly flabby and fat," and Jim felt hismuscles and patted his stomach with disapproval.
"I'd certainly like to know where we are. You notice they never tell usa thing, and since we are allowed only in the cabin and on a certainpart of the deck, we never have a chance at the chart. I wish they wouldlet us bunk alone and not have that fat head in with us. This is thefirst time they have let us talk together since we got hauled in, and Ibet some one is to blame for this."
Kent had hardly spoken before a flushed lieutenant came hurriedly up andwith ill-concealed perturbation entered into conversation with them.
"Gee whiz!" thought Kent. "I wish Jim Castleman and I knew some kind ofa language that these butchers did not know. But the trouble is they areso terribly well educated they know all we know and three times as muchbesides." Suddenly there flashed into his mind a childish habit theBrowns used to have of speaking in a gibberish called Tutno. "I wonderif Jim knows it! I've a great mind to try him." Putting his hand on hisfriend's arm, he said quite solemnly: "Jug i mum, sank a nun tut, yack ou, tut a lul kuk, Tutno."
"Sus u rur e!" exclaimed Jim, delightedly.
The lieutenant looked quite startled, wigwagged to a brother officer whowas passing and spoke hurriedly to him in German. As German was worsethan Greek to Kent and Jim (they had studied some Greek at school butknew no German) they did not know for sure what they were saying, butfrom the evident excitement of the two officers they gathered they hadquite upset the calculations of their under-sea hosts.
"Gug o tot, 'e mum, gug o i nun gug, sus o mum e!" exclaimed Kent withsuch a mischievous twinkle in his eye that the two officers bristledtheir moustaches in a fury of curiosity.
"Yack o u, bub e tut!" was Jim's cryptic rejoinder.
For the benefit of my readers who have never whiled away the goldenhours of childhood with Tutno or who have perchance forgotten it, Ireckon (being a Southerner myself, I shall say reckon) I had betterexplain the intricacies of the language. Tutno is a language which isspoken by spelling and every letter sounds like a word. The vowelsremain the same as in English but the consonants are form
ed by adding uand then the same consonant again. For instance: M is mum; N is nun; Tis tut; R is rur. There are a few exceptions which vary in differentlocalities making the language slightly different in the states. InKentucky, C is sank; Y is yack; J is jug. Now when Jim exclaimed: "Yacko u bub e tut!" he conveyed the simple remark: "You bet!" to Kent'sknowing ears.
Kent had opened the conversation by the brilliant remark: "Jim, can youspeak Tutno?" and Jim had answered: "Sure!" Then Kent had come backwith: "Got 'em going some!"
The Kentuckians were in great distress when they realized that no doubtthe sinking of the _Hirondelle de Mer_ had been reported in the UnitedStates and that their families must be in a state of doubt as to theirwhereabouts. They had requested the Captain to let them send a messageif possible, and he had told them with great frankness that in war timethe women must expect to be uncertain. Two more ships had been sunksince they had been taken on board, but they were kept in ignoranceas to what ships they were or what had been the fate of the crew orpassengers. They knew that some men had been added to the number ofprisoners on board, but as they were kept in a compartment tothemselves, they never saw them.
Between operations, when the submarine came up on top of the waterand all on board swarmed on deck to smoke and enjoy the fresh air andsunshine, Kent and Jim were politely conducted down into the cabin afterthey were deemed to have had enough, and then the other prisoners,whoever they were, were evidently given an airing.
After our young men started their Tutno game they were never left aloneone minute. Such a powwowing as went on after it was reported was neverbeheld. It was evidently considered of grave international importance.Once they found their keeper taking furtive notes. Evidently they hopedto gain something by finding out what the Americans were saying.
The plentiful food that had at first been served to them was growingmore meagre and less choice. There was nothing but a small portion ofblack bread with very bad butter and a cup of coffee for breakfast; astew of a nondescript canned meat and more black bread for dinner, andfor supper nothing but black bread with a smearing of marmalade.
Jim's superfluous flesh began to go and Kent got as lean as a greyhound.
"Pup rur o vuv i sus i o nun sus, lul o wuv, I rur e sack kuk o nun!"said Jim, tightening his belt.
It had been more than two weeks since the sinking of the _Hirondelle_and the young men were growing very weary of the life. Their misery wasincreasing because of the uncertainty they knew their families must bein. No respite was in sight. They could tell by the balmy air when theywere allowed on deck that they were further south than they had beenwhen they were struck, but where, they had not the slightest idea.
"The water looks as it does around Burmuda, but surely we are not overthere," said Kent in Tutno.
"The Lord knows where we are!" answered Jim in the same language.
"I wish the brutes would let us telegraph our folks, somehow. They coulddo it if they chose. They can do anything, these Prussians." When Kentsaid Prussians in Tutno: "Pup rur u sus sus i nun sus," the youngofficer whose turn it was to guard them whipped out his note book andexamined it closely.
"Sus often repeated!" he muttered.