CHAPTER XIV
DOWN THE AMMUNITION HOIST
The searchlights flashed out over the troubled sea. Nothing butwater--angry, foaming water--could be seen. Not a sign that looked as ifit might be a man were they able to pick up.
"They're trying to find us. They think we have gone overboard," mutteredDan Davis. He uttered a loud shout.
At that instant there sounded another shout close by him. At first hethought it was the echo of his own voice. All at once he made thediscovery that some one else was near.
"Hello!" shouted Dan.
"Hello yourself!"
"Is that you, Sam?"
"No, it's only part of me. Most of me has been blown overboard. Thatyou, Dan?"
"Ye-e-e-s," answered Davis in a choking voice. "Yell, Sam, if you've gotany voice left. Yell for your life. They don't see us."
Hickey uttered a lusty howl. Dan saw at once that the men in the topswere unable to depress the searchlights enough to sweep the quarter-deckwith the light rays.
"They don't see us, Sam. Yell louder."
"I'll have to borrow a stomach pump to jerk the salt water out of me,before I can yell any more at all. I'm afloat, inside and out, and not acompass to guide me. Where are we?"
Dan felt about him cautiously.
"I think we are astern somewhere. Judging from the position of thesearchlights, I think we must be somewhere on the quarter-deck."
"How'd we get here?"
Another wave made it impossible for Davis to answer for a minute or so.When finally he had gotten his breath he said:
"I think we must have been washed here. But----"
"Say, let's get out of here, Dan."
"But how we ever dropped from the topside to the quarter-deck withoutbeing killed is more than I can figure out."
"I'm going to try to cross the deck."
"Don't do it, Sam. You will be swept into the sea instantly. Wait! Ihave a plan."
"What is it?"
"Can you work your way along the rope railing to where I am?"
"I can swim over to you."
"Come on, then, but keep tight hold of the rail."
"Here's the flagstaff," shouted Sam. "I've got my bearings now."
"You will need something more than that to get you out of this scrape.Come up close to me and I'll tell you what to do."
"Here I am. Where are you?"
Dan reached out a hand, grasping the arm of his companion.
"There ought to be a rope right at the foot of the staff, here. Yes,here it is. Hold fast to me, so I don't go overboard, while I untie theknot."
"What are you going to do?"
"I'll show you in a minute."
Dan made the rope fast to a cleat on the after stanchion, then took atwist about his own arm with the free end.
"Now, I want you to stand right here until I give three tugs on therope."
"What are you going to do?"
"I don't know what I am going to do, but I'm going to try to get to thetwelve-inch turret with this rope."
"You'll have to swim for it, then."
"I expect to have to swim part of the way, but leave that to me. When Igive three long tugs on the rope you start working along it."
"But where will we go? The water-tight doors are fastened on the inside;we can't get in. We shall be swept from the deck. I guess I'll staywhere I am, and hang on until morning."
"No; you can't do it. You will be washed overboard. Watch the rope. Imay go over, too, but you can tell by the feel of the rope, and if youthink I'm going over, haul in. I'll yell, too. The wind is this way andyou can hear me. Now, don't bother me. I'm going in a minute."
Dan hung to the rail, rope in hand, watching the roll of the ship, whichhe was obliged to observe not by sight, but by the sense of feeling.
All at once, as the stern rose into the air, he darted forward. He wasin water nearly up to his waist, but as the quarter-deck rose the waterrushed to the sides of the ship in a raging flood.
Suddenly Dan felt himself being drawn backward. At first he could notunderstand the meaning of it. Then he realized. Sam was hauling him in.
"Stop it! Stop it!" yelled Davis.
Sam kept on hauling. Losing his foothold on the slippery deck, Dan wentdown. At the same time the quarter-deck shipped a big wave and Dan wasswimming blindly. Through it all he managed to keep hold of the ropewith one hand. He was being dragged along the deck so fast that hecould not get to his feet, even after the water had receded a little.
Finally, yelling at the top of his voice, Hickey finished his work,grabbed Dan from the deck and slammed him against the rail.
"I got you! I got you! I saved your life, didn't I?"
"Sam--Sam Hickey, you're the biggest fool I ever bumped into in all mylife!"
"A fool--a--see here, is that all I get for saving you----"
"What did you haul me back for?"
"Because you yanked on the rope."
"I did nothing of the sort."
"You did."
"I didn't."
"We--we won't argue the question. I--I haven't enough breath left in meto argue. Now, next time, don't you pull on the rope until you hear meyell, or until the rope swings way over to port. I am going to runquartering so that if I get caught by another wave I will be washedtoward the twelve-inch turret. Understand?"
"Sure, I understand."
Waiting until the stern rose again, Dan made another dash. This time hehad, as he had planned to do the other time, reached a spot oppositethe turret before the deck sank under another wave. He was washed rightup against the turret when the wave did come.
The instant the wave left him, he took a turn about a big ring-bolt onthe turret.
"Sam! Sam!"
A faint "hello" was wafted to him on the gale.
"Come on!"
Dan waited and waited, but no Sam came. He began to grow worried.
"Sam!"
"Yeow!"
"Come on. I'm waiting for you."
A strain on the rope told Davis that his companion had started, and afew minutes later Sam Hickey stood beside him.
"What's the matter, Sam?"
"Nothing, except that I'm wet."
"Why didn't you come when I called you?"
"I was watching the sparks up there on the wireless aerials. Say, it isjust like a lot of lightning bugs. Did you ever watch the sparks atnight?"
"Yes, but not when I was trying to save my life and another's. I don'tbelieve it was half worth the effort. I am beginning to think that theredoesn't much of anything matter, so far as you are concerned. Let's getinside now."
"How are you going to do it?"
"We will climb up under the turret, through the manhole."
"I never thought of that."
Dan unfastened the opening on the under side of the turret projection,and, sending Sam ahead, climbed in after, closing the opening behindthem. It was intensely dark in the turret and the room was so small thatit was with difficulty that the boys could find their way through.
For a minute or so they were engaged in climbing up to get into theenclosure from where a ladder led down into the lower part of theturret.
"Now, Sam, be very careful that you don't fall. This is a bad place tobe fooling around in when it is dark. I wish I could turn on theelectric lights here, but I don't know where the button is."
"Shall I light a match?"
"No, sir!"
"Why not?"
"Supposing there should chance to be some powder scattered on the floor,and----"
"Wow! That would be a nice thing, wouldn't it? There'd be an explosion,eh?"
"There might be. Better take the chance of bumping our heads----"
"Say, Dan, where are you going?"
"I am going to follow you. Come here. Give me your hand."
"What for?"
"Get in here. Make yourself as small as possible."
Hickey crawled into the small opening, though he did not know where hewas.
"What is this place you're stowing me in?" he demanded.
"It's the ammunition hoist," answered Dan, as he began to pull down on arope.
The ammunition hoist for the twelve-inch guns is a sort of dumb waiterthat is raised and lowered by pulling on a rope attached to its top andbottom.
A few minutes later the guard on duty in the magazine corridor wasstartled by a creaking and groaning sound. After listening a moment, hetraced the sound to the ammunition hoist.
All at once the hoist came down with a bang, spilling Hickey full lengthon the floor of the corridor. The guard made a grab for the newcomer,and, at the same instant, Sam Hickey wrapped both arms about the legs ofthe marine who was on guard duty.
That worthy went down on top of Sam. For a minute there was a livelytussle, but ere it had come to an end, the ammunition hoist shot downagain and Dan Davis leaped out into the passageway. He gazed inastonishment at the two men on the floor.
"Get up, Sam! What in the world are you trying to do?"
Sam threw the guard off.
"This chocolate candy soldier jumped on me when I came down. Let me athim----"
Davis pulled his companion away.
"You'll have to come with me," announced the guard. "I shall be obligedto arrest you. Your conduct is suspicious."
"Well, I like that!" grumbled Sam. "First you get tossed overboard andthen you get arrested because you didn't go drown yourself. I won't bearrested."
"Take us to the master-at-arms; he understands," said Dan.
They were led to the upper deck, where they were suddenly confronted byCaptain Farnham.
"What's this, what's this?" he demanded.
The marine guard explained.
"You may release them, guard. Now, lads, explain how you got into theship? I can see from your appearance that you must have had a hardtime."
"We got in through the twelve-inch turret," explained Dan, after havingtold the captain of their experiences.
"Most remarkable. I have come to the conclusion that there is no use inworrying about you boys. It is evident that there is nothing on land orwater that can kill you. But you are shivering, Davis."
"I am a little cold," admitted Dan.
"Go to the chief steward and tell him I order that coffee be made foryou. How about you, Hickey? Are you in a chill also?"
"No, sir; my hair keeps me warm, sir. At least that's what theboatswain's mate says."
The captain laughed heartily.
"Run along, both of you, and get warmed up. It will soon be time to turnin. Good night."
"Good night, sir," answered the Battleship Boys, saluting and turningaway.