CHAPTER VIII.
IN THE BALTIC.
"Great Scott! What was that?"
It was Frank who spoke. He picked himself up from where he had beenthrown by a violent shock and rubbed his head ruefully, glancing at LordHastings quietly the while.
Lord Hastings also had been hurled against the side of his cabin, as hadJack, who also was now regaining his feet.
Lord Hastings' reply was brief, and it was not an answer to Frank'squestion.
"Submerge quickly, Mr. Templeton!" he ordered.
Jack gave the command.
Lord Hastings stepped to the tube that connected with the engine room. Avoice came back to him.
"Hello?" it said.
"Any damage to the engines, Jarvis?" asked Lord Hastings.
"None, sir," was the reply.
"Anybody hurt?"
"No one but me. Head bruised a bit, sir, by being thrown against theboiler. Nothing serious, sir."
"All right."
Lord Hastings stepped from the tube.
"Now," he said to Frank, "I'll answer your question. While I can't sayfor sure, my guess would be that, in rising, we came up under an icefloe or an iceberg. That would account for the shock."
"By Jove!" Jack ejaculated. "I hadn't thought of such a thing."
"Nor had I," said Lord Hastings, "but I should have thought of it. Atthis time of year it is no uncommon thing for large icebergs to befloating about in the Baltic. I am sure that is what is wrong."
"Then what shall we do, sir?"
"Well, we'll have to run on a ways. When we are from beneath the berg,we shall try again to get to the surface."
He gave the signal for ten knots ahead.
The D-17 had passed through the Kiel Canal without difficulty, in spiteof the German belief that such a feat was impossible; and this Germanbelief persisted in spite of the fact that Lord Hastings and his twoyoung officers had performed such a feat once before--and the Germanswere aware of it. Apparently, however, the enemy was confident a secondattempt would never be made.
It was a long time ago now that the perilous trip had been made, but allthree remembered it well. They had spoken of it often as the submarinemade its way along slowly, a keen lookout being kept forward for minesor other obstructions.
Half an hour later Lord Hastings decided that the D-17 must have passedfrom under the iceberg, or whatever it was that had barred the vessel'sattempt to come to the surface.
"We'll try it again, now," he said briefly.
In response to his commands the pumps began to work very slowly, forLord Hastings had no mind to crash into an obstruction with the sameforce as before.
"The vessel might stand it and it might not," he explained as his reasonfor his caution. "There is no need testing the strength of our shellunless absolutely necessary."
"Don't you think she could force her way through, sir?" asked Jack.
"It all depends," was his commander's rejoinder. "It depends upon thethickness of the ice above."
The D-17 rose gradually; then, with a slight grating sound, she pausedsuddenly.
"Bumped it again," said Frank.
Lord Hastings nodded.
"Must be quite an iceberg," was Jack's comment.
"Unless the sea is frozen over solidly for a considerable distance,"supplemented Lord Hastings.
"But that could hardly be," protested Frank.
"Oh, yes, it could. It has happened more than once; and for that reasonit may possibly happen--or have happened--again."
"Then what is our next move, sir?" asked Jack.
"We'll proceed under water a ways and then try again. If we don't comeup next time, we'll try and force our way to the surface. We've got toget up for a look around, and the sooner the better. The ice is likelyto grow thicker with each succeeding minute."
Again the D-17 proceeded under water for perhaps half an hour and thenLord Hastings announced his intention of trying to rise.
The result this time was the same. After ascending several fathoms, thesubmarine encountered ice and stopped.
"Well, there is no help for it," said Lord Hastings. "We'll have to tryand break through. Submerge to ten fathoms, Mr. Templeton."
Jack repeated the command and the D-17 dived deeper. At the properdepth, the vessel's course was checked. Then Lord Hastings ordered thatthe craft be brought to the surface with as much force as possible.
The water was sent from the tanks with a rush and the D-17 seemed toleap upward. A few moments later there was a violent shock and allaboard were thrown from their feet. The submarine had failed to breakthrough.
"Again!" cried Lord Hastings and gave the signal to submerge.
A second attempt met with no better result and Lord Hastings immediatelycommanded a third trial.
"We'll have to get through now or we'll probably drown," he saidquietly. "I am afraid we have strained our seams. We'll need anoverhauling immediately we put into Petrograd--if we are fortunateenough to get there."
"And what do you suppose has happened to our periscope?" demanded Frank.
"Oh, that has been smashed to bits before now," said Lord Hastingsquietly. "However, we can rig up another one if it is necessary beforewe get to port."
"All ready for the next trial, sir," Jack put in at this juncture. "Weare down five fathoms."
"All right. Let her go," replied his commander.
This time the D-17 rose even more swiftly than before. Again there was aviolent shock, followed by a crashing sound; and then the submarinefloated clear.
"Hoorah! We're up, sir," shouted Frank.
"Don't crow too soon," was the reply. "We may be up, but there is notelling yet what condition we are in. We'll go on deck."
Lord Hastings led the way and the two lads followed closely behind him.
Outside a strange sight met their gaze. To the north, to the south andto the east and west, as far as the eye could reach, there was nothingbut ice. True, it was broken in places, but it was none the less ice.The D-17 was hemmed in closely on all sides.
Jack expressed the sentiments of the others with a long whistle.
"Now, what do you think of that?" he said.
"I think it's pretty tough, if you are talking to me," was Frank'sreply. "We can't push through that."
"No; and we can't stay here and wait for it to thaw," declared his chum.
"Well, then what?" asked Frank.
Lord Hastings, who had not spoken up to this moment, now broke hissilence and said:
"Never give up the ship, boys. While there's life, there's hope."
"And have you a plan of some kind, sir?" asked Jack eagerly.
"Well, I have something that might be called a plan. If you look closelyyou will see that a hundred yards ahead there, there is what appears tobe a lane--where the ice is broken. Do you see it?"
"Yes, sir," replied both lads in a single voice. "But the ice betweenthe D-17 and that spot is solid."
"So it is. What we shall do is to dive, shape our course for thatparticular point and try to come to the surface there."
"And what good will that do, sir?" demanded Frank. "The chances are thatthe ice beyond that point is just as thick as it is here."
"We'll find that out when we get there," said Lord Hastings. "Let's gobelow."
They did so. The conning tower was immediately sealed, and the submarinesubmerged to a depth necessary to avoid any points of ice that might belikely to protrude beneath the water.
Lord Hastings had gauged the distance accurately, and when he again gavethe command to come to the surface, the D-17 rose gently, pushing theloosely formed ice to both sides as her nose appeared from the deep.Lord Hastings and his two young officers immediately went on deck again.
"By Jove!" said Frank after a quick glance around. "The ice doesn't seemto be so thick dead ahead."
"You see," said Lord Hastings with a smile, "a little perseverance willgo a long ways sometimes. Now, accor
ding to your reasoning awhile back,there was really no use in trying to reach this spot. But now that weare here you see still further hope. Remember that there is always afighting chance, no matter how great the odds against you."
"I'll remember, sir," replied Frank.
"I hope you will. Now we'll try our luck at forcing a passage throughthe ice."
"In what way, sir?" asked Jack.
Lord Hastings' next words were explanation enough.
"Full speed ahead!" he ordered.
In response to the command, the D-17 dashed straight at the ice ahead.Her sharp, steel nose plowed into it with violence, and the ice, thickthough it was, parted and the D-17 edged through as swiftly as could beexpected.
"By Jove! I didn't think she'd do it, sir," Jack exclaimed.
Lord Hastings smiled a bit.
"I am not sure that she can keep it up without straining something," hesaid. "But it is better to be on the move than lying still. The icewon't part for us of its own free will, that's sure."
Still the D-17 plowed slowly along; and then, perhaps half a mile fromthe starting point, she stopped.
"Back her and try again," was Lord Hastings' command.
This was done and again the vessel made headway. This process wasrepeated time after time; and some five hours later, those upon deckmade out clear water beyond, though there was a considerable expanse ofice to penetrate.
Undaunted, Lord Hastings continued to force the D-17 against theapparently impenetrable barrier; and at last the D-17 broke clear.
Lord Hastings gave a sigh of relief.
"Now for Petrograd at full speed," he said. "We'll have a look over theship as we go along. There is no need stopping to do it here. Everyminute may be precious. Take the wheel, Mr. Chadwick, while I make atour of inspection."
Frank did so, and Lord Hastings turned to Jack with this command:
"Full speed ahead, Mr. Templeton!"