CHAPTER XII.
CAPTURED.
Frank, literally the bone of contention between the two forces in thelaunches, swam as swiftly as possible in the direction of safety; butthe furtive glances he cast over his shoulder showed him that theGermans were nearer than his friends, and that in spite of the fact thathe was swimming toward the latter, the former would come up with himfirst.
The men in both boats were now on their feet, and their revolvers spokeacross the water. As yet, however, they were too far away to makeaccurate shooting possible, and no one was even touched.
But soon the German boat drew so close to Frank, that the men in theD-16's launch were afraid to fire at the Germans for fear a chance shotmight hit the lad. The Germans, however, were not thus handicapped, andcontinued pouring lead in the direction of Lord Hastings and his men.
As the German boat came alongside Frank, a man reached out to grab him.Frank took a long breath and dived, the fingers of his foe just touchinghis shoulder.
When he came to the surface for a fresh breath, the German boat wasseveral yards away and Frank breathed easier.
"If I can keep that up," he told himself, "I may get away yet."
Again the boat drew near and again Frank dived.
The German officer in command had had enough of this game of hide andseek, however, and he immediately ordered two of his men overboard afterthe lad.
Frank, of course, knew nothing of this move and when he came to thesurface once more, he was surprised to find rough hands laid upon himfrom both sides. In vain did he strike out with both feet and hands.Struggle as he would he could not shake off his foes; and all three sanktogether.
The German boat came closer, and the sailors leaned over the side, readyto pull in the struggling trio when they came to the surface again.
Sputtering and gasping for breath, the three heads finally showed abovethe water. There was not much fight left in any of them, and thereforeFrank was drawn over the side without much trouble. Then the Germanofficer ordered the launch brought about, and put off for the Germancruiser at full speed.
As they fled, a running battle with the men in the D-16's launch ensued.One German toppled over into the water, but the boat was not stopped topick him up. One British sailor was struck in the arm by a Germanbullet; but outside of these two no one was wounded.
The German launch had the heels of the D-16's small boat, and soonoutdistanced her. Convinced at last that pursuit was useless, LordHastings ordered that the chase be abandoned. The launch was broughtabout and headed slowly back toward the submarine.
"Poor Frank," said Jack. "I always knew his rashness would get him introuble some day. I am afraid his days of fighting are over."
"While there is life there is hope," said Lord Hastings calmly. "Perhapswe may be able to figure out some means of rescue."
"A great chance," said Jack sarcastically. "Right in the heart of theenemy's country? I don't think so. What do you suppose they will do withhim?"
"Hold him as a prisoner of war."
"Then there is no danger of his being shot?"
"I should say not."
"Well, that's not so bad. Still, it is pretty tough for him to be coopedup for the next few years."
Aboard the D-16 once more, all went below immediately and Lord Hastingsgave the command to submerge.
"They know we are here now," he said, "and they'll be after us.Therefore we had better get down. We'll stay around for a while and seeif we cannot be of some help to Frank. We may be able to maneuver so asto avoid detection."
"When it comes to that," said Jack, "we might as well be here as anyplace else. I should say that there is considerable work we could dohereabouts, and if we can avoid the enemy we can make it pretty warm forthem."
"You are right," replied Lord Hastings, "but we shall have to be verycareful, for, knowing we are here, they will undoubtedly have every shipin these waters looking for us."
"Well," said Jack, "why should we wait for them to act? Why can't westrike the first blow?"
Lord Hastings looked at him quizzically.
"Just what do you mean by that?" he asked.
"Why," said Jack, "torpedo one of them right now."
"I am afraid you are a little hot headed yourself," said his commanderwith a faint smile. "I should say that that is just what they expect usto do, and for that reason I am opposed to such action. Never do theexpected, is my motto. It is the unexpected that counts."
"Perhaps you are right," agreed Jack; "still I would like to get at afew of them."
"Don't fret," said Lord Hastings, "you shall have your chance."
Meanwhile, what of Frank?
Immediately the launch had returned to the German cruiser, the lad washurried over the side and taken to the commander's cabin. The latterreceived him courteously and motioned him to a seat.
"And how, if I may ask," he inquired, "do you happen to be in the middleof the Kiel canal?"
Frank smiled slightly.
"I came in a submarine," he replied.
"So I have perceived," said the commander.
"But I was unaware England had established a submarine base anywherenear German territory."
"Neither has she, to my knowledge," said Frank.
"Then how did you get here? Surely you must have a base."
"Our base," said Frank, "was London."
"What?" exclaimed the German, jumping to his feet. "You sit here andtell me a thing like that? Surely you can't think I don't know that asubmarine cannot operate that distance from her base."
"Nevertheless, it is true," replied Frank quietly.
"But your air supply, your torpedoes, your provisions," exclaimed theGerman commander.
"Those we carry with us," said Frank.
"Then," said the German sarcastically, "yours must be a very remarkablesubmarine."
"So it is," replied Frank.
"Well, it will be impossible for her to get away," said the German. "Wehave her bottled up, and all we need do is wait until she comes to thesurface to replenish her air tanks; then we can sink her."
"You'll have a long wait," said Frank. "She doesn't have to come up forthat purpose."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Just what I say. The submarine to which I am attached carries no airtanks except those to be used in case of an emergency."
"No air tanks! Then how do you get air?"
"Well," said Frank, "I can't see that it will do any harm to tell you.We extract air from the water."
The German commander leaned back in his chair and looked at the lad inamazement.
"Extract air from the water, eh?" he said slowly. "Do you mean to tellme that England has solved that problem?"
"She has, sir," replied Frank quietly.
The German was silent for a long time before he said: "Then I must saythat Germany has a hard job on her hands."
Frank was silent and the captain continued:
"And how many such vessels have you in operation?"
Frank hesitated.
"Well, only a few right now," he said at last. "But many more are in theprocess of construction."
"And are you familiar with the operations of such a vessel, and of themethod used?"
"To a certain extent, yes."
"But I do not suppose you could be prevailed upon to divulge thesecret?"
"I could not," replied Frank quietly.
"Good! I thought not. Well, it's too bad that we were not the first todiscover the secret; but you will find that we do not whine, nor will weseek to obtain the secret by unfair means."
"I am sure of it, sir," replied Frank.
"Now," said the German commander, "I must decide what I am going to dowith you. I suppose that you know you will be held until the end of thewar?"
Frank nodded as he replied: "I should suppose so."
"I shall have you sent ashore in the morning and turned over to themilitary authorities.
The chances are that you will be taken to Berlin.Of that I am not sure, however."
"One place will do as well as another, I suppose."
"I'm glad you are cheerful about it," laughed the captain, "and as messhour is approaching I shall be glad to have you dine with me."
"I shall be pleased to do so, sir."
"By the way," said the German, "what is the speed of this remarkablesubmarine of yours?"
"I wouldn't like to say," replied Frank, "but I can say that it is fullyas great as that of your fastest battleship."
The German puckered his lips in a long expressive whistle.
"Well," he said, "it's too bad for us. Now, if you care to wash up Ishall have you shown to your temporary quarters."
It was a pleasant meal to which the lad sat down that evening, and heenjoyed himself immensely. He found the German officers a likeable lotand was treated more as a guest than as a prisoner.
It was while at table that he learned that German submarines had beensent down in search of the British vessel, and that each battleship wasbeing guarded by an under-the-sea fighter so that no surprise attack bythe D-16 might be made.
At a late hour the lad retired and slept the sleep of the exhausted.
He was up bright and early the following morning, and after breakfasttook his place in the ship's launch, which immediately headed toward theshore. The captain bade him a pleasant good-bye, and added:
"If I get to Berlin I shall look you up."
"I'm not there yet," said Frank, but in his heart he was pretty surethat it was only a question of hours until he would be.