Chapter 2
Toward morning, I must have dozed, though it seemed to me at the timethat I had lain awake for days, instead of hours. When I finallyopened my eyes, it was daylight, and the girl's hair was in my face,and she was breathing normally. I thanked God for that. She hadturned her head during the night so that as I opened my eyes I saw herface not an inch from mine, my lips almost touching hers.
It was Nobs who finally awoke her. He got up, stretched, turned arounda few times and lay down again, and the girl opened her eyes and lookedinto mine. Hers went very wide at first, and then slowly comprehensioncame to her, and she smiled.
"You have been very good to me," she said, as I helped her to rise,though if the truth were known I was more in need of assistance thanshe; the circulation all along my left side seeming to be paralyzedentirely. "You have been very good to me." And that was the onlymention she ever made of it; yet I know that she was thankful and thatonly reserve prevented her from referring to what, to say the least,was an embarrassing situation, however unavoidable.
Shortly after daylight we saw smoke apparently coming straight towardus, and after a time we made out the squat lines of a tug--one of thosefearless exponents of England's supremacy of the sea that tows sailingships into French and English ports. I stood up on a thwart and wavedmy soggy coat above my head. Nobs stood upon another and barked. Thegirl sat at my feet straining her eyes toward the deck of the oncomingboat. "They see us," she said at last. "There is a man answering yoursignal." She was right. A lump came into my throat--for her sakerather than for mine. She was saved, and none too soon. She could nothave lived through another night upon the Channel; she might not havelived through the coming day.
The tug came close beside us, and a man on deck threw us a rope.Willing hands dragged us to the deck, Nobs scrambling nimbly aboardwithout assistance. The rough men were gentle as mothers with thegirl. Plying us both with questions they hustled her to the captain'scabin and me to the boiler-room. They told the girl to take off herwet clothes and throw them outside the door that they might be dried,and then to slip into the captain's bunk and get warm. They didn'thave to tell me to strip after I once got into the warmth of theboiler-room. In a jiffy, my clothes hung about where they might drymost quickly, and I myself was absorbing, through every pore, thewelcome heat of the stifling compartment. They brought us hot soup andcoffee, and then those who were not on duty sat around and helped medamn the Kaiser and his brood.
As soon as our clothes were dry, they bade us don them, as the chanceswere always more than fair in those waters that we should run intotrouble with the enemy, as I was only too well aware. What with thewarmth and the feeling of safety for the girl, and the knowledge that alittle rest and food would quickly overcome the effects of herexperiences of the past dismal hours, I was feeling more content than Ihad experienced since those three whistle-blasts had shattered thepeace of my world the previous afternoon.
But peace upon the Channel has been but a transitory thing sinceAugust, 1914. It proved itself such that morning, for I had scarcegotten into my dry clothes and taken the girl's apparel to thecaptain's cabin when an order was shouted down into the engine-room forfull speed ahead, and an instant later I heard the dull boom of a gun.In a moment I was up on deck to see an enemy submarine about twohundred yards off our port bow. She had signaled us to stop, and ourskipper had ignored the order; but now she had her gun trained on us,and the second shot grazed the cabin, warning the belligerenttug-captain that it was time to obey. Once again an order went down tothe engine-room, and the tug reduced speed. The U-boat ceased firingand ordered the tug to come about and approach. Our momentum hadcarried us a little beyond the enemy craft, but we were turning now onthe arc of a circle that would bring us alongside her. As I stoodwatching the maneuver and wondering what was to become of us, I feltsomething touch my elbow and turned to see the girl standing at myside. She looked up into my face with a rueful expression. "They seembent on our destruction," she said, "and it looks like the same boatthat sunk us yesterday."
"It is," I replied. "I know her well. I helped design her and tookher out on her first run."
The girl drew back from me with a little exclamation of surprise anddisappointment. "I thought you were an American," she said. "I had noidea you were a--a--"
"Nor am I," I replied. "Americans have been building submarines forall nations for many years. I wish, though, that we had gone bankrupt,my father and I, before ever we turned out that Frankenstein of athing."
We were approaching the U-boat at half speed now, and I could almostdistinguish the features of the men upon her deck. A sailor stepped tomy side and slipped something hard and cold into my hand. I did nothave to look at it to know that it was a heavy pistol. "Tyke 'er an'use 'er," was all he said.
Our bow was pointed straight toward the U-boat now as I heard wordpassed to the engine for full speed ahead. I instantly grasped thebrazen effrontery of the plucky English skipper--he was going to ramfive hundreds tons of U-boat in the face of her trained gun. I couldscarce repress a cheer. At first the boches didn't seem to grasp hisintention. Evidently they thought they were witnessing an exhibitionof poor seamanship, and they yelled their warnings to the tug to reducespeed and throw the helm hard to port.
We were within fifty feet of them when they awakened to the intentionalmenace of our maneuver. Their gun crew was off its guard; but theysprang to their piece now and sent a futile shell above our heads.Nobs leaped about and barked furiously. "Let 'em have it!" commandedthe tug-captain, and instantly revolvers and rifles poured bullets uponthe deck of the submersible. Two of the gun-crew went down; the othertrained their piece at the water-line of the oncoming tug. The balanceof those on deck replied to our small-arms fire, directing theirefforts toward the man at our wheel.
I hastily pushed the girl down the companionway leading to theengine-room, and then I raised my pistol and fired my first shot at aboche. What happened in the next few seconds happened so quickly thatdetails are rather blurred in my memory. I saw the helmsman lungeforward upon the wheel, pulling the helm around so that the tug sheeredoff quickly from her course, and I recall realizing that all ourefforts were to be in vain, because of all the men aboard, Fate haddecreed that this one should fall first to an enemy bullet. I saw thedepleted gun-crew on the submarine fire their piece and I felt theshock of impact and heard the loud explosion as the shell struck andexploded in our bows.
I saw and realized these things even as I was leaping into thepilot-house and grasping the wheel, standing astride the dead body ofthe helmsman. With all my strength I threw the helm to starboard; butit was too late to effect the purpose of our skipper. The best I didwas to scrape alongside the sub. I heard someone shriek an order intothe engine-room; the boat shuddered and trembled to the suddenreversing of the engines, and our speed quickly lessened. Then I sawwhat that madman of a skipper planned since his first scheme had gonewrong.
With a loud-yelled command, he leaped to the slippery deck of thesubmersible, and at his heels came his hardy crew. I sprang from thepilot-house and followed, not to be left out in the cold when it cameto strafing the boches. From the engine room companionway came theengineer and stockers, and together we leaped after the balance of thecrew and into the hand-to-hand fight that was covering the wet deckwith red blood. Beside me came Nobs, silent now, and grim. Germanswere emerging from the open hatch to take part in the battle on deck.At first the pistols cracked amidst the cursing of the men and the loudcommands of the commander and his junior; but presently we were tooindiscriminately mixed to make it safe to use our firearms, and thebattle resolved itself into a hand-to-hand struggle for possession ofthe deck.
The sole aim of each of us was to hurl one of the opposing force intothe sea. I shall never forget the hideous expression upon the face ofthe great Prussian with whom chance confronted me. He lowered his headand rushed at me, bellowing like a bull. With a quick side-step andducking low beneath his
outstretched arms, I eluded him; and as heturned to come back at me, I landed a blow upon his chin which sent himspinning toward the edge of the deck. I saw his wild endeavors toregain his equilibrium; I saw him reel drunkenly for an instant uponthe brink of eternity and then, with a loud scream, slip into the sea.At the same instant a pair of giant arms encircled me from behind andlifted me entirely off my feet. Kick and squirm as I would, I couldneither turn toward my antagonist nor free myself from his maniacalgrasp. Relentlessly he was rushing me toward the side of the vesseland death. There was none to stay him, for each of my companions wasmore than occupied by from one to three of the enemy. For an instant Iwas fearful for myself, and then I saw that which filled me with a fargreater terror for another.
My boche was bearing me toward the side of the submarine against whichthe tug was still pounding. That I should be ground to death betweenthe two was lost upon me as I saw the girl standing alone upon thetug's deck, as I saw the stern high in air and the bow rapidly settlingfor the final dive, as I saw death from which I could not save herclutching at the skirts of the woman I now knew all too well that Iloved.
I had perhaps the fraction of a second longer to live when I heard anangry growl behind us mingle with a cry of pain and rage from the giantwho carried me. Instantly he went backward to the deck, and as he didso he threw his arms outwards to save himself, freeing me. I fellheavily upon him, but was upon my feet in the instant. As I arose, Icast a single glance at my opponent. Never again would he menace me oranother, for Nob's great jaws had closed upon his throat. Then Isprang toward the edge of the deck closest to the girl upon the sinkingtug.
"Jump!" I cried. "Jump!" And I held out my arms to her. Instantly asthough with implicit confidence in my ability to save her, she leapedover the side of the tug onto the sloping, slippery side of the U-boat.I reached far over to seize her hand. At the same instant the tugpointed its stern straight toward the sky and plunged out of sight. Myhand missed the girl's by a fraction of an inch, and I saw her slipinto the sea; but scarce had she touched the water when I was in afterher.
The sinking tug drew us far below the surface; but I had seized her themoment I struck the water, and so we went down together, and togetherwe came up--a few yards from the U-boat. The first thing I heard wasNobs barking furiously; evidently he had missed me and was searching.A single glance at the vessel's deck assured me that the battle wasover and that we had been victorious, for I saw our survivors holding ahandful of the enemy at pistol points while one by one the rest of thecrew was coming out of the craft's interior and lining up on deck withthe other prisoners.
As I swam toward the submarine with the girl, Nobs' persistent barkingattracted the attention of some of the tug's crew, so that as soon aswe reached the side there were hands to help us aboard. I asked thegirl if she was hurt, but she assured me that she was none the worsefor this second wetting; nor did she seem to suffer any from shock. Iwas to learn for myself that this slender and seemingly delicatecreature possessed the heart and courage of a warrior.
As we joined our own party, I found the tug's mate checking up oursurvivors. There were ten of us left, not including the girl. Ourbrave skipper was missing, as were eight others. There had beennineteen of us in the attacking party and we had accounted in one wayand another during the battle for sixteen Germans and had taken nineprisoners, including the commander. His lieutenant had been killed.
"Not a bad day's work," said Bradley, the mate, when he had completedhis roll. "Only losing the skipper," he added, "was the worst. He wasa fine man, a fine man."
Olson--who in spite of his name was Irish, and in spite of his notbeing Scotch had been the tug's engineer--was standing with Bradley andme. "Yis," he agreed, "it's a day's wor-rk we're after doin', but whatare we goin' to be doin' wid it now we got it?"
"We'll run her into the nearest English port," said Bradley, "and thenwe'll all go ashore and get our V. C.'s," he concluded, laughing.
"How you goin' to run her?" queried Olson. "You can't trust theseDutchmen."
Bradley scratched his head. "I guess you're right," he admitted. "AndI don't know the first thing about a sub."
"I do," I assured him. "I know more about this particular sub than theofficer who commanded her."
Both men looked at me in astonishment, and then I had to explain allover again as I had explained to the girl. Bradley and Olson weredelighted. Immediately I was put in command, and the first thing I didwas to go below with Olson and inspect the craft thoroughly for hiddenboches and damaged machinery. There were no Germans below, andeverything was intact and in ship-shape working order. I then orderedall hands below except one man who was to act as lookout. Questioningthe Germans, I found that all except the commander were willing toresume their posts and aid in bringing the vessel into an English port.I believe that they were relieved at the prospect of being detained ata comfortable English prison-camp for the duration of the war after theperils and privations through which they had passed. The officer,however, assured me that he would never be a party to the capture ofhis vessel.
There was, therefore, nothing to do but put the man in irons. As wewere preparing to put this decision into force, the girl descended fromthe deck. It was the first time that she or the German officer hadseen each other's faces since we had boarded the U-boat. I wasassisting the girl down the ladder and still retained a hold upon herarm--possibly after such support was no longer necessary--when sheturned and looked squarely into the face of the German. Each voiced asudden exclamation of surprise and dismay.
"Lys!" he cried, and took a step toward her.
The girl's eyes went wide, and slowly filled with a great horror, asshe shrank back. Then her slender figure stiffened to the erectness ofa soldier, and with chin in air and without a word she turned her backupon the officer.
"Take him away," I directed the two men who guarded him, "and put himin irons."
When he had gone, the girl raised her eyes to mine. "He is the Germanof whom I spoke," she said. "He is Baron von Schoenvorts."
I merely inclined my head. She had loved him! I wondered if in herheart of hearts she did not love him yet. Immediately I becameinsanely jealous. I hated Baron Friedrich von Schoenvorts with suchutter intensity that the emotion thrilled me with a species ofexaltation.
But I didn't have much chance to enjoy my hatred then, for almostimmediately the lookout poked his face over the hatchway and bawleddown that there was smoke on the horizon, dead ahead. Immediately Iwent on deck to investigate, and Bradley came with me.
"If she's friendly," he said, "we'll speak her. If she's not, we'llsink her--eh, captain?"
"Yes, lieutenant," I replied, and it was his turn to smile.
We hoisted the Union Jack and remained on deck, asking Bradley to gobelow and assign to each member of the crew his duty, placing oneEnglishman with a pistol beside each German.
"Half speed ahead," I commanded.
More rapidly now we closed the distance between ourselves and thestranger, until I could plainly see the red ensign of the Britishmerchant marine. My heart swelled with pride at the thought thatpresently admiring British tars would be congratulating us upon ournotable capture; and just about then the merchant steamer must havesighted us, for she veered suddenly toward the north, and a momentlater dense volumes of smoke issued from her funnels. Then, steering azigzag course, she fled from us as though we had been the bubonicplague. I altered the course of the submarine and set off in chase;but the steamer was faster than we, and soon left us hopelessly astern.
With a rueful smile, I directed that our original course be resumed,and once again we set off toward merry England. That was three monthsago, and we haven't arrived yet; nor is there any likelihood that weever shall.
The steamer we had just sighted must have wirelessed a warning, for itwasn't half an hour before we saw more smoke on the horizon, and thistime the vessel flew the white ensign of the Royal Navy and carriedguns. She didn't veer to t
he north or anywhere else, but bore down onus rapidly. I was just preparing to signal her, when a flame flashedfrom her bows, and an instant later the water in front of us was thrownhigh by the explosion of a shell.
Bradley had come on deck and was standing beside me. "About one moreof those, and she'll have our range," he said. "She doesn't seem totake much stock in our Union Jack."
A second shell passed over us, and then I gave the command to changeour direction, at the same time directing Bradley to go below and givethe order to submerge. I passed Nobs down to him, and following, sawto the closing and fastening of the hatch.
It seemed to me that the diving-tanks never had filled so slowly. Weheard a loud explosion apparently directly above us; the craft trembledto the shock which threw us all to the deck. I expected momentarily tofeel the deluge of inrushing water, but none came. Instead we continuedto submerge until the manometer registered forty feet and then I knewthat we were safe. Safe! I almost smiled. I had relieved Olson, whohad remained in the tower at my direction, having been a member of oneof the early British submarine crews, and therefore having someknowledge of the business. Bradley was at my side. He looked at mequizzically.
"What the devil are we to do?" he asked. "The merchantman will fleeus; the war-vessel will destroy us; neither will believe our colors orgive us a chance to explain. We will meet even a worse reception if wego nosing around a British port--mines, nets and all of it. We can'tdo it."
"Let's try it again when this fellow has lost the scent," I urged."There must come a ship that will believe us."
And try it again we did, only to be almost rammed by a huge freighter.Later we were fired upon by a destroyer, and two merchantmen turned andfled at our approach. For two days we cruised up and down the Channeltrying to tell some one, who would listen, that we were friends; but noone would listen. After our encounter with the first warship I hadgiven instructions that a wireless message be sent out explaining ourpredicament; but to my chagrin I discovered that both sending andreceiving instruments had disappeared.
"There is only one place you can go," von Schoenvorts sent word to me,"and that is Kiel. You can't land anywhere else in these waters. Ifyou wish, I will take you there, and I can promise that you will betreated well."
"There is another place we can go," I sent back my reply, "and we willbefore we'll go to Germany. That place is hell."