"Keep cool, everybody," he was shouting; "there is no danger."
"The _Titanic_!" shrieked somebody. "We've hit an iceberg. We'll sinklike her."
"The boats!" shouted a man. "We'll lower 'em ourselves. We're sinking!"
In the gloom Jack could see the man's face, round and white, with a bigyellow mustache.
"Keep cool, everybody," he was shouting; "there is nodanger."--Page 42]
The fellow shoved two women, wedged in the throng, aside, and addressedhimself to Jack, who stood at the head of the companionway.
"Let me pass, you!" he bellowed, seemingly mad with fear. "I want aplace in the first boat. I----"
Jack felt Bill slip a revolver into his pocket. But he did not removethe weapon, the time had not yet come for its use.
"Stop that noise," he told the yellow-mustached man bluntly. "Ladies andgentlemen," he went on, "there's no danger. We merely grazed the berg.Thank heaven the ship was swung in time to save her."
"Don't believe him," shrieked the terrified man. "Stand to one sidethere. The boats!"
He made a rush for Jack and struck heavily at the young wirelessoperator. But before his blow landed, Jack had crouched and the nextinstant his fist shot out like a piston rod. The fellow staggered back,but could not fall because of the pressure of humanity behind him.
It is difficult to say what might have happened had there not beencooler heads in the crowd. Reassured by Jack's cool manner, these beganquieting the more timid ones. Just then, too, Captain Rollok and some ofhis officers appeared. All carried drawn revolvers, for a disorganizedrush on the boats would have meant that scores of women would have beentrampled and many lives lost in the confusion.
The captain's firm, stern tones completed the work Jack and Bill hadbegun. He assured the passengers that an examination had been made andthat no damage had been done. He also promised thereafter to run at amore moderate speed. Gradually, the excited crowd calmed down, and somesought their cabins. The greater part, however, elected to remain ondeck throughout the night.
The next morning the fog had somewhat cleared and the break-neck speedof the ship was resumed. Jack was just resigning the key to young Pofferwhen the doorway was darkened by a bulky figure. It was that of a big,yellow-mustached man, whom Jack recognized instantly as the man who hadled the panic of the night before, and whom he had been forced to dealwith summarily.
He furiously glared at Jack, and the boy noticed that under his left eyewas a dark bruise, a memento of the previous night.
"What did you mean by striking me last night?" he began angrily. "Idemand your name. I will have you discharged."
"My name is Ready," answered Jack calmly, "and as far as having medischarged is concerned, I'm afraid that will be impossible. You see I'mhere in what you might call an extra-official capacity."
"Bah! don't be impudent with me, boy. I am Herr Professor."
"Oh, a barber," smiled Jack, amiably.
The yellow-mustached man fairly growled. His light blue eyes snappedviciously.
"I am Herr----"
"Oh, yes, I see you're here," responded Jack calmly. "You seem to be inrather a bad temper, too."
"Boy, I will see that you are punished for this. I am a gentleman."
"Really, it would be as hard to tell it on you this morning as it waslast night," responded Jack, in quite unruffled tones.
"Be very careful, young man. I have already told you I am HerrProfessor."
"Oh, don't hang out the barber pole again," begged Jack.
The other shot a glance full of venom at the perfectly cool youth beforehim. Then, apparently realizing that there was nothing to be gained fromindulging in tirades, he turned abruptly on his heel and strode to thedoor. On the threshold he paused.
"I am going to report your conduct to the captain at once," he said."You will find out before long what such gross impertinence to apassenger means."
"I shouldn't advise you to tell him about your behavior last night,though," observed Jack.
"Why not?"
"Because from what I've observed of him, he is a rather hot-tempered manand he might feel inclined to throw you out of his cabin--and it's quitea drop from there to the promenade deck."
"You will hear more of this," snarled the infuriated man; but at Jack'sparting shot he made off, looking very uncomfortable.
Poffer regarded Jack with a look in which admiration and awe were oddlyblended.
"I dink you haf for yourself made idt troubles," he remarked.
"Trouble! In what way?" demanded Jack. "The fellow is an arrant coward.He----"
"Ah yah, dot is so, but den he is Herr----"
"Gracious, have you got hair on your brain, too?"
"Yah," was the innocent response. "He is a big Professor at a ChermanWar College. He is a great man in Germany, der Herr Professor Radwig."
"Well, Mr. Earwig, or whatever his name is, may be a great man as yousay, Hans, my boy, but he is also a great coward. As for his threat tomake trouble with the captain, that does not bother me in the least. Tobegin with, I'm only a volunteer, as it were, and in the second place,I'll bet you a cookie or one of those big red apples you're so fond of,that Mr. Earwig will avoid discussing the events of last night as muchas he can. I've heard the last of him."
But in this Jack was wrong. In days that lay ahead of the boys, theywere to find that Herr Professor Radwig was ordained to play nounimportant part in their lives.
CHAPTER VI.
SMOKE ON THE HORIZON.
Late that afternoon Jack, who had just come on deck, was in time tonotice an unusual thrill of excitement among the already overwroughtpassengers. On the northern horizon was a smudge of smoke, and a darkhull bearing down on them. Those who had glasses had already announcedthe other craft to be a warship, although, of what nation, it was as yetimpossible to say.
Jack hurried to the wireless room. Young Poffer declared that he hadreceived no wireless, nor intercepted any message which might have anybearing on the identity of the strange ship. On the bridge, the ship'sofficers were in excited consultation. The warship was drawing closerevery moment. She was black and squat, with two fat funnels from whichvolumes of dark smoke rolled. At her bow was a smother of white foamshowing the speed at which she was being pushed.
"Ach, now comes it!" exclaimed Poffer the next instant. He wrote rapidlyand then handed the message to Jack. The wireless boy read:
"Heave to at once.
"Dutton, commanding His Majesty's ship _Berwick_."
"I'll take it forward right away!" exclaimed Jack. "You listen with allyour ears for any more messages, Hans."
"You bet you my life I will undt den some," Hans promised. "Vot youdink, dey shood us up, Jack?"
"I don't know. I suppose if we don't heave to, they will," said thewireless boy as he hurried off.
"Chust as I thought," declared Captain Rollok, after he had read themessage.
"Shall I tell Hans to send back word we'll stop?" asked Jack.
"Stop! I vouldn't stop for der whole British navy," declared CaptainRollok vehemently.
He stepped to the engine room telegraph and set it violently over to"Full speed ahead." Then he picked up the engine-room telephone and gaveorders to pile on every ounce of steam possible. The great ship quiveredand then sprang forward like a grayhound from a leash. Clouds of blacksmoke rose from her funnels, deluging the decks with ashes as forcedraught was applied to the furnaces.
Jack hastened back to the wireless room. He found Poffer, pop-eyed andfrightened looking.
"There's another cruiser coming up on the other side!" he exclaimed. "Ijust heard her talking to the _Berwick_."
"That's nice," commented Jack, as Bill Raynor and de Garros appeared inthe doorway.
"Hullo, Bill," he continued. "You'll have a chance to be under firenow."
"What do you mean?" demanded young Raynor.
"Surely it is that the captain will stop
?" asked the French aviator.
"Stop nothing," rejoined Jack. "He doesn't appear to care what he risks,so long as he saves his ship."
"I thought I felt her speeding up," said Bill. "So he's going to cut andrun for it?"
"That's the size of it," responded Jack, while the Frenchman shruggedhis shoulders.
"They are not understandable, these Germans," he commented.
"Here comes it anudder message," struck in Hans, holding up his hand toenjoin silence.
They all looked over his shoulder as he wrote rapidly.
"Your last warning. Heave to or take the consequences."
It was signed as before by the commander of the _Berwick_.
"My friends, this captain had better heed that warning," said de Garros."Englishmen are not in zee habit of what zee call 'bluffing.'"
But when Jack came back from the bridge, whither he had sped at oncewith the message, it was to report the captain as obdurate as ever. Hisonly comment had been to call for more speed.
"I guess he thinks we can show that cruiser a clean pair of heels," saidRaynor.
"That looks to be the size of it," agreed Jack, "but he is takingdesperate chances. Let's go outside and see the fun."
The cruiser was coming toward them on an oblique line now. From herstern flowed the red cross of St. George on a white field, the navalflag of England. They watched her narrowly for some minutes and thenJack exclaimed:
"Jove! I believe that with luck we can outrun her. The _Kronprinzessin_is the fastest ship of this line, and if her boilers don't blow up wemay be able to beat that cruiser out."
"I hope so," declared Raynor, fervently. "I'm not exactly a coward but Imust say the idea of being made a target without having the chance tohit back is not exactly pleasant."
"As I shall be in zee thick fighting not before very long, I might aswell receive my baptism of fire now as any other time," said theFrenchman. "I expect to be placed in charge of zee aviation corps, and Iam told zee Germans have some very good aeroplane guns."
"Look," cried Bill, suddenly, "they are going to----"
A white mushroom of smoke broke from the forward turret of the cruiser,followed by a screeching above their heads. Then came an ear-splittingreport.
"Great guns! Where is this going to end?" gasped Bill, involuntarilycrouching.
CHAPTER VII.
A SHOT AT THE RUDDER.
"_Ach Himmel!_" groaned Hans Poffer. "Suppose dey hit us vee----"
He got no further. There was another burst of smoke, a quick,lightning-like flash and the same screech of a projectile. But thistime, accompanying the sound of the report, was a sound of tearing metaland the ship shook as if she had struck on the rocks.
"The after funnel," cried Jack, pointing to a jagged hole in the smokestack.
"The next one may come closer," choked out Bill rather shakily.
On the lower decks there was the wildest confusion. Women were faintingand the stewards and petty officers had all they could do to handle thefrightened throngs. The striking of the funnel was the occasion for anangry and badly scared deputation to wait upon the captain and demandthat he stop the ship at once.
But the deputation did not reach the bridge. They were met at the footof the stairway leading to it by a polite but firm officer who informedthem that under no circumstances would the captain tolerate anyinterference with his method of running the ship.
A third shot, which went wide, closely followed the one that had struckthe after funnel. It flew high above them and caused Jack to observe:
"I don't believe they mean to hit the hull, but only to scare thecaptain into heaving the boat to."
"Looks that way," agreed Bill, "and as for the scare part of it, I guessthey've succeeded, so far as everybody is concerned but Captain Rollokand his officers."
"We are gaining on zee cruiser without a doubt," asserted de Garros,whose eyes had been fixed on the pursuing sea fighter for some minutes.
"Yes, but look, there comes another," cried Jack, suddenly, pointingastern. "That must be the one Poffer heard signaling to the _Berwick_."
"We're in for it now," said Bill. "I wish that pig-headed captain wouldheave to and let them take the gold and the Germans, if that's all theyare after."
"Hullo!" exclaimed Jack, suddenly, as they all stood waiting nervouslyto see the next flash and puff from the cruiser's turret. "I can see agleam of hope for us. See what's ahead!"
Ahead of them the sea appeared to be giving off clouds of steam as if itwas boiling. As yet this vapor had not risen high, but it was rapidlymaking a curtain above the sunny waters.
"Fog!" cried Bill, delightedly.
"It cannot be too thick for me," said de Garros.
"Perhaps Captain Rollok foresaw this and that was why he refused tohalt," said Jack. "Certainly, if we can gain that mist bank before weget badly injured, we'll be all right."
It was now a race for the thickening fog curtains. The cruisers appearedto realize that if the _Kronprinzessin_ could gain the shelter of themist, there would be but small chance of their capturing her. Increasedsmoke tumbling from their funnels showed that they were under forceddraught. But as their speed increased so did that of the "gold ship."
The gun boomed again on the _Berwick_, the foremost of the pursuers. Theprojectile struck the stern of the liner and knocked the elaborate giltwork wreathing, her name and port, into smithereens.
"Aiming at the rudder," commented Jack. "That's a good idea from theirpoint of view."
"But a mighty bad one from ours if they succeed in hitting it," saidRaynor, with a rather sickly laugh.
Two more shots, one of them from the second cruiser, flew above thefugitive liner and then the mist began to settle round herswiftly-driven hull in soft, cottony wreaths. In five minutes more thefog had shut in all about her.
Then ensued a game of marine blind-man's buff. Captain Rollok, havingsteamed at full speed some miles through the fog,--and this time therewere no protests from passengers,--altered his course and deliberatelysteamed in circles.
"Hark!" exclaimed Jack, during one of these manoeuvers. "What was that?"
Out in the fog somewhere they could hear a sound like the soft beatingof a huge heart. It was the throbbing of another vessel's engines. Tothe fear of the chase now was added the peril of collision, for in thefog, dense as it was, the captain would not permit the siren to besounded.
It was almost impossible to tell from which direction the sound wasproceeding. It seemed to be everywhere. Was it another peaceful vessellike themselves, or a man-of-war? Much depended on the answer to thisquestion.
All at once, with startling distinctness, a huge black bulk loomed upalongside them. Through the fog they caught a sudden glimpse of crowdeddecks and great guns projecting from grim-looking turrets. It was one ofthe British cruisers. By grim irony, the fog had delivered them into thehands of their pursuers.
"Great Scott, it's all off now!" cried Bill, as they simultaneouslysensed the identity of the other craft.
CHAPTER VIII.
LAND HO!
But the strange cruise of the _Kronprinzessin Emilie_ was not destinedto come to an end then, although, for an instant, it appeared so.Whether the Britisher was mutually astonished, and in the confusion theright orders were not given, or whatever the cause was, before they hadmore than glimpsed her grim, dogged outlines, she faded away in the fogand was blotted out.
"Phew! A few more close shaves like that and I'd be looking in themirror to see if my hair hasn't turned gray," said Jack.
"I wonder they didn't take some action," commented Bill, "although I'mglad they didn't."
"Perhaps zey was so astonished zey forgot to fire zee gun," suggested deGarros.
"I guess that was it," agreed Jack, "but just the same it was a mightylucky thing for us they didn't come to their senses sooner."
"Yes, this thing of playing tag i
n the fog gets on my nerves," mutteredBill.
By nightfall, they had steamed through the fog belt, but every eye wasanxiously turned astern as if their owners expected at any moment to seethe ram-shaped bows of the black British sea bulldogs come poking put ofthe mist.
But nothing of the sort happened, however, though late that night, farto the eastward of their course, they could see the glowing fingers ofthe cruisers' searchlights pointing in every direction across the sea.The next day passed without any untoward happenings, and when, themorning following, Jack gazed from the wireless coop he saw, in thefirst faint light of dawn, that they were steaming along a strange,unfamiliar, rugged coast.
By the time the passengers were astir, the outlines of the coast hadbecome dotted with cottages and houses, and in the midst of breakfastthey steamed into a harbor, and the anchor was dropped with a roar and arumble. Like a flash, the tables in the saloon were deserted. There wasa general rush for the deck.
"Why, that house over there looks just like my home at Bar Harbor,"cried one woman.
Ten minutes later her words were confirmed. It _was_ Bar Harbor, Maine,into which the sorely-harried liner had taken refuge under the neutralprotection of the Stars and Stripes. Not daring to run into New York orBoston, the captain had selected the world-famous summer resort as aharbor that the English cruisers would be the least likely to watch, andhis judgment proved sound. And so ended the cruise of the "gold ship,"in whose strange adventures the boys were ever proud of havingparticipated. An hour after the great liner's arrival, she was almostdeserted by her passengers who were choking the telegraph wires withmessages.