His voice was anxious. He gazed nervously at the approaching lights.
"That steamer's coming right down on us. We can see both hersidelights."
"Well, so much the better. She's bound to see us."
"Haven't you thought of another possibility?"
"What do you mean?"
"Of a great danger?"
"I don't understand you."
"She's headed straight for us and we can't get out of the way. If shedoesn't change her course, it will be a miracle if she doesn't run usdown."
"I hadn't thought of that," said Bill in sobered tones. "What can wedo?"
"Nothing but to sit tight and trust to luck."
Both lads now sat with anxious eyes fixed on the approaching lights.Nearer and nearer they came, traveling fast.
"Shout, Bill, shout with all your might," enjoined Jack.
They began yelling at the top of their lungs. But those inexorablelights, like the eyes of some savage monster, still bore down menacinglyon them. Already, in anticipation, they felt the impact of the sharpbow, the crash of smashed timbers and the suction of the propellersdrawing them down to death.
"They don't hear us," said Jack. "If the lookout doesn't sight us, we'relost."
The steamer was very close now. By straining their eyes they thoughtthey could make out the dark outlines of her hull and spars against theclearing sky. Bill hid his face in his hands. He could not bear to lookat the Juggernaut of the seas advancing to crush them. Jack, with morefortitude, sat erect with a thousand thoughts whirring through hisbrain.
The mighty bow loomed above the tiny chip of a boat, throwing off agreat wave. The comber caught the light craft and flung it aside. Whatseemed like a black cliff, with here and there a gleaming light piercingits face, raced past them, and the boat, with two white-faced, shakenboys in it, was left in the wake of the fast-moving steamer, safe, butbeing madly tossed about by the wash of her propellers. The danger hadpassed, almost by a hand's breadth, but it was some time before theywere sufficiently masters of themselves to discuss their escape.
CHAPTER XXIII.
MEETING AN OLD FRIEND.
Morning broke on a comparatively smooth sea, and two utterly exhausted,sunken-cheeked lads, weak from exposure and lack of nourishment.
"This thing has got to end one way or another before long," declaredBill, his voice coming in a sort of croak from his parched throat.
"Yes, I'm afraid we can't stick it out much longer, Bill," assented Jacklanguidly.
"I'm beginning to see things," muttered Bill; "black objects dancingabout in the sun. Over there on the horizon, for instance, I can see adark cloud that looks like a tower. I know it isn't there, of course,but----"
"But, Bill, by hookey, it is!" cried Jack.
"What, are you going crazy, too?"
"That's not a tower, but a steamer's smoke, Bill," declared Jack, afterprolonged scrutiny. In a few minutes Bill became convinced that his chumwas right.
"But will she pass near enough to see us?"
It was a question upon which much, indeed, their very existence, mightdepend.
On came the cloud of smoke, and now they could see the funnel and thenthe hull, of the steamer that was making it.
"Bill, I--I believe she'll pass near us."
Jack's voice trembled and his eyes shone as if he were a victim offever. Bill did not answer, but he clutched the gunwale with hands thatshook, and fixed his gaze on the oncoming vessel. Neither boy dared tospeak, but both of them felt that if the steamer did not sight them, itwould be more than they could bear.
They stood up in the boat when they thought the craft was near enough tosee and waved frantically, at the risk of upsetting the cranky littleaffair.
"Bill, she's changing her course," came from Jack's parched and feveredlips.
"I believe she is. Yes, see there!"
Three white puffs of steam burst from the ship's whistle. Then came thebooming sound of her siren thrice repeated. The sweetest music producedby the finest musicians of both hemispheres could not have sounded asgood to the boys at that moment as did the harsh roar of the steamwhistle that showed them they had been sighted and that rescue was athand. From the steamer's stern flag-staff fluttered the Dutch ensign,proclaiming that she was a ship of a neutral power.
This was an additional cause of congratulation to the boys, for had theybeen picked up by a craft flying a belligerent flag, they might havebecome involved in fresh difficulties. In half an hour the steamer, asmall freighter, was lying to not far off the drifting yawl, and a boathad been lowered and was rapidly pulled toward the castaways. In a shorttime they were on board, and after being refreshed and provided withclothes, were able to tell their stories to Captain Van der Hagueen, thestout, red-faced little captain to whom they owed their safety.
The _Zuyder Zee_, the name of the little steamer, was bound, to theboys' great joy, for Antwerp. She carried salt fish and herrings fromScotland and scented her entire vicinity with the aroma of her cargo.But the boys, as Bill expressed it, would have thought "a limburgercheese ship a paradise" after all they had gone through.
The next morning they steamed up the River Scheldt and came once more insight of the towers and spires of the historic city which, it will berecalled, they had visited some time before on Jack's first voyage.Captain Van der Hagueen told them that after discharging his cargo hemeant to lay up his ship, in which he was part owner, at Antwerp tillthe war was over. The risk of floating mines in the North Sea was toogreat to encounter, he declared.
It was in the earlier days of the war and Antwerp, a city stronglyfortified, had not been threatened, although every preparation was beingmade to receive the enemy if they did come. Barricades were being thrownup in the streets and the suburbs, and the thoroughfares were full ofthe queerly uniformed Belgian soldiers the boys had been so much amusedat on their previous visit. Their amusement at Belgian soldiers hadgiven way, by now, however, to admiration and respect for the sturdylittle country of fighters that had managed to give a good account ofitself against the most formidable army ever assembled.
The boys decided to seek out their good friend M. La Farge, the Ministerof Government Railroads, who, it will be recalled, they had served ontheir first visit, and whose appreciation in the form of two handsomelyengraved and inscribed gold watches were at that moment in Jack's moneybelt, where he had luckily placed them for fear of robbery before theyembarked on the _Barley Rig_. It was fortunate that he had done so,otherwise it is doubtful if they would have obtained access to hisoffices, where they found him overwhelmed with work. The sight of thewatches, however, proved an "open sesame" to the Minister's presence,and the boys--who had in the meantime provided themselves with newoutfits,--presently found themselves warmly shaking hands with their oldfriend who was unfeignedly glad to see them.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE SKY SLAYER.
After the first greetings were over, Jack plunged into an explanation oftheir presence in Belgium in such stormy times. M. La Farge lookedgrave, but promised to do what he could through diplomatic and othersources to locate Tom Jukes.
"If, as you say, he has been traveling in state in a large auto, heought to be easy to locate," he assured them. "I will let you know whatI have been able to discover to-morrow morning. Every auto entering thecountry is registered and its occupants kept track of. Rest assured Ishall do my best for the two young friends to whom I can never besufficiently grateful."
Jack thanked him warmly for them both, and explained that while inLondon they had communicated with the American consuls in Paris andBerlin, but that nothing had been heard at either place of Tom Jukesbeing among the refugees beseiging the American representatives.
"Possibly I shall have better success. At least, we must hope so," saidM. La Farge. "Much of the telegraph system is still intact, fortunately.At least rest on my promise that I will do all I can."
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As they had already visited the American consulate in Antwerp, wherethey had obtained no news, the two boys found themselves withoutanything to do but kill time as best they could till the next day. Asthey had spent much of their time on the Dutch steamer in sleep, theydid not feel like turning in early and so, at Jack's suggestion, theyvisited a theatre. But it was a gloomy manner of spending the evening,as it transpired. The inhabitants of Antwerp were more interested in thebulletin boards announcing the inroads of the German troops than inentertainments. There was an air of anxiety and depression abroad thatcould not help but be contagious, and oppressed by the generalatmosphere, the boys decided before the end of the performance to returnto their hotel.
But Jack could not sleep. He lay awake tossing and turning for an houror more. In the street he could hear the regular step and quickchallenge of sentries. Occasionally, far off, came the sound of buglecalls.
All at once he became aware of another sound. It was one that wasstrange to him. He could liken it to nothing but the droning buzz of agiant bumblebee. It was at first faint; hardly audible in fact, exceptto strained ears, but it rapidly grew in volume, filling the whole airwith the steady vibrating buzz.
The sound irritated Jack, sleepless as he was.
"It sounds for all the world as if there was a big buzz saw or athreshing machine at work," he mused. "Where on earth does the racketcome from?"
He lay awake listening for a few moments longer. Then he got out of bedand tiptoed across the room where Bill lay snoring violently.
The lad looked out of the window. The street and a public square lay farbelow him. Only a few lights shone on the thoroughfare. It appeareddeserted but for the sentries marching up and down unceasingly.
"Nothing there," said the boy to himself. "I guess I'll turn in again."
The buzzing sound had grown fainter now. It was hardly audible in fact.But for some reason it lingered in Jack's mind. It was like half a dozenthings he could think of and yet he could not recall ever having heardthat precise sound before.
At last he dozed off, and then sank into a dream in which it seemed tohim that he was somewhere far out in the country lying under a shadytree contentedly chewing on a bit of grass and gazing up through theleafy branches at the bright sky. But suddenly everything clouded over.The landscape grew dark and sinister, and the leaves of the tree abovehim began to toss and sway in a harsh wind.
In his dream, Jack arose and standing up looked about him. It appearedto him as if he was gazing down from a height over an immensebattlefield. He could see the dust and smoke as cannon were wheeled intoposition and then the flashes of flame and the belching of fire from therifle pits. Men were mowed down like ripe grain in long windrows.
It was horrible but fascinating.
Then, all at once, came again that strange buzzing sound. But now itseemed to have in it a menacing note. It was like a terrible voice. Theboy shuddered as he heard it, harsh and inexorable, filling the air,which seemed to vibrate to the steady humming.
It grew sharper and louder. Above all, the noise of the dream cannon andrifles, the boy could hear it. He awakened with a start, his heartbeating rather wildly.
"That was a kind of a nightmare," he said to himself. "Glad I woke up. Iguess--what's that?"
Again that humming sound filled the air as if a pulsing chord, strung athigh tension, had been twanged.
"It's outside!" exclaimed Jack, for the second time going to the window.
"It's in the air!" he cried an instant later.
He turned his face upward. High above the city, against the stars, hecould trace the outline of a gigantic cigar-shaped body. It was movingslowly far above him.
"An airship!" gasped the boy, and then the next instant:
"A Zeppelin!"
Something seemed to launch itself from the dark body of the immenseaircraft and streak downward like a falling star. The next moment, froma part of the city some distance off, there was a brilliant flash offlame, and then an appalling report that shook the earth. But Jack hadno eyes for this at the moment. His gaze was fixed on the Zeppelin.
Having dealt destruction in one part of the city it was now makingdirectly toward the hotel!
The boy watched it with a horrible fascination that held him speechless.
The death-dealing craft was destined to pass directly above the buildingthat sheltered them and how many others. Craning his neck, Jack watchedits flight above the sleeping city. Dark as death itself and, with noindication of its presence but the drone of its engines, the sky monstermoved majestically toward him. It was then that Jack suddenly found histongue as the death in the air approached till it was almost above hisstaring eyes.
"Bill," he yelled, "Bill, wake up!"
He shook his chum's shoulder violently.
"Whazzermarrer?" inquired Bill sleepily.
"Get up for your life. Fling on any old clothes. Let's get out of herequick."
"What's up?" demanded Bill, wide awake now, and hastily pulling on someclothes, for he knew Jack would not have aroused him needlessly.
"It's a Zeppelin, a giant German airship. She's blown up a piece someblocks away and now she's headed over here."
At almost the same instant, a roar of artillery burst forth. Thedefenses of Antwerp had awakened and were concentrating their fire onthe death-dealing monster of the sky. But as the first reports rippedthe silence of the night, there came another and a mightier report. Thehotel rocked to its foundations. A shower of plaster and debris crashedinto the boys' room, half burying them.
The sky slayer had struck again!
CHAPTER XXV.
IN THE GLARE OF FLAMES.
For a fragment of time,--while a man might have counted ten,--there wasabsolute silence following the shattering report of the bomb. Then camea babel of cries, shouts and women's screams. Hastily throwing onwhatever clothes came first, the two boys rushed out of the wreckedroom.
But they did not do this without difficulty, for a mass of fallenplaster and debris blocked the door. In the corridor, an electric lightstill burned, and the force of the explosion appeared to have spentitself at the end of the passage where the boys' room was situated.
"Wha--what happened?" stammered Bill, as they gained the corridor.
"It was a bomb, a bomb dropped from a Zeppelin," answered Jack, equallymoved. "What a fiendish bit of business."
"I only hope they don't drop any more," Bill cried, as they hurried towhere the stairway should have been.
But it was not there.
A great section of it had been blown to kindling by the force of theexplosion. It was at that moment that Jack became aware of an acrid,sharp smell very different from the reek of the lyddite with which theshell had been loaded. It was a few minutes before he realized what itwas,--fire!
He looked behind them. A red glare lighted up the corridor, and even ashe gazed, a sheet of flame burst from a doorway further down thepassage. Below them, there was bustle and shouting in plenty, butapparently they were the only guests quartered in that part of thehotel.
Jack looked grave. The position they occupied was a very dangerous one.The gap in the stairway was wide and they were trapped with that chasmin front and the flames behind them.
"What are we going to do?" gasped Bill, turning pale.
"I don't know; we are in a bad fix, Bill," confessed Jack."Perhaps,--hello!" he broke off, as the tiny figure of a pretty littlegirl emerged from a room which adjoined the one they had just vacated.
The tot held in her arms a doll and her eyes were wide with dismay.
"Oh, man, what has happened?" she gasped.
"Something very terrible, little girl," answered Jack, "but are youalone?"
"Oh, no, my mamma's in the room. She's sick, I think."
"Great Scott," groaned Jack, "this is serious. It was bad enough before,but now----" He looked at Bill desperately.
"We've got to get that woman out of there," said Bill
.
"Yes, but how?" cried Jack desperately. "There's no way of bridging thatgap."
"I've got a plan that might work," said Bill.
"Are you going to save us?" asked the tot in a trembling voice.
"Yes, dear. Don't be frightened. Stay here while we bring mamma to you."
"Oh, I'm scared," wailed the child, but she obediently sat down on achair to await the boys' return.
Inside the room they found a handsome, middle-aged woman lying halfdressed on the floor, in a faint. Apparently, she had risen and begundressing hastily when the first shock of the bomb came, but the efforthad been too much for her, and she had collapsed. The boys picked her upas gently as possible and tried to revive her, but their efforts metwith no success.
Outside, the glare and roar of the flames were increasing. There was notime to be lost.
"There's only one thing to do," said Bill seriously.
"And that is what? I'm stupid," confessed Jack.
"We must make a rope of bed clothes and lower her and the child down."
"Good. I believe we can get out of this."
They hastily tore the clothes of the two beds in the room and made along rope of them. When this had been done, they took a turn of their"rope" round the marble pillar at the head of the wrecked staircase. Butthen came a fresh difficulty. There was no one on the floor below,though they shouted to attract attention. Obviously someone would haveto be there to catch the woman and untie her when she was lowered.