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The Battleship Boys in Foreign Service
OR
Earning New Ratings in European Seas
By FRANK GEE PATCHIN
Illustrated
THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY Akron, Ohio New York Made in U. S. A.
Copyright MCMXI _By_ THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY
PRINTED IN U. S. A.
"Hip, Hip, Hooray!" Yelled Dan.]
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. BATTLESHIP BOYS TO THE RESCUE 7
II. A SERIOUS CHARGE 20
III. AMBASSADORS ON THEIR TRAIL 32
IV. ICE CREAM COMES HIGH 42
V. A PLUNGE INTO SOCIETY 52
VI. STRANDED IN A STRANGE CITY 59
VII. UNDER THE FLAG ONCE MORE 66
VIII. HIS FIRST COMMAND 74
IX. ROUNDING UP THE STRAGGLERS 83
X. OUTWITTED BY A BOY 95
XI. BETWEEN SKY AND SEA 106
XII. IN THE COILS OF A "TWISTER" 118
XIII. TWO ARE MISSING 127
XIV. DOWN THE AMMUNITION HOIST 136
XV. LAND HO! 146
XVII. ON GIBRALTAR'S PEAK 154
XVII. ON THE BLUE MEDITERRANEAN 167
XVIII. JOLLY TARS IN EGYPT 178
XIX. ON THE SHIPS OF THE DESERT 193
XX. CALLING ON THE MUMMIES 201
XXI. CONCLUSION 209
The Battleship Boys in Foreign Service
CHAPTER I
BATTLESHIP BOYS TO THE RESCUE
"This is the famous Bois de Boulogne Sam."
"The what?"
"Bois de Boulogne, one of the most popular drives in Paris."
"Huh!" grunted Sam Hickey. "That sounds to me like some kind of sausage.What do they ever name their streets that way for in Paris?"
"All the names in this great, gay city mean something," answered DanDavis. "This park here bears the same name. It was infested by desperaterobbers as far back as the fourteenth century."
"Robbers!" exclaimed the red-haired boy.
"Yes."
"Are they here yet?"
"No; Napoleon cleaned them out. We shall soon be out by the Arch. TheFrenchmen call it Arc de Triomphe."
"They do?"
"Yes."
"Just like that?"
"Of course."
"I'll bet there isn't a Frenchman in France who would know what you weretalking about if they heard you call it by that name. I don't knowanything about French, but if that is French give me plain UnitedStates. You are sure there are no robbers left in the Bologna sausage?"
"Bois de Boulogne, Sam," corrected Dan. "No; there are no robbers here.You need not be afraid."
"Afraid! What do you take me for, Dan Davis. I----"
"Hark!"
"Nothing of the sort. I'm no coward. I, a sailor in Uncle Sam's Navy,and afraid of robbers? Pooh!"
"Listen! Did you hear that, Sam?"
"Hear what? No; I didn't hear anything. But--wow! What's that?"
Hickey gave a sudden startled jump.
"It's a woman's scream," breathed Dan, listening intently. "Did you hearit?"
"I--I should say I did. Yes, and there it goes again. She's some sort offoreigner. I wonder what is going on?"
The scream was repeated. Though the lads were unable to understand whatthe voice was saying, it was evident that the woman, whoever or whatevershe might be, was in dire distress.
"Where is it--where is it?" demanded Sam, now very much excited.
"The sound came from off yonder, where the trees are thickest."
"I see nothing."
"I do," answered Dan. "See, yonder is a carriage. Come on! There's awoman in trouble. What is it?" shouted the boy, raising his voice.
"Help! Help!" came the answer in plain English.
"It's one of our own countrywomen--our own United States. We're coming,madam!"
Dan was off with a bound, followed a few paces behind by his red-hairedfriend, Sam Hickey.
As they ran they made out a coupe that had been drawn up beside theroad. One man was holding the horses by the heads, while a group ofothers were standing by the door of the carriage.
"What's going on there?" demanded Dan.
"I--I guess Napoleon didn't chase all the robbers out," stammered Hickeyin a doubtful tone.
"They are robbers and they're robbing two lone women," exclaimed Dan.
"I guess we're Johnnie-on-the-spot, then," answered Sam. "Me for theparty holding the horses. He looks kind of weak like."
Two women, attired in evening gowns, were standing beside theircarriage, which, at a glance, was seen to be an elegant privateequipage. The men surrounding the women wore small, black caps with thevisors pulled down over their eyes, and long, flowing handkerchiefsabout their necks.
As the lads drew near they saw two of the men strip the handkerchiefsfrom their necks, quickly twisting the cloths about the necks of thewomen. The cries of the latter were stilled almost instantly.
"Break away, you villains!" roared Dan Davis.
"Yes; chase yourselves or you'll get your faces slapped," added Sam."Vamoose! Allez vous--scat!"
"We're coming, ladies! Charge them, Sam! They're thugs! Look out foryourself!"
"I've got one of them!" yelled Sam Hickey triumphantly.
In passing the horses he had sheered close to the fellow who washolding them, hitting the man a blow on the jaw that tumbled him over ina heap. The man did not rise, but Sam was too excited to notice thefact.
"Whoop!" he howled, making a rush and coming up by his companion. "We'rethe wild men from the land of the cowboy!"
The boys swept down on the robbers, the formers' fists working like thepiston rods of a locomotive.
The ruffians turned on them instantly.
"Quick! Into your carriage!" called Dan. He had neither the time noropportunity to assist the ladies in doing so. Both boys were nowaltogether too busy to give further heed to the frightened women.
Smashing right and left, they fell upon the robbers.
Bang!
A bullet whistled close to the head of Sam Hickey. The latter made adive for the man who had fired the shot, and ere the fellow could pullthe trigger for another shot, Hickey's fist had struck him on the jaw,laying the fellow flat on his back.
"Whoop!" howled the boy. "That's the way we do the thing in the good oldUnited States."
Dan was having a lively battle with two men, each of whom held a knifein his hand and was making quick thrusts at the lad, who was quicklydiving in and out.
All at once Dan's foot came up. It caught one of the men on the wrist ofhis knife hand. The fellow uttered a yell and his knife went soaring upinto the air. Dan tried to serve the other assailant in the same way,but instead of reaching the man's wrist, the kick caught the fellow inthe stomach. This answered quite as well. With a groan the robber felldown heavily.
"Lay in! We've got them!" yelled Davis.
"I am laying in," answered Sam. "Lay--lay in yourself. Whoop! That was abeauty. I spun him like a top. He's spinning yet! Watch him, Dan!"
Dan knew better than to turn his head. Three desperate men were nowseeking to surround and put an end to his fighting abilities. Dan foundthem more difficult to handle than he had those others who had gone downunder his sturdy blows.
In the meantime the women had sp
rung into their carriage, and thedriver, whipping up his horses, had started away.
Attracted by the uproar, a squad of gendarmes were bearing down on thescene on the run.
"Robbers!" yelled the driver in French as he swept past the officers ofthe law.
"Where?"
The driver pointed with his whip toward the trees under which the battlewas being waged.
"The police!" yelled one of the robbers, catching a glimpse of thegendarmes, as the latter ran into the light of a street lamp.
Instantly every man of the robbers plunged into the bushes anddisappeared, those who had been knocked down by the two brave ladshaving gotten to their feet just in time to get away.
"Follow them!" cried Dan. "We'll capture a couple of them, anyway."
Sam caught a foot on the curbing and fell headlong. His companionhesitated for one brief instant. Both lads thought they had put therobbers to flight. They did not know that the desperate men had seen thepolice coming, for the cry of "police" had been uttered in French.
"Look out! Here they are again!" warned Dan. "Sail in, Sam! They'vesurrounded us."
Sam was up like a flash. They were now well off the road. The spot wasdark and the boys did not know that it was the police who had come uponand surprised them.
Dan Davis laid low the first gendarme just as the man placed a hand onhis shoulder. Sam gave the next officer a good stiff punch that musthave made the man's head swim, for it sent him staggering away.
Hickey uttered a yell of triumph. His fighting blood was up. He went atthem with a rush, punching with both hands, nearly every blow takingeffect.
All at once Dan Davis made a discovery.
He caught the glint of a brass button.
"Cease firing!" he roared.
"Not on your life! Not till I've licked this heathen----"
"Sam! Sam! Stop! It's the police we are fighting! Stop, I tell you!"
Hickey's ready fists dropped to his sides. He stepped back, halfinclined to run.
"Well, well! What do you think of that?" he growled.
Dan, too, had stopped fighting the instant he made the discovery that itwas the police whom they had assaulted. He sprang back, gazing almost inawe at the rest of the squad of gendarmes who were bearing down uponthem.
"This is the time we have put our foot in it. Gentlemen, I beg----"
He did not finish the sentence.
A blow from one of the gendarmes laid him flat on the ground. At thesame instant three men jumped on Sam Hickey. They took him so utterlyunawares that he had not made the slightest resistance.
"Get away, you fools! Don't you know----"
Hickey's breath was fairly knocked out of him. He was at the bottom ofthe pile, unconscious almost the next second.
The Battleship Boys had gone down fighting valiantly, the lads whom thereaders of this series now know so well. They were the same boys who, in"THE BATTLESHIP BOYS AT SEA," enlisted in the United States Navy,serving their apprenticeship at the Training Station in Newport. It wasthere that they proved by their faithful attention to duty, theircourage and fitness to serve the Flag of their country. Then, on boardthe battleship "Long Island," it will be recalled how Dan Davis whippedthe bully of the ship in a fair stand-up battle; how Hickey was punishedfor an offence for which he was not wholly to blame, being confined tothe brig on rations of bread and water; and how finally both lads provedthemselves by their heroic rescue of a drowning diver. The latter wasthe man who had been responsible for all their trouble on shipboard. Fortheir bravery in facing almost certain death the boys were rewarded by agrateful government in the bestowal of that much-coveted decoration, themedal of honor.
Again, in "THE BATTLESHIP BOYS' FIRST STEP UPWARD," the reader willremember Sam Hickey's having sighted a "shooting star," while on lookoutduty, and that the shooting star was a rocket signal of distress from asinking schooner. It will be recalled how Dan Davis was left alone onthe doomed ship; how the battleship turned its big guns on the schooner,shooting the decks from beneath his feet, and how, in the end, theplucky lad saved the schooner and its cargo. Dan's heroic effort insaving a boat load of men from almost certain destruction by a rushingtorpedo, and his winning of a promotion to the grade of petty officerwill also still be fresh in the reader's mind.
And now the boys were on their first foreign cruise. The battleship"Long Island" had come to anchor off Boulogne, France. The BattleshipBoys had asked for a shore leave of one week, which was readily grantedto them. In that time they had planned to visit Paris and London, whichthey would have ample time to do, and rejoin their ship before theirleave of absence expired.
They had arrived in Paris that morning, after an all-night ride on oneof the fastest express trains in France, but which Sam Hickey hadreferred to under the undignified title of "milk train."
After considerable difficulty they had secured lodgings at a pension, asthe boarding houses in France are called, and had at once started out tosee the city. This they did with the aid of a map. They wereself-reliant boys, and the thought of getting lost did not trouble themat all.
During the afternoon they had wandered off along the fashionable avenue,the Bois de Boulogne, and into the beautiful park of the same name,where they lingered until nearly night. Hunger alone brought them to arealization that it was time they sought their lodgings. So anxious werethey to see Paris, that they had forgotten all about breakfast, and,when noon arrived, they saw no place where they could procure food.
They were on their way back when they met with the adventure that nowpromised to involve them in serious difficulty. They had assaulted abody of men who were police officers of the republic of France.
The gendarmes had not seen the robbers. They had seen only Dan Davis andSam Hickey, who now presented a most disreputable appearance. The boyshad lost their caps bearing the name of their ship, their blouses weretorn and covered with dirt, while Dan's shirt was ripped in severalplaces where the knives of the desperate men had made great rents init, his trousers were torn, and his face bruised where he had beenstruck by one of the robbers. Hickey was in a similar condition.
The gendarmes were chattering loudly, accompanying their words with wildgestures.
Making sure that their prisoners were wholly overpowered, they quicklysecured them, one of the number in the meantime having sent in a callfor a patrol wagon. Soon the auto wagon came puffing up and backed downto the curb.
Quite a crowd had gathered, attracted to the scene by the uproar.
"What is it?" questioned one after another.
"Apaches!" answered the officer in charge.
A growl of rage ran over the gathering. There is no criminal in Paris sodreaded or so hated as the one who belongs to the so-called "Apaches."These men have but two aims in life--to rob and kill. It is nothing tothem who the victim may be, or how innocent. They are infinitely worsethan the worst red Indian of the past.
The Apaches are found everywhere in Paris, and woe to the stranger inthe gay city who happens to stroll out alone at night, for the Apachewill track him to the death if he chances to strike the stranger'strail.
It was this desperate band of criminals to which Dan Davis and SamHickey were supposed by the police to belong. On the contrary, theBattleship Boys had met and practically whipped a band of Apaches singlehanded and without weapons. It was an achievement to be proud of, hadthey known it, but at that moment neither lad was in a condition torealize anything.
Searching the clothes of their prisoners for weapons, and finding none,the gendarmes picked Dan up by the head and heels, hurling him into thepatrol. Next came Hickey. He was thrown in on top of his companion.
Half a dozen officers piled into the wagon and sat down on theirprisoners. At that moment the patrol started away with the two boys,moving over the smooth pavements of the French capital almost without ajar.