CHAPTER VII Aboard a U-boat
"Which all comes of being in a hurry," said Jim, with philosophical calm, as he squatted against the side of the submarine in the narrow hole into which the Germans had pushed himself and Larry and Bill, and sat there with a pool of water increasing about him.
"Hum! Yes!" sniffed Larry, who in some miraculous manner had contrived to salve his peaked hat, and bring it aboard the submarine with him. He, too, sat crouched against the walls, the electric beams from a lamp flooding his head, his attenuated form, his somewhat sloping shoulders and short limbs, and casting a shadow of the man athwart the iron grids which formed the deck, till Larry, pictured in shadow, looked like a horrible demon. As for Bill, dripping with sea water, chilled to the bone, yet as philosophical as either of his companions—for friendship with them had taught him calmness and philosophy if it had taught him nothing else—he lay at full length, breathing heavily, a little depressed, yet, with youthful spirit, already beginning to think of the future.
"Which comes of being in a hurry! Yes, Jim," he agreed. "Only think what it's brought us to—a submarine! and I suppose we're already under the water."
The two friends nodded at him. "You can hear it outside. I felt her going down," said Larry. "Rummy feeling—eh? being right under the sea; running along without anyone being any the wiser. Supposing one of your British torpedo-boat destroyers—T.B.D.'s they call 'em—or one of ours, 'cos, don't yer know, Uncle Sam's already got some of his fleet over this side of the Atlantic, supposing they were to drop a depth-charge on us. Disagreeable—eh?" and Larry looked at Jim and Bill with that wry little smile of his, and shrugged his narrow shoulders; whereat Bill at least burst into laughter.
"You ain't going to frighten me in that way, Larry," he said. "Besides, if it bust this show it might send us clear of her. Of course I know it would be awkward to go to the bottom like a stone, to find yourself boxed in this steel cage, unable to move out, waiting to be suffocated; we won't think of that! Let's think of France, of the fighting there that we're going to take a part in."
"That we mean to take part in," said Jim, with determination. "Wonder if these fellows'll give us something to eat, it was breakfast time at daybreak, and we've had nothing since then."
As if summoned by the speech, the door leading to the narrow compartment into which they had been thrust opened and a German sailor pushed his head in.
"Come out!" he commanded, and led the way over only a few short feet of deck to the central part of the vessel, where was all the apparatus that controlled her movements.
"Now tell us who you are," demanded the officer who accosted them, and who spoke excellent English. "First—British or American?"
"American," said Larry, pushing himself to the fore and speaking before Bill could get in an answer.
"Good country to come from—you'll never see it again," came the sardonic answer. "But as you're American, and not British, perhaps you'll get off lighter. If you'd been British I'd have pushed you overboard."
Larry looked at the man, contempt written on every feature of his sharp, determined face, Jim's lips curled, only Bill stood staring at the German as if he thought him a monster.
"Well?" demanded the naval officer.
"See here," said Larry, who made himself the spokesman, "this ain't the sort of place for you and I to have a conversation on this matter. If things was reversed, and you was me and I was you, which I'm glad it ain't, but if it was like that, then we might have a pow-wow. Being as it is, few words the better. As for us, if you says you'll push us overboard, we're bound to believe you. What then—we're Americans—what'll you do?"
"Depends! What was the cargo you had aboard the vessel? What damage was done?"
"Done! How?" asked Larry, curious to learn how much the Commander knew himself.
"By the bomb placed by our agent—a clever trick that!" said the officer; "a clever man Heinrich Hilker! But perhaps you don't know him."
Whereat Larry sniffed harder, but, feeling it wise to make no answer, stood staring round him at the various wheels and quadrants and instruments which filled almost every available inch of the centre of the vessel.
"Well then," demanded the officer, when a minute had passed, "what is your report?"
Larry looked under the peak of his hat into his eyes, regarding every portion of the officer down to his feet, screwed up his lips, smiled that enigmatical smile of his and answered not a word. Then, after a long pause, he tapped the officer on the shoulder.
"See here, Mr. Officer," he said, "you've taken us in what you call fair fighting, and we're prisoners; let it stand at that. You wouldn't expect to give away what had happened in your own case, supposing positions were reversed. Then don't expect it of an American. Play the game, and give us something to eat and drink, for we're well-nigh famished, and something strong would send the blood through us after being chilled in the water."
Maybe the German officer in command of this German submarine was of a type different from those who have commanded the majority of these under-water vessels, and who seem to have stooped to the murder of so many helpless individuals. He looked Larry up and down, stared hard at Jim, and stepped a pace closer to Bill, as if attracted by his youthful appearance and anxious to interrogate him. Then he clapped his hands, gave a sharp order, and saw the trio led back to the compartment in which they had been incarcerated. There a sailor brought them food and steaming coffee, adding to each cup some rum, which helped to warm them wonderfully. A little later he brought them dry clothing and took their wet garments away from the compartment; then, as if anxious to treat them well, he produced blankets and mattresses, upon which Larry and his two friends were soon stretched.
Indeed they slept for hours, worn out with their exertions of the previous night and with the struggle they had waged during the day which had just passed. Nor were their dreams unhappy. They fell asleep mindful of the unfortunate position in which they found themselves, but buoyed up by the memory of their success in helping to beach the vessel and her valuable cargo.
"It ain't as if the Hun had done us in altogether," said Larry just before he dropped asleep. "He was clever, he was, and that Heinrich was about the most cunning scoundrel that the Kaiser could have employed. See how he failed, though! Gee! That bomb ought to have blown the front of the ship away, and yet it left her cargo almost undamaged. Reckon, young Bill, your chaps is working like niggers now to get it salved, and—and—we're here."
"And alive and well," said Jim cheerfully.
"And while there's life there's hope. And there's the French front," Bill chimed in in sleepy tones, "that's the next thing to be thought of."
Yet other things soon arose to engage their attention. It was at an early hour on the following morning—though they themselves did not know that the day had broken, for it was quite dark in the interior of the submarine and the electric beams still flooded their compartment—that they knew that the vessel had stopped, and presently felt a breath of cool air as the door of their prison was opened.
"Come up!" a voice called, and obediently they clambered into the conning-tower and so on to the deck of the submarine. She was lying awash, and near her a surface vessel, a trawler by appearance.
"Hope you haven't had an uncomfortable night," grinned the officer in command of the submarine. "I'm transferring you to one of our mine-sweepers. She'll take you to Germany and to prison. Bon voyage!"
A boat pulled alongside and the three dropped into it and were rowed to the trawler, which, as soon as they were aboard, hauled in its anchor and steamed off, leaving the submarine still floating on the surface. Not that Larry and Jim and Bill were able to watch her, for immediately they reached the deck of the vessel they were hustled to a companion-way and forced to go down between decks. Here, when their eyes became accustomed to the darkness, they found themselves in the hold of the vessel with a number of other occupants of the space seated against the bulkheads or against the sides of the trawler.
"Hello, mates!" began Larry, as if to open the ball. "Cheerio!"
A short, heavily-built man came forward at once. "You're British?" he said. "No, American!"
"No, both," said Larry. "I'm American, so's Jim, here. This here is Bill, who's English."
"Submarined?" came the next question.
"Yep. First done in by a German agent and his bomb, then gunned by a submarine. Me and my mates were blown overboard and rescued by a fellow in command of the submarine."
"Rescued! That's unusual! Why?"
Larry shrugged his shoulders. Indeed, neither he nor Jim nor Bill could tell why it was that the submarine commander had taken it into his head to preserve their lives. Too often, alas! men had been left floating helpless on the water after a similar attack, and the submarine, having risen to the surface, and its officers and crew maybe having jeered at them, had motored off and left them to their fate. It was no wonder then that this burly individual expressed surprise at such a happening.
"And you?" asked Jim after a while.
"Me and these fellows 'long with me belong to the merchant marine, and we've to thank a submarine for being here. It's three nights ago that, without a word of warning, without sight of the submarine, there was a terrific explosion that burst our plates in and swamped our engine-room. The chief engineer and his mates were killed right off, and our skipper was thrown from his bridge into the water. We chaps set to work to lower the boats, but they'd been smashed into matchwood. It so happened that this trawler was steaming some few miles away, and it may be that the same submarine that did you in was the cause of our misfortune. Anyways, we were taken aboard and brought to the trawler, and—and—here we are."
"Waiting to go to a German prison," came a voice from one of the figures seated against the bulkhead.
"Which means wellnigh starvation for the British," said another, whereat there was silence.
"If—starvation if——" began Bill, as though he had suddenly thought of something brilliant.
"If what, young Bill?"
"That is, if we get to a German prison."
"If—we—get—to—a—German—prison!" the burly individual repeated slowly, emphasizing each word in turn. "Now, you don't think—look here, my name's Jack, and I was bos'n aboard our vessel. You spit it out. What's the yarn?"
Larry looked at Bill curiously. In the dim semi-darkness of the hold he could see his face, not clearly, but sufficiently well to realize that his eyes were gleaming.
"Yep, Bill," he said encouragingly, "spit it out! It don't want any tellin' that neither you nor me, nor any of these fellows, wants to go to a German prison, but——"
"Aye, but," said Jim, "how are we to work it not to do so?"
"Depends," said Bill, "only it's got to be done quick, if at all. I'm only guessing, but I reckon we're steaming now for the German coast. There are mine-fields and all sorts of things through which a vessel has to thread her way, and once in those we couldn't easily make our way out again; so the sooner we get to work the better."
"Get to work! How?" demanded Jack.
"Like this. Make a row, shout, attract the attention of the guards, get 'em to come down here, collar one of 'em, take his rifle, fight our way up. I'm not sure, but I had a good look round when we came aboard, and counted only eight men. Two of them were armed, and stood near the companion down which we came, the rest were deck-hands. There will be the captain, too, and a small staff down in the engine-room—they needn't count. If we're going to do it, we shall be through with the business and masters of the ship before the engineers knows what's happened. Then, if we are wise——"
The burly sailor clapped a hand on Bill's shoulder.
"You speak soft, sonny," he said; "you just talk gently for a moment. Bless me, but I believe he's got the very idea; and if the idea's any good it's as he says: it's got to be done now. This very moment, as you might say, within half an hour at most, and it's got to be gone through without whimpering. Boys, close round!"
Heads had been lifted in the meanwhile, the figures of men crouching against the bulkheads and against the side of the trawler, crouching despondently it must be admitted, had moved, had straightened themselves, while not a few of their fellow-prisoners had sprung to their feet and come nearer as Bill and his friends discussed the matter.
"Escape!" one of them said. "Why not?"
"Better than going to a German prison; better than being starved. I'd risk a hit," said another, "if I knew that I could get back to England. Besides——"
"Besides what? I'll tell you; besides every man's wanted to get our ships going. What then? What next, young fellow? How's it to be done?"
By then all of them were standing about Bill and his friends, peering at the youth in their midst, and endeavouring to decipher his meaning; their faces thrust forward, their hands on their hips, listening eagerly to every word he and his friends uttered.
As for Bill, he was rather taken off his feet by the sudden interest he had aroused. To be sure, as he came aboard the vessel he had taken a swift glance round, and had noticed what a small crew she appeared to carry. In a swift glance, too, he had taken note of the companion-way, and of the method adopted to close it. There was a door at the top, and against that had been placed a huge bale and a coil of rope, which, seeing that it opened outwards, effectually closed it. But strong men from within could easily push it aside, and—why not?
"There are two ways of doing the trick, I think," he told them, his voice now lowered. "One of them is to feign illness and to shout for help. That may or may not bring one of the guards down amongst us, but it will have the effect also of warning the remainder of the crew. T'other's to creep up, put our shoulders to the door, and heave it open. We'd have to chance a shot from the man on guard, but once we've mastered them we'd be free of the deck, and nineteen of us, as I make our number to be, should be able to overpower them."
"Line up, you men!" came from Jack. "This 'ere business wants in the first place a lusty chap with shoulders that will take no denyin'. It's a case for volunteers. Is any of you for it?"
If any of the guards had peered down into the hold of the trawler just then they would have witnessed a weird performance; they would have seen those eighteen sturdy men, all silent, desperately in earnest, line up, listening to the words of their leader. And as he spoke they would have watched the whole line step forward without a moment's hesitation. All were volunteers.
"So it's like that!" said Jack, and Bill could have sworn he chuckled. "Now, seein' that the companion won't carry every one of you, and one is bound to go first, and have another strong 'un by him, and seein' as I have the broadest shoulders of the lot—why, I go first, as is natural, then Jim Scott comes second, 'cos he's a heavy weight, and if I go down the door won't stand much of a push from him, will it? After that we comes as we can, but I'm goin' to tell each man of you off for special business."
"Hold hard! And what about us, Mister?" came from Larry, who pushed himself forward, automatically putting his hat at an angle as he did so, though the darkness hid the movement. "See here, Mr. Jack, it was one of this here party that fixed the business up. What have we done to be left to the last?"
For answer, the burly figure of the sailor came a little nearer and the two gnarled hands were stretched out, the fingers extended, and, falling upon Larry's attenuated shoulders, passed thence down his arms, down his body, and finally to his legs.
"No offence! You're an American, and everyone knows that Americans are not the boys to hold back, but rather the ones to be right in front," said Jack. "But it's beef that's wanted here, sir, British beef, and me and Jim's got it. I don't say as we ain't got the pluck too, but pluck won't push that door at the top of the companion open. Weight will, beef will—get me?"
Larry did. He had already summed up the business with his quick American wit, and liked the bos'n and his bluff statements, liked the bold way in which he had adopted Bill's ideas. That the other men below fancied the English sailor there was no denying, and if it had not been for the need for secrecy they would have cheered him. Then, too, there was the added need for haste, there were those mine-fields to be thought of, and the fact that every minute carried the trawler, presumably, nearer to some German port.
"Get you? Yep," said Larry. "'Carry on', as they say in the British army."
In deadly silence, feeling their way in the dim darkness of the hold, the imprisoned sailors made their way to the companion, up which Jack crept on all-fours, followed closely by Jim Scott, while the others—Bill, Larry, and Jim foremost amongst them—followed closely.
"You just shove easy and quiet first of all, so as to get a move on," said Jack, "and then out yer comes, every mother's son of yer!"
Leaning his whole weight against the door above, the sailor pushed with gentle force—with force which increased every moment. The wood creaked and bent. To those behind, eager for a successful result, it sounded as though the timbers would crack asunder rather than that the door would open. But no! Wait! In a moment a thin crevice of light showed; it grew broader; it was now a whole inch wide; then two, then three.
Bill, peering between the legs of Jack, who stood above him, could see right through on to the deck of the trawler, and then, with a heave and a hoist, the door was thrown right open.