“Well, now that the good boat, E-14, has gone by the board, I am out of a job,” sighed Jimmy; “I knew that craft like a book, and no better diver than she is in the service.”
“Brace up, Master James,” was Billy’s word of cheer, accompanied by a slap between the shoulders of the Dover boy.
Jimmy, it proved, had no reason to complain of enforced leisure; indeed, the only change in his line of duty was that by boat register he moved ahead a couple of numbers, hereafter to travel in E-16—and this underwater craft happened to be the very one detailed to attempt the difficult and hazardous task of cutting a submarine cable.
Billy and Henri were to have a share in this same risky enterprise, but without knowledge in advance of what was coming to them.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE CUTTING OF A CABLE.
Submarine E-16, taking an air bath off Tenedos, and floating in the shadow of the mighty “Warspite,” awaited orders that would send her night-groping under the strong current of the Dardanelles channel, and with the set purpose of clipping a cable connecting the European and Asiatic shores of the straits.
If not detected by the Turkish searchlights, the expedition might win forward, and, perhaps, back. Captain Montgomery, a regular fire-eater, was in command, with a picked crew, including our young friend, Jimmy Stetson.
The enterprise was to have aviation aid, and sure-shot candidates for such participation were the veteran pair, Johnson and Freeman. As there was possibility of a bit of a scrap before the affair ended, it was deemed expedient to carry extra pilots in case of accident.
“Keeping it all in the family,” was Johnson’s humorous way of later telling Billy and Henri that he wanted them to go along.
The upshot of it was that in the late afternoon of the day fixed for the undertaking, two biplanes rose high above the Ægean sea, high enough to make them appear as mere specks in the sky. Turning north, their course followed the line of the Dardanelles.