CHAPTER XXXIII
Good-bye to the Baltic!
Four days later R19 drew within sight of the heavily-mined Sound.Judging by the demeanour of the ship's company, the possibility offacing immediate danger left them remarkably apathetic.
"Reminds me of a pack of youngsters robbing an orchard, knowing thatthe farmer and his bull-dog are somewhere on the look-out," observedMr. Macquare. "They've had a rousing time while it lasted, and nowthey've made up their minds to take what comes, only they'd rathernot meet the farmer if it could be avoided."
"How's von Hoppner taking it?" enquired the Hon. Derek.
"Badly," replied the Lieutenant. "If ever a man had the 'jumps' 'tishe. Should we make a home port, sir, we'll have a lunatic with us,despite your efforts to get rid of one. He even offered to impartinformation concerning the mine-field."
"And what did you say to that?" asked the Lieutenant-Commander.
"I couldn't choke him off on my own responsibility," answered Mr.Macquare.
The Hon. Derek pondered for a few moments. In the interests of all onboard the recreant's information might be of enormous value. Then heshook his head.
"I'll turn it down, Macquare. If we are to win through it will be offour own bat. Unless the steamer track has been altered recently westand a fighting chance. Tonight's the night, Mr. Macquare."
Taking elaborate cross-bearings while daylight lasted, R19 sounded,remaining at the bottom until midnight. On reappearing on the surfacethe submarine, ready for diving at ten seconds' notice, forged softlyahead, conned by the Lieutenant-Commander and Fordyce from theplatform without the conning-tower.
It was hardly an ideal night for the undertaking. A thick hazeenveloped everything beyond a radius of fifty yards. Even the bows ofthe vessel were indistinguishable from the mingling blur of the seaand fog. A slightly longer range of visibility would have beenbetter, as the submarine would have been able to spot and avoid themore conspicuous outlines of a patrol-boat or destroyer before thelatter could sight the low-lying hull of her foe.
It was an intricate piece of navigation by dead reckoning and of the"hit or miss" order. From the after-end of the navigation platformtrailed a log-line, the movements of the luminous hand on the dialbeing carefully watched by Petty Officer Chalmers. As an additionalprecaution, the striking-gong of the recording mechanism had beensilenced.
The log gave the "distance run", the reading being checked byindependent calculations based upon the revolutions of thepropellers. For directing, R19 had to depend solely upon a compasscourse, since the mist made it impossible to pick up shore bearings,even if these were visible at night.
After an hour of high-tensioned suspense the Sub made his way aft tothe Petty Officer at the log indicator.
"How goes it?" he whispered.
"Close on, sir," was the equally cautious reply.
"I thought so," agreed Fordyce. "Good enough."
"We're over Position A, sir," he reported.
"Or thereabouts," added the Hon. Derek under his breath. "Starboardeight, Quartermaster."
Round swung the deeply-submersed hull of the submarine to settle onher new course--the awkward turn in the channel through themine-field. Already the netted area that had all but finished R19'scareer on her outward voyage was left astern.
After a comparatively short run the order was given to port helm. R19had negotiated the awkward bend in the cleared channel, and astraight run northwards would see her beyond the limits of themine-field.
Suddenly, at a distance of about forty fathoms astern, and slightlyon the starboard quarter, a column of water leapt two hundred feet ormore into the misty air, accompanied by a roar like the concentratedpeals of a dozen thunderclaps. The next instant Fordyce, almostcapsized by the rush of displaced air, was knee-deep in water.
Rolling sluggishly, R19 shook herself clear of the turbulent swirlwhile the Quartermaster promptly steadied her on her helm.
The Lieutenant-Commander glanced at his subordinate officer.
"Narrow squeak that, Fordyce," he remarked. "What's Chalmers doing?By Jove, we cut that corner pretty closely!"
The Sub made his way to the after-end of the raised platform, wherethe petty officer was standing as rigidly as a statue.
"All right there, Chalmers?"
"All right, sir," replied the imperturbable petty officer. "Only thatblessed log's gone to blazes."
He held up a coiled length of log-line as a visible corroboration tohis statement. The cause of the explosion was now revealed. Inturning, R19 had passed perilously close to an anchored mine, whilethe log, towing astern, described a wider arc than that of thesubmarine, and also caused a reduction of speed of the revolvingmetal cylinder. The depth to which the log sinks varies inverselywith the speed of the towing vessel. So in "cutting the corner" thetrailing log descended sufficiently to come in contact with one ofthe horns of the submerged mine.
It was a blessing in disguise, for the explosion gave the Hon. Dereka clue as to his position, and a slight alteration of helm wassufficient to bring R19 approximately in the centre of the channel.Owing to the fog, none of the hostile patrol-boats risked making adash between the mines, although away to the south'ard there wereaudible evidences of activity.
Another hour passed; then, with a partial lifting of the fog, theloom of the land could be discerned on either hand.
"White and red group flashes on the starboard beam, sir," reportedthe look-out, then: "Red and green occulting flashes on port bow,sir."
Raising his night-glasses, the Hon. Derek focused them first tostarboard and then to port. Then he turned to the Sub.
"We're through, Mr. Fordyce," he remarked. "Those are the Malmolights to starboard. Telegraph for full speed ahead, if you please.Good-bye to the Baltic!"
CHAPTER XXXIV
Home Again
It was fifteen miles to the nor'ard of the Skaw in broad daylight.R19 was running awash in a perfectly calm sea. Sub-LieutenantFordyce, keeping a tramp under observation, turned to theQuartermaster.
"Starboard a couple of points, Quartermaster," he ordered. "I want tohave a closer look at that ship. Dash it all," he soliloquized, "theold tub seems strangely familiar!"
Evidently the vessel in question did not evince any desire to acceptthe submarine's advances, for she, too, altered helm.
"What is it?" enquired the Lieutenant-Commander, who at that momentemerged from the conning-tower.
"A tramp under Swedish colours, sir," reported the Sub. "Strangething, she has a gun mounted for'ard. Unless I'm much mistaken we'vemet her before to-day."
An order from the Lieutenant-Commander brought the guns' crews ondeck. The for'ard quick-firers were raised from their "houses" andmanned, while, increasing speed, R19 was soon within hailingdistance.
"What ship is that?" enquired the Hon. Derek in English.
"_Ryan-Berg_, of Malmo," was the reply. "You our colour painted onside see."
"I'm not blind--only sceptical," retorted the Lieutenant-Commander."Heave-to; I'll send a boat."
While the tramp was losing way the submarine flung about, taking up aposition on the vessel's starboard quarter, and on a parallel course.
On the bluff counter of the tramp appeared the words:"_Ryan-Berg_--Malmo", but at a short distance it was quite evidentthat the name was painted on a strip of canvas.
"That's good enough, Mr. Fordyce," remarked the Hon. Derek grimly.
"And what's more, sir," added the Sub, "she's an old friend, the_Talisman_, of Goole. She missed us at point-blank range on oneoccasion."
"I recollect," agreed the Lieutenant-Commander, "and we pumped out agallon of lubricating-oil just to encourage her misguided butpraiseworthy skipper. Carry on, Mr. Fordyce."
Quickly the boarding-party tumbled into the boat and rowed off to thetramp. Revolver in hand, Fordyce gained her deck, to be greeted byhalf a dozen Teutons in very motley garb.
"The game's up," exclaimed Fordyce. "We are not bluffed by freshpaint and a canvas name-board."
br />
The prize crew were ordered below, while the former master and adozen hands were released from captivity.
"You never know your luck," exclaimed the rightful skipper of the_Talisman_, a bluff, grey-haired salt of the burly, breezy type. "Iexpected to find myself in a German prison-camp within the nextthirty-six hours. A light cruiser nabbed us four miles outsideChristiansand harbour. They clapped us under hatches and put a prizecrew on board, and a rascally set they are."
"They treated you decently?"
"Not so bad," replied the "old man", "until they found I had anAdmiralty certificate for sinking a U-boat. Blew her to bits at fiftyyards. Not a doubt about it; there was oil enough to spread over acouple of hundred yards."
"And when did that occur?" asked Fordyce.
The master of the _Talisman_ gave the date.
"The swine tore up my certificate," he added bitterly. "I suppose theAdmiralty will give me a duplicate?"
"I should imagine so," replied Fordyce. "Excuse me, but time isprecious. I must ask instructions from my commanding officer."
The Hon. Derek, upon being informed of the state of affairs, orderedFordyce and four seaman to remain on board the prize.
"We'll stand by you," he added. "I suppose there's enough coal leftin her bunkers to carry her home?"
"I'll enquire, sir. By the by, her master has or had a certificatepresented him by the Admiralty for having fired at us. Luckily hemissed."
"You didn't enlighten him, I hope?" asked the Hon. Derek anxiously.
"Oh no, sir!"
"That's good. Carry on--yes, certainly, take Flirt with you. And goodluck!"
* * * * *
"So that dog's turned up again," observed Mr. Fordyce, senior, when ataxi deposited Noel, Flirt, and a portmanteau outside the Sub'spaternal home, and informal but warm greetings had been exchanged. "Ithought she was lost."
"I took her for a cruise for the benefit of her health, Pater," saidhis irrepressible offspring.
"Benefit of her health indeed," re-echoed Mr. Fordyce. "And, pray, isshe better for the change? I was under the impression that she wasfar too high spirited before. I hope to goodness, Noel, that therewill be no repetition of the Councillor Mindiggle business."
"I'll answer for that, Pater," replied the Sub. "She won't nip himagain."
"You seem jolly sure of it," rejoined Mr. Fordyce. "If she doesshe'll have to be des----"
A dinner gong sounded, and Noel linked arms with his somewhat biasedparent and led him into the dining-room.
"I'm awfully peckish, Pater," he remarked.
"Then set to," suggested Mr. Fordyce. "Well, what have you been doingwith yourself?"
When at length Noel finished his yarn--on this occasion he was morecommunicative as to his adventures than on former occasions--Mr.Fordyce called to Flirt, who was contentedly coiled up on thehearth-rug.
"Come here, little girl!" he exclaimed. "By Jove, you're a brick!I'll take back all I said of you. Dash it all, I'd give you a biscuitbut for my Lord Rhondda!"
PRINTED AND BOUND IN GREAT BRITAIN_By Blackie & Son, Limited, Glasgow_
[Transcriber's Notes:
This book contains a number of misprints. A few cases of punctuation have been corrected, but not mentioned here. The other misprints are reproduced as in the original. Possible misprints are:
[It would have been a spendid] -> [It would have been a splendid] [it's all U P with us] this might be a (strange) misprint for [it's all up with us] [Orloof] -> everywhere else it's: [Orloff] [futherance] -> [furtherance] [framents] -> [fragments] [was mantained] -> [was maintained] [Klostovitch] -> everywhere else it's: [Klostivitch] [freqently] -> [frequently] [messsage] -> [message] [Quarter-Master] -> everywhere else it's [quartermaster] [THE TOO FAITHFUL FLIRT] -> in the list of illustrations there's no dash, but there is one beneath the actual image.
]
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