CHAPTER XII
DAVE HUNTS A BIGGER FIGHT
Of much less beam for her length than the average yacht, the "Logan" wasrolling from side to side at a dizzy angle when Dave Darrin, after a napof an hour and a half in the chart-room, turned out.
The wind had freshened; spray dashed over the decks and water floodedthe scuppers. Every now and then a spurt of water raced across thebridge as the destroyer heeled over in that roughening sea.
Dave had pulled on his rubber boots, strapping the hip extensions highup. His sheepskin coat was fastened up tightly under his chin, and thecollar turned up over the lower part of the knitted helmet that he drewover his head.
Thus covered and concealed until his mother would not have known him hadshe encountered him unexpectedly, Dave stepped out on deck, clumsilyclambering the steps to the bridge, one hand holding tightly to thehand-rail. Dalzell was up there, standing not far from LieutenantCurtin. Forward, up in the bow, looking half drowned, paced an ensignwhose night glass was not long at any time from his eyes.
On the superstructure amidships another officer paced, and still anotheron the deck astern.
There was little sleep for any officer. Not one of them but was awarethat at any instant the lurking foe might strike, and then would begin adesperate, tragic game of blind man's buff over the slashing,spray-topped waves.
A shaded light threw a confined ray on the bridge compass. Dave barelyglanced at this latter instrument, for had not Dan been there while theyoung commander slept?
"Nothing seen, sir; some signals--that's all," was Dalzell's tersereport.
No grin appeared on Dan's face now. It had been a tense vigil for him.
"Go below and get some sleep," urged Dave.
"Don't need any," Dalzell declared stubbornly.
"It's an order, then, Mr. Dalzell," Dave answered briefly.
Grumbling, Dan took a final look into the night, then slowly clambereddown the steps.
"I'm aware, sir, that an attack may be tried at any minute," saidLieutenant Curtin, "but don't you believe that it will be postponeduntil after daylight?"
"Yes," Darrin made reply. "And if we're to have an attack between hereand port, I'd rather have it to-night. Neither troopship nor destroyeris showing lights, so the Huns couldn't use their periscopes. Theymight, of course, use their sound devices, and launch torpedoes towardsthe sources of sounds, but that's a clumsy and wasteful way oftorpedoing an enemy. Attacking on a night like this, the only sure waywould be for them to come to the surface. That would give us an idealchance. With searchlights playing in every direction we'd pick up a lotof the submarines and hit them within the first minute and a half. No;unless for the novelty of the thing, the German commander won't risk anight attack. Results for him are more certain just after dawn. Ibelieve, as much as I believe anything, that the enemy's submersiblesare now waiting for us at the point where they figure that we will be atdawn."
"It will be great to meet them at their convenience," remarked Curtin,after a pause of a few minutes. "After what we did to them yesterdayforenoon we know how we can rush some of 'em to the bottom, and leavethe rest so far astern that they'd have to come to the surface toovertake our troop-ships."
"We know what we did, but we don't know that we can do it again," Darrinretorted. "The greatest mistake that we can make is to becomeover-confident. That never pays when dealing with any enemy, and leastof all when the Hun is the enemy. We got away yesterday, Curtin, but hasit struck you that we may have met the inferior half of the underseasfleet that the enemy has concentrated against us? Yesterday forenoon'swork may have been play compared with the job that has been cut out forus. The surest way to lose a few destroyers, a few transports andthousands of soldiers and sailors, is for the naval officers with thisfleet to let their confidence get the better of their alertness. Even inspite of our utmost watchfulness and best work, we may lose fivethousand American lives before we reach port."
"Maybe our country would fight better hereafter if we did," muttered theyounger officer. "A loss like that would serve to rouse Americans ratherthan to kill their fighting instinct."
"But confidence in the Navy would be largely gone," Dave rejoined. "Atpresent the folks at home are whooping up the Navy. That's because we'vehad such fine luck so far. Let us lose several thousand soldiers at seaand then see how much our home people would boost for the Navy. We'rejudged by the goods we deliver in the form of results."
Not all of this had been said in continuous conversation, for not oncedid either officer remove his gaze from the black waters around them.Dave and his junior officer had spoken by snatches as they cametogether.
Off to starboard, several hundred yards, the dimly defined shape of ahuge transport appeared. The transport ahead of her, and the one behindher, had to be located by judgment rather than by vision.
"A fellow cannot help getting nervous out here--I mean nervous for thetransports," said Lieutenant Curtin, ten minutes later. "Before you cameup, sir, there was a time when neither Mr. Dalzell nor I could see thatnearest troopship at all."
"Did you change your course?" asked Dave, with a smile.
"No, sir; I knew we must be right, for we had followed the course to afine line. But it was uncanny, just the same--the knowledge that we mustguard the transports, combined with the belief that they had slippedmiles away."
"Before you came across to this side of the ocean, Mr. Curtin, you wereinclined to be a bit stout, weren't you?" Dave quizzed.
"Nineteen pounds over weight, sir."
"Cheer up! You won't grow fat during this war."
"I don't care about loss of sleep, or anything," declared the juniorofficer, earnestly. "I believe that I could get along without sleep,except when in port, if we could range the seas with a daily average ofone enemy submarine sunk."
"If you could do that, and the other destroyers did anything at all,"laughed Darrin, "the seas would soon be as safe as they were in 1913."
"Do you remember that time, sir, a month ago, when we answered an S. O.S. call and arrived in time to jump at a submarine engaged in shellingthe small boats that were pulling away from the wrecked Norwegiansteamer?"
"Yes."
"We missed that infernal Hun. He got away, and I am certain that Ididn't sleep a real wink in the next twenty-four hours."
"Take things more easily," Dave advised. "Do your best, Curtin, and thenif the Hun boat gets away, take it out in chuckling over the big scareyou gave the enemy officers and crew. That's the way I do."
Calling the officer amidships on the deck to take a turn on the bridgewith Lieutenant Curtin, Dave, after receiving the engine-room reportover the bridge telephone, went on a swift but thorough tour ofinspection. Dark as it was, he discovered that the breech mechanism ofone of the forward guns was not oiled to his fancy. Three or four otherslight oversights he found, and promptly rapped out orders to remedy thefaults.
"In a campaign like this," he told Ensign Carter, tersely, "there can beno knowing at what moment we shall be called upon to fight for ourlives, nor how many seconds of fatal delay may be caused by any lackingdetail. Constant inspection is the only way to be certain that one is upto fighting mark. Inspection is not enough when made only by commanderand executive officer. 'Inspection' should be engraved on the brain ofevery watch and division officer."
Dave glanced at the chronometer in the chart-room on his way to thebridge, and knew that the first streaks of dawn should appear in theeast in fifteen minutes. Sending the relieving officer back to hisstation amidships, Darrin resumed his bridge vigil.
First signs of dawn came in due time. The light gained in strength untilthe long line of the transport fleet stood revealed, extending backfurther than the eye could see. Obeying signals, some of the destroyersstood further out from their charges and then raced on ahead to inspectthat portion of the sea which must very soon be traversed.
"If we don't run into something before the middle of the forenoon," Daveconfided to Dan, who now reappeared on th
e bridge after a short rest, "Ishall feel easier. The nearer we draw to land the more help is likely tobe afloat near us."
Just then a boom came over the water. A gun of one of the foremost trioof destroyers had spoken. Swiftly the signals came back.
Dave gave the order to have all hands sounded to quarters.
"Gentlemen," said the young commander after the crew had reached thedeck, "this morning's work will undoubtedly be the real test. Withintwenty minutes we'll be in the thick of a real fight!"