CHAPTER XIII.
OFF FOR THE GULF.
It was easily seen that Gaines was nearly spent. His breath torethrough his lips in gasps, and when he reached the edge of the wharf,he fell there, unable to roll over the edge and drop down on the deckof the _Grampus_.
Out of the bushes at the top of the bank came the foremost of thepursuing soldiers. Fortunately for Matt and Gaines, they were armedwith muzzle-loaders, and were frantically getting another charge intothe barrels.
Dropping the hatchet, Matt leaped to the wharf, caught Gaines andpulled him down on the deck; then, springing back, he picked up thehatchet and severed the cable with a blow.
The bow of the submarine caught the current, swung farther out into thestream, then whirled around and started away. This placed the conningtower between Matt and Gaines, and several bullets hit the tower andglanced singing into the air.
"You're all right, Gaines," said Matt, bending over the motorist. "Yougot out of that fix----"
"By the skin of my teeth!" panted Gaines. "Oh, what a run! I never ranso fast, and so far, and over so many stones and briers, before in mylife. I thought, a dozen times, they had me."
"Hard luck that you should have run into the rebels when you werelooking for the soldiers of General Mendez."
"Rebels?" cried Gaines. "Why, Matt, those fellows weren't rebels. Theywere the loyalist soldiers!"
"The troops of General Mendez?"
"Yes."
"Then," queried Matt angrily, "why were they chasing you, and shootingat you?"
"I give it up. They must have taken me for one of the rebels--possiblythey thought I was General Pitou."
"They couldn't have thought that," answered Matt. "The general is onlyabout half your size."
"Clackett told you why I got out through the torpedo tube?"
"Yes. But how did you ever do it without being seen by Fingal and hismen?"
"I was shot along upstream, and straight into the bank. Fingal wassitting on the deck at the time, and the sudden heave of the forwardend of the boat drew his attention, but he didn't see me. As soon as Icould I got up the bank, but the compressed air had made me dizzy and Iwas obliged to rest before I could travel. After I got started I foundthat I couldn't go fast on account of my bare feet. I must have beenabout a mile away before I saw any soldiers. There was a stragglingcolumn of them, and they appeared to be the vanguard of an advancingarmy. They were Mendez's men, and I was pleased a lot, because Iwas sure I could get them to go back with me and help recapture thesubmarine.
"When I started toward them, though, they began to shoot and to runtoward me. I couldn't stop and explain, for I wasn't at all sure thatmy explanation would be accepted. So all I could do was turn and seehow quick I could get back over the ground. That's about all, Matt. Buthow did you get clear? It was a surprise to see you on the boat. I wasexpecting to be met by Fingal and his gang."
"That's too much to tell just now, Gaines. We're all free, however, andall together once more. We have been waiting for you."
"What became of Fingal?"
"He's a prisoner."
"Good! Any more prisoners?"
"General Pitou----"
"General Pitou!"
"Yes; and one of Fingal's men, and another who is more a friend ofYsabel Sixty's than he is of Fingal's."
"What about Ysabel Sixty?"
"She's below, too."
"Where did she come from?"
"She was one of those we took out of that yawl. We all thought she wasa boy until she told us who she was. We owe our escape to her."
While sitting on the deck, Gaines had been slowly recovering hisstrength. He was still muttering dazedly over Matt's amazingdisclosures, when Speake showed himself at the hatch.
"You fellows better come below!" he called. "Dick said you wanted theboat submerged, Matt, an' I guess that the quicker we do it the better.There's an outfit of black soldiers, dead ahead, waiting for us."
Matt whirled around and allowed his eyes to follow the direction ofSpeake's pointing finger.
On a shelf-like projection of the high bank, perhaps a quarterof a mile ahead, was a group of rebels. They could be seen onlyindistinctly, but it was apparent from their actions that they werewaiting for the _Grampus_ to come within good range.
"Climb for the hatch, Gaines!" ordered Matt. "We've got to get belowthe surface. If we stay out here, while we're passing those soldiers,they'll shoot us off the deck."
Gaines got to his feet and walked painfully to the tower. After he hadclimbed in, and vanished, Matt followed, closing the hatch behind him.
"Fill the ballast tanks, Clackett!" called Matt, through the tank-roomtube. "About ten feet will do, just so the periscope ball is awash."
A moment more and the submarine began to settle downward.
"What are you going to do when we get near the fort, Matt?" askedSpeake.
"I don't believe the rebels have had time to plant any submarinemines," said Matt. "It takes some time to do that, and not enoughtime has elapsed since Don Carlos reached the fort and reported thatthe submarine had been captured. We'll pass the fort under water, andchance the mines. Better that than running on the surface and beingbombarded."
Patter, patter came a ringing hail on the deck.
"Ah!" cried Gaines, "the soldiers are taking a whack at us!" He laughedderisively. "I guess we can stand as much of that as they want to giveus. Their lead slides from the deck like water off a duck's back."
Patter, patter--_smash_!
"Great spark plugs!" cried Matt. "What was that? Something broke."
"The periscope ball!" gasped Speake. "They've put the periscope out ofcommission. Empty the tanks!" he yelled into the tank-room tube.
The periscope table reflected nothing of the treacherous channel alongwhich the current and the propeller were carrying the _Grampus_ at aterrific pace.
It was necessary to come to the surface as quickly as possible and usethe conning-tower lunettes.
"Reverse your engine, Dick!" cried Matt to the motor room. "Full speedastern!"
The engine was instantly reversed, but not until the submarine hadrun into some obstruction, halting her with a jar that threw all herpassengers off their feet.
For a moment the silence was broken only by the hum of the fiercelyworking cylinders, and the splash and bubble of the current as it metthe obstruction of the huge steel shell.
"Cut out the turbines!" yelled Matt; "empty the tanks by compressedair. Full speed astern, Dick! Every ounce of power now!"
"What's happened, do you think, Matt?"
The question came from Ysabel. She had been sitting on the locker inthe periscope room, watching eagerly all that had taken place.
"The river winds about a good deal, Ysabel," Matt answered, "andwe have probably run into the bank. When the periscope went out ofcommission it prevented us from keeping track of our course. Ah!"he added, noticing that the propeller was dragging them against thecurrent and away from the bank, and that they were rising toward thesurface. "We'll do, now."
"But we can't pass them cannon on the surface," observed Speake.
"There's nothing else for it, Speake," answered Matt, "but a dashstraight for the gulf. We'll have to keep to the surface, and if therebels are able to aim straight, they're going to give us a livelytime."
Matt relieved Speake in the conning tower. With his eyes against thelunettes, the king of the motor boys kept keen watch ahead as turnafter turn of the river unfolded before the racing boat.
At last they came close to a bend on the opposite side of which Mattknew there was a straightway stretch of water leading to the gulf.
He signaled the motor room for full speed astern once more, then sloweddown until the backward pull of the propeller just balanced the rush ofthe current, the _Grampus_ hanging stationary in mid-stream.
"Gaines," called Matt, "are you well enough to take the engine? I wantDick up here with me."
"Sure," answered Gaines.
"Then g
o down and send him up."
Dick reached the periscope room in a few moments.
"Dick," said Matt, "our periscope is out of commission and we've got topass the fort on the surface of the river. We could wait until night.That would give the rebels less of a chance at us, but it would alsomake our dash for the gulf a good deal more dangerous. The daylight hasadvantages as well as disadvantages, and so has the night. What do yousay?"
"I'm for running their bally old fort," answered Dick. "We'll go sofast they can't hit us."
"Get the Stars and Stripes out of the locker, Dick," said Matt. "We'llhaul it up to the staff as we pass and see if it commands theirrespect."
Matt threw open the conning-tower hatch. The next moment, with his bodyhalf exposed above the hatch, he rang for full speed ahead.
As the _Grampus_ started on the last leg of her dangerous voyage, Dickforced his way up beside his chum.
"Give me room, old ship," said he, between his teeth. "I'm going out ondeck. If the flag commands any respect, it will be under my personalsupervision."
"Run up the flag and then get back below," answered Matt, squeezing toone side of the tower so that Dick could pass.
Dick had kicked off his shoes and thrown aside his hat. Stripped foraction, he bent the flag to the halyards as the submarine swept onwardtoward the threatening wall of the fort.