CHAPTER XVIII
HELP FROM A STRANGER
Harry uttered a sharp cry as he stumbled forward along the steep inclineof the floor. It seemed as if some huge power had grasped the stern ofthe craft, raising it until the vessel tilted forward at an angle whichrendered walking impossible.
All the boys were thrown toward the forward end of the vessel, whereJimmie was located. Ned and Jack lost their footing. They rolledawkwardly to the forward bulkhead. Harry and Frank managed to remainupright by hurriedly grasping at parts of the machinery or at stanchions.Their progress was undignified as well as sudden.
"What's up?" sharply questioned Jimmie, regaining his feet.
"The stern's up!" facetiously replied Jack, also struggling to a standingposition. "Is anybody hurt?" the boy continued.
A brief examination disclosed the fact that beyond a few minor bruisesnone of the boys had been seriously injured. Their first care was foreach other. All were glad to find no one badly hurt.
"What on earth can have happened to us?" asked Ned, peering from a portlight on the starboard side. "Did we collide with something?"
"I don't believe we did," returned Harry. "There wasn't any bump as ifwe'd run into another object. We just stopped!"
"And then the stern went up into the air and stayed there!" put in Jack."Something's got us by the stern and won't let go!"
"I think I know what it is!" announced Frank. "What is it they call thesefishermen with a big net dragging around?"
"Fishermen!" answered Jimmie, with a grin.
"Stop your nonsense!" ordered Frank, administering a friendly punch tohis red-headed comrade. "I mean the fellows with a big drag net!"
"Trawlers is the word you want, Frank!" said Jimmie.
"That's it!" agreed Frank. "I'll bet we're tangled in one of their nets.Maybe we can't get loose again, either," he added.
"Don't you believe it!" scorned Jimmie. "If it was a fisherman had holdof us, we'd be yanked around pretty lively. I think it is that rope wesaw hanging in front of the port light!"
"I believe you're right, Jimmie!" Ned put in as he gazed through theheavy glass on the port side. "I can see that we're swinging close to themainmast. There is no motion to the boat, so that makes me think yoursolution is about right. Now to get loose!"
"Yes, I agree with you!" stated Harry. "But how? If your assumption iscorrect, we've got a big piece of line wound around the outboard end ofthe shaft. It is probably more or less tangled up in the propeller also.We can't turn the engines over!"
"Maybe we could throw out the clutch and turn the shaft backwards enoughto unwind the line!" suggested Frank.
"I'm in favor of rising to the surface if the slack of line will permit,"offered Jack. "We could then open the hatchway. It would be easy enoughfrom there to clear the line from the screw."
"That's probably the best way out of it," commented Ned. "Suppose we trythat. Harry, can we rise as Jack suggests?"
"I don't know," came Harry's hesitating reply. "I'll try!"
Accordingly the boy clambered from his position near the forward bulkheadto the compartment amidships, where the pumps were located. A shift ofvalves followed by a touch on the levers connecting the storage batterieswith the electric pumps started the process of emptying the ballasttanks.
Almost instantly the forward end of the craft began to rise. Very shortlythe deck was in a level position. Then, as Harry continued to empty thewater ballast, Frank and Ned, assisted by Jimmie and Jack, threw theclutch on the propeller shaft out of contact in order to permit the tailshaft to turn without moving the engines.
They then endeavored to turn the portion of the shaft which projectedthrough the stern bearing in the back up motion to free the propeller.They hoped thus to release the rope which they believed to be woundaround the outboard portion of the shaft.
Strive as they might, however, the shaft stubbornly refused to move.Their utmost efforts were unavailing.
At length, out of breath and exhausted, Ned sank back upon a locker. Helooked at his companions with a curious expression.
"What's the matter, Ned?" inquired Jack anxiously. "Are you ill?"
"I feel badly, boys," replied Ned. "Unless we can devise some means tofree that line from the shaft, we are in a pretty tight fix!"
"How near the surface can you bring the boat, Harry?" asked Frank.
"The gauges show that we're about two and a half fathoms down atpresent," replied Harry. "I have pumped a lot more water out than wouldordinarily be required to bring us to the surface."
"Then we must be held by that line!" declared Ned.
"Let's try some other maneuver with the ship before we give up!" put inJack. "We're not half though our experiments yet!"
"All right, what'll you try?" asked Ned in a despairing tone.
"I don't know," was the answer. "But we're going to do something to helpget us out of this fix. How would it do to fill the tanks to sink us asfar as we can go? Then we could empty them in a hurry, which would makethe boat rise swiftly. The jounce would perhaps break the line and let usup so we could get some fresh air."
"If we don't get some fresh air pretty soon, we'll have to do somethingdesperate. The reserve tank is nearly exhausted!"
In compliance with Jack's suggestion, the ballast tanks were againfilled. Gradually the "U-13" descended to the bottom. As the deck beganto tilt forward, as it had done when the craft was first stopped, Harrythrew into operation every pump that could be used to empty the waterfrom the ballast tanks. The boat rose rapidly.
With a jerk that nearly threw the boys off their feet, the "U-13" came toa rest. The gauges still showed the same depth as before.
Ned's face turned ashen as he sank upon a locker. The others gatheredaround him, expressing sympathy. The boy was clearly distressed.
"Never mind, Ned!" spoke up Frank. "We're coming out all right! The onlytrouble is that we haven't tried the right thing yet!"
"But I can't seem to think of a thing to do in this case," protested theother. "I'm all out of ideas! I'm sorry that we tried to follow thatother submarine. I wish we had taken Jimmie's advice!"
"Never mind that now, Ned. We're close to the surface. If it becomesnecessary, I will volunteer to be shot out of the torpedo tube. I canrise to the surface, swim about until I get my wind again, and then diveand cut the rope. That will release the whole ship!"
"Jimmie, that's awfully good of you to offer that, but I feel that Ishould be the one to do it," was Ned's reply.
"No, sir!" declared Jimmie promptly. "You're in no condition to attemptanything like that. You're worried, and your heart action is not rightjust now. My mind is a blank, and my heart is as sound as a bullet! I'mjust the one for the job!"
As if the matter were understood, Jimmie began divesting himself of hisclothing. He deposited his jacket on the locker beside Ned.
"Harry," he said, turning to his chum, "will you see that the torpedotube is connected up and in working order? You might try a discharge forpractice. We can spare a little of this air!"
By the time Jimmie had stripped and secured a knife to a belt about hiswaist, Harry pronounced the tube ready for operation.
"Now, fellows," said Jimmie, shaking hands with his chums, "there's aboutone chance in a million that I won't get through this all right. If youare not up to the surface in five minutes, you may know that I've failed.Then you'd better send out another lad!"
"Me next!" shouted Jack, beginning to remove his shoes.
Harry was peering from the heavy glass protecting the forward porthole.As Jimmie stepped forward to enter the torpedo tube, Harry held up awarning hand. He turned an anxious face to his friends.
"There's something outside here!" he announced in an anxious tone. "I sawit once, but didn't get a clear view!"
"What did it look like?" asked Jimmie. "Is it alive?"
"I'm not sure, but I think it's another submarine!"
"Probably the real 'U-13' come up to look us over. Never mind thosefellows. I
'm going ahead and cut this wagon loose!"
"Wait a minute!" cried Ned. "I see the craft over here to starboard. It'sa peculiar vessel, too! I think I see a man!"
"I see him, too!" declared Frank from a porthole a short distance aft."Do you suppose he's trying to get us to descend again?"
"Maybe that's it! Let's try it, anyway!" offered Harry.
"Go ahead!" agreed Ned in a tone that showed he was again taking heart."Let's act on the suggestion. We can try our scheme later!"
Harry's hand had already found the levers. In a moment the ballast tankswere being filled with water. Gradually the vessel sank.
As the light grew more dim at the increased depth, Jimmie declared hecould see the other vessel descending at about the same speed.
Presently the two craft were at the limit of their travel. The visitorrested on the deck of the Wanderer, while the 'U-13', in which the boyswere imprisoned, hung again at an angle from the line.
Directly the lads saw the figure that had formerly attracted theirattention. It was climbing the main shrouds of the wrecked ship. When theman reached a position level with their craft he began making signs andmotions. In his hand he flourished a knife.
"Looks rather bad for us!" commented Jack.
"Don't you get him?" asked Jimmie impatiently. "He understands ourpredicament and intends to help us! He motioned out that he is going toclimb the rigging until he can find the rope. Then he'll slide down ituntil he lands on our stern. If we'll agree not to start the engineswhile he's there, he'll cut the rope. But we must be ready at the ballasttanks to let the vessel settle slowly to the deck of the ship, so he canget off and clear the line from the propeller!"
"I don't believe it!" stated Jack. "I think he meant to cut the line assoon as he gets to it and let us settle down slowly. What would be thesense of his riding around the ocean seated on the stern of a disabledsubmarine? He's got too much sense for that!"
"Maybe you're right!" admitted Jimmie. "Let's float the boat on an evenkeel and see. I'm going to dress again!"
Even as the lad hastened to put on his clothes the boys felt a sudden dipmade by the submarine. Gradually they descended.
"Hurrah, he did it!" exultantly cried Ned. "Now, where has he gone? I dohope he'll free the propeller wheel at once!"
"We could rise to the surface even if the propeller is stuck!" declaredHarry. "I can pump the ballast all out of the tanks!"
"But if we do that we'll have to dive overboard to clear the wheel!"protested Frank. "I know that water is good and cold!"
"Wait a minute, boys, and see what the fellow does," cautioned Ned."Maybe he wants to help us, so it wouldn't be nice to run away!"
"Here he is, now!" cried Jack from his position near a porthole. "He'slooking through the glass, and making motions again!"
"I know what he wants!" declared Harry. "He's making motions for us tounscrew a pipe! He wants us to let in a lot of the ocean!"
"Wait a minute, Harry!" put in Ned. "He's walking toward his own boat.Let's see what he's going to do!"
In a short time their rescuer had reached the side of his own vessel. Hestepped into an open door in the side and disappeared.
"An air lock!" cried Ned. "Did you see that, boys?"
"Just like the little old Sea Lion we used in the China Sea!"
"Here he comes again with a line!" announced Harry. "Now what?"
The boys heard a hammering and thumping near one of the sea cocks.