CHAPTER III
PRISONERS ON BOARD OF A SUBMARINE
The captain was still on deck, together with the first officer, both ofthem being at that time on the upper side of the vessel. They made themost careful examination of the staterooms and searched every corner tobe sure that no one lingered behind. Coming forward they witnessed thestruggles of the boys with the cripple and the girl, but the ship wasnow too far over on its side to permit them to render assistance.
The cripple was soon brought to the door, and, without ceremony, pusheddown the incline. The little girl followed, but before the boys couldreach the railing the poor cripple slipped over the railing anddisappeared. The boys held the child aloft for a moment, and thendropped her into the waves.
"Jump as far as you can!" shouted the captain.
Ralph placed a foot on the railing, and, looking back at Alfred, said:"Here goes! Come on!"
Both boys landed at almost the same time. The little girl was aroused bythe cold water, and was wildly floundering about, but the cripple layupon the surface of the water, with face upturned, limp and still. Theyglanced about; where were the boats? They could not be far away.
"I am afraid he's done for," said Alfred, as he glanced toward thecripple.
"Well, we might as well stay near him; he might be all right," repliedRalph.
"Move away from the ship quickly," said a voice in the water, not faraway.
It was the captain. He was the last one to dive, after he had seen everypassenger safely off the ship.
"We have no time to lose; take care of yourselves; I will help thelittle girl," he continued, as he threw the child on his back, and beganto strike out.
The sea had been calm up to this time, but no sooner had the captainceased speaking than a tremendous wave almost engulfed them; they seemedto be carried up, and then were forced down by a giant swell. Anotherwave followed and then another, until, finally, the oscillations of thewaves seemed to be growing less and less.
"Where is the ship?" cried Alfred.
"She's gone down; that's what made the waves," said the captain.
The cripple's hand was raised up, and his eyes began to roll.
"This fellow's all right, after all," said Ralph. "I'll help him. Iwonder where the boats are?"
The sun, which was going down while all this had been taking place, hadnow disappeared, and there was that gray, lead-like appearance on thewaves that comes just before twilight.
"Keep up your courage, boys; we shall soon have plenty of boats lookingfor us," said the captain.
Within less than a minute thereafter two boats could be seen bobbing upand down not far away, heading straight for those in the water. Ralphwas the first one caught by the strong arm of a seaman, and then thelittle girl, now fully recovered from her fright, received the care of awoman in the boat.
Alfred assisted the cripple into the other boat, and the captain orderedall the passengers transferred to the boat which had just come up.
The boys then noticed that only three seamen remained, together with thecaptain and first officer.
"You may remain with us," said the captain, addressing Ralph and Alfred.
This was, indeed, a compliment to them, which was appreciated.
"I know father, mother and auntie are all right," said Alfred. "Do youthink they saw us get off?" he added anxiously.
"They were standing by when you jumped, but when the ship made the lastlurch, just before she went down the seamen knew that they must pullaway to avoid being sucked under. It might have been too dark for themactually to have seen you get away, at the distance they were from theship, but I don't think they will expect to see us before morning."
"Why, do you intend to stay here all night?" asked Ralph.
"No, but each boat crew has had instructions to make for the nearestport, as rapidly as possible," replied the captain.
"Where are we now?" asked Alfred.
"In the Bay of Biscay, about one hundred and fifty miles from thenearest land," answered the captain.
"How long will it take us to reach land?" asked Ralph.
"Possibly two days, or more; that depends on the weather and theconditions in the bay. This is the most turbulent body of water anywhereon the Atlantic coast line, but it has been remarkably smooth during thepast twenty-four hours," answered the captain.
"What is the name of the place that we are heading for?" asked Ralph.
"St. Nazaire; a French town at the mouth of the river Loire," was thereply.
It was now quite dark, and a haze prevented the occupants of the boatfrom making any observation of the stars, hence the sailing, or rather,the rowing, had to be conducted by compass entirely, the order beinggiven by the captain to steer east by north, a term which indicates thatthe course was exactly two points north of a line running due east andwest.
Three miles an hour at the outside, would be considered good speed.Sails would have been useless without a wind, and there was not theslightest breeze, but about midnight there was an apparent rocking inthe little boat that indicated a wind. Occasionally, there would be ajerk, as the boat would be thrown from one side to the other. Thecaptain was awake and alert, but the boys were lying in the bottom ofthe vessel near the stern.
It was a trying, weary night, and when the sun arose the sea was onepanorama of short, choppy waves. The seamen were tired with rowing, andit was evident that no great effort was being made to hurry the boatalong.
"It does seem to me that the sun is coming up on the wrong side thismorning," remarked Alfred, as they were partaking of the food preparedand stowed in the boat's lockers.
"I imagine you are turned around somewhat," replied the captain. "Thewind is now coming from the east, and you see the sun almost ahead ofus. We are being carried west faster than the rowers can take useastward, hence we are practically standing still, or rather going back,and they are now merely holding the boat so as to give us steerage wayand prevent us from going into the troughs between the waves."
"Have you sighted either of the other boats?" asked Alfred.
"No; but one of the men observed a light at two this morning, threepoints to starboard, which was, possibly, one of our companions, butsince that time we have searched the seas fruitlessly," answered thecaptain.
"I don't know why it is that if all of the boats steer to the same pointthat they should be scattered in this way," said Alfred. "Can youexplain it, Captain?"
"It would not be so if in the open sea, or in mid-ocean; there theywould be likely to keep together, or not separated more than three orfour miles; but it is quite another thing in this great bay," repliedthe captain.
"Why should it be different here?" asked Ralph.
"If you will take a map of the western part of Europe, you will noticethree great projecting headlands, or points on the western shore of thecontinent of Europe, namely, Iceland, in the north, and the Spanishpeninsula in the south. Midway between you will notice Ireland and theBritish Isles. The great Gulf stream comes down from the north, passesIceland, that is one branch, hugs the coast of Ireland, and strikes thepoint of land which projects out northwesterly from the main Spanishland, so that a sort of maelstrom is set up in the bay."
"How far are we from that point of land?" asked Ralph.
"About two hundred miles northeast; and I may also say that we are justabout in the middle of the Bay of Biscay, and at that point where thesea is always more quiet than at any other part," answered the captain.
"Ship to starboard, sir," sang out the forward watch.
The captain turned to the right and, after a brief glance, lowered hishand. The boys looked at him in wonder. Evidently the sight of thevessel did not give him pleasure. It was a low-lying craft, with twoshort masts.
"That looks like a submarine," shouted Ralph.
"You are right," replied the captain.
The submarine was coming forward rapidly, and within fifteen minutes itwas within hailing distance. They now had an opportunity to examine theu
gly thing with the long black back and the conning tower midway betweenthe ends.
"Are those the periscopes?" asked Alfred. "I didn't know they carriedtwo of them."
"That is the practice now," said one seamen.
The submarine came straight toward them, then sheered off and stoppedalongside less than thirty feet from the boat. One of the seamen tosseda rope, which was grasped by a marine on the undersea boat, and in thatmanner they were drawn close up to the side of the submarine.
An officer now came forward, and in French invited the captain to stepaboard. There was a broad smile on the officer's face, as he recognizedthe captain of the vessel which they had torpedoed the night before.With a respectful bow he requested the captain to turn over the ship'spapers. The captain was, of course, powerless, but he refused to do soon the plea that he did not have them with him.
"Search the boat!" commanded the officer to several of his crew.
The captain was about to go back to his boat when the officer remarked:
"We prefer the pleasure of your company for the present, sir."
The captain folded his arms, and stood straight before the officer, astwo marines jumped into the boat, and began the search. Eventually, aleather case was found, on which was inscribed the ship's name. It wastossed up to the officer, who, after receiving it, entered the conningtower, where he remained for some time.
When he reappeared he said: "I shall have to detain you," and, glancingdown into the boat, continued: "The two young men in the stern will alsocome aboard."
The boys were astounded at this new turn of affairs. Slowly they arose,and stepped on the narrow platform which projected out from the side ofthe submarine.
"There may be some reason why you should wish to detain me, but there isno excuse for making these young men prisoners; they are Americansreturning home, and cannot be considered as belligerents," said thecaptain.
The lieutenant looked at the captain and turned his gaze on the boys afew moments before replying: "In what business were they engaged whileon the continent?"
The captain started slightly, while the officer toyed with his mustache,and peered at the boys.
"We haven't engaged in any particular business on the continent," saidRalph.
"No; flying isn't engaging in any business, is it?" inquired theofficer.
"Well," said Alfred, "we took part in the Red Cross service, were withthe infantry, served a time with the flying corps, then had a littleexperience with the transportation service, helped them out in theartillery, and did the best we could everywhere we went, if that's whatyou wish to know."
The officer gave the boys a cynical glance, and nodded to one of themarines. The latter stepped forward and began searching the boys, Ralphbeing the first to undergo the ordeal; several letters, a few trinkets,a knife and a purse, containing all the boy possessed, were removed. Thecoat when thrown back revealed a cross, suspended by a ribbon, thedecoration which had been bestowed on the boys after their last flightat Verdun.
Alfred handed over the contents of his pockets. The German officerglanced at the medals, and made another motion. The seamen then pushedthem into the conning tower and the boys saw a narrow flight of stairsto which they were directed, the captain following.
Down into the bowels of a submarine! A warm, peculiar, oily odor greetedthem as they descended, but the air was not at all unpleasant andbreathing was easy. Glancing about they saw confused masses ofmechanism, tanks, pipes, valves, levers, wheels, clock-faced dial platesand other contrivances, all huddled together, with barely room to passfrom one place to another. Electric bulbs were everywhere visible,lighting up the interior.
Suddenly there was a slight tremor in the vessel, indicating that somemachinery was in motion. Once at the bottom they stood there until theseaman stepped forward and opened a small door through which there wasbarely room to pass, and he motioned them to enter. They did so, andfound themselves in a compartment which did not seem to be more thanfive by six feet in size, and even in this small space mechanism wasnoticed. The moment the door closed they were in total darkness.
"This is a nice place to get into," said Ralph.
"I wonder if they are going to keep us cooped up like this without alight?" said Alfred.
After an interval of ten minutes a rumbling was heard, which continued,a rhythmic motion followed in unison with the sounds generated by themachinery.
"That is the propeller," said the captain.
Voices were heard occasionally, but words could not be distinguished.Confined as they were the air seemed to be pure and in abundance at alltimes, and while there was not the faintest signs of closeness, therewas an eternal monotony,--an existence in which there was nothing to dobut breathe and think.
How long they were thus confined, without a single thing to break thestillness, they could not conceive. It seemed that hours had gone by,during which time there was nothing to disturb them, except the onesteady whirr, broken occasionally by some remark by one or the other.
Then came an unexpected hum of voices; the machinery seemed to stop fora moment, and when it was again continued it had a different melody. Thewheels, if such they were, seemed to turn with smoothness, and they felta sudden inclination in the seats on which they were sitting.
"What do you suppose has happened?" asked Ralph.
"The electric mechanism has been hitched to the propeller, and, if I amnot mistaken, we are going down," said the captain.
"It did feel as though the forward end dipped down a moment ago," saidAlfred.
Another wait for a half-hour, and then a most peculiar sound reachedtheir ears. Simultaneously, the ship seemed to stop and go on. Againvoices were heard, and the same reaction in the hull of the submarinewas felt, accompanied by the dull noise, as before.
"They have just fired two torpedoes," said the captain.