Dave Darrin and the German Submarines Part 8

"Again you use that name of Matthews," cried von Bechtold, impatiently.

"May I ask why?"

"I will make it so clear," Dave promised him, "that you would understand even though what I am about to say were not true. But it is true. A few days ago you met me at the hotel in port. You met also my executive officer, Mr. Dalzell. You introduced yourself to us as Matthews, claimed to be a buyer for a Chicago dry-goods house, and declared that your mission was to buy linen."

"Not a word of truth in it," declared von Bechtold, calmly, with a wave of his hand, as though to brush aside the charge.

"Unfortunately, quite true," Dave went on, steadily. "You were there under an a.s.sumed name and claimed to be an American citizen.

You exhibited an American pa.s.sport; I have heard that your government has a printing office where such doc.u.ments are turned out. You were there out of uniform. In other words, sir, your conduct on British soil, in civilian dress and under false colors, met with all the requirements of proof that you were there as a spy. It has long been known to the British, and to us, that German spies have abounded in Great Britain and that they obtained a good deal of information that we would rather German submarine commanders did not possess. So, Mr. von-Bechtold-Matthews, it will be my disagreeable duty to hand you over with the charge that you have been serving as a spy. Dalzell and I will be obliged to testify against you. I much fear that a British court-martial will condemn you to be shot."

"What infamous lie is this that you are threatening to utter against me?" demanded the German officer, leaping to his feet.

"No lie at all, as you know quite well," Dave went on. "I am sorry to have to bring you to this plight, von Bechtold, but you know that I cannot do otherwise."

Gazing into the steady eyes of the young American naval officer von Bechtold realized the folly of further acting. Breathing hard, he dropped into a chair.

"It is not a fine thing that you propose to do to me," he declared. "You do not know, of course, that I have five young children at home, who will need a father."

"I did not know it," Dave answered gently. "Yet I feel quite certain that some of the information you have gathered, when ash.o.r.e in these parts, has resulted in the drowning at sea of a good many men who may have left behind even more than five children."

"I feel that I am doomed," shuddered the German, throwing a hand up over his eyes. "My five little children will not see their father again-not even when this war is over."

"It is too bad," Dave answered, "but I suppose, Herr Ober-Lieutenant, that it must be cla.s.sed with the fortune of war. Now, as to the ident.i.ty of the civilian who lies dead in a berth aboard your late command, it may be that, if you were ready to tell something about the reasons for his presence on board, and why he had in his possession this paper--"

Here Darrin spread out the wet sheet of paper that he had brought from the submarine.

"I can tell you nothing about either the civilian or that paper,"

declared von Bechtold, doggedly.

"That is your own affair," Darrin admitted. "I shall not make any attempt to force you."

"You had better not!" declared the German, fiercely. "I can die, but I cannot betray my country. Yet have you no heart?-when I tell you about my five little children whom you would deny the privilege of ever seeing their father again?"

"If I were to suppress my report of your activities as a spy," Darrin continued, "I would be guilty of betraying my country and my country's allies. It would also be necessary for me to induce my subordinate officer to do the same thing. You will realize the impossibility of our doing such a thing. On the other hand, between now and the time that you are tried by court-martial you will have time to reflect upon whether you wish to try to save yourself from the death sentence by explaining to the British authorities the full meaning of what had been written on this sheet of paper and also the reasons for that civilian being aboard your craft. Then, by throwing yourself on the mercy of the court, you might escape the full penalty meted out to a spy."

"I shall not do it," declared von Bechtold, rising and drawing himself to his full height.

"Nor do I believe I could be induced to tell what I knew if I stood in your boots. Orderly!"

To the marine who entered Dave gave the order to summon the guard. Von Bechtold was taken back to the "Logan's" brig, and locked in for absolutely safe keeping. Darrin went up to the bridge.

"Do you feel sorry for the fellow?" asked Dalzell, when he had heard an account of the interview.

"No more sorry than I do for any man who is down and out," Dave replied, truthfully. "Now that he is captured and his spy work ended, I believe that s.h.i.+ps on these waters will be much safer."

"He will be just one Hun less, after a firing squad has finished with him," Dan rejoined.

Dave nodded thoughtfully.

"War breeds savage ideas, doesn't it?" demanded Danny Grin, with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Not breeds, but brings out," answered Darrin.

They were nearing the coast now. Destroyers, patrol boats, drifters and mine-sweeping craft sighted the "Logan" and her prize, and the shrill whistles of these hunters of the sea testified to their joy over the capture.

Then the destroyer and her prize entered the port. Darrin brought his craft to anchorage, while the captured submarine was anch.o.r.ed not far away. The German prisoners were taken ash.o.r.e under guard and turned over to the British authorities.

Ober-Lieutenant von Bechtold, under the charge of being a spy, was marched away under a special guard.

And then Dave made haste to present himself, with the half-destroyed sheet of paper in his pocket, before the flag lieutenant of Vice Admiral Speare.

CHAPTER V

DAVE TALKS OUT IN COUNCIL

There was much joy aboard a squadron of six more destroyers, just arrived from Uncle Sam's country, when, on steaming into port, they heard the news of the capture.

So far as Dave was concerned the doc.u.ment that he had discovered, mutilated as it was, had supplied hints that filled the British Admiralty and the American naval commander with deep apprehension.

Both Darrin and Dalzell were present in the crowded council room on board the vice admiral's flags.h.i.+p. There were other American naval officers, as well as a few American Army staff officers present. Their faces displayed anxiety.

"It is too bad," one of the American army staff officers declared, after scanning the damaged sheet under a magnifying gla.s.s, "that so much of this is obliterated. Of course, Mr. Darrin, we know that you acted promptly and that you did all in your power, and at considerable risk, to preserve this doc.u.ment. From the disconnected sentences that we can decipher, it would seem that at least sixty of the enemy's submarines are to concentrate in near-by waters. It is also plain that their mission is to destroy the convoy escort and sink the troops.h.i.+ps that are nearing these waters-troops.h.i.+ps that convey the entire One Hundred and Seventeenth Division of the United States Army."

"It would be a frightful disaster, if it came to pa.s.s," boomed the deep tones of a British naval officer.

"It shall not come to pa.s.s!" declared an American naval officer.

"Easily said, and I hope as easily done," replied the British officer.

"But you Americans have not yet begun to lose s.h.i.+ps loaded with troops.

We Britishers have had some sad experiences in that line. Never as yet, though, have we had to face a concentration of sixty enemy submarines!"

"The way it looks to me," said another American army staff officer, gravely, "is that, while the destroyer escort will surely sink some of the enemy submarines, yet just as surely, with the enemy in such force, will some of our troops.h.i.+ps go to the bottom. It is mainly, as I view it, a question of how many troops.h.i.+ps we are likely to lose, and how big a loss of soldier life we shall suffer."

"Sixty submarines!" uttered a British naval officer, savagely. "We haven't an officer on a destroyer who wouldn't gladly go to the bottom if he could first have the pleasure of sinking a few of these deep-sea pests!"

"A distressing feature is that we cannot decipher the very part of this doc.u.ment which states where the submarine concentration is expected to strike," declared a naval staff officer.

"How many British destroyers will be needed to reinforce the available American destroyers?" asked a British officer, apprehensively. "For we have so many uses for our destroyers, on other work, that it is difficult to guess where we are to find destroyers enough to help you Americans."

This was known, by all present, to be only too true. The British Navy, from super-dreadnoughts to the smallest steam trawlers, was painfully overloaded with work.

"As Mr. Darrin is a destroyer commander with an uncommonly good record to his credit," said an American naval staff officer, "and as we have not yet heard his opinion, I think we would all like to have his views."

Dave Darrin glanced at the American naval commander, who sent him an encouraging nod.

"We know, then, gentlemen," began Dave, "just how many American destroyers are to act as escort to the troops.h.i.+p fleet that is bringing the One Hundred and Seventeenth Division across. We know, also, just how many destroyers under our flag can be taken from patrol duty to safeguard the troops.h.i.+p fleet. We know the length of the sailing line of the troops.h.i.+p fleet; we know the speed of our destroyers. It seems to me that the answer is to be found in these known facts."