The Boy Scouts on a Submarine Part 16

"I know you are not," said the Colonel. "But there is one thing I always remind my men of. That is this: never be afraid but never fail to be careful. You would be a fool to take a chance with a mad dog, wouldn't you? Well, your enemy is a mad dog or worse, every time, whether he is trying to get your reputation or your life. You never want to take chances. Watch him. Sleep with one eye open. Listen to every breath of wind. Watch, and watch eternally. You are only safe when he is dead, or disarmed and in prison. And never belittle your enemy. Better think of him as bigger than he is, cleverer, and more cunning. When you belittle his strength you give him the advantage because you will not fight so hard. And don't take chances."

"No, sir," said Porky.

"Another thing," said the Colonel. "We are not in the danger zone yet. When we reach that, you will see our Captain taking all the precautions that can possibly be taken. Understand we do not antic.i.p.ate trouble. This is such a small boat that I scarcely think the Germans would bother with it. At the same time, if by any chance they have found out that we are crossing with important papers, agreements, and chemicals, they will be on the lookout for us and we will have a good chase if we manage to escape. I don't say this to scare you boys; but you are here, and I don't want you to underrate the present danger. I will be good and glad to get across myself. Not a word of this to the others, understand."

He nodded and walked on. The boys looked at each other.

"Wow!" said Porky softly.

For awhile the boys stared out over the sea. "Time for grub,"

Beany finally said.

"Hungry? asked Beany.

"No," said Porky. He laughed. "You know what Colonel Bright's done to me? He's made me imagine things. I thought I saw something over there in the light--way, way off."

Beany stared. "Nothing doing!" he declared. "I could see if it was there, you know."

"Yes, I know your eyes," said Porky nervously. "I saw a gull or a porpoise, I suppose."

"I suppose you didn't see anything," said Beany, scanning the level sea. "Come on down to dinner."

"All right," agreed Porky. He turned from the rail with a last glance seaward. He seized his brother and whirled him about.

"Look! Look!" he cried. "There it is again, straight ahead!

What's that?" Beany's keen eyes swept the sea in a lightning glance. Then lie dashed for the companionway and fairly fell into the presence of the Captain.

"A periscope! A periscope!" he gasped.

In another instant the Captain was on the bridge, the gla.s.ses at his eyes. He commenced rapping out short orders.

The boys, watching breathlessly, saw the guns trained on the little periscope which, like the reared head of a poisonous snake, came darting at them with a swiftness which seemed incredible. Then everything seemed to, happen at once. The little racer on whose throbbing deck they stood swerved like a frightened colt. Her guns spoke together; and at the same time something slim and long cut cleanly through the water and pa.s.sed by, missing the Firefly's side so narrowly that the boys felt their knees weaken under them. The periscope shook as the guns volleyed again, wavered uncertainly, and sank from sight.

"We hit her!" said Beany at the rail.

The Firefly, with every ounce of steam on, dashed ahead, doubling here and there and darting about like a frightened hare. A spot of oil appeared on the water.

"Something wrong," said Porky; "but you can bet we are slated to get right out of the immediate vicinity of here at our earliest convenience!"

The Captain, on the bridge, was talking earnestly with Colonel, Bright and the other officers. Every face held a look of almost incredulous relief. The gunners stood close to their steel charges, every man ready for instant action. The Firefly raced ahead, on and on. No one thought of the interrupted meal. No one thought of anything but the danger so narrowly pa.s.sed. They were still far away from the danger zone. It had been a most unexpected attack.

No one noticed when the sun went down or when dusk fell. Not until darkness wholly hid the sea did they turn from their sea-wide search for approaching danger.

Then the Captain came down from the bridge and approached the boys.

"How did you happen to discover the periscope before the lookout did?" he asked.

Porky spoke for his brother. "It's his eyes," he said. "You see, sir, he has what they call abnormal eyesight. He can see farther and clearer than anybody else. He can see in the dark too, nearly as well as by day. So it wasn't the fault of the lookout that Beany saw it first. He always sees everything before anybody else gets a chance."

"That's odd," mused the Captain. "Well, young fellow, you saved the s.h.i.+p this time all right. It looks as though you had better be stationed on deck when we reach the danger zone. Come down now and get you supper. You never want to go into danger when you are hungry." He slapped Beany on the back and pa.s.sed on.

The boys followed, suddenly conscious that they had omitted the important ceremony of dinner, but Beany was almost too nervous to eat. He felt as though those keen eyes of his should be on deck.

There was a great clatter at the table, the Captain alone sitting in his usual serious silence.

Young Cogggins called out, "Well, that's over with, anyway! They say lightning never strikes in the same place twice."

The Captain smiled. "That's true enough," he said, "but for the sake of safety I had better tell you that these submarines nearly always travel in pairs. We are apt to meet the sister U-boat yet."

A silence fell. "I don't feel sleepy," murmured young Coggins.

"Wouldn't it be nice to sleep on deck to-night?"

"Deck for mine!" said Porky in a low voice. "I will say I don't get many thrills out of this being cooped downstairs when there are subs all around."

"Downstairs!" quoted Coggins scornfully. "Don't let the Captain hear you talking about the 'downstairs' of his s.h.i.+p, you landlubber, you!"

"Well, I don't care what you call it! It's downstairs to me anyhow! And whatever you call it, I don't want to sleep there."

"Bos.h.!.+" said Coggins. "I tell you we won't see another sub on the whole trip. Do you know the percentage of boats that see subs on their way over?"

He launched into a flow of statistics. Porky and Beany seemed to listen. In fact they were thinking hard. As usual, they thought the same thing, and as they were fully conscious that they were doing so, they found the process as satisfactory as a regular spoken conversation.

"Me for bed," said Coggins finally.

"You don't mean bed, do you?" asked Porky. "How the Captain would feel if he should hear you call his nice berths 'beds!'"

"I thought you were coming on deck," said Beany.

"Of course not; that was a joke," said Coggins.

"Good-night then," said the boys. They went up on deck. It was perfectly dark. Not even a riding light was shown, and through the darkness at top speed raced the Firefly.

"Sort of thrilling, isn't it?" said Porky in a low tone as they leaned over the rail and looked down at the mysterious water below them. "Gee, I hope we don't get torpedoed! I worry about the Colonel. I don't know how well he can swim, or anything about it. He'd catch cold, too, like as not!" He grinned.

"Say, do you know what I did back home? I knew you'd laugh if I told you. I bought a couple pounds of--"

"Chocolate," completed Beany. "I did too."

"Any malted milk tablets?" asked Porky.

"Yep, a couple of bottles."

"Oh, gee! Doesn't it beat anything? I suppose yours are for the Colonel in case of s.h.i.+pwreck. Just that!"

"Of course", grinned the other twin. "Well, we are well stocked up; and as long as we have done it, let's fix things up in case anything should happen. You know the Colonel will think of himself the very last one. And if anything does happen, old chap, just you stick right by the Colonel."

"You know if there is anything we can do, and do it is swim."

The two boys went down to their stateroom, and got out the precious store of chocolates and malted milk. Each boy put his share in the oil skin water-tight money belt that had been one of Mr. Leffingwell's many gifts. Their money went easily into a much smaller and less complicated carrier that each boy wore around his neck. Then, feeling ready for any emergency, they hurried back to the dark and silent deck. They stayed up until midnight. Then the wind started up, increasing in violence until the chilled watchers took refuge below.