Brighton Boys in the Radio Service Read online

  CHAPTER IX

  THE PERISCOPE AT DAWN

  That night the boys had ample evidence that they were inside thesubmarine zone, where anything might happen at any minute. Not a lightwas permitted on any of the ships, and they traveled along in the mostpeculiar fashion and over the most irregular course, never going at morethan half speed and not more than a mile or so without a complete changeof direction.

  For no apparent reason whatever the engines would slow down and entirelystop, and in that position they would remain for ten, fifteen, twentyminutes or even half an hour, and then start up again on another tack.

  "I believe we've become separated from our convoy," said Slim, who hadbeen upon deck, and now entered the wireless room where Joe and Jerrywere watching Lieutenant Mackinson make some readjustments of thewireless mechanism. "The pilot doesn't seem to know the course. Say,wouldn't it be great sport if we should be lost from the others? But Iwonder why the captain does not wireless them?"

  "No need," Lieutenant Mackinson assured him, "for we are not lost, norare we separated from them. Every vessel in this fleet is simplycarrying out a program secretly arranged long in advance, and which wasin the nature of a sealed order which the various captains did not openuntil this morning.

  "I dare say that our convoy is as near us now as at any time during thevoyage, and that it is maintaining the same position at all times, goingthrough the exact maneuvers that the _Everett_ is performing."

  "It is to fool the submarines?" asked Joe.

  "Exactly," the lieutenant replied. "Our government is taking everyprecaution, and no unnecessary risks. You see, there is no way ofkeeping absolutely secret the departure of our transports. Nor is thereany assurance that the information does not go directly to the Germanauthorities, and from them to the commanders of the submarines. Ouractions are designed to prevent them from estimating our course orposition.

  "It was their knowledge of that fact, and their determination to learnour whereabouts in another way, which doubtless led to that spy beingaboard this transport. I feel----"

  Suddenly the lieutenant ceased speaking, and all four, as of one accord,sprang toward the radio instruments.

  "Listen!" Lieutenant Mackinson commanded, as he jammed the headpieceover his ears.

  "SOS"--the most tragic of all the calls of the sea, was coming to themas a frantic appeal sent out through the air to any and all who mighthear and respond.

  "SOS," the lieutenant wrote down hurriedly as the message came throughspace. And then:

  "American--_Memphis_--submarine pursuing--53-1/2 lat.--17 W. lon.--running fifteen knots three points south of west."

  The entire message was repeated, and then there was silence--the denseand seemingly impenetrable silence that had existed before.

  Came the nearer and more powerful crackle of the radio.

  "One of our destroyers is replying," Lieutenant Mackinson announced, andone by one he jotted down the words:

  "Continue same direction. U. S. destroyer be with you in about two hours."

  "Understand you," the return message came back a moment later."Submarine still on stern. Has fired two shots, but both missed."

  It was a thrilling moment for the boys from Brighton. Out there in theblackness of the night an American fighting craft was separating itselffrom the rest of the fleet to run full speed to the assistance of ahelpless merchantman, and, if possible, to do battle with the enemyU-boat.

  For an hour and a half they sat there, speculating as to the possibleoutcome.

  "I'd give a month's pay to be aboard that destroyer," exclaimed Jerryenviously. "That's the sort of excitement I like. Just imagine coming upto that merchantman just in time to save her from destruction, and thenhaving a regular battle with the submarine, and finally watching hersink, with a shell hole torn in her side!"

  "Yes," added Slim, "and imagine being aboard that merchantman, with ashell hole torn in her side before the destroyer arrives!"

  "It's pretty cold swimming on a night like this," said Joe. "I've triedit, and I know."

  Lieutenant Mackinson, still seated before the wireless instrument,signaled them for quiet again. Another message was coming through space.It was in code, but was one that was easy for the lieutenant totranslate, for he had heard it before.

  "Submarine disappeared. Returning to fleet. Convoying _Memphis_."

  "Go on deck, keep your eyes busy off the port bow, and you may seesomething interesting," the lieutenant told them.

  Following the suggestion they went above and had stood there for perhapsfifteen or twenty minutes when suddenly the lookout in the crow's nestsang out: "Destroyer approaching, two points off the port bow."

  Almost at the same instant there loomed out of the dense darkness afaint light, apparently miles away. For a moment they would see it, andthen it would be gone, only to reappear again, another time to beextinguished. But obviously all the time it was coming nearer.

  They noted, too, that a similar process was being enacted by the cruiserin the lead.

  "What does it mean?" asked Slim.

  "The destroyer is just using another sort of wireless," Joe explained."She is blinking her identity to the fleet, and the cruiser out there issignaling recognition."

  The next time the destroyer signaled she was almost abreast of them, butabout two miles away to the north. Her message then could be read by allthe boys. The words it spelled out, however, were a complete riddle:

  "Love--sky--sand--curtain--run."

  It was not for several hours that they learned that the captain of thedestroyer had flashed a message that he would convoy the _Memphis_several miles further westward, and then rejoin the others, and that thefleet commander, in flashing back "bundle," had given his O. K., with anadmonition for speed.

  There being no further necessity for the spy watch which had beenmaintained on the previous night, the boys drew lots to determine whichone should do duty until morning in the wireless room, and it fell toJoe.

  But the first faint gray streaks were hardly painting the eastern skywhen Jerry and Slim, unable to sleep longer, came out upon deck to takefor themselves a general survey of the danger zone.

  "What's that?" cried Slim suddenly, staring off over the stern of the_Everett_.

  "Smoke!" echoed Jerry, excitedly.

  "Yes, smoke from the stack of the destroyer," said Joe, who had come upbehind them without being heard. "We just got her signal a moment ago."

  "How far do you suppose she is away?" asked Slim.

  They were speculating upon the distance between the two vessels, whenSlim, speechless for the moment, pointed to what seemed to be littlemore than a dark speck on the water about a mile astern and to the westof them--for at that time their zig-zag course pointed them almost duenorth.

  "Submarine approaching astern!" sang out the man in the crow's nest.

  It was as though the startling message had been megaphoned to every manaboard the _Everett_. At the same time the cruiser of the fleet beganmaneuvering herself between where the periscope showed the submarine tobe and the transport itself.

  Almost simultaneously the U-boat came to the surface and one of the bigguns on the cruiser belched forth a shell that apparently fell a shortdistance the other side of the submarine. The U-boat itself let loose ashot, and with such accuracy that only the sudden maneuver of thetransport at that instant saved it from being hit.

  By this time the decks of the _Everett_ were crowded with the khaki-cladsoldiers of Uncle Sam whom the Germans were trying to prevent fromgetting into the trenches by sending them to the bottom of the Atlantic.

  The cruiser had headed straight for the U-boat, while the destroyer wascoming up behind it with even greater speed.

  For some reason that never will be known the commander of the submarinehad ignored the destroyer entirely, although it was difficult to imaginethat he had not seen it. The general supposition later aboard the_Everett_ was that something had happened to his batteries and he
wasunable to submerge.

  "Hurrah!" shouted hundreds of men on the _Everett_ in unison as thetorpedo-boat destroyer opened fire.

  And the aim of her gunners was deadly! for just as the U-boat began tosubmerge, one of the big projectiles from the destroyer hit her squarelyamidships. There was a terrific explosion, the stern of the underseacraft was lifted upward, clear of the water, she stuck her nose intothe briny deep, and without another second's delay, dove to the bottom,a wreck.

  As the tremendous pressure of the water crushed in her air tanks, greatbubbles rose to the surface and broke, causing rippling waves to rolloutward in increasingly large circles. Then a flood of oil came to thesurface of the sea, and the final evidence of the tragedy wasobliterated.