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diff --git a/old/45841.txt b/old/45841.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ccbd73b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/45841.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6687 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ocean Wireless Boys on War Swept Seas, by +Wilbur Lawton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Ocean Wireless Boys on War Swept Seas + +Author: Wilbur Lawton + +Illustrator: Arthur O. Scott + +Release Date: May 30, 2014 [EBook #45841] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OCEAN WIRELESS BOYS--WARSWEPT SEAS *** + + + + +Produced by Demian Katz, Roger Frank and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Images +courtesy of the Digital Library@Villanova University +(http://digital.library.villanova.edu/)) + + + + + +[Illustration: "Thank heaven you came before it was too late."--Page +108] + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + THE + OCEAN WIRELESS BOYS + ON + WAR SWEPT SEAS + + BY + + CAPTAIN WILBUR LAWTON + + AUTHOR OF "THE BOY AVIATORS' SERIES," "THE DREADNOUGHT + BOYS' SERIES," "THE OCEAN WIRELESS BOYS ON THE + ATLANTIC," "THE OCEAN WIRELESS BOYS AND THE + LOST LINER," "THE OCEAN WIRELESS BOYS ON + THE PACIFIC" + + With Illustrations by + + ARTHUR O. SCOTT + + NEW YORK + HURST & COMPANY, INC. + PUBLISHERS + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + COPYRIGHT, 1917, + BY + HURST & COMPANY + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + I THE GOLD SHIP 5 + II WAR IS DECLARED! 15 + III ON DECK ONCE MORE 23 + IV ICEBERGS AHEAD! 32 + V A CLOSE SHAVE 38 + VI SMOKE ON THE HORIZON 49 + VII A SHOT AT THE RUDDER 55 + VIII LAND HO! 61 + IX A STRANGE QUEST 69 + X UNDER OLD GLORY 78 + XI THE "HERR PROFESSOR" AGAIN 84 + XII THE ARMED CRUISER 90 + XIII A MESSAGE IN CODE 96 + XIV THE CATTLE SHIP 103 + XV JACK'S BRAVE LEAP 113 + XVI AWAITING ORDERS 120 + XVII WHAT BEFELL IN THE AFTER CABIN 128 + XVIII A RASCAL BROUGHT TO BOOK 135 + XIX THE "BARLEY RIG" 147 + XX THE HIDDEN MINE 154 + XXI THE NORTH SEA 160 + XXII A NIGHT OF ALARMS 167 + XXIII MEETING AN OLD FRIEND 173 + XXIV THE SKY SLAYER 179 + XXV IN THE GLARE OF THE FLAMES 187 + XXVI TWO YOUNG HEROES 194 + XXVII "THE GERMANS ARE COMING!" 201 + XXVIII FAST TRAVELING 207 + XXIX THE UHLANS! 215 + XXX "YOU ARE A SPY!" 221 + XXXI COURT-MARTIALED 227 + XXXII THE LONG NIGHT 233 + XXXIII THROUGH BULLET-RACKED AIR 243 + XXXIV A FLIGHT OF TERROR 248 + XXXV THE BULLY OF THE CLOUDS 254 + XXXVI A MYSTERIOUS CAPTURE 260 + XXXVII THE MIGHT OF MILITARISM 266 + XXXVIII MILITARY CROSS-EXAMINATION 272 + XXXIX SHATTERING THE SHACKLES 278 + XL OLD GLORY AGAIN 285 + XLI WAR IN TIMES OF PEACE 292 + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + THE OCEAN WIRELESS BOYS ON WAR SWEPT SEAS + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + THE GOLD SHIP. + + +The newspapers announced in large type that the _Kronprinzessin Emilie_, +the crack flyer of the Bremen-American line, was to carry from the +United States to Germany the vast sum of $6,000,000 in bullion. On her +sailing day the dock, from which she was to start on what destined to +prove the most eventful voyage ever made since men first went down to +the sea in ships, was jammed with gaping crowds. They interfered with +the passengers, and employees of the company had to jostle their way +among them as best they could. + +The thought of the vast fortune stowed within the tall, steel sides of +the liner had attracted them, although what they expected to see of it +was difficult to imagine. But just as a crowd will gather outside a +prison where some notorious malefactor is confined, feasting their eyes +on its gray walls without hope of seeing the lawbreaker himself, so the +throngs on the _Kronprinzessin Emilie's_ pier indulged their curiosity +by staring at the colossal casket that held such an enormous fortune. + +Among those who had to win their way through the crowd almost by main +force, were two tanned, broad-shouldered youths carrying suitcases and +handbags. + +"My, what a mob, Jack!" exclaimed one of them, elbowing himself between +a stout man who was gazing fixedly at the vessel's side--and showed no +disposition to move--and an equally corpulent woman whose mouth was wide +open and whose eyes bulged as if she almost expected to see the ship +gold-plated instead of black. + +"Yes, gold's a great magnet even if it is stowed away inside the specie +room of a steamer," replied Jack Ready. "We ought to feel like +millionaires ourselves, Bill, sailing on such a ship." + +"A sort of vacation _de luxe_," laughed Bill Raynor. "What a chance for +the buccaneers of the old days if they could only come to life again. +Then there would be real adventure in sailing on the _Kronprinzessin_." + +"I guess we've had about all the adventure we want for a time, Bill," +replied Jack, as they finally gained the gang-plank and two +white-coated, gilt-buttoned stewards grabbed their hand baggage. "The +Pacific and New Guinea provided what you might call 'an ample +sufficiency' for me in that line." + +"We earned this holiday, that's one thing sure," agreed Bill, "and the +best part of it is that the sale of those pearls gave us enough funds +for a holiday abroad without putting too much of a crimp in our bank +accounts." + +He referred to the pearls the boys' native chums in the Pamatou Islands +in the South Pacific had presented them with, after their narrow escape +from death in the sea-cave and the subsequent wreck on a coral reef, +during the memorable Pacific voyage and adventures, which were described +in detail in the volume of this series which immediately preceded the +present book. This volume was called, "The Ocean Wireless Boys on the +Pacific." + +In the first book of this series, which was called "The Ocean Wireless +Boys on the Atlantic," we were introduced to Jack Ready, then the young +wireless operator of the big tank steamer _Ajax_. His chum, Bill Raynor, +was a junior engineer of that craft. A strong friendship sprang up +between the two lads, which their subsequent adventures on that voyage +cemented into a lasting affection. + +Jack also won the approval of Jacob Jukes, head of the great shipping +combine that owned the _Ajax_ and a vast fleet of craft, both passenger +and freight, besides, by his masterly handling of a difficult situation +when the millionaire shipping-man's yacht burned in mid-Atlantic. + +This incident, and others which proved that the young wireless man was +level-headed and cool, even in the worst emergency, resulted in his +being transferred to the passenger service on board the West Indian +service craft, the _Tropic Queen_. The thrilling events that accompanied +the vessel's last voyage were set forth in the second volume of the +Ocean Wireless Boys series, entitled, "The Ocean Wireless Boys and the +Lost Liner." + +Still another book related how Jack and his chum took to the seas again +on different vessels, only to be reunited in the strangest manner. "The +Ocean Wireless Boys of the Iceberg Patrol," as this was named, told +something of the work of the craft detailed by Uncle Sam to the duty of +patrolling northern seas, sending wireless warnings of icebergs to +trans-Atlantic liners--a work of infinite usefulness which, had it been +instituted earlier, might have averted the loss of the _Titanic_, the +greatest marine disaster in the history of the world. This was followed +by an account of the exciting Pacific adventures already referred to. + +The boys, and their employer, Mr. Jukes, agreed with them, and felt that +after their experiences in the South Seas with the millionaire's +expedition in search of his lost brother, they had earned a holiday; and +their determination to tour Europe was the outcome. + +But even as they stepped on board the "Gold Ship," the machinery of war +was beginning to rumble in Europe, and before many hours had passed, the +storm of well-nigh universal war was destined to begin. Of this, of +course, they had no inkling, as they busied themselves in establishing +their belongings in their main-deck cabin. These preparations had hardly +been completed when the siren boomed warningly, and a tremor ran through +the big vessel. As she backed out of her pier, the brass band began to +play and the crowds on the decks, and on the docks, waved wildly, +cheered and shouted last messages which, by no possibility, could have +been heard above the din. + +"Well, off at last, Jack," said Raynor, entwining Jack's elbow in his +own as the two leaned, side by side, on the railing, bidding good-bye to +New York's wonderful skyscraper skyline as it slid past. "How does it +feel to be a passenger?" + +Jack's eyes sought the lofty wireless aerials swung far above them +between the two masts. + +"It feels mighty odd to think of somebody else sending out the T. R." he +said slowly, naming the wireless method of saying "Good-bye," on +sailing. + +"Well, I never saw such a fellow!" exclaimed Raynor. "For goodness' sake +forget your everlasting coherers and keys and converters and the rest of +them and enjoy taking life easy. But--hullo!" he broke off, "there's +someone we know." + +Approaching them was a dapper little man, with a neat black moustache +and dressed in a careful, almost dignified manner. + +"Why, it's Raymond de Garros, that French aviator we saved from the sea +off Florida when we were on the old _Tropic Queen_!" exclaimed Jack. + +"That's the man. But what in the world is he doing here? I thought he +was in France organizing an aeroplane corps for the army." + +"So did I. The newspapers have had several despatches about his work. +But we shall soon find out about the reason for his being on board." + +A minute later they were warmly shaking hands with the little Frenchman, +who, with many gesticulations and twirlings of his moustache, assured +them how glad he was to "greet zee two brave boys zat save my life from +zee sea." + +"You're the last person we expected to see," said Jack, when first +greetings were over. "We didn't even know you were in America." + +The little Frenchman shrugged his shoulders and looked about him +uneasily. Then he buttonholed the boys confidentially. + +"No one know zat I am here but my government," he said in low tones. + +"You are on a secret mission of some kind?" asked Jack. + +"Can I trust you to keep somethings to yourselves if I tell you what I +am do in Amerique?" asked the aviator. + +"Of course, but if you don't wish---- I didn't mean to appear +inquisitive," Jack hastened to say. + +"Zat is all right, my friend!" exclaimed de Garros. "You save my life. I +should be ungrateful if I seemed secretive wiz you. I have been in +Amerique buying and shipping aeroplanes to France from one of your +manufacturers." + +"But I thought France already had a powerful air fleet," said Bill. + +The little aviator's next words were astonishing to the boys, who shared +the common impression about the French strength in the air. + +"Before many days are past we shall need all and more aeroplanes than we +have," he said. "I wish we had twice as many. But I can say no more now. +But my advice to you is to watch zee wireless closely. You are going +abroad on pleasure?" + +"Yes, we thought we'd earned a vacation," said Jack. + +The little Frenchman's rejoinder was a shrug and a smile. + +"Your vacation may be what you Americans call a 'strenuous one,'" he +said meaningly, and with an emphasis the boys could not fathom. "By the +way, on board this ship I am Jules Campion. There are reasons for my +real name being unknown for the present. _Au revoir_, I go to arrange my +luggage. We shall meet again." + +And he was gone, leaving the boys to exchange puzzled glances. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + WAR IS DECLARED! + + +"Vell, Yack Retty, you yust like to hang aroundt undt see me vurk, +hein?" + +Hans Poffer, the yellow-haired, red-cheeked wireless operator of the +_Kronprinzessin Emilie_ asked the question, on the afternoon of the +third day out. Jack had discovered in young Poffer an acquaintance he +had made in Antwerp when he was on board the _Ajax_, and had renewed the +friendship, to Poffer's great delight, for the German wireless man had +had trouble with his instruments the first day out which Jack had +adjusted for him. + +Since that time Jack, to Bill Raynor's amusement, had spent most of his +time in the wireless room enjoying, as Poffer put it, "watching me +work." But there was another reason beside his deep-seated interest in +everything appertaining to his profession that made Jack haunt the +_Kronprinzessin's_ wireless coop. De Garros, with whom he had had +several conversations since their meeting on board, had repeatedly told +him to be on the lookout for something "that would before long come over +the wires." Once, in discussing the boys' plans for amusing themselves +in Europe, the aviator had said meaningly, "if you ever get there." But +what he meant by these words he had steadfastly refused to explain, +telling Jack that he would find out in good time. + +"Me, if I gedt idt a holliday," said Poffer, after greeting Jack a day +later, "I go by as far avay from der vireless as I couldt gedt idt. I +gedt sick undt tired hearing idt all day 'tick-tick' undt sending idt +all day der same 'tick-tick' alretty. Donner! I'm hungry again. Holdt +idt mein key a minute vile I gedt idt mineself a bite." + +The stout German slipped his wireless "ears" from his head and extended +them to Jack, who, good-naturedly, took them. Then he made off for his +cabin where he kept constantly a stock of provisions to satisfy his +appetite between meals. + +"Well, I'm a fine chump," smiled Jack, as he slipped into Hans' vacant +chair. "No wonder Bill says I'm crazy. Off for a holiday and the first +thing I know I find myself back on the job. Hullo, here's a message +coming. K. P. E., that's our call. Funny sort of sending, too. Doesn't +sound like a commercial operator." + +Jack crackled out a reply. + +"This is the _Kronprinzessin Emilie_," he flashed back; "what do you +want?" + +"Tell your captain to lie to in his present position till further +orders," came the reply. + +"Well, I like your nerve," flashed back Jack, thinking somebody was +trying to play a wireless joke on him. "Don't you know we are carrying +the European mails from New York? You stick around where you are and we +may bump into you on the way back again." + +"Never mind about that. Obey orders at once," came back bruskly. + +"Say, never mind that comedy," implored Jack. "I'm busy. Ring off." + +"No trifling there, young man," was flashed back. "This is the British +cruiser _Essex_. We want to overhaul you." + +"But you can't stop a mail steamer." + +"In this case we can. War has been declared by England upon Germany and +Austria. Lay to or it will be the worse for you." + +A step sounded behind Jack. He turned quickly, thinking it was someone +who wanted to send a message, in which case he was anxious to "cut out" +the man he thought was playing a senseless joke on him. The newcomer was +de Garros. + +"Ah, sitting at zee wire, eh? I suppose our always hungry Teutonic +friend iz taking ze light lunch somewhere. Ah, any news? I saw you +working ze key as I came in." + +"No news since I came on," said Jack, carelessly. "I was just trying to +convince some deep sea joker that he couldn't fool me." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Why, somebody just flashed a message to the ship that they were the +British cruiser _Essex_ and that war had been declared between England +and Germany and----" + +He got no further. De Garros's hands flew out and seized his shoulders. + +"Zat was no joke, _mon ami_," he exclaimed; "it was zee truth." + +"The truth? How do you know?" asked the naturally astonished Jack. + +"It has been in zee air for months in diplomatic circles. I thought zee +declaration would have come before this. It was for that that I was in +Amerique buying aeroplanes." + +"What, is France in this, too?" demanded the astonished Jack. + +"Yes, and Russia also. Russia declared war two days ago. Then came +France, zee second member of zee Triple Entente, as zee is called, and +now, as was expected, comes England to help against the German +barbarians." + +"But how did you know all this?" demanded Jack. "There was nothing in +the papers when we left New York, but something about a row between +Austria and Servia." + +"Which caused all the trouble," came the reply; "or, rather, zee match +to zee powder. But zee ask me how I know zee declaration of war of +Russia and France. I am not the only man on zee ship zat does. Captain +Rollok, he knows, zee officers know, like me zey have been getting +wireless messages in code. Zey have been warned to look out for English +cruisers in case England joined France and Russia. Zis Gerrman ship with +six million dollars in gold on board would be a fine prize for Great +Britain. My friend, before many hours have passed, you are going to have +some excitement." + +"Great gracious, then that message wasn't a joke and that British +cruiser may overhaul us and take all that bullion?" + +"If she can catch us,--yes. She will also make prisoners of the Germans +on board and take the ship to an English port." + +"What had I better do?" + +"Here comes young Poffer now. Tell him of zee message and get it to zee +captain at once. If we are caught we may be delayed indefinitely and zee +haste is imperative with me at zee present time." + +The German wireless man entered the cabin, gnawing at a huge pretzel. At +Jack's information of the message that had come, he dropped it to the +floor in his astonishment and stood staring for a moment. + +"Himmel!" he exclaimed, when he found his voice. "Englandt is go var +midt Yarmany! Undt a Bridish sheep chase us. _Ach du lieber_, if they +catch us, Hans Poffer goes by a prison yet midt nudding to eat but bread +undt vater----" + +"Never mind about that now," interrupted Jack quickly; "take that +information to Captain Rollok at once. Take it yourself. Don't give it +to a steward. If the passengers knew of this, there'd be a panic in a +jiffy." + +Poffer, still with his mouth and eyes wide open, hurried off on his +errand. + +"Captain Rollok will probably come back himself," declared de Garros, +"and vee will be ordered out of the cabin. Ve had better go now. But vee +must not say a word of zees till zee time comes. Vee have more as two +thousand passengers on board and if zey zink a warship chase +us,--_sacre!_" + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + ON DECK ONCE MORE. + + +Jack was lolling in a deck chair fifteen minutes later, still digesting +the astonishing news that had come out of space, when a deck steward +approached him and, with an air of caution, leant over the lad and said: + +"Captain Rollok would like to see you in the wireless room at once, +please." + +"Now what's up?" wondered Jack, as greatly astonished by this message, +he made his way to the radio cabin. "I guess I'm in for a call down for +sitting in at the key. Poor Poffer, I'll see that he doesn't get into +trouble if I can help it, and as for me--I'm a passenger now and +captains have no terrors for me." + +These thoughts occupied him as far as his destination. Within the cabin +were Captain Rollok, a giant of a man, with a fresh complexion and huge +blond beard, one of his officers and Hans Pollak, the latter looking in +fear of his life as the big captain berated him, in German, with force +and vigor. As Jack entered the cabin, the great bulk of the captain +swung round on him. + +"So you are de young mans who sits in at der vireless vile dis +cabbage-head goes stuffing himself midt pretzels, is it?" he demanded, +with what appeared great severity, but with an underlying twinkle in his +eyes. + +Jack contented himself with nodding and a brief admission that he had +taken Poffer's place at the key while the latter refreshed himself. He +half-expected an outburst from the big German but, to his astonishment, +the captain clapped him on the back with a force that almost knocked him +off his feet. + +"_Ach, du lieber!_" he exclaimed; "it was goot dot you vod dere, +uddervise dis foolish Poffer would haf left der key anyvay undt dot +British cruiser would have overhauled us. Now I got a proposition to +make to you. You are a vireless man. Our second operator is sick undt +idt is necessary dot dere is someones at der vireless all of der time. +Vill you take der chob?" + +Jack hardly knew what to say. The proposal had come so abruptly that he +found it hard to make up his mind. + +"You would want me to help out all the way to Europe?" he asked. + +"We are not going to Europe," was the reply. "I am going to run back for +der American coast undt try to dodge capture. Six million dollars is a +big enough prize to make der search for us pretty active. I don't +believe dere would be a chance for us to reach der udder side." + +"Well," said Jack, after some consideration, "I guess my holiday is off +anyhow, and I might as well get down to work now as later on. All right, +Captain, you can count on me." + +"Goot for you. I vill see dot you are no loser by idt," said the big +German, and so Jack, by a strange combination of undreamt-of +circumstances, became the wireless man of the "gold ship," whose +subsequent adventures were destined to fill the world with wonder. + +Poffer's hours of duty ended at dinner time that evening, and by the +time Jack sat down at the key, it was dark. No more word had come from +the British cruiser, and so far the _Kronprinzessin's_ course had not +been altered. A hasty message in cipher had been sent to the offices of +the line in New York, but so far no orders to turn back had come through +the air. + +However, Jack had not been on duty an hour before the expected command +came. The passengers strolling and sitting about the decks were suddenly +aware that the big ship was slowing up and being turned about. The +incredulous ones among them were speedily convinced that this was +actually the case when it was pointed out that the moon, which had been +on the starboard side of the ship in the early evening, was now to be +seen off the port quarter. + +Rumors ran rife throughout the great steel vessel. There had been an +accident to the machinery, there were icebergs ahead, some plot against +the security of the gold in the specie room had been discovered--these, +and even wilder reports, were circulated. The captain and the other +officers were besieged for explanations, but none were forthcoming, for +the time being. + +Shortly before midnight, however, the captain in person entered the +smoking room with a telegram in his hand. + +"Gentlemen," he announced to those assembled there, "I am sorry to say +that var has been declared bedween England and Germany, Great Britain +siding against my Vaterland mit France and Russia." + +He held up his hand to quell the hub-bub that instantly broke loose. +When a measure of quiet was restored, he resumed: + +"Id is therefore imbossible for the voyage of this ship to continue. As +you haf observed, her course has been altered. Ve are on our way back to +America." + +"To New York?" demanded a score of voices. + +The captain shook his head. + +"New York vill be vatched more carefully than any udeer port on der +Atlantic coast," he said. "I haf not yet decided for vere I vill make; +but I ask you all to take der situation philisophically and try to quiet +any alarm among der lady passengers." + +The turmoil of questions and answers and excited conversation broke out +again, and in the midst of it the captain's broad form disappeared +through the doorway. A few moments later, Raynor was in the wireless +room after a fruitless search for his chum in other parts of the ship. + +"Say, what are you doing sitting at that key?" he demanded. "Have you +gone to work for the ship?" + +"Looks that way, doesn't it?" smiled Jack. + +"Did you know that we are running away from British cruisers?" asked +Raynor, breathlessly. + +"Knew it before the ship was turned around," said Jack, calmly. "But I +couldn't have told even you about it at the time. It was confidential. +But there's no reason why you shouldn't hear it all now," and he +launched into a narration of the events just passed which had had such a +strange culmination. He was in the midst of it, when one of the junior +officers of the ship appeared. + +He told the boys they would have to close the door of the wireless room +and cover the ports. Not a ray of light must be visible about the ship, +he informed them. In the darkness even the glow of a single port-light +might give a clue as to the whereabouts of their quarry to the lurking +British cruisers. In the passengers' quarters of the great ship, similar +orders were issued. Stewards went about blanketing portholes and turning +out all unnecessary lights. By ten o'clock, except in the "working" +quarters of the ship,--and there, they were carefully concealed, as in +the wireless room,--there was not a light on board. + +In order to insure obedience to his orders, the captain had had the +cabin lights disconnected from the dynamos at that hour. On the darkened +decks, little groups of timid passengers, who refused to go to bed, +huddled and talked in low tones, constantly gazing seaward to catch +sight of a tell-tale searchlight which would tell of pursuit or +interception. + +Through the darkness, the great ship was driven at top speed without +warning lights of any description. Watches were doubled, and on the +bridge, the unsleeping captain kept vigil with his anxious officers. + +Through the long hours, Jack sat unwinkingly at his key. But it was not +till the sky was graying the next morning that anything disturbed the +silence of the air. Then came a break in the monotony. The British +cruiser _Essex_ was speaking to the _Suffolk_. But the messages were in +code and told nothing except that Jack caught the name of the liner and +knew the radio talk between the warships concerned her. + +At breakfast time the passengers assembled in the saloon, for the most +part anxious and haggard after sleepless nights. The captain spoke +encouragingly, but even his words had little effect. Every one on board +felt and showed the strain of this blind racing over the ocean with +watchful naval bull-dogs lying in wait ready to pounce on the richest +prize afloat on the seven seas. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + ICEBERGS AHEAD! + + +That night a dense fog fell. But the pace of the fleeing liner was not +slackened by a fraction of a knot. Without running lights, and with +darkened decks and cabins, she raced blindly onward through the smother, +facing disaster if she struck an obstacle. The passengers, already +nerve-racked for the most part, almost beyond endurance, named a +committee which was sent to the captain to protest against the reckless +risk he was taking in ploughing ahead at top speed through the blinding +mist. + +They returned with a report that the captain had refused to slacken +speed. With reckless fatalism, it appeared, he was prepared to lose his +ship in a disaster rather than run the chance of its capture by cruisers +of the country with which his ruler was at war. A new feeling, one of +indignation, began to spread through the big ship. Little knots gathered +and angrily censured the captain's action. Some even visited him in +person, but while he was polite to all, he firmly refused to reduce +speed or display lights. + +This was the condition of affairs when Jack came on duty accompanied by +Bill Raynor, who had agreed to share his lonely vigil, for, from being +one of the most sought out places on the ship, the wireless room was now +deserted by the passengers, for strict orders had been given against the +sending or receiving of any wireless messages lest the watching cruisers +should get definite information of the liner's whereabouts and pounce +upon her. + +There was little for Jack to do under this "ukase" but to lean back +restfully in his chair, with the receivers over his ears on the lookout +for what might be coming through the air. He and Raynor chatted, +discussing the wild flight of the "gold ship," intermittently, as the +hours passed. But suddenly Jack became alert. Out in the dark, +fog-ridden night, two ships were talking through the air. They were, as +he learned after a moment of listening, the _Caledonian_ of the English +Anchor Line and the _Mersey_, which also flew the British flag. + +The young wireless man listened for a time and then "grounded" with a +grave face. + +"What's up now?" asked Raynor, noticing this. "If it's the cruisers, I +don't mind, for only the Germans and Austrians would be held as +prisoners. I'd kind of like to be 'captured,' as a novelty." + +"This trouble's worse than cruisers," rejoined Jack, in sober tones. + +"What is it then?" + +"Icebergs," said Jack, sententiously. + +"Icebergs at this time of the year?" asked Bill, incredulously, for +bergs are rare in August on the usual steamer lanes, though occasionally +seen. + +"That's what," rejoined Jack; "the _Caledonian_ was telling the +_Mersey_. She says they are sown thick to the northwest of us. You've +got to remember that we're a long way to the north of the usual steamer +tracks now, so it's not surprising that the 'growlers' are about." + +"No, but it's mighty unpleasant," said Raynor. "What are you going to +do?" + +"Tell the captain about it at once," said Jack, decisively, rising and +putting on his cap. + +"I hope he puts on the brakes when he hears about it," commented Bill. +"I'm not particularly nervous, but going full speed ahead through the +fog into a field of bergs doesn't just exactly feel good." + +"I'm only glad that the passengers don't know about it," said Jack. +"They're scary enough now. If they knew about the bergs, I firmly +believe some of them would have to be put in strait jackets." + +"Yes, about the only cool ones on board are the Americans and the +English," declared Bill. "I heard to-day that a party of American +millionaires got together in the smoking room and laid plans to make an +offer to buy the ship and run her across anyhow." + +"That sounds like the American spirit all right," chuckled Jack. "What +became of the idea?" + +"The captain told them the ship was not for sale," said Bill, "even if +they offered to throw in the millions in the specie room." + +Jack found Captain Rollok and his officers in anxious consultation in +the former's cabin. + +"Ha, so you haf the news, is it?" demanded the captain, as Jack entered. + +"Yes, and not very good news, I'm sorry to say," said Jack. "The +_Caledonian_ has just been telling the _Mersey_ that there are icebergs +ahead." + +The officers exchanged glances. They all looked at the captain. +Evidently some orders were expected, with the greatest peril the sea +holds lying ahead of the racing vessel. + +One of them,--Second Officer Muller, who had the watch,--put his anxiety +into words. + +"Is it that you will change the course or reduce speed, Captain?" he +inquired. + +The big, bearded captain turned on him like a flash. He raised his +massive fist and brought it down on the table with a crash that bade +fair to split the wood. + +"We keep on as we are going!" he exclaimed. "Rather than let this ship +get into the hands of the English, I'll send her to the bottom." + +"But the passengers!" exclaimed Jack; "surely----" + +"Herr Ready," said the captain, "I am in command of this ship. The +orders are full speed ahead." + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + A CLOSE SHAVE. + + +Bill Raynor received Jack's news with a shrug. + +"I'm not surprised, to tell you the truth," he said. "I've met a good +many Germans in the course of my sea-going years, and that's usually +their idea,--rather sink the ship than give it up." + +"But the fearful danger, Bill," protested Jack. "At any moment there may +come a crash and----" + +"We've got iceberg detectors," said Bill, "and maybe they'll sound the +whistle and locate a big berg by the echo." + +"They won't sound any whistle to-night," declared Jack. "That skipper is +determined not to give any cruiser the least inkling of his whereabouts. +I'm going to take a run on the deck, the wireless bell will call me if +something comes. Want to join me?" + +"All right. But it's not much of a night for a stroll outside." + +"Anything's better than sitting in that cabin waiting for +you-don't-know-what to happen." + +"You're getting nervous, Jack." + +"Not so much for my own sake as at the thought of all these thousands of +tons of steel being raced through this fog at a twenty-four knot clip +and icebergs ahead. It's sheer madness." + +"Well, the captain's word is law at sea, so it's no use protesting. We +must hope for the best." + +The upper decks were deserted except for the boys. On the lower deck the +passengers huddled in the darkness behind canvas screens erected to +prevent any chance ray of light from filtering out. It was an uncanny +feeling this, of speeding through an impenetrable pall of blackness with +the thought of the iceberg warning ever and anon recurring to both lads, +though they tried to talk of indifferent subjects. + +The hours wore on and the fog did not lighten. Chilled to the bone, +although it was August, Jack and Bill had about decided to turn in when +there came a sudden sharp cry from the lookout forward. Involuntarily, +Bill clutched Jack's arm. The strain had affected them both more than +they cared to admit. + +Suddenly, dead ahead of them, as it seemed, there reared, seen white +through the mist, a monstrous spectral form. It towered above the +steamer's masts and appeared to their alarmed imaginations to hang like +an impending cliff above the ship. + +From the bridge came quick shouts. Orders were given and harshly echoed. +Somewhere down on the passenger decks, a woman screamed. Then came cries +of consternation. The next moment there was a slight shock and a long, +shuddering grind passed along the vessel's side. The mountainous ice +mass appeared to sheer off, but in reality the ship was swinging clear +of it. By a miracle she had escaped with a mere graze of her side. At +diminished speed, she continued on her course. + +"Phew, what a narrow escape!" exclaimed Jack, as the fog shut in about +the monster berg they had sheered. + +"I thought we were goners, sure," declared Bill, soberly. "A little of +that sort of thing goes a long way. I---- Hark!" + +From the lower decks there now came the confused noise of a frightened +crowd. Now and then, above, could be heard the shrieks of an hysterical +woman. Sharp, authoritative voices belonging, as the boys guessed, to +the officers, who were trying to quiet the panic-stricken throngs, +occasionally sounded above the babel. + +"They're coming this way!" cried Jack suddenly, as a rush of feet could +be heard making for the ascents to the boat deck, where the wireless +coop was situated. "Bill, we'll be in the middle of a first-class panic +in a minute." + +"Yes, if that crowd gets up here among the boats, there's going to be +the dickens popping," agreed Bill. "What will we do?" + +"Run into the wireless room. In the drawer of the desk by the safe there +are two revolvers. One's mine and the other belongs to Poffer. Get them +on the jump." + +It did not take Bill long to carry out his errand, but in even the short +time that he had been absent, the forefront of the terrified crowd from +below was almost at the head of the companionway leading from the +promenade to the boat deck. Jack had stationed himself at the head of +it. + +"Keep cool, everybody," he was shouting; "there is no danger." + +"The _Titanic_!" shrieked somebody. "We've hit an iceberg. We'll sink +like her." + +"The boats!" shouted a man. "We'll lower 'em ourselves. We're sinking!" + +In the gloom Jack could see the man's face, round and white, with a big +yellow mustache. + +[Illustration: "Keep cool, everybody," he was shouting; "there is no +danger."--Page 42] + +The fellow shoved two women, wedged in the throng, aside, and addressed +himself to Jack, who stood at the head of the companionway. + +"Let me pass, you!" he bellowed, seemingly mad with fear. "I want a +place in the first boat. I----" + +Jack felt Bill slip a revolver into his pocket. But he did not remove +the weapon, the time had not yet come for its use. + +"Stop that noise," he told the yellow-mustached man bluntly. "Ladies and +gentlemen," he went on, "there's no danger. We merely grazed the berg. +Thank heaven the ship was swung in time to save her." + +"Don't believe him," shrieked the terrified man. "Stand to one side +there. The boats!" + +He made a rush for Jack and struck heavily at the young wireless +operator. But before his blow landed, Jack had crouched and the next +instant his fist shot out like a piston rod. The fellow staggered back, +but could not fall because of the pressure of humanity behind him. + +It is difficult to say what might have happened had there not been +cooler heads in the crowd. Reassured by Jack's cool manner, these began +quieting the more timid ones. Just then, too, Captain Rollok and some of +his officers appeared. All carried drawn revolvers, for a disorganized +rush on the boats would have meant that scores of women would have been +trampled and many lives lost in the confusion. + +The captain's firm, stern tones completed the work Jack and Bill had +begun. He assured the passengers that an examination had been made and +that no damage had been done. He also promised thereafter to run at a +more moderate speed. Gradually, the excited crowd calmed down, and some +sought their cabins. The greater part, however, elected to remain on +deck throughout the night. + +The next morning the fog had somewhat cleared and the break-neck speed +of the ship was resumed. Jack was just resigning the key to young Poffer +when the doorway was darkened by a bulky figure. It was that of a big, +yellow-mustached man, whom Jack recognized instantly as the man who had +led the panic of the night before, and whom he had been forced to deal +with summarily. + +He furiously glared at Jack, and the boy noticed that under his left eye +was a dark bruise, a memento of the previous night. + +"What did you mean by striking me last night?" he began angrily. "I +demand your name. I will have you discharged." + +"My name is Ready," answered Jack calmly, "and as far as having me +discharged is concerned, I'm afraid that will be impossible. You see I'm +here in what you might call an extra-official capacity." + +"Bah! don't be impudent with me, boy. I am Herr Professor." + +"Oh, a barber," smiled Jack, amiably. + +The yellow-mustached man fairly growled. His light blue eyes snapped +viciously. + +"I am Herr----" + +"Oh, yes, I see you're here," responded Jack calmly. "You seem to be in +rather a bad temper, too." + +"Boy, I will see that you are punished for this. I am a gentleman." + +"Really, it would be as hard to tell it on you this morning as it was +last night," responded Jack, in quite unruffled tones. + +"Be very careful, young man. I have already told you I am Herr +Professor." + +"Oh, don't hang out the barber pole again," begged Jack. + +The other shot a glance full of venom at the perfectly cool youth before +him. Then, apparently realizing that there was nothing to be gained from +indulging in tirades, he turned abruptly on his heel and strode to the +door. On the threshold he paused. + +"I am going to report your conduct to the captain at once," he said. +"You will find out before long what such gross impertinence to a +passenger means." + +"I shouldn't advise you to tell him about your behavior last night, +though," observed Jack. + +"Why not?" + +"Because from what I've observed of him, he is a rather hot-tempered man +and he might feel inclined to throw you out of his cabin--and it's quite +a drop from there to the promenade deck." + +"You will hear more of this," snarled the infuriated man; but at Jack's +parting shot he made off, looking very uncomfortable. + +Poffer regarded Jack with a look in which admiration and awe were oddly +blended. + +"I dink you haf for yourself made idt troubles," he remarked. + +"Trouble! In what way?" demanded Jack. "The fellow is an arrant coward. +He----" + +"Ah yah, dot is so, but den he is Herr----" + +"Gracious, have you got hair on your brain, too?" + +"Yah," was the innocent response. "He is a big Professor at a Cherman +War College. He is a great man in Germany, der Herr Professor Radwig." + +"Well, Mr. Earwig, or whatever his name is, may be a great man as you +say, Hans, my boy, but he is also a great coward. As for his threat to +make trouble with the captain, that does not bother me in the least. To +begin with, I'm only a volunteer, as it were, and in the second place, +I'll bet you a cookie or one of those big red apples you're so fond of, +that Mr. Earwig will avoid discussing the events of last night as much +as he can. I've heard the last of him." + +But in this Jack was wrong. In days that lay ahead of the boys, they +were to find that Herr Professor Radwig was ordained to play no +unimportant part in their lives. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + SMOKE ON THE HORIZON. + + +Late that afternoon Jack, who had just come on deck, was in time to +notice an unusual thrill of excitement among the already overwrought +passengers. On the northern horizon was a smudge of smoke, and a dark +hull bearing down on them. Those who had glasses had already announced +the other craft to be a warship, although, of what nation, it was as yet +impossible to say. + +Jack hurried to the wireless room. Young Poffer declared that he had +received no wireless, nor intercepted any message which might have any +bearing on the identity of the strange ship. On the bridge, the ship's +officers were in excited consultation. The warship was drawing closer +every moment. She was black and squat, with two fat funnels from which +volumes of dark smoke rolled. At her bow was a smother of white foam +showing the speed at which she was being pushed. + +"Ach, now comes it!" exclaimed Poffer the next instant. He wrote rapidly +and then handed the message to Jack. The wireless boy read: + + "Heave to at once. + + "Dutton, commanding His Majesty's ship _Berwick_." + +"I'll take it forward right away!" exclaimed Jack. "You listen with all +your ears for any more messages, Hans." + +"You bet you my life I will undt den some," Hans promised. "Vot you +dink, dey shood us up, Jack?" + +"I don't know. I suppose if we don't heave to, they will," said the +wireless boy as he hurried off. + +"Chust as I thought," declared Captain Rollok, after he had read the +message. + +"Shall I tell Hans to send back word we'll stop?" asked Jack. + +"Stop! I vouldn't stop for der whole British navy," declared Captain +Rollok vehemently. + +He stepped to the engine room telegraph and set it violently over to +"Full speed ahead." Then he picked up the engine-room telephone and gave +orders to pile on every ounce of steam possible. The great ship quivered +and then sprang forward like a grayhound from a leash. Clouds of black +smoke rose from her funnels, deluging the decks with ashes as force +draught was applied to the furnaces. + +Jack hastened back to the wireless room. He found Poffer, pop-eyed and +frightened looking. + +"There's another cruiser coming up on the other side!" he exclaimed. "I +just heard her talking to the _Berwick_." + +"That's nice," commented Jack, as Bill Raynor and de Garros appeared in +the doorway. + +"Hullo, Bill," he continued. "You'll have a chance to be under fire +now." + +"What do you mean?" demanded young Raynor. + +"Surely it is that the captain will stop?" asked the French aviator. + +"Stop nothing," rejoined Jack. "He doesn't appear to care what he risks, +so long as he saves his ship." + +"I thought I felt her speeding up," said Bill. "So he's going to cut and +run for it?" + +"That's the size of it," responded Jack, while the Frenchman shrugged +his shoulders. + +"They are not understandable, these Germans," he commented. + +"Here comes it anudder message," struck in Hans, holding up his hand to +enjoin silence. + +They all looked over his shoulder as he wrote rapidly. + +"Your last warning. Heave to or take the consequences." + +It was signed as before by the commander of the _Berwick_. + +"My friends, this captain had better heed that warning," said de Garros. +"Englishmen are not in zee habit of what zee call 'bluffing.'" + +But when Jack came back from the bridge, whither he had sped at once +with the message, it was to report the captain as obdurate as ever. His +only comment had been to call for more speed. + +"I guess he thinks we can show that cruiser a clean pair of heels," said +Raynor. + +"That looks to be the size of it," agreed Jack, "but he is taking +desperate chances. Let's go outside and see the fun." + +The cruiser was coming toward them on an oblique line now. From her +stern flowed the red cross of St. George on a white field, the naval +flag of England. They watched her narrowly for some minutes and then +Jack exclaimed: + +"Jove! I believe that with luck we can outrun her. The _Kronprinzessin_ +is the fastest ship of this line, and if her boilers don't blow up we +may be able to beat that cruiser out." + +"I hope so," declared Raynor, fervently. "I'm not exactly a coward but I +must say the idea of being made a target without having the chance to +hit back is not exactly pleasant." + +"As I shall be in zee thick fighting not before very long, I might as +well receive my baptism of fire now as any other time," said the +Frenchman. "I expect to be placed in charge of zee aviation corps, and I +am told zee Germans have some very good aeroplane guns." + +"Look," cried Bill, suddenly, "they are going to----" + +A white mushroom of smoke broke from the forward turret of the cruiser, +followed by a screeching above their heads. Then came an ear-splitting +report. + +"Great guns! Where is this going to end?" gasped Bill, involuntarily +crouching. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + A SHOT AT THE RUDDER. + + +"_Ach Himmel!_" groaned Hans Poffer. "Suppose dey hit us vee----" + +He got no further. There was another burst of smoke, a quick, +lightning-like flash and the same screech of a projectile. But this +time, accompanying the sound of the report, was a sound of tearing metal +and the ship shook as if she had struck on the rocks. + +"The after funnel," cried Jack, pointing to a jagged hole in the smoke +stack. + +"The next one may come closer," choked out Bill rather shakily. + +On the lower decks there was the wildest confusion. Women were fainting +and the stewards and petty officers had all they could do to handle the +frightened throngs. The striking of the funnel was the occasion for an +angry and badly scared deputation to wait upon the captain and demand +that he stop the ship at once. + +But the deputation did not reach the bridge. They were met at the foot +of the stairway leading to it by a polite but firm officer who informed +them that under no circumstances would the captain tolerate any +interference with his method of running the ship. + +A third shot, which went wide, closely followed the one that had struck +the after funnel. It flew high above them and caused Jack to observe: + +"I don't believe they mean to hit the hull, but only to scare the +captain into heaving the boat to." + +"Looks that way," agreed Bill, "and as for the scare part of it, I guess +they've succeeded, so far as everybody is concerned but Captain Rollok +and his officers." + +"We are gaining on zee cruiser without a doubt," asserted de Garros, +whose eyes had been fixed on the pursuing sea fighter for some minutes. + +"Yes, but look, there comes another," cried Jack, suddenly, pointing +astern. "That must be the one Poffer heard signaling to the _Berwick_." + +"We're in for it now," said Bill. "I wish that pig-headed captain would +heave to and let them take the gold and the Germans, if that's all they +are after." + +"Hullo!" exclaimed Jack, suddenly, as they all stood waiting nervously +to see the next flash and puff from the cruiser's turret. "I can see a +gleam of hope for us. See what's ahead!" + +Ahead of them the sea appeared to be giving off clouds of steam as if it +was boiling. As yet this vapor had not risen high, but it was rapidly +making a curtain above the sunny waters. + +"Fog!" cried Bill, delightedly. + +"It cannot be too thick for me," said de Garros. + +"Perhaps Captain Rollok foresaw this and that was why he refused to +halt," said Jack. "Certainly, if we can gain that mist bank before we +get badly injured, we'll be all right." + +It was now a race for the thickening fog curtains. The cruisers appeared +to realize that if the _Kronprinzessin_ could gain the shelter of the +mist, there would be but small chance of their capturing her. Increased +smoke tumbling from their funnels showed that they were under forced +draught. But as their speed increased so did that of the "gold ship." + +The gun boomed again on the _Berwick_, the foremost of the pursuers. The +projectile struck the stern of the liner and knocked the elaborate gilt +work wreathing, her name and port, into smithereens. + +"Aiming at the rudder," commented Jack. "That's a good idea from their +point of view." + +"But a mighty bad one from ours if they succeed in hitting it," said +Raynor, with a rather sickly laugh. + +Two more shots, one of them from the second cruiser, flew above the +fugitive liner and then the mist began to settle round her +swiftly-driven hull in soft, cottony wreaths. In five minutes more the +fog had shut in all about her. + +Then ensued a game of marine blind-man's buff. Captain Rollok, having +steamed at full speed some miles through the fog,--and this time there +were no protests from passengers,--altered his course and deliberately +steamed in circles. + +"Hark!" exclaimed Jack, during one of these manoeuvers. "What was that?" + +Out in the fog somewhere they could hear a sound like the soft beating +of a huge heart. It was the throbbing of another vessel's engines. To +the fear of the chase now was added the peril of collision, for in the +fog, dense as it was, the captain would not permit the siren to be +sounded. + +It was almost impossible to tell from which direction the sound was +proceeding. It seemed to be everywhere. Was it another peaceful vessel +like themselves, or a man-of-war? Much depended on the answer to this +question. + +All at once, with startling distinctness, a huge black bulk loomed up +alongside them. Through the fog they caught a sudden glimpse of crowded +decks and great guns projecting from grim-looking turrets. It was one of +the British cruisers. By grim irony, the fog had delivered them into the +hands of their pursuers. + +"Great Scott, it's all off now!" cried Bill, as they simultaneously +sensed the identity of the other craft. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + LAND HO! + + +But the strange cruise of the _Kronprinzessin Emilie_ was not destined +to come to an end then, although, for an instant, it appeared so. +Whether the Britisher was mutually astonished, and in the confusion the +right orders were not given, or whatever the cause was, before they had +more than glimpsed her grim, dogged outlines, she faded away in the fog +and was blotted out. + +"Phew! A few more close shaves like that and I'd be looking in the +mirror to see if my hair hasn't turned gray," said Jack. + +"I wonder they didn't take some action," commented Bill, "although I'm +glad they didn't." + +"Perhaps zey was so astonished zey forgot to fire zee gun," suggested de +Garros. + +"I guess that was it," agreed Jack, "but just the same it was a mighty +lucky thing for us they didn't come to their senses sooner." + +"Yes, this thing of playing tag in the fog gets on my nerves," muttered +Bill. + +By nightfall, they had steamed through the fog belt, but every eye was +anxiously turned astern as if their owners expected at any moment to see +the ram-shaped bows of the black British sea bulldogs come poking put of +the mist. + +But nothing of the sort happened, however, though late that night, far +to the eastward of their course, they could see the glowing fingers of +the cruisers' searchlights pointing in every direction across the sea. +The next day passed without any untoward happenings, and when, the +morning following, Jack gazed from the wireless coop he saw, in the +first faint light of dawn, that they were steaming along a strange, +unfamiliar, rugged coast. + +By the time the passengers were astir, the outlines of the coast had +become dotted with cottages and houses, and in the midst of breakfast +they steamed into a harbor, and the anchor was dropped with a roar and a +rumble. Like a flash, the tables in the saloon were deserted. There was +a general rush for the deck. + +"Why, that house over there looks just like my home at Bar Harbor," +cried one woman. + +Ten minutes later her words were confirmed. It _was_ Bar Harbor, Maine, +into which the sorely-harried liner had taken refuge under the neutral +protection of the Stars and Stripes. Not daring to run into New York or +Boston, the captain had selected the world-famous summer resort as a +harbor that the English cruisers would be the least likely to watch, and +his judgment proved sound. And so ended the cruise of the "gold ship," +in whose strange adventures the boys were ever proud of having +participated. An hour after the great liner's arrival, she was almost +deserted by her passengers who were choking the telegraph wires with +messages. + +The wireless disseminated far and wide the news of her safe arrival, and +they learned, ashore, that for days the fate of the "gold ship" had been +the puzzle of the country. All sorts of wild guesses had been printed as +to her whereabouts. She had been reported off the coast of Scotland and +again in the English Channel. One rumor had it that she had been +captured, another that she had been sunk and most of those on board +lost. + +Not one of these guesses, however wild or probable, came within striking +distance of the extraordinary truth of the "gold ship's" flight across +the war-swept seas. The day after their arrival, and while the town was +still seething with excitement over the great liner's presence in the +harbor, Jack received a telegram at the hotel where he, Raynor and de +Garros had taken up temporary quarters. The message was from Mr. Jukes +and read as follows: + + "Learned by the papers of your safe return. Kindly call at my + office as soon as possible after your arrival in New York. + Important." + +"What's in the wind now?" exclaimed Jack to Bill Raynor, who was with +him when he got the message. + +"I haven't the slightest idea," said Raynor; "but I have a sort of +notion in the back of my head that your vacation is over." + +"If you can call it a vacation," laughed Jack. + +"Well then, perhaps experience would be a better word," substituted +Bill, also laughing. + +That evening, arrangements having been made about the shipment of their +baggage to New York, the boys and the young French aviator obtained +their tickets from an agent of the steamship company, for the line was +bearing all expenses, and took a night train for home. + +Almost as soon as they reached the city, Jack visited Mr. Jukes' office. + +"Thank goodness you've come, Ready!" he exclaimed as soon as he had +shaken hands with the lad, upon whom, since their adventures in the +South Seas, he strangely came to rely; "the _St. Mark_ sails to-morrow +for Europe. I don't know yet, in the middle of this European muddle, +just what ports she will touch at. That must be settled by her captain +later on." + +"But Mullen is on the _St. Mark_," began Jack. "I wouldn't wish to usurp +his job and----" + +"And anyhow, it's your vacation," interpolated the magnate. "I know all +that, Ready, and depend upon it, you won't suffer by it if you agree to +my wishes. It isn't exactly as wireless operator I want you to sail on +the _St. Mark_, it's on a personal mission in part. My son, Tom, is +among the refugees somewhere in France. I don't know where. I haven't +heard a word since this war started, but the last I know he was auto +touring north of Paris. He may even have gone into Belgium, for that was +a part of his plan." + +"And you want me to try to find him?" demanded Jack slowly. + +"Yes, I know it's a big job, but I know that if anyone can carry it +through, you can. Expense is no object, spend all you like but find the +boy. This suspense is simply killing his mother and worrying me sick." + +"I'm willing and glad to take the job, Mr. Jukes," said the young +wireless man, "but, as you say, it's a big undertaking and has about one +chance in a hundred of being successful. Besides, you may have heard of +him and his whereabouts even before the _St. Mark_ reaches Europe." + +"I'll take my chances of that," declared the millionaire. "It's action +that I want. The feeling that something has actually been done to find +him." + +"On these conditions, I'll go and do my best," said Jack. + +"Thank you, Ready, thank you. I knew you wouldn't fail me. Now about +funds. They tell me finances are all topsy-turvy over there now. Nobody +can get any American paper money or travelers' checks cashed. That may +be Tom's fix. You'd better take gold. Here." + +He drew a check book out of a drawer and wrote out a check of a size +that made Jack gasp. + +"Get gold for that," he said, as he handed it over, "and when that's +gone, Linwood and Harding, of London, are my agents. Draw on them for +what you need. And, by the way, is there anybody you want to take with +you?" + +"I was going to say, sir," said Jack, "that for a task like this, Bill +Raynor----" + +"The very fellow. I'll never forget him in New Guinea. A splendid lad. +But will he go with you?" + +"I rather think he will," rejoined Jack with a twinkle in his eye. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + A STRANGE QUEST. + + +Readers of earlier volumes of this series will recall Tom Jukes, who, +after being cast away when his father's yacht burned at sea, was found +by Jack's clever wireless work. This was the youth,--he was about Jack's +own age,--whom the wireless boy had been commissioned to find. Although +the task appeared, as Jack had said, one almost impossible of +accomplishment, still Jack was boy enough to be delighted at the +prospect of traversing war-ridden Europe and possibly playing a part in +the mightiest struggle of all time. As for Bill Raynor, he was wild with +excitement at the idea. Uncle Toby Ready, when he was told of the +intended trip, shook his head and muttered something about "playing with +fire," but he was eventually won over and presented Jack with a dozen +bottles of the Golden Embrocation and Universal Remedy for Man and +Beast. + +"If so be as you meet up with the Kaiser, or the King of England, or the +Czar, just give 'em a bottle with my compliments," he said in bestowing +the gift. "By the flying jib, it might be the means of building me up a +big European trade. Think of it, Cap'n Toby Ready, P. O. H. R. +H.--Physician in Ordinary to His Royal Highness. If you don't run acrost +any of them skippers of state you can just distribute it around careless +like, and draw special attention to the directions and to my address in +case the prescription should require to be refilled." + +Jack promised, but it is to be feared that the Golden Embrocation never +got nearer Europe than the cabin of the square rigger _Jane Harding_, of +Halifax, Nova Scotia, which happened to be in the Erie Basin unloading +lumber. Captain Podsnap, of the _Jane Harding_, was an ardent admirer +of, and believer in, Captain Toby's concoctions which, as the compounder +boasted, never were known to do harm even where they didn't do good. To +Captain Podsnap, therefore, Jack hied himself perfidiously and made over +to him the gifts intended for ailing royalty. + +The _St. Mark_ was what is known as a "popular" ship. That is, she +usually crossed with full cabins. But on the present trip there were a +bare score of passengers in the first cabin, not many more in the +second, while in the steerage were a couple of hundred travelers, mostly +reservists of the various countries at war, returning to Europe to take +up arms. + +As they steamed down the harbor, the docks on each side of the river +could be observed to be crowded with idle steamers of all sizes, from +small freighters to huge four-funnelled liners. With smokeless stacks +and empty decks, they lay moored to their piers, offering an eloquent +testimonial to the almost complete paralysis of ocean traffic that +marked the earlier days of the war. Off Tompkinsville, Staten Island, +the dreadnought, _Florida_, swung at anchor, grim in her gray war +paint,--Uncle Sam's guardian of neutrality. It was her duty to keep +watch and ward over the port to see that no contraband went out of the +harbor on the ships flying the flags of combatting nations and in other +ways to enforce President Wilson's policy of "hands off." + +With dipping ensign, the _St. Mark_ slipped by, after a brief scrutiny +by a brisk young officer. Then, down the bay she steamed, which the boys +had traversed only a few days before on the hunted _Kronprinzessin_. + +"Well, Jack, old fellow," observed Raynor, as Jack leaned back after +sending a few routine messages of farewell and business of the ship, +"off again on our travels." + +"Yes, and this time, thank goodness, we're under Uncle Sam's flag, and +that means a whole lot in these days." + +"It does, indeed," agreed the other fervently, "but have you any idea +what port we are bound for?" + +"Not as yet. We are to get instructions by wireless, either from the New +York or London offices." + +"This a queer job we've embarked on, Jack," resumed Raynor, after a +pause in which Jack had "picked up" _Nantucket_ and exchanged greetings. + +"It is indeed. I only hope we can carry it through successfully. At any +rate, it will give us an opportunity to see something of the war for +ourselves." + +"It's a great chance, but as to finding Tom Jukes, I must say I agree +with you that a needle in a hay stack isn't one, two, three with it." + +A heavily built man, dark bearded and mustached, entered the wireless +cabin. He had a despatch ready written in his hand. + +"Send this as soon as possible, please," he said, handing it to Jack. + +As his eyes met those of the young wireless man he gave a perceptible +start which, however, was unnoticed by either of the boys. Raynor was +paying no particular attention to the matter in hand and Jack was +knitting his brows over the despatch. It was in code, to an address in +New York and was signed Martin Johnson. + +"I'm sorry, Mr. Johnson," said Jack, "but we can't handle this message." + +"Can't? Why not?" demanded the passenger indignantly. + +"Because it is in code." + +"What's that got to do with it?" + +"While the war lasts we have instructions not to handle code messages or +any despatches that are not expressed in English that is perfectly +plain." + +"That's preposterous," sputtered the passenger angrily. "This is a +message on a business matter I tell you." + +"If you'll write it out in English, I'll transmit it," said Jack; +"that's what I'm here for." + +The man suddenly leaped forward. He thrust a hand in his pocket and +pulled out a roll of bills. + +"Can I speak to you confidentially?" he asked, turning his eyes on +Raynor. + +"Anything you've got to say you can say before my friend," said Jack. + +"Then, see here--there's a hundred dollars in that roll," as he threw it +on the desk, "forget that code rule a while and it's yours." + +"Look here, Mr. Johnson," said Jack coldly, "I've already told you what +my orders are. As for your money, if it was a million it would be just +the same to me." + +"Bah! You are a fool," snapped the other, angrily snatching up the money +and flinging out of the cabin, crumpling the code message in his hand. + +"That infernal boy again," he muttered, as he gained the deck outside. +"This only makes another score I have to settle with him. These +Americans, they are all fools. Well, Von Gottberg in New York will have +to go without information, that's all, if I can't find some way of +getting at the wireless." + +"Say, Jack," asked Raynor, as the bearded man left the cabin, "did that +fellow remind you of anybody?" + +"Who, Johnson?" asked Jack idly. "Why yes, now that you come to mention +it, there was something familiar about his voice and his eyes, but for +the life of me I couldn't place him." + +"Nor I, and yet I've a strong feeling that we've met him somewhere +before." + +"Johnsons are as thick as blackberries," commented Jack. + +"Yes, but I don't connect that name with this man. It was some other +name altogether. Oh, well, what's the use of trying to recall +it--anyhow, Mr. Johnson, whoever he is, hasn't got a very amiable +temper. I thought he was going to swell up and bust when you refused +that message." + +But further comment on the irate passenger was cut short at that moment +by a beating of dots and dashes against Jack's ears, to which one of the +"receivers" was adjusted. He hastily slipped the other into place and +then turned to Raynor with a grin. + +"It's our old friend, the _Berwick_," he said. "She's outside waiting +for us, but this time, glory be, we're flying Old Glory." + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + UNDER OLD GLORY. + + +Sandy Hook lay behind a dim blue line on the horizon, and the long +Atlantic heave was beginning to swing the _St. Mark_ in a manner +disconcerting to some of the passengers, before they came in sight of +the cruiser that had led the _Kronprinzessin_ such a harried chase. + +"Looks familiar, doesn't she?" commented Jack, as they slowed down and +the _Berwick_ steamed up alongside, about five hundred yards off. + +"If it hadn't been for that lucky fog, she'd have looked more familiar +yet," declared Bill. "Look, they're lowering a boat." + +From the cruiser's side a small boat, crowded with uniformed sailors, +and in the stern sheets of which sat a smart junior officer, dropped +and, propelled by long, even strokes of the oars which rose and fell in +perfect unison, was presently coming toward the liner. The _St. Mark's_ +accommodation ladder was lowered, and in a few minutes the young British +officer was aboard. + +Every passenger was lined up in the saloon and compelled to answer +questions as to their nationality, etc. All passed satisfactorily. Then +came the turn of the second cabin and the steerage. From the second +cabin, two admitted German reservists were taken as prisoners of war and +in the steerage six more were found. They took their apprehensions +stoically, although they knew that they would probably be confined at +Halifax or Bermuda till the close of hostilities. + +Jack and Bill Raynor watched these scenes with interest. + +"I suppose it will be months, maybe years, before some of those poor +fellows see their homes again," said Bill. + +"Yes, but it's what you might call the fortune of war," responded Jack +briefly. + +So expeditiously was the work of culling out the reservists done that an +hour after the _Berwick's_ officers had boarded the liner, the last of +the prisoners was off and the ship's papers had been inspected and +O.K.'d. With mutual salutes, the two craft parted, the _Berwick_ to lie +"off and on," looking for commerce carriers of a hostile nation, the +_St. Mark_ to resume her voyage to a Europe which was even then crowded +with desperate, stranded American tourists unable to obtain money or +passage home. + +At dinner time Muller, the _St. Mark's_ regular operator, relieved Jack, +and he was free for the evening. He elected to spend his leisure time +reading up in a text-book, lately issued, an account of the workings of +a new coherer that had recently been brought out. + +But the fatigues of the day had made him drowsy and he soon dropped off +to sleep in the chair he had placed on the upper deck in the shelter of +a big ventilator. Despite the time of year there was a cool, almost a +chilly breeze stirring, and most of the small number of first-class +passengers were either in the smoking room or the saloon. + +How long he slept Jack did not know, but he was awakened by the sound of +voices proceeding from the other side of the ventilator, which masked +him from the speakers' view. One of the voices, which Jack recognized as +belonging to Martin Johnson, grated harshly on his ears. + +"If it hadn't been for that cub of a wireless boy," Johnson was saying, +"that message would have been in the hands of Von Gottberg by this +time." + +"And so you haven't been able to send word about the British cruiser?" +inquired the other speaker. + +"No, and from the same cause. I shall have to see what I can do with the +night operator. He may not be so absurdly scrupulous, unless that young +whelp who was on day duty has been talking to him." + +"Did you say, Herr Professor, that you had met him before?" asked the +last speaker's companion. + +"Yes, confound him, on the _Kronprinzessin Emilie_. I was--er--I was +trying to organize an orderly retreat to the boats after the alarm had +been spread that British cruisers were after us, when this young +scoundrel attacked me brutally." + +"Didn't you report him to the captain?" + +"Well, you see there were--er--reasons which made it unwise to do so." + +"You bet there were, Herr Professor Radwig,--for I know who you are now, +Mr. Johnson," muttered Jack to himself. "No wonder I thought I knew you +in spite of your disguise." + +"What are your present plans?" asked Mr. Johnson's, or rather, Herr +Professor Radwig's companion. + +"I shall have to see. You understand wireless, Schultz?" + +"Intimately. Why, you have some idea--?" + +"Never mind now. It is getting chilly. Let us go to our cabins. I will +talk to you more about this to-morrow." + +The voices died away as the two left the upper deck. Jack, wide awake +now, sprang to his feet. Clearly there was some mischief concerning the +wireless in the air. But of the nature of the impending scheme he could +not hazard a guess. + +"Anyhow, I'll just put Muller wise to what's going on," thought Jack. +"He's a decent, square fellow, who wouldn't stand for any monkey +business. How to deal with Herr Radwig is another matter. I guess I'll +sleep on it. If only those chaps on the _Berwick_ knew who they had +overlooked on their hunt for Germans, wouldn't they be mad as hornets!" + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + THE "HERR PROFESSOR" AGAIN. + + +It was not part of Jack's plan to apprise Muller of the identity of Mr. +Johnson. He did not wish to act prematurely in any way till he had +consulted Raynor and a plan of campaign had been worked out. + +"That guy certainly won't try any monkey-shines with me," Muller assured +Jack slangily, but with a sincere ring in his voice, and Jack knew he +could trust him. + +Then he sought out Bill, whom he found in the latter's cabin writing +letters. + +"Well, Bill," he began. "I've solved the mystery of Mr. Johnson." + +Bill's writing was instantly forgotten. + +"You mean that peppery chap?" + +"The same person. He's an old friend of yours. You were not mistaken +when you said that you thought you recognized his voice." + +"The dickens you say?" Bill was all attention now. "And who is he?" + +"Why,--as the nickel novels say,--none other than our old college chum, +Herr Professor Radwig." + +"For gracious' sake!" Bill's expression left no doubt as to the +genuineness of his astonishment. "Old Earwig turned up again, eh?" + +"Yes, and from some not very complimentary remarks he made about me, +Bill," continued Jack, "I don't think he'd be averse to doing me some +mischief, if he could." + +"He'd better not try." Bill doubled his fists pugnaciously. + +"The trouble is, I didn't overhear enough to find out just what his +little game is." + +"That's too bad. It's a shame we didn't know his identity earlier. We +would have earned the thanks of that English cruiser." + +"We certainly would. De Garros told me that Radwig is accounted a very +clever and dangerous man. He has invented explosives and is active in +the entire German military movement." + +"By the way, where is de Garros?" asked Bill. + +"I don't know any more than you do. After we left him at the depot in +New York on our return from Bar Harbor, I lost sight of him. In fact, +things have gone on with such a rush since then, that I haven't had time +to think of him till now. He told me, though, that he would take the +first ship possible to France." + +"Well, to get back to old Earwig." + +"Yes." + +"Are you going to expose him?" + +"Expose him to whom?" + +"The captain, for instance." + +"What would be the good? He has committed no crime. If he wants to +travel under a false name that is not our business so long as he does +not interfere with us." + +"That's true, but just the same, if we are boarded by another British +cruiser, I'll have something to whisper in the boarding officer's ear," +said Bill, truculently. + +"I wish we knew who this Schultz was," confessed Jack. + +"Does that name appear on the passenger lists?" + +"On none of them. Besides, if it had, the man would have been questioned +by that officer from the _Berwick_. He quizzed everybody with a name +that even sounded German." + +"That's so," admitted Bill; "he certainly went through the ship with a +rake. I guess old Earwig's friend has some American sounding name that +will carry him safe across the ocean no matter what happens." + +Soon after, Jack sought his berth in the wireless room. As he approached +the opened door of the radio station, from which a flood of yellow light +issued, he saw, or thought he saw, two lurking figures in the shadow of +one of the boats. But even as he sighted them, they vanished. + +For an instant, Jack assumed that they were two of the boat crew but, as +they scurried past an open port, he saw they wore ordinary clothes and +not the sailor uniforms of the crew. + +"Odd," he mused. "Those fellows were certainly hanging around the +wireless room for no good purpose. If they had been, they wouldn't have +sneaked the instant they saw me coming. I'm willing to bet a cookie one +of them was Earwig and the other his precious pal who understands +wireless. Jack, old boy, it's up to you to keep your eyes open." + +"Anything doing?" he asked Muller, as he entered the wireless room. + +"Not a thing. Deader than a baseball park on Christmas Day," rejoined +Muller. + +"You didn't see anything of our friend, for instance?" + +"Who, Johnson? No, he hasn't been near here." + +Jack nodded good-night and then turned in. But as the ship bored on +through the darkness his eyes refused, as they customarily did, to close +in his usual sound sleep. + +His mind was busy with many things. It was clear that Radwig was +contemplating some use of the wireless which did not yet seem quite +clear. That it was his duty to checkmate him Jack was convinced, but as +yet he had little to go upon except the conversation overheard behind +the ventilator. + +"I guess watchful waiting will have to be the policy," he murmured to +himself as he fell asleep. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + THE ARMED CRUISER. + + +The next morning, when Jack and Bill turned out, there was quite a +flutter among the passengers. A large ship had been sighted in the +distance, coming rapidly westward. As she drew nearer it could be seen +that she was a monster craft of four immense funnels painted a sombre +black without colored bands to relieve the effect. Her upper works were +a dull brown and her hull, black. + +Speculation was rife concerning her identity, but it soon became noised +about that the craft was the _Ruritania_ of the Anglican Line, which +had, apparently, been converted into an auxiliary cruiser by the English +Government on the outbreak of the war. The sight of guns mounted on her +fore and aft decks confirmed this. + +On she came, a fine, grim spectacle in her dull paint. An absorbed +shipload watched her, leaning over the rails as she drew abreast. + +"Lie to!" + +The signals fluttered from her halliards and the same order was flashed +by wireless. + +For the second time the _St. Mark's_ engines revolved more and more +slowly. The two big vessels lay opposite each other on the swells, +nodding solemnly. Before long a boat came bobbing over the seas from the +_Ruritania_. + +"Now's your chance to give that fellow Earwig up," declared Raynor to +Jack, as, leaning in the door of the wireless room, they watched the +scene. + +"Somehow it seems to me that would be a shabby trick," said Jack, after +a moment's thought. "I'll confess, though, that when the _Ruritania_ +hove in sight such a thought came into my mind. But--oh, well, I guess +we'll let him get by this time." + +"Maybe you'll be sorry for it later on," said Raynor, little guessing +that those words were prophetic. There was to come a time when Jack was +to bitterly regret having let Radwig escape capture by the British. + +The inspection by the naval reserve officer of the _Ruritania_ did not +vary from that which the _St. Mark_ had already undergone at the hands +of the _Berwick_. Naturally, the German reservists having been already +given up, there was little to do but to overhaul the ship's papers. This +did not take long, and before half an hour had passed, the two +steamships saluted each other and parted company. + +That afternoon Jack had a visitor in the wireless room. It was Mr. +Johnson. He opened the conversation ingratiatingly. + +"I'm afraid I rather lost my temper the other afternoon," he said. "I +want to apologize." + +"That's all right," said Jack briefly, choking back a longing to tell +Mr. Johnson that he was perfectly aware of his identity. + +"I--er--perhaps what I offered was not enough," he continued. "I may +tell you now that I will double or triple the amount if you will send a +message for me,--using a code, of course." + +Jack jumped to his feet, his eyes ablaze. + +"See here, sir," he shot out, "you might offer me all the money there is +in Germany but it would not be of the slightest interest to me. Now if +you have nothing more to say, I'll ask you to leave this cabin before +I----" + +The angry boy checked himself with his hands clenched and his eyes +flashing. A murderous look came into Mr. Johnson's bearded face, but he +appeared to be determined to keep himself in check. + +"Do not be foolish," he urged; "have an eye to your own interests. As +for your reference to Germany----" + +"You are going to say that you don't understand it," cut in Jack. + +"Well, I must say I----" + +"Don't go any further," interrupted the angry young wireless boy, "and +now 'Mr. Johnson,' or Herr Radwig, I'll ask you to leave." + +Radwig looked for a moment as if he was about to choke. His face turned +purple and his hands clenched and unclenched nervously. The sweat stood +out in tiny beads on his forehead. + +"What do you mean----?" he began. + +Jack leaned forward and looked at him significantly. + +"Just this, Herr Professor, that in spite of that fake beard and your +dyed mustache, I know you. Your reason for being disguised and going +under a false name is no business of mine _now_. See that you don't make +it so." + +"You--you----" sputtered the man who was startled in the extreme. + +"And furthermore," continued Jack, "we are likely to run across some +more British ships. If you annoy me any more, I shall point you out for +what you are. That will be all. Now go." + +Utterly bereft of words, Radwig turned heavily and half fell out of the +cabin. He collided with Bill Raynor, who was just coming in. He fairly +snarled at Jack's chum, who airily remarked: + +"Don't slam the door when you're going out!" + +"You young whipper snapper, I--I----" choked out Radwig, and being too +discomfited to find words, ended the sentence by shaking his fist at the +two boys. + +"Well," said Raynor, as Radwig vanished, muttering angrily to himself, +"it would appear as if you'd spilled the beans, Jack." + +"It does look that way, doesn't it?" said Jack with a smile. "I rather +fancy our Teutonic friend will be good for a while now." + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + A MESSAGE IN CODE. + + +"What happened?" was Raynor's next question. + +"Oh, he came in here and offered me untold gold to send a code message +for him. I fancy that it was about the _Ruritania_, telling her +whereabouts and so on." + +"So that was his game, eh?" + +"Well, he didn't work it. I got mad and told him that he needn't bother +to conceal his identity from me, and that if he bothered me any more I'd +show him up to the first British officer that again boarded us." + +"Phew! Going some. How did he take it?" + +"I thought he was going up like a balloon for a minute," laughed Jack. +"Now, if we only could identify Schultz, we'd have both of them where we +want them." + +"That's going to be a hard job," declared Bill. "They don't go about +together. At least, I've watched closely, but never saw Radwig talking +with anyone on board." + +"No, I guess they keep pretty well under cover for fear of accident. I +wish I could have gotten a look at them that night I overheard them +talking." + +"Yes, it would have simplified matters a good deal," Bill admitted, +"but, as you say, I don't think either of them will try to bother us +again." + +The day passed uneventfully. In the afternoon they sighted a small +British freighter making her way west, and later on overtook a French +oil ship bound for Holland. Jack flashed them the latest war news, for +they had a small wireless outfit, and in return received the information +that two German cruisers were somewhere in the vicinity and that the +French ship was in fear of capture at any time. + +That evening the wind blew rather hard. A high sea was whipped up by the +gale and the _St._ _Mark_, big as she was, rolled and pitched violently. +It was what sea-faring men would have called "a fresh breeze," but to +the passengers, that is, such of them as were unseasoned travelers, it +was a veritable storm. + +Jack and Bill rather enjoyed the rough weather, coming as it did after a +monotonous calm. After dinner they ascended to the boat deck and paced +up and down, chatting for some time. Inside the wireless room Muller was +at the key. Now and then, as they passed and repassed, they would +exchange a word with him. It was on one of these occasions that Muller +hailed them excitedly. + +"There's a ship just wirelessed the S. O. S.!" he exclaimed. + +"Great Scott," cried Jack, "and on a night like this. What's the +trouble?"' + +"Don't know yet. I'm trying to get them again. Notify the captain, will +you?" + +"On the jump," cried Jack. + +He despatched his errand in a few minutes, and was back in the wireless +room with instructions to "stand by" and get further information as soon +as possible. + +"Anything new?" he asked Muller. + +The wireless man shook his head. + +"Nothing but that first S. O. S.," he said. + +Suddenly there came a shout from Bill, who was standing in the door. + +"Look, Jack, what's that off there?" he exclaimed, pointing to the +horizon. + +A dull glow was reflected against the night sky in the direction he +indicated. Now it flashed bright as a blown furnace, and again it sank +to a faint glare. Jack was not long in deciding what it was. + +"It's a ship on fire," he declared. + +At almost the same moment a hoarse shout from the forward lookout and a +shouted reply from the bridge told that the glare had been observed from +there, too. + +Possibly there is nothing at sea that thrills like the sight of a vessel +on fire. Jack, it will be recalled, had witnessed such a spectacle +before, but yet his heart bounded as he watched the distant glare now +bright and glowing, now dull and flickering. + +"Hullo, the old man has rung for full speed ahead!" exclaimed Bill, as +the next moment the _St. Mark's_ speed was perceptibly quickened and her +course changed. + +Several seamen in charge of the third officer, a Mr. Smallwood, came +trampling aft. They busied themselves loosening the fastenings of one of +the boats and getting it ready for launching. Presently they were +joined, and three additional craft were made ready for the work of life +saving. + +All this time the glow had been getting brighter as the _St. Mark_ +approached the burning ship. But the distance was as yet too great to +make out what manner of vessel she was. + +"I'd give anything to get in one of those boats," observed Jack to Bill, +as the two lads watched the preparations for lowering away. + +"So would I," agreed Bill. "Do you think there's a chance?" + +"I don't know. I 'deadheaded' a radio for Mr. Smallwood to his sick +mother the day we sailed. That might have some influence with him. I'll +ask him anyhow." + +Jack vainly pleaded with the at first obdurate officer, but after a long +interval, he returned to Bill with a smile on his face. + +"It's all right," he announced. "It was a hard job to get him to +consent. I won him over at last. We go." + +"Hurray!" cried Bill. "Now for some oilskins! It's not the sort of night +to be without them." + +"I've got mine in the cabin," said Jack. "I'll borrow Muller's for you." + +"Good for you. Gosh! Look at those flames. Seems to be a big steamer." + +Both boys paused a moment to look at the awe-inspiring spectacle of the +blazing ship. + +As they did so, something occurred which chilled the hot blood in their +veins and caused them to exchange startled, bewildered looks. + +Over the dark, heaving waters that divided them from the blazing vessel +there was borne to their ears what sounded like an awful concerted groan +of agony. Again and again it came, rising and falling in a terrible +rhythm. It was not human. It sounded like the sufferings of demons. + +"Wow! But that's fearful!" exclaimed Bill, paling. "What under the sun +can it be?" + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + THE CATTLE SHIP. + + +The awesome sound continued while the boats were being lowered. The +weird nature of the uproar and its mystery made even the rough seamen +apprehensive. The more religious among them crossed themselves +fervently. + +"Bad cess to it, if it don't sound like the howling of poor sowls in +purgathory," muttered one of them. + +As the boat in which he and Bill were sitting beside Mr. Smallwood was +lowered, Jack glanced upward and had a view of the lighted decks, the +rails being lined with the heads of curious and excited passengers. Then +came a sickening swing outward as the ship rolled. + +"Let go all or we'll be smashed!" shouted Mr. Smallwood. + +For a moment, as the ship heaved back, it seemed indeed, as if the boat +was doomed to be dashed against her steel sides and smashed into +splinters. But in the nick of time the "falls" were let go "all +standing." The boat rushed downward and struck the top of a great wave +with a force that shook her. The next instant, the patent blocks opened +and on the crest of the great comber Mr. Smallwood's boat, and the +others, were swept off into the darkness. + +Behind them arose a mighty cheer, but they hardly noticed it in the +excitement and danger of the launching. + +"A bad night for this work," muttered Mr. Smallwood as the boat was +lifted heavenward and then rushed down into a dark profundity from which +it seemed impossible she could emerge. A blood red glow from the leaping +flames enveloping the stern of the doomed craft, which was a large, +single funneled steamer, lay on the roughened sea. + +"Are there passengers on board, do you think?" asked Jack, rather +tremulously, as the blood-chilling uproar from the burning vessel +continued. + +"Looks to me more like a freighter--hard there on the bow-oars,--meet +that sea,--she has no upper decks," replied the third officer. + +"I don't see anybody on board her, either," said Bill, after an +interval, during which the boat escaped swamping, as it seemed to the +boys, by a miracle only. + +"Let's hope they got away," said the third officer, "but that devil's +concert on board beats me. It's not human, that's one sure thing. What +in blazes is it?" + +"It gives me the shivers," confessed Bill. + +The noise grew positively deafening as they got closer. The intense heat +of the blaze and the shower of falling embers that enveloped them added +to their discomfort. + +"Row toward the bow," roared Mr. Smallwood, cupping his hands, "or we'll +have the boats afire next." + +Already several of the seamen had hastily extinguished portions of their +clothing that had caught, and burns on hands and faces were plentiful. +But as they pulled toward the blazing craft's bow, this annoyance was +avoided, the wind blowing the heat and embers from them. + +All at once, as they swung upward on the crest of an immense comber, +Jack uttered a shout: + +"The mystery's solved." + +"What do you mean?" demanded Mr. Smallwood. + +"The mystery of that horrible noise. That's a cattle ship yonder, and +the poor beasts are mad with fear." + +The next wave gave them a clear view of tossing horns and heads as the +unfortunate cattle, penned on the burning craft, rushed madly about the +decks, in vain seeking some means of relief. It was a piteous sight, for +there was no way of saving them from being burned alive unless the ship +sank first. + +"Oh, but that's awful!" gasped Jack, with a shudder. + +"Look, look up on the bow!" cried Bill suddenly. "There's a man. He's +seen us." + +"He's waving," cried Mr. Smallwood. "Hurrah! Give way, men! There's a +poor beggar roasting on that ship." + +But the boat's crew needed no urging. In the lee of the burning cattle +ship the water was smoother and they could make better time. Silhouetted +against the glare, too, every man of them could see, by a twist of his +head, that solitary marooned figure on the bow of the fire ship. + +As the first boat,--Mr. Smallwood's,--ranged in alongside the high steel +prow, Jack's quick eye caught sight of a rope dangling from the great +steel anchor chains. By what impulse he did it he could not have +explained, but as the boat ranged close alongside he poised for an +instant on the heaving gunwale and then launched his body forward into +space. + +"Come back, boy!" shouted Mr. Smallwood. But by the time the words had +left his mouth, Jack was scrambling up the rope amidst the cheers of the +men in the tossing boats now far below him. It was the work of a few +moments only to gain the anchor chain, and to climb up them was, for a +lad of Jack's brawn and activity, an easy task. + +"Thank heaven you came before it was too late," cried the solitary man +on the fore deck, staggering toward the boy with outstretched arms. + +"Are you the only man on board?" demanded the boy, deciding to leave +explanations till later. + +"No, Dick Sanders is sick in his bunk below." + +"Where, down this hatchway? In the forecastle?" asked Jack quickly. + +"Yes, I was too weak to carry him up, heaven help me," muttered the +other reeling weakly. + +Jack did not stop to listen. He knew that within a few minutes his +shipmates would be on board and would rescue the half-crazed man on the +bow. It was his duty to go after the sick man below. Into the +ill-smelling darkness of the forecastle of the cattle ship he plunged, +clawing his way down an iron ladder. At the bottom he struck a match. As +its light flared up he heard a groan, and looking in the direction from +which it came he espied the emaciated form of a boy lying in a bunk. + +"Have you come to save me?" gasped out the sick lad, who was almost a +skeleton and whose eyes glowed with unnatural brightness in his +parchment-like face. + +"Yes, but you must do exactly what I tell you," instructed Jack. + +"I will, oh, I will," choked out the other. "Only save me. I was afraid +I was going to be left here to die alone." + +"Don't talk about dying now," ordered Jack. "Now clasp your arms round +my neck and hold on tight. Do you think you can keep your grip till we +get to the top of that ladder?" + +"Yes--that is, I think so," returned the sick lad, who had been cabin +boy on the doomed ship. + +"Then, hold on," ordered Jack as, having carried his pitifully light +burden across the forecastle to the foot of the ladder, he prepared to +ascend the rounds. Once or twice he had to stop on the way up, and +holding on with one hand, grasp Dick Sanders with his other arm to allow +the lad to recruit his strength. At last they reached the deck and Jack, +who was almost exhausted, laid his frail burden down with a sigh of +relief. + +He looked about for his companions, who he fully expected to see on the +forecastle. There was no sign of them. + +The lone man who had waved to them from the bow had also vanished. A +rope ladder, one end of which was secured inboard, showed the way they +had gone. + +"Queer that they didn't wait for me," muttered Jack. "They must have +known I was below. I wonder----" + +There was a sudden warning shout from somewhere. + +"Look out for your life!" came in Mr. Smallwood's voice. + +Jack looked up, startled. The burning ship was a flush-decked craft. +That is, her forecastle was not raised, but was on a level with the main +deck where the cattle pens were. The terrified creatures, in their +frenzy of fear, had broken loose from the flimsy timber structure, and +now, urged on by the flames behind them, were charging down in a wild +stampede upon Jack and the half-conscious form of the sick boy at his +feet. + +It was not possible to effect a retreat down the forecastle hatch, for +his efforts to support himself on the journey up had been too much for +Dick Sanders' strength. + +Jack looked about him. It was imperative to act with desperate +swiftness. + +Now, not fifty feet from him was the advance guard of the maddened, +fear-crazed steers. In a few seconds, if he did not act swiftly, both he +and the lad he had rescued would be pounded by their sharp hoofs into an +unrecognizable mass. + +Suddenly he formed a resolution. With desperate eagerness he stripped +off his oilskins and kicked off the light deck shoes he had not thought +to change in the hurry of embarkment. Then, picking up the fragile form +of Dick in his arms, he sped for the side of the forecastle. + +As the long-horned steers swept down so close to him that he could feel +their breaths and see the whites of their frenzied eyes, the boy leaped +up and outward into the night. + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + JACK'S BRAVE LEAP. + + +What happened after the leap, Jack never knew clearly. He felt a wild, +half-suffocating rush through the air and then a sensation of choking +and strangling as a cold, stifling weight of water pressed in on him. +Down, down, down he plunged. It seemed as if he would never rise. In his +ears was an intolerable drumming. Everything was blood-red before his +eyes. + +Then came a sudden blast of blessed air, following a swift upward rush, +and he found himself struggling in the wild sea with Dick Sanders +clinging desperately to him and almost making him go under again. + +Luckily Jack, without conscious thought, had chosen the lee side of the +burning ship, where the boats hovered, for his leap for two lives. As +his head appeared above the surface, the bright glare of the flames +showed his form clearly to the anxious watchers who had witnessed his +daring dive. + +"There he is! Hurrah!" shouted Bill Raynor, who was the first to see +him. "Hold on, Jack, old boy, we'll be with you in just a second." + +"Keep up your heart! We'll get you!" bellowed Mr. Smallwood. + +Jack essayed a feeble wave in response, with the result that he was once +more engulfed. But in a few moments he was safe and a dozen pairs of +strong arms had drawn him and Dick Sanders into Mr. Smallwood's boat. + +"Heavens, lad, what a dive," cried the third mate admiringly, when Jack +was somewhat recovered and Dick lay covered with seamen's coats on the +floor of the boat. + +"Gracious, we thought you were a goner!" exclaimed Raynor, "when the +cattle made the first charge. I guess you didn't hear it, being below. +We all came close to being caught. The man on the forecastle, who was +unconscious by the time we got on board, was reached in time to be +lowered into one of the boats. In the confusion, we thought you were +among us. It was not till we reached the boats again that we found our +mistake." + +"In the meantime," said Mr. Smallwood, "those poor devils of steers had +reached the rail and not liking the look of the water any better than +the fire, charged back again. It was just as the second 'wave,' as you +might call it, was coming for you that we saw you weren't with us. +Suddenly we sighted you with that poor kid there," he nodded to the +bottom of the boat, "right in the line of their charge." + +"If it hadn't been for your warning shout, I might not have been here +now," said Jack. + +"I saw that and so I yelled with all my power," said the third officer, +"but lad," he went on, slapping Jack on the back, "when I saw what you +were going to do, I regretted having warned you." + +"It was the only thing to do," said Jack. "We wouldn't have stood a +chance if we had remained where we were," and he explained that it was +impossible to find shelter on the flush deck or to retreat back into the +forecastle. + +"Well, all's well that ends well," said Mr. Smallwood, "but it gave me a +turn when I saw you come sky-hottling off that bow. But,--great +Christmas,--look yonder." + +He pointed back at the burning ship. By her own light they saw her pitch +heavily forward, hesitate an instant and then, without further warning, +and amidst a piteous bellowing that sounded like a death-wail, shoot +downward to the depths of the ocean. In an instant the light she had +spread across the rough sea had vanished, and by contrast, the night +appeared to have suddenly solidified about them in velvety blackness. A +moment later a blinding white light groped across the waste of tossing +waters and enveloped them in its glow. It was the searchlight of the +_St. Mark_ and it accompanied them with its cheering light till they +reached the ship's side. + +They were greeted amid acclamation, and Dick Sanders was at once taken +charge of by the ship's doctor and some lady passengers. The man who had +been rescued had, by this time, however, sufficiently recovered to +accompany Mr. Smallwood, Bill and Jack to Captain Jameson's cabin, where +that officer was eagerly waiting to hear the details of the rescue. + +The rescued sailor, whose name was Mark Cherry, soon told them the story +of the disaster to the _Buffalonian_, a British cattle ship which had +left New York for London several days previously. Early that evening the +craft had been overtaken by a German cruiser and ordered to surrender. +Every one on board was made prisoner, and some of the cattle taken, when +the British captain, seized by a sudden fit of anger, struck the German +commander in the face. He was instantly ironed, as were his officers, +Mark Cherry observing all this from under the cover of a boat where he +had been working when the cruiser took the cattle craft, and in which he +had remained hidden. + +In revenge, apparently, for the British captain's attack on him, the +German commander had, on his return to his own ship, ordered the +_Buffalonian_ fired upon by the big guns. The hidden sailor crouched in +terror in his place of concealment while the cannon boomed. He thought +his last hour had come. The projectiles shrieked through the sternworks +of the ship and one, he thought, had struck amidships (which accounted +for the vessel's foundering). + +At length, appearing to tire of this, the German cruiser put about and +steamed away. Cherry crept from his hiding place where he had remained +paralyzed with fright throughout the bombardment, and making for the +wireless room sent out the only signal he knew, the S. O. S., which he +had learned from a friendly wireless man, in case there ever came a time +when it would be a matter of life and death to him to use it. This +explained why no answer came to Muller's frantic calls after the first +distress signal. + +It was only a few moments after this call that flames burst from the +shattered stern, and Cherry knew that unless help came, his hours were +numbered. So confused and terrified was he by his desperate situation, +that it was not till Jack's appearance on the scene, he remembered +little Dick Sanders, the cabin boy, lying sick in his bunk below. (It +may be said here that with care and good treatment the lad quickly +recovered his health, and he and Mark Cherry were put to work with the +crew of the _St. Mark_.) Thus, without further incident, the English +Channel was reached and Jack began busily to try to communicate with the +firm's London agents for instructions as to docking orders. + + + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + AWAITING ORDERS. + + +While awaiting orders, which the wireless had told the _St. Mark's_ +captain were not ready for transmission, the big liner stood "off and +on" at the mouth of the channel. It was wearing work, and all looked +forward eagerly to the day when their destination would be settled and +they could proceed. + +Jack felt the monotony of it no less than anyone else on board, but he +spent a good many busy hours perfecting an attachment for a wireless +coherer which he hoped would prove of great value in the future, and +possibly prove as profitable as the Universal Detector, to which +allusion has already been made in "The Ocean Wireless Boys" and "The +Naval Code." One night, after working for some time at some rather +abstruse calculations in this connection, he decided to abandon the work +for the night and take a stroll on deck before turning in. + +Raynor, he knew, was finishing up the last of a series of match games of +checkers, so he did not bother to look up his friend. Knowing that Bill +was busily engaged, Jack was rather surprised when, at his fourth or +fifth turn up and down the deck, which was almost deserted, a steward +stepped up to him with a note. + +It proved to be from Raynor and read as follows: + + "Dear Jack: + + "Meet me at once in the stern where we can talk without being + spied on. The steward will show you where. I have something + important to tell you about Radwig. + + "BILL." + +"This is very peculiar," mused Jack, and then, turning to the steward he +asked: + +"Did Mr. Raynor give you this?" + +"Yes, sir, and he told me to bring you to where he was waiting, sir," +was the obsequious response. + +"All right, lead on," said Jack and then to himself he added: "I can't +in the least make out why old Bill should be so secretive. I might just +as well have met him in his cabin. But maybe he is being watched, and +thinks the place he has appointed would be better." + +The steward led the way aft through a maze of corridors and passages. At +last they arrived far in the stern of the ship where the unlighted +passages showed no cabins were occupied. The twenty first-class +passengers had all been booked amidships, thus the hundreds of cabins +opening on the stern passages were unoccupied and nobody went near them. + +"You've no idea why Mr. Raynor selected this part of the ship to meet +me?" said Jack, as he followed the man who lighted the way with an +electric torch. + +"No, sir," he replied, with a shake of his head. "I suppose he had his +reasons, sir." + +"No doubt, but this is an odd part of the ship to keep an appointment," +said Jack. "We must be far away from the occupied cabins." + +"Oh, yes, sir. Almost a tenth of a mile. Wonderful, ain't it, sir, the +size of these big ships? A fellow could yell his lungs out in this part +of the vessel, sir, and things, being as they are, and the cabins empty +and all, nobody could hear him." + +"I suppose not," said Jack idly. "Are we nearly there?" + +"Yes, sir. Just turn down this passage, sir. Right to the left, sir, +mind that step and--" Crash! + +A great burst of light, as if a sudden explosion had occurred in front +of him blinded Jack, and at the same instant he felt a violent blow on +the back of the head. Then the bright light vanished with a loud report +and he seemed to swim for an instant, in blackness. Everything went out, +as if a light had been switched off, and the lad pitched heavily forward +on his face. + +"Good, that will settle his hash for a while," muttered a voice, and +Radwig, a short, wicked-looking bludgeon in his hand, bent over the +senseless boy. By the German's side was another man, a short, thick-set, +clean-shaven fellow with a projecting jaw, known on the passenger list +as Mr. Duncan Ewing, of Chicago. + +The light of the steward's torch illumined their faces as they stood +above the recumbent young wireless boy. + +"I say, sir," muttered the man, "I know you've paid me well and all, +sir, but I didn't bargain for no murdering business, sir. I----" + +"Don't be an idiot," snapped Radwig impatiently. "We haven't hurt him. +See, he's beginning to stir. Now then, Schultz----" + +Radwig bent and took up the limp body by the head while Mr. Duncan +Ewing, who answered with alacrity to the name of Schultz, laid hold of +poor Jack by the feet. + +"Now, steward," said Radwig, as they carried their burden into an empty +cabin, "keep a stiff upper lip till we dock, and then I don't care what +happens. You'll be well taken care of. Don't forget that." + +"Yes, sir, I know, sir," said the man, whose hand was trembling as he +held the torch; "but I don't like the business, sir. If it wasn't for my +poor wife being sick and needing the money, and all---" + +"That will do. Go get us the lamp you promised. In the meantime we'll +revive this young fellow and show you that he's not dead." + +From a carafe of stale water that stood on the washstand, Radwig dashed +a liberal application in Jack's face. He loosened the lad's collar and +chafed his wrists. Jack moaned, stirred, and opened his eyes. For a +moment his swimming senses refused to rally to his call. Then, with a +flash, he realized what had happened. + +"Radwig, you scoundrel!" he exclaimed, "what is the meaning of this +outrage?" + +"Just a delicate little way of reminding you that it is not well to +thwart the wishes of Herr Professor Radwig," was the reply. "Schultz, my +dear fellow, shut that door. No, wait a moment, here comes our man with +the lamp. That's better." + +He took the lamp from the steward, and set it in a frame on the wall +provided for it in case the electric light failed from any cause. The +steward, still pale and shaky, hurried away after one glance at Jack. + +"And now," said Radwig, "we will leave you to your reflections, my young +friend. It will do you no good to shout. Under present conditions this +part of the ship is uninhabited. No one comes near it. As for trying to +force the door after we have gone, it would be wasted labor. I have +taken the pains to affix bolts to the outside of it. Bread you will +find, and some water, under the bunk. I advise you to be sparing of it, +for you will not get any more and now--_auf wiedersehn_." + +He opened the door, motioned Schultz out, and turned a malevolent smile +on the boy. With a shout, Jack flung himself forward, but the door +slammed in his face. + +He heard a laugh from outside, a laugh that made his blood boil and his +fists clench. He fell against the door and wrenched at it furiously. But +already the bolts outside had been shot into place and the portal held +firmly. + +"Now don't lose your temper," begged Radwig mockingly from without; +"it's very bad, very bad for the digestion. I would recommend you to +spend your time mediating over the manifest advantages of being +obliging. Good-night." + +Jack, listening at the bolted door, heard their footsteps die away down +the deserted passageway. + + + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + WHAT BEFELL IN THE AFTER CABIN. + + +"Man overboard!" + +Bill, making his way along the deck to the wireless room companionway, +heard the thrilling cry and joined the rush of passengers to the stern +rail from whence the shout had come. Radwig and Schultz stood there with +every expression of alarm on their faces. + +The captain came hurrying up. + +"What is it? What's the matter?" he demanded. + +"Somebody fell overboard," declared Radwig; "we heard a splash and +hastened here at once to cut loose a life belt." + +"Lower a boat at once," commanded the captain; "slow down the engines." + +The petty officer to whom the command had been given, hurried off at top +speed to the bridge while the captain asked more questions of Radwig and +his companion. But they could tell nothing more definite than that they +had heard a splash and a cry and that was all. They had not seen who was +the victim of the accident. + +The captain decided to call a roll of passengers and crew at once. While +the boat was lowered, and was rowed to and fro, on the dark waters, this +work went on. When it was over, there was only one person on board found +to be missing. This was, of course, Jack Ready. The cunning of Radwig +had evolved this clever plan to obviate the search that would be surely +made on the ship for the imprisoned young wireless lad when his absence +from duty was discovered. If the lad was believed to be drowned, of +course, no effort would be made to find him on board and he and Schultz +would be safe from the results of their rascality. It was a clever +though simple scheme and it worked to perfection, for after an hour of +investigation the captain was forced to conclude that Jack had, in some +inexplicable manner, fallen overboard and had perished. + +But there was one person on board who did not accept this theory, and +that was Bill Raynor. By no figuring could he bring himself to believe +that Jack had fallen into the sea. In the first place, the rail was +almost breast high, and in the second, Jack was too good a sailor to +have lost his head and toppled from the ship. + +"I am convinced he'll turn up," he told Mullen in the wireless room. + +"Yes, but a thorough search was made for him without result," objected +the other. + +"Never mind, something seems to tell me that he is all right," protested +Bill. + +"I'm afraid you are deluding yourself," said Mullen, shaking his head. +"When he fell overboard----" + +"You mean _if_ he fell overboard," interrupted Bill. + +"Why, you surely don't doubt that!" exclaimed Mullen; "a splash is heard +and following that a canvass of the ship shows that Jack Ready is +missing. If he wasn't drowned, where is he?" + +"I admit that it sounds like a poser," said Bill. "See here, I'm not +absolutely certain that he did go overboard at all." + +"What?" Mullen stared at Raynor as if he thought he had suddenly been +bereft of his senses. + +"I mean what I say," repeated Bill slowly. "I'm not sure that he did go +overboard." + +"In that case he must be on board the ship." + +"Exactly." + +"But why should he be hiding?" + +"He's not hiding." + +"Then why doesn't he show up?" + +"Because he's been hidden," replied Bill. + +"Oh, that's too fantastic an idea," cried Mullen. + +"I know it sounds wild--almost crazy, in fact, but I simply cannot help +feeling it." + +"I wish I could think the same way," said Mullen, and the tone of his +voice left no room to doubt that he meant what he said. + +In the meantime, how was it with Jack? Confined in the stuffy cabin, +lighted only by the smoky lamp, his head ached intolerably from the +cruel blow that had been dealt him. In fact, it was not till the +following morning that he felt himself again. + +Neither of the men who had made him a prisoner came near the cabin in +which he was confined, and although he tried shouting for aid till his +throat was sore, nobody appeared to hear him. The boy began to be +seriously alarmed over his predicament. + +Radwig had told him in so many words, that neither he nor Schultz +intended to return to the cabin. The water and bread left him would not +suffice for more than a few hours. By the time the cabin was entered by +some employee of the ship, it was entirely probable that the aid would +come too late. Luckily for him, his mental anguish was not increased by +knowledge of the story of his death by drowning that had circulated +through the ship. Had he known of this, it is likely that, plucky as the +lad was, he would have given way entirely to despair. + +The cabin was an inside one, so that there was no porthole through which +he could project his head and call for aid. Examination of the small +chamber, even to the length of pulling up the carpet, showed that there +was no means of escape short of forcing open the door and that Jack, +strong as he was, was unable to accomplish, although he wore out his +muscles trying it. + +The hours passed by with dragging feet until it seemed to the boy that +he must have been in the bolted cabin for years instead of hours. The +lamp guttered and went out, leaving him plunged in pitchy darkness. It +was the last straw. Jack flung himself on the bunk and buried his head +in his hands. How long he lay thus he did not know, but he was aroused +and his heart set suddenly in a wild flutter by the sound of approaching +footsteps and voices. + +He shouted aloud: + +"Help, for heaven's sake, help!" + +Then he sat silent, hardly daring to believe that there was a +possibility of his rescue. More probably the voices and footsteps were +those of Radwig and his rascally accomplice. + +In an agony of apprehension, Jack sat in the darkness waiting for the +answer to his cry for aid. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII. + + A RASCAL BROUGHT TO BOOK. + + +We must now go back to an occurrence that happened earlier in the +evening. The ship had finally received orders to dock at Southampton and +was proceeding at a fast clip up the Channel when the telephone in the +wireless room rang and a voice inquired for Bill Raynor. Summoned to the +wire by Mullen, Bill, who had just entered the station after a miserable +day of anxiety for Jack, replied and found that he had been called by +the ship's surgeon, Dr. Moore. + +"There has been an accident," said the doctor; "one of the men has been +badly injured. He says he wants to see you without delay." + +"But I know none of the crew," said Bill. + +"This man evidently knows you, however," returned the doctor, "and I +wish you would come as soon as possible. He appears to be worrying over +something and says he cannot rest till he has seen you." + +Greatly mystified, Bill obeyed the summons. On entering the doctor's +cabin he saw, stretched on the lower bunk, and swathed in bandages, the +figure of a man who turned a pair of sunken eyes on him. + +"One of the stewards," whispered the doctor. "Poor fellow. Badly scalded +in the galley." + +He turned to the sufferer. + +"This is Mr. Raynor, whom you wanted to see," he said. + +"Let him come here," said the man feebly. + +Bill approached the man's side. + +"What can I do for you?" he asked. + +"I want to ease my conscience of a great burden. Bend low so that you +can hear me. It hurts when I talk loud." + +Bill bent over the pitiable, bandaged form. + +"What do you want to tell me?" he said. + +"That your friend, Mr. Ready, is a prisoner on this steamer," was the +reply that brought an exclamation of amazement from Bill. + +He was half-inclined to believe the man was delirious for an instant, +but a moment later revised this opinion. + +"How do you know this?" he asked, when he had recovered from his +astonishment. + +"I helped the plotters who put him there," moaned the man. "They were +Germans, like myself, and they told me that if he was not shut up he +would betray them to the English authorities as soon as the ship docked. +They gave me money and I let them have the key to a cabin far in the +stern of the vessel. They forged a note to him and trapped him when, in +answer to it, I led him to where they were waiting." + +"And he is there now?" cried Bill. + +The man nodded slowly. + +"So far as I know. They had screwed bolts on the door." + +"He was not hurt?" demanded Bill. + +"Not seriously; but they struck him on the head." + +"The brutes," cried Bill. + +"You know who they were, then?" + +"I can guess--a man named Radwig and another named Schultz." + +The bandaged man nodded again. + +"You have named them correctly." + +"Doctor!" exclaimed Bill, "you have heard what this man has said. Can +you leave him long enough to go with me to Captain Jameson?" + +"Gladly, my boy. But of all extraordinary tales----" + +"It is true, upon my word of honor," groaned the injured man. "The +number of the cabin is 14. The chief steward has the keys. I stole them +from his desk to open the stateroom and placed them back again without +his knowledge." + +"And just to think," muttered Bill, as he and the doctor hastened from +the injured man's side, "that if it had not been for that accident we'd +never have known a thing about poor old Jack's plight till too late. +After all, that feeling I had was correct." + +Captain Jameson summoned the chief steward as soon as he had heard +Bill's story and together the commander, and the others, hastened +through the maze of corridors leading to stateroom 14. Theirs were the +voices the boy had heard, and in ten minutes' time he was wringing +Bill's hand and telling, to an indignant group, the story of Radwig's +outrage. + +The captain's indignation knew no bounds. + +"I'll have those rascals in irons before we drop anchor!" he exclaimed. +"We are nearing Southampton now and if that man had not met with his +accident they might have landed and escaped scot free." + +Jack was weakened by his trying experience, but he was not too exhausted +not to be able to accompany the officer to Radwig's cabin. A knock on +the door brought an immediate answer: + +"Come in." + +"Keep back," whispered the captain to Jack, "I want to see how far these +rascals will incriminate themselves." + +Accordingly, Jack and the others kept out of sight as the door was +opened and Captain Jameson stepped inside, but as the portal was left +ajar, they could hear what went on within. + +"You know my friend, Mr. Ewing," said Radwig, in oily tones, indicating +Schultz, who, it will be recalled, had adopted that alias, and who was +seated in Radwig's cabin engaged over a valise full of papers. + +The captain bowed his acknowledgment of the introduction. + +"And to what am I to attribute the honor of this visit?" said Radwig. +"Possibly something connected with the formalities of landing? I am +informed we shall be in harbor in a short time now." + +"That is correct," said the captain bruskly, "and we shall land minus +one of the ship's company." + +"You mean poor young Ready, the wireless operator," said Radwig. "It was +too bad about that unfortunate lad. If my friend and myself had been a +few seconds earlier we might have saved him before he went overboard." + +"Well, of all the precious hypocrites," gasped Bill under his breath. + +"He takes the grand trophy," breathed Jack, who had been told of the +cleverly arranged story of his death that had been circulated. + +"There is not a question but that he is drowned, I'm afraid," came from +Schultz the next minute. Then was heard the captain's voice. + +"Why, yes, gentlemen, there is," he said; "in fact, there is every +question for _here he is_!" + +As if he had been an actor answering his "cue," Jack stepped into the +lighted doorway. At the sight of him, the two miscreants shrank back as +if they had seen a ghost. + +"Oh, I'm real enough, Messrs. Radwig and Schultz," smiled Jack, as the +others crowded in behind him. + +"And it will be my duty to hand you both over to the British +authorities," snapped the captain to the speechless pair. + +Radwig made a sudden dart for the valise full of documents. His move was +so unexpected that before they could stop him he had hurled it out +through the open porthole. Then, with a snarl of rage, he flung himself +at Jack. But the captain's erect figure interposed. + +"Stand where you are," he ordered, and Radwig found himself looking into +the muzzle of a revolver. + +"Hold out your hands," he ordered and cringing, the two miscreants +obeyed. + +"Jones," he added, addressing the chief steward, "oblige me by slipping +those handcuffs on the men." + +The click of the steel bracelets appeared to arouse Radwig to speech. + +"You--you--young whelp," he shouted, shaking his manacled fists at Jack. +"Whatever may be my fate, I'll remember you and see that you are +attended to if it takes every penny and every resource I have." + +"Violence won't do you any good," commented the captain quietly, "and if +I know anything of the English law you are apt to spend quite some time +in Great Britain. Jones, march the prisoners to the smoking room and +detain them there till the ship docks." + +Sullenly, the two prisoners shuffled out of the cabin and were marched +past wondering passengers to their place of detention. Three hours +later, when the ship docked, the boys saw them being taken ashore by +British officials. A thorough ransacking of their cabin had failed to +reveal any incriminating documents, although the valise which Radwig had +hurled out of the porthole undoubtedly had contained such papers. + +At Southampton they learned that the _St. Mark_ was likely to be tied up +for some time. Rumors of mines and torpedoes made the owners unwilling +to risk her loss. The two lads, therefore, left the vessel, and +proceeded to London, where their instructions were to visit agents of +the line and learn if anything had been heard of Tom Jukes. They found +the city thronged with marching soldiers and territorials, while +everywhere proclamations calling on the men of England to enlist were +posted. Otherwise, however, everything appeared to be going on as if +there were no war. + +Inquiry at the agents resulted in a meagre clue to the whereabouts of +the lad of whom they were in search. He had wired for funds from +Malines, a Belgian town, a few days before war was declared and the +Germans invaded Belgium. Since then nothing had been heard of him. + +The magnitude of their task appeared greater than ever to the two lads +now that they had actually started the work. But Jack was not the sort +of lad to give up at the first difficulty. + +"We'll go to Belgium," he announced, but right here a stumbling block +appeared. + +There were no longer regular steamers running to Belgian ports, and the +small and infrequent craft that did venture had been warned by the +Admiralty that the North Sea was thickly sown with mines. It was a +journey full of peril but, nothing daunted, Jack and Bill journeyed to +Grimsby, a town on the east coast, where they were told they might be +able to engage passage on a trawler, provided they could find a captain +adventurous enough to take them across. + +All this took up valuable time, for in the confusion and turmoil of war +time, business was harder to transact than in normal times. Two days +were consumed in London, but on the evening of the second they started +for Grimsby. As they took their seats in the train, a newsboy came along +shouting "War Extras." They bought some of his papers and settled back +to read them. + +"Well, here's an encouraging item," said Bill ironically, as the train +moved out. He pointed to a despatch headed: + +"Trawler destroyed by mines in the North Sea." + +"We'll have to take our chances," decided Jack, "but, hullo--what's +this?" he exclaimed suddenly; "listen here, Bill." + +He read excitedly from his paper: + +"The two prisoners arrested as German military agents on the arrival of +the American liner _St. Mark_ at Southampton two days ago have, in some +mysterious manner, escaped. Four of their guards are under arrest. It is +hinted that bribery was used to effect the Germans' liberty." + + + + + CHAPTER XIX. + + THE "BARLEY RIG." + + +It was with Captain Hoeseason of the trawler _Barley Rig_ that the boys +finally succeeded in striking a bargain to land them in Antwerp. The +captain of the craft, who was also her owner, was a giant of a man, more +than six feet tall in his great sea boots and dressed in rough +fisherman's garb. The boys found him in a small, waterfront inn, with a +thatched roof and red window curtains which bore the sign of the Magpie +and Shark, apparently, in the owner's estimation, a happy combination of +land and sea. + +Captain Hoeseason declared that he knew the North Sea like a book and +that there would be no danger of encountering mines if they sailed with +him. His craft would be ready at the long fish dock at six the next +morning, he declared, and at that hour the boys presented themselves. + +The crew of the _Barley Rig_ were a rough, weather-beaten looking set of +men, and almost immediately, upon the boy's arrival, they set to work, +under the hoarsely bawled orders of Captain Hoeseason, setting the +fisher craft's great red sails. At last all was ready. Under a brisk +breeze, that momentarily grew stronger, the trawler slipped out to sea. + +"They're a rough-looking lot on this craft," observed Jack to Bill, as +the _Barley Rig_ began to toss about in a way that would have been +trying to less experienced sailors. + +"Yes, I'm glad you've got that money in your money-belt," said Bill, +referring to the American gold they carried. "They have none of them +seen it, thank goodness, or we might have cause to worry." + +"Oh, I don't know," declared Jack. "They may be honest enough for all +their rough looks. I imagine that the North Sea fishery doesn't tend to +make men very refined looking." + +"At all events it hasn't had that effect on this crew," laughed Bill. + +At noon they were summoned, by the cook's beating on a tin pan, to a +dinner of fried fish and boiled potatoes. The little cabin where they +ate it reeked of the fish that for years had formed the _Barley Rig's_ +cargo, and was lighted, for it had no openings but the companionway +above, by a swinging, smoking lamp of what was known among the fishermen +as the "pot" variety. But it would have taken more than this to dull the +keen edges of the boys' appetites, whet to razor sharpness by the +freshening wind. + +The cook, an old, bent man, with a wild blue eye, stood by his rusty +stove watching as they devoured what was set before them. Overhead they +could hear the trample of feet and the occasional impact of a big wave +as it broke in spray over the bow. + +"It's getting rougher," remarked Jack. + +"Seems to be," agreed Bill; "this is a small boat to be out in a storm." + +"They say that the trawlers are fine sea boats," declared Jack. + +There was no doubt that it was getting rougher. By mid-afternoon the +green seas with breaking, white tops, were leaping mountainously under a +scudding gray sky. Still, the captain of the _Barley Rig_ did not take +in a reef of his sails. He stood beside the tiller, which was gripped by +a young giant of a fisher in jersey and boots, giving an occasional +order and puffing vigorously at his stubby clay pipe. + +Beside an occasional gruff word, Captain Hoeseason did not have much to +say to his passengers, but they noticed that his eyes followed them +constantly. + +"I can't shake off an idea that the fellow has some mischief in mind," +declared Bill, after he had noticed the furtive scrutiny the skipper of +the _Barley Rig_ was bestowing on them. + +"Nonsense," declared Jack. "I made a few inquiries about him and he +appears to bear a good character. Anyhow, we are going among dangers +beside which this trip won't appear as anything, so don't get nervous at +the start off." + +As dusk began to settle down, it showed a wild scene. The trawler +appeared to be alone on the troubled ocean; at least, no other craft was +within sight. The wind howled dismally through the cordage, and the +reefed sails tore at their ropes as if they would part at any moment. + +"Bad weather, Captain," said Jack, as he and Bill stood bracing +themselves against a back stay. + +"Oh, aye," rejoined the captain, taking out his pipe like a stopper to +permit himself speech, "but she'll be worse afore she gits better." + +He was right. By nightfall, it was blowing a gale, and the big seas were +breaking over the _Barley Rig_, drenching everything. Water fell in +cataracts down the cabin companionway every time the hatch was opened. +Cooking was impossible, and the boys made their supper on hard ship +biscuit and water while a small flood washed about their feet. + +"This is awful, Jack," remarked Bill after a lurch that had sent him +sliding across the cabin. + +"Cheer up, old fellow, it might be worse," retorted Jack cheerily. + +Bill gave a groan. + +"I don't see how it could be, unless we go to the bottom," Bill grumbled +dismally. "You don't think there's any danger of that, Jack, do you?" + +"Not a bit of it. This craft has weathered many a storm as bad or worse +than this, I don't doubt," declared Jack stoutly, although the laboring +of the storm-stricken _Barley Rig_ was beginning to get on his nerves. + +Not long after the completion of their scanty meal, the captain came +below and snatched a bite. He was dripping from head to foot and +reported the gale as increasing in violence. + +"My advice to you younkers is to turn in," he said. "You can have my +bunk--that one yonder. I'll be on deck all night and so will 'tother +lads." + +The bunk in question was not much more than a shelf with some very +dubious-looking blankets piled untidily on it. But the boys were tired, +and so they clambered up and composed themselves to rest with the deck +within a foot of their faces, so low was the cabin ceiling. + +For a time sleep was impossible. The buffeting blows that the big waves +struck the laboring trawler made her shake and creak as if she would go +to pieces at any moment. On deck the heavy trampling of sea boots kept +up without intermission. The smoky lamp swung drearily. The motion grew +so violent at times that they were almost pitched out of the bunk. In +some corner into which he had dragged himself, they could hear the old +cook snoring and mumbling in his sleep. + +But at last, despite all this, tired nature asserted herself and they +dozed off, while outside, the storm howled and shrieked like a furious +and sentient creature aroused to frenzy and extermination. + + + + + CHAPTER XX. + + THE HIDDEN MINE. + + +About midnight, Jack awakened with a start and a vague feeling that all +was not well. The _Barley Rig_ was still tossing violently and for a few +moments after he opened his eyes, the lad who had slept on the outside +of the bunk felt dazed. + +Then he became aware that Captain Hoeseason was standing near to him, +feeling about under the mattress. + +"He's trying to rob us," thought Jack. "What shall I do?" + +The thought flashed across him that he had no weapon, and that Hoeseason +was probably armed. He was undecided whether to feign sleep or not, for +the captain of the _Barley Rig_ was apparently not yet aware that the +boy was awake, when he was saved the trouble of making a decision. + +He was grasped roughly by the shoulder and violently shaken. The giant +captain, with an evil look in his eyes, stood above him, a huge seaman's +knife glimmering in his hand under the light of the guttering lamp. + +"Now, younker," he said, in his hoarse tones, with a ferocious look, "I +ain't goin' ter beat about the bush. I've come after that money of +yourn." + +"What money?" demanded Jack, deeming it wisest to "spar for time," and +see if he could not devise some way out of the dilemma. + +"Now, don't play foxey, Mister Yankee kid," snarled the huge fisherman; +"you know as well as I do. The money in that belt I heard you talking to +your chum about." + +"I know nothing about it," declared Jack. "When I paid you I gave you +almost all the money I had. I am looking to get fresh funds in Antwerp." + +The man tightened his grip on the boy's shoulder and fairly yanked him +out of the bunk. He placed his knife between his teeth and compelling +Jack to hold his arms above his head he searched him. Jack's heart sank. +He knew the money belt was in the bunk under the pillow. Beyond doubt +this desperate ruffian would search the sleeping place before very long +and discover its hiding place. + +"So it ain't on you," snarled Hoeseason, when he had finished his +search, "but I'll bet a guinea it ain't far away. Stand where you are +and don't move as you value your life while I overhaul the bunk." + +A moment later an exclamation of savage delight burst from his bearded +lips. + +"Ah! Here it is. See, younker, I was bound to find it and---- What +the----?" + +As the giant of a man stood half-facing him, Jack gathered himself for a +crouching leap. He sprang straight at the man's legs and, catching him +entirely by surprise, brought him to the floor with a crash that could +be heard above the raging of the storm. + +[Illustration: Jack gathered himself for a crouching leap and sprang +straight at the man's legs.--Page 156] + +"Bill! Bill!" he shouted. + +There was a stir in the bunk above. + +"Help me, quick. He'll be too much for me alone." + +"What in the world, Jack Ready----?" + +"Don't ask questions. Come, quick!" + +Bill clambered out of his bunk with alacrity as soon as he saw what was +going forward. Hoeseason, who had been, luckily for Jack, slightly +stunned by the fall, lay still. In his fall the knife had flown from his +hand and lay half-way across the cabin. + +"The knife, Bill," panted Jack, "the knife before he comes to. I dare +not take chances with him." + +Bill quickly fetched the weapon. + +"So he did try to rob us after all," he said. "The precious ruffian, I +didn't like his looks from the start." + +"Never mind about that now, Bill, but hustle and get some rope. We must +tie him, for when he comes out of this he'll be a match for the two of +us." + +There were plenty of odd bits of rope lying about the cabin on lockers +that ran down one side of it. Bill procured several lengths, and in a +few moments, the semi-conscious giant was bound hand and foot. + +In the meantime, Jack fastened the money belt round his waist once more. + +"I wish we had pistols," he said, as they stood watching the slow return +of consciousness to the bound captain's face. + +"Why, this fellow is harmless now," rejoined Bill. + +"Yes, but you have forgotten the rest of the crew, haven't you?" + +"Great Scott, I had for a moment. Do you think they are in league with +him?" + +"I don't know, but they are bound to find out his plight sooner or later +and we shall have to reckon with them. We're in a tight place, Bill." + +Captain Hoeseason began to stir. He rolled his eyes uneasily, and the +next moment discovered that he was tied fast. + +"You young imps," he roared in stentorian tones, "cut me loose +instantly, or when I do get free I'll have such a vengeance on you as +will----" + +"It won't do you any good to rave like that, captain," declared Jack, +"and, moreover, we----" + +The sentence was never finished. The fabric of the _Barley Rig_ seemed +to heave suddenly upwards and then rush apart. There was a burst of +blinding flame, and a report that drove the ear drums in. The next +instant, as it seemed to them, there was an inrush of water on the tide +of which the boys were swept out into the darkness of the raging seas. + +The trawler vanished almost as quickly as the terrific flash of flame +from the mine that she had struck, and which had ended her career for +all time. + + + + + CHAPTER XXI. + + THE NORTH SEA. + + +The moments that followed were the most terrible that Jack had ever +known in his adventurous life at sea. Cast adrift in the dark night and +wild sea, he was at first completely bewildered. The very suddenness +with which the end of the _Barley Rig_ had come had benumbed him. + +But ere long, the blind instinct of life asserted itself. He struck out, +hoping to find some wreckage with which to sustain himself, for in that +rolling, breaking sea, he could not have hoped to remain afloat long +without some support. + +Wave after wave swept over the bravely battling lad, half choking him in +spite of the fact that he was an experienced and powerful swimmer. + +"Great Scott!" he thought with dismay. "If I can't find some support to +cling to before long, I'm a goner. This is the worst ever." + +In addition to the difficulty of fighting the baffling waves, Jack now +began to experience a fresh obstacle to keeping afloat. The weight of +the heavy money belt at his waist seemed to be drawing him remorselessly +down toward the depths. + +At first, he had difficulty in accounting for the leaden feeling that +possessed him after being a short time in the water. But suddenly he +recalled the money belt with its weight of gold. + +"I'll stick it out as long as I can," resolved the boy, "and then +unfasten the buckle and let the money sink." + +A section of wreckage came within his grasp at that moment. He made a +wild grab for it, but a great wave swept it beyond his reach. He began +to feel numb and chilled and utterly incapable of battling for his life +much longer. An odd, reckless feeling of indifference came over him. His +movements became automatic, no longer consciously directed. + +Suddenly he recollected the money belt that dragged at his body like a +leaden weight. He fumbled with the buckle with one hand while he trod +water. But the strap proved obdurate. His chilled fingers could not undo +it. + +"It is the end," murmured the exhausted boy. "I'm all in, and can't keep +up the fight any longer." + +A strange, dreamy sort of feeling crept over him. He felt the water +closing over his head. Then, suddenly he seemed to be dragged skyward. +His senses swam and he knew nothing more. When he opened his eyes, it +was daylight. He lay in the bottom of a small boat that was being tossed +about like a chip on the rough sea which, although it had moderated to +some extent, was still running high. + +"Where on earth am I and what has happened?" he wondered in the first +few seconds of returning consciousness. "I remember that terrible +feeling that all was over, that I was drowning and----" + +"Thank goodness you're all right again, old fellow." + +"Bill!" cried the young wireless man wildly, as he recognized the voice, +"is that really you or your ghost? Am I dreaming or drowned?" + +"Neither, I hope," rejoined Bill, helping his chum to raise himself in +the bottom of the boat, "but you came mighty near being the latter if I +hadn't providentially come within reach of you just in time." + +"Thank heaven you did," replied Jack fervently, "but tell me, how did it +all happen? I don't understand. The last I can recollect is going under +and thinking that all was over." + +"Which must have been just about the time I grabbed you by the hair and +got you on board somehow," continued Bill. "I don't know how I did it, +but I succeeded." + +"But how did you come to be in the boat?" Jack wanted to know. + +"Well, you see when we were both swept out of that cabin--I guess the +trawler must have been broken in half by the explosion,--when we were +both swept out, I didn't know what was happening and just struck out +blindly." + +"Same here," observed Jack. "I was looking for a bit of wreckage to +float on, but none came my way." + +"I don't know, though I guess I answer that description," chuckled Bill, +regarding himself with critical eyes. He was only half dressed, and the +few garments he had on, for it will be recalled that neither of the boys +had had time to dress, had been almost ripped from him. Nor was Jack in +any better plight. + +"Anyhow," went on Bill, "the first thing I struck was this boat. It's +the small one that hung astern of the trawler. The explosion, which +struck about midships, I guess, hadn't harmed it and it must have torn +loose from its fastenings when the _Barley Rig_ sank. I clambered into +it and found it was half full of water. I managed, with an old tin +bucket, which luckily, hadn't been washed overboard, to bale it to some +extent, and--and then I heard you yell----" + +"I don't remember crying out," interrupted Jack. + +"Well, anyhow, you gave a good husky yowl and I glimpsed your head just +alongside. I hauled you aboard and laid you in the bottom of the boat +but I had not the least idea that it was you that I had the good fortune +to rescue till daylight. You can imagine how glad I was." + +"But what are we going to do now? Have we oars?" + +"No." + +"Water?" + +"No." + +"Nor food?" + +Bill shook his head. + +"If we're not sighted and picked up we'll be in a bad fix, old fellow." + +"I'm afraid so. I guess we're the sole survivors." + +"Yes, poor fellows. One can't help feeling sorry even for that rascal +Hoeseason." + +The boat, a small, not over tight ship's yawl, swung on the top of a +high wave. The boys eagerly took advantage of this to gaze out over the +crests of the tossing water-mountains. + +But the heaving, steel-gray sea was vacant of life. All they could see +was a vast expanse of mighty rollers, desolate and cold under a leaden +sky. They exchanged blank looks. + +"Bill, old fellow, we're up against it," came from Jack. + +"Well, I've known times when things looked considerably brighter," +admitted Bill dolefully. + + + + + CHAPTER XXII. + + A NIGHT OF ALARMS. + + +Castaways on the open sea in a boat without water, food or oars! + +It was a situation to frighten the bravest. To add to the peril of the +boys' position, they had too appalling evidence of the fact that the +North Sea was strewn with floating mines which, even the impact of a +small craft, like the one in which they were drifting at the mercy of +the winds and waves, would serve to detonate. + +Small wonder, then, that after a while conversation grew more and more +desultory until at length they each sat silent, gloomily surveying their +predicament. Fortunately, there was no hot sun to beat down on them and +aggravate the thirst both were already beginning to feel. But even with +cool weather they could not hope to fight off the agonies of thirst for +long. Food, so far, was a secondary consideration. + +Then, too, the frail nature of their craft gave them cause for anxiety. +The gale showed as yet no signs of breaking up. From time to time the +ragged tops of great waves were ripped off by the fury of the wind, +deluging the boat in spray. It was necessary to keep bailing constantly +if they hoped to remain afloat. + +The constant buffeting to which they were subjected was dizzying and +nauseating. Both lads ached in every limb. In a way they were glad to +have the exercise afforded by bailing, for it went a long way to keeping +their minds employed and their limbs from stiffening in the cramped, wet +boat. + +Yet their nerves showed no outward sign of a breakdown. From time to +time they exchanged sentences intended to be cheerful; but it was a +ghastly sort of merriment of which they soon tired. Thus the hours wore +away and darkness set in with a slight dimunition of the violence of the +wind and signs, by the clearing of the sky, that the break of the gale +was at hand. + +But they dared not sleep through the hours of darkness, except in hasty +snatches. Had the bailing pail been left alone for even an hour, the +boat inevitably would have been swamped. By midnight, though, the sea +was much smoother. Their dizzied heads, racked by the incessant tossing, +became clearer. They looked about them. Suddenly Jack gave a shout. + +"Look! Look yonder!" + +A short distance off, and apparently bearing down on them, were the red +and green sidelights and the bright white mast-head signal of a steamer! + +Bill broke into a shout. + +"Hurray, Jack, we're saved!" + +"Not so fast, Bill. They may not see us in the dark." + +"That's so. I'd give a million dollars, if I had it, for a box of +matches and some good dry stuff to burn for a signal." + +"Not having those things, there's no use worrying about them," returned +Jack quietly, "but say, Bill, see here." + +His voice was anxious. He gazed nervously at the approaching lights. + +"That steamer's coming right down on us. We can see both her +sidelights." + +"Well, so much the better. She's bound to see us." + +"Haven't you thought of another possibility?" + +"What do you mean?" + +"Of a great danger?" + +"I don't understand you." + +"She's headed straight for us and we can't get out of the way. If she +doesn't change her course, it will be a miracle if she doesn't run us +down." + +"I hadn't thought of that," said Bill in sobered tones. "What can we +do?" + +"Nothing but to sit tight and trust to luck." + +Both lads now sat with anxious eyes fixed on the approaching lights. +Nearer and nearer they came, traveling fast. + +"Shout, Bill, shout with all your might," enjoined Jack. + +They began yelling at the top of their lungs. But those inexorable +lights, like the eyes of some savage monster, still bore down menacingly +on them. Already, in anticipation, they felt the impact of the sharp +bow, the crash of smashed timbers and the suction of the propellers +drawing them down to death. + +"They don't hear us," said Jack. "If the lookout doesn't sight us, we're +lost." + +The steamer was very close now. By straining their eyes they thought +they could make out the dark outlines of her hull and spars against the +clearing sky. Bill hid his face in his hands. He could not bear to look +at the Juggernaut of the seas advancing to crush them. Jack, with more +fortitude, sat erect with a thousand thoughts whirring through his +brain. + +The mighty bow loomed above the tiny chip of a boat, throwing off a +great wave. The comber caught the light craft and flung it aside. What +seemed like a black cliff, with here and there a gleaming light piercing +its face, raced past them, and the boat, with two white-faced, shaken +boys in it, was left in the wake of the fast-moving steamer, safe, but +being madly tossed about by the wash of her propellers. The danger had +passed, almost by a hand's breadth, but it was some time before they +were sufficiently masters of themselves to discuss their escape. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIII. + + MEETING AN OLD FRIEND. + + +Morning broke on a comparatively smooth sea, and two utterly exhausted, +sunken-cheeked lads, weak from exposure and lack of nourishment. + +"This thing has got to end one way or another before long," declared +Bill, his voice coming in a sort of croak from his parched throat. + +"Yes, I'm afraid we can't stick it out much longer, Bill," assented Jack +languidly. + +"I'm beginning to see things," muttered Bill; "black objects dancing +about in the sun. Over there on the horizon, for instance, I can see a +dark cloud that looks like a tower. I know it isn't there, of course, +but----" + +"But, Bill, by hookey, it is!" cried Jack. + +"What, are you going crazy, too?" + +"That's not a tower, but a steamer's smoke, Bill," declared Jack, after +prolonged scrutiny. In a few minutes Bill became convinced that his chum +was right. + +"But will she pass near enough to see us?" + +It was a question upon which much, indeed, their very existence, might +depend. + +On came the cloud of smoke, and now they could see the funnel and then +the hull, of the steamer that was making it. + +"Bill, I--I believe she'll pass near us." + +Jack's voice trembled and his eyes shone as if he were a victim of +fever. Bill did not answer, but he clutched the gunwale with hands that +shook, and fixed his gaze on the oncoming vessel. Neither boy dared to +speak, but both of them felt that if the steamer did not sight them, it +would be more than they could bear. + +They stood up in the boat when they thought the craft was near enough to +see and waved frantically, at the risk of upsetting the cranky little +affair. + +"Bill, she's changing her course," came from Jack's parched and fevered +lips. + +"I believe she is. Yes, see there!" + +Three white puffs of steam burst from the ship's whistle. Then came the +booming sound of her siren thrice repeated. The sweetest music produced +by the finest musicians of both hemispheres could not have sounded as +good to the boys at that moment as did the harsh roar of the steam +whistle that showed them they had been sighted and that rescue was at +hand. From the steamer's stern flag-staff fluttered the Dutch ensign, +proclaiming that she was a ship of a neutral power. + +This was an additional cause of congratulation to the boys, for had they +been picked up by a craft flying a belligerent flag, they might have +become involved in fresh difficulties. In half an hour the steamer, a +small freighter, was lying to not far off the drifting yawl, and a boat +had been lowered and was rapidly pulled toward the castaways. In a short +time they were on board, and after being refreshed and provided with +clothes, were able to tell their stories to Captain Van der Hagueen, the +stout, red-faced little captain to whom they owed their safety. + +The _Zuyder Zee_, the name of the little steamer, was bound, to the +boys' great joy, for Antwerp. She carried salt fish and herrings from +Scotland and scented her entire vicinity with the aroma of her cargo. +But the boys, as Bill expressed it, would have thought "a limburger +cheese ship a paradise" after all they had gone through. + +The next morning they steamed up the River Scheldt and came once more in +sight of the towers and spires of the historic city which, it will be +recalled, they had visited some time before on Jack's first voyage. +Captain Van der Hagueen told them that after discharging his cargo he +meant to lay up his ship, in which he was part owner, at Antwerp till +the war was over. The risk of floating mines in the North Sea was too +great to encounter, he declared. + +It was in the earlier days of the war and Antwerp, a city strongly +fortified, had not been threatened, although every preparation was being +made to receive the enemy if they did come. Barricades were being thrown +up in the streets and the suburbs, and the thoroughfares were full of +the queerly uniformed Belgian soldiers the boys had been so much amused +at on their previous visit. Their amusement at Belgian soldiers had +given way, by now, however, to admiration and respect for the sturdy +little country of fighters that had managed to give a good account of +itself against the most formidable army ever assembled. + +The boys decided to seek out their good friend M. La Farge, the Minister +of Government Railroads, who, it will be recalled, they had served on +their first visit, and whose appreciation in the form of two handsomely +engraved and inscribed gold watches were at that moment in Jack's money +belt, where he had luckily placed them for fear of robbery before they +embarked on the _Barley Rig_. It was fortunate that he had done so, +otherwise it is doubtful if they would have obtained access to his +offices, where they found him overwhelmed with work. The sight of the +watches, however, proved an "open sesame" to the Minister's presence, +and the boys--who had in the meantime provided themselves with new +outfits,--presently found themselves warmly shaking hands with their old +friend who was unfeignedly glad to see them. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIV. + + THE SKY SLAYER. + + +After the first greetings were over, Jack plunged into an explanation of +their presence in Belgium in such stormy times. M. La Farge looked +grave, but promised to do what he could through diplomatic and other +sources to locate Tom Jukes. + +"If, as you say, he has been traveling in state in a large auto, he +ought to be easy to locate," he assured them. "I will let you know what +I have been able to discover to-morrow morning. Every auto entering the +country is registered and its occupants kept track of. Rest assured I +shall do my best for the two young friends to whom I can never be +sufficiently grateful." + +Jack thanked him warmly for them both, and explained that while in +London they had communicated with the American consuls in Paris and +Berlin, but that nothing had been heard at either place of Tom Jukes +being among the refugees beseiging the American representatives. + +"Possibly I shall have better success. At least, we must hope so," said +M. La Farge. "Much of the telegraph system is still intact, fortunately. +At least rest on my promise that I will do all I can." + +As they had already visited the American consulate in Antwerp, where +they had obtained no news, the two boys found themselves without +anything to do but kill time as best they could till the next day. As +they had spent much of their time on the Dutch steamer in sleep, they +did not feel like turning in early and so, at Jack's suggestion, they +visited a theatre. But it was a gloomy manner of spending the evening, +as it transpired. The inhabitants of Antwerp were more interested in the +bulletin boards announcing the inroads of the German troops than in +entertainments. There was an air of anxiety and depression abroad that +could not help but be contagious, and oppressed by the general +atmosphere, the boys decided before the end of the performance to return +to their hotel. + +But Jack could not sleep. He lay awake tossing and turning for an hour +or more. In the street he could hear the regular step and quick +challenge of sentries. Occasionally, far off, came the sound of bugle +calls. + +All at once he became aware of another sound. It was one that was +strange to him. He could liken it to nothing but the droning buzz of a +giant bumblebee. It was at first faint; hardly audible in fact, except +to strained ears, but it rapidly grew in volume, filling the whole air +with the steady vibrating buzz. + +The sound irritated Jack, sleepless as he was. + +"It sounds for all the world as if there was a big buzz saw or a +threshing machine at work," he mused. "Where on earth does the racket +come from?" + +He lay awake listening for a few moments longer. Then he got out of bed +and tiptoed across the room where Bill lay snoring violently. + +The lad looked out of the window. The street and a public square lay far +below him. Only a few lights shone on the thoroughfare. It appeared +deserted but for the sentries marching up and down unceasingly. + +"Nothing there," said the boy to himself. "I guess I'll turn in again." + +The buzzing sound had grown fainter now. It was hardly audible in fact. +But for some reason it lingered in Jack's mind. It was like half a dozen +things he could think of and yet he could not recall ever having heard +that precise sound before. + +At last he dozed off, and then sank into a dream in which it seemed to +him that he was somewhere far out in the country lying under a shady +tree contentedly chewing on a bit of grass and gazing up through the +leafy branches at the bright sky. But suddenly everything clouded over. +The landscape grew dark and sinister, and the leaves of the tree above +him began to toss and sway in a harsh wind. + +In his dream, Jack arose and standing up looked about him. It appeared +to him as if he was gazing down from a height over an immense +battlefield. He could see the dust and smoke as cannon were wheeled into +position and then the flashes of flame and the belching of fire from the +rifle pits. Men were mowed down like ripe grain in long windrows. + +It was horrible but fascinating. + +Then, all at once, came again that strange buzzing sound. But now it +seemed to have in it a menacing note. It was like a terrible voice. The +boy shuddered as he heard it, harsh and inexorable, filling the air, +which seemed to vibrate to the steady humming. + +It grew sharper and louder. Above all, the noise of the dream cannon and +rifles, the boy could hear it. He awakened with a start, his heart +beating rather wildly. + +"That was a kind of a nightmare," he said to himself. "Glad I woke up. I +guess--what's that?" + +Again that humming sound filled the air as if a pulsing chord, strung at +high tension, had been twanged. + +"It's outside!" exclaimed Jack, for the second time going to the window. + +"It's in the air!" he cried an instant later. + +He turned his face upward. High above the city, against the stars, he +could trace the outline of a gigantic cigar-shaped body. It was moving +slowly far above him. + +"An airship!" gasped the boy, and then the next instant: + +"A Zeppelin!" + +Something seemed to launch itself from the dark body of the immense +aircraft and streak downward like a falling star. The next moment, from +a part of the city some distance off, there was a brilliant flash of +flame, and then an appalling report that shook the earth. But Jack had +no eyes for this at the moment. His gaze was fixed on the Zeppelin. + +Having dealt destruction in one part of the city it was now making +directly toward the hotel! + +The boy watched it with a horrible fascination that held him speechless. + +The death-dealing craft was destined to pass directly above the building +that sheltered them and how many others. Craning his neck, Jack watched +its flight above the sleeping city. Dark as death itself and, with no +indication of its presence but the drone of its engines, the sky monster +moved majestically toward him. It was then that Jack suddenly found his +tongue as the death in the air approached till it was almost above his +staring eyes. + +"Bill," he yelled, "Bill, wake up!" + +He shook his chum's shoulder violently. + +"Whazzermarrer?" inquired Bill sleepily. + +"Get up for your life. Fling on any old clothes. Let's get out of here +quick." + +"What's up?" demanded Bill, wide awake now, and hastily pulling on some +clothes, for he knew Jack would not have aroused him needlessly. + +"It's a Zeppelin, a giant German airship. She's blown up a piece some +blocks away and now she's headed over here." + +At almost the same instant, a roar of artillery burst forth. The +defenses of Antwerp had awakened and were concentrating their fire on +the death-dealing monster of the sky. But as the first reports ripped +the silence of the night, there came another and a mightier report. The +hotel rocked to its foundations. A shower of plaster and debris crashed +into the boys' room, half burying them. + +The sky slayer had struck again! + + + + + CHAPTER XXV. + + IN THE GLARE OF FLAMES. + + +For a fragment of time,--while a man might have counted ten,--there was +absolute silence following the shattering report of the bomb. Then came +a babel of cries, shouts and women's screams. Hastily throwing on +whatever clothes came first, the two boys rushed out of the wrecked +room. + +But they did not do this without difficulty, for a mass of fallen +plaster and debris blocked the door. In the corridor, an electric light +still burned, and the force of the explosion appeared to have spent +itself at the end of the passage where the boys' room was situated. + +"Wha--what happened?" stammered Bill, as they gained the corridor. + +"It was a bomb, a bomb dropped from a Zeppelin," answered Jack, equally +moved. "What a fiendish bit of business." + +"I only hope they don't drop any more," Bill cried, as they hurried to +where the stairway should have been. + +But it was not there. + +A great section of it had been blown to kindling by the force of the +explosion. It was at that moment that Jack became aware of an acrid, +sharp smell very different from the reek of the lyddite with which the +shell had been loaded. It was a few minutes before he realized what it +was,--fire! + +He looked behind them. A red glare lighted up the corridor, and even as +he gazed, a sheet of flame burst from a doorway further down the +passage. Below them, there was bustle and shouting in plenty, but +apparently they were the only guests quartered in that part of the +hotel. + +Jack looked grave. The position they occupied was a very dangerous one. +The gap in the stairway was wide and they were trapped with that chasm +in front and the flames behind them. + +"What are we going to do?" gasped Bill, turning pale. + +"I don't know; we are in a bad fix, Bill," confessed Jack. +"Perhaps,--hello!" he broke off, as the tiny figure of a pretty little +girl emerged from a room which adjoined the one they had just vacated. + +The tot held in her arms a doll and her eyes were wide with dismay. + +"Oh, man, what has happened?" she gasped. + +"Something very terrible, little girl," answered Jack, "but are you +alone?" + +"Oh, no, my mamma's in the room. She's sick, I think." + +"Great Scott," groaned Jack, "this is serious. It was bad enough before, +but now----" He looked at Bill desperately. + +"We've got to get that woman out of there," said Bill. + +"Yes, but how?" cried Jack desperately. "There's no way of bridging that +gap." + +"I've got a plan that might work," said Bill. + +"Are you going to save us?" asked the tot in a trembling voice. + +"Yes, dear. Don't be frightened. Stay here while we bring mamma to you." + +"Oh, I'm scared," wailed the child, but she obediently sat down on a +chair to await the boys' return. + +Inside the room they found a handsome, middle-aged woman lying half +dressed on the floor, in a faint. Apparently, she had risen and begun +dressing hastily when the first shock of the bomb came, but the effort +had been too much for her, and she had collapsed. The boys picked her up +as gently as possible and tried to revive her, but their efforts met +with no success. + +Outside, the glare and roar of the flames were increasing. There was no +time to be lost. + +"There's only one thing to do," said Bill seriously. + +"And that is what? I'm stupid," confessed Jack. + +"We must make a rope of bed clothes and lower her and the child down." + +"Good. I believe we can get out of this." + +They hastily tore the clothes of the two beds in the room and made a +long rope of them. When this had been done, they took a turn of their +"rope" round the marble pillar at the head of the wrecked staircase. But +then came a fresh difficulty. There was no one on the floor below, +though they shouted to attract attention. Obviously someone would have +to be there to catch the woman and untie her when she was lowered. + +"You go," said Jack. "I guess I'm strong enough to lower you." + +"And leave you here in danger of the flames?" protested Bill, for it was +getting uncomfortably hot now, and the smoke was blinding. + +"I'll be all right, if we hurry," said Jack. "Go ahead, Bill, there's +not a minute to be lost." + +"I know, but----" + +"Never mind any 'buts'--it's a matter of life and death." + +So Bill reluctantly looped the "rope" under his arms and then Jack +lowered the young engineer to the next floor. This done, Jack had a hard +task in front of him. He had to fasten the life-line round the woman and +lift her to the edge of the gulf. + +This he accomplished by knotting the rope to the marble pillar, tying it +securely at just such a length as would allow its unconscious burden to +be suspended over the gap in the stairway. This was accomplished. She +was lowered, and in a short time the woman was received by Bill, who +released her from the line with all speed. Then came the little girl's +turn. She was terrified at the idea, but at last Jack, with the loss of +much valuable time, succeeded in persuading her to make the attempt. + +But the delay had made his position terribly dangerous. The fire was so +intensely hot now that its breath scorched him. The smoke was so dense, +too, that breathing was difficult. + +"I'll have a close shave of it," thought Jack, as he glanced behind him +and prepared to lower the little girl. + +As before, the feat was successfully accomplished, and then came Jack's +turn. As he slid nimbly down the rope that had done them such good +service, the flames actually singed his garments. He was none too soon +in reaching the lower floor, for he had hardly landed when the fire +reached the pillar to which the line was secured and burned through its +fabric. + +"Well, 'a miss is as good as a mile,'" said Jack, "but that's about as +close as I want to come to being roasted alive." + + + + + CHAPTER XXVI. + + TWO YOUNG HEROES. + + +The corridor was deserted, but a few lights burned dimly. No damage +appeared to have been done there, and it was clear that the bomb had +wrought havoc only on the top floor, which was the one occupied by the +boys and those they had rescued. + +"I wonder if the elevator is running?" asked Bill. + +The lift was at the upper end of the passage and they carried the woman +to it, but there was no response to their rings. Outside they could hear +fire apparatus clanging wildly up and the confused roaring murmur of an +immense crowd. + +In the distance, the guns of the forts boomed, filling the air with +their sonorous thunder as they fired at the daring night raider of the +enemy. With this sound was mingled the sharper crackle of light +artillery and specially built "sky guns." But as they learned afterward, +the perpetrator of destruction on the sleeping city escaped scot-free, +to make subsequent attacks. + +The elevator apparently not running, they had to face the task of +carrying the unconscious woman down to the lobby and securing medical +aid. Luckily for their tired muscles, Antwerp hotels are not like our +skyscrapers, and it was not long before they reached the ground. + +The scene was a wild one. Hysterical women and white-faced, frightened +men, in every stage of dress or undress, were huddled in the centre of +the place while the hotel clerks and servants were doing their best to +pacify them. In the confusion, the boys attracted hardly any attention, +and they laid the woman down on a lounge while they summoned a doctor, +of whom several were already busy attending to women who had swooned or +become hysterical. + +The fear of the crowd was that another bomb might follow the first. +Already word had spread that a hospital had been struck and a dwelling +house wrecked, two women and a man being killed outright in their sleep +in the latter. + +"What an outrage!" exclaimed Bill, looking about him at the wild scene +while a doctor administered restoratives to the woman they had saved. +"To attack women and children and harmless citizens from the sky." + +"I hope they get that old wind bag and blow it to bits," wished Jack, +with not less warmth. + +"Well, this is our first taste of war, Jack, and I can't say I like it." + +"Nor I. It would do some of those jingoes in our own country, who were +yelling for war with Mexico, a lot of good to see this," returned the +young wireless man. + +"Let's go outside and see what's going on," suggested Bill. "I guess our +charge is all right, now she's beginning to recover." + +If the scene in the hotel had been wild, like a nightmare more than a +reality, that outside was pandemonium itself. Imagine a crowd of +wild-eyed men and women, few of them wholly dressed, surging behind +lines of policemen and the entire street lighted by the ghastly glare of +flames upon which the engines were playing furious streams. + +"If that bomb-thrower sailed over here now he could wipe out half of +Antwerp, I should think," said Jack, as they elbowed their way through +the throng. Oddly enough, although the lads had only been able to throw +on a few garments hastily, they did not, till that moment, recollect +that their new outfits had been destroyed. It was Bill who called +attention to this. + +"We ought to make the fortunes of a tailor," he commented. "We'll have +to get a lot of new stuff to-morrow,--or rather to-day, for it's after +three o'clock." + +"If this keeps up we'll be reduced to Adam and Eve garments before we +get through," laughed Jack. + +Far in the distance, on the outskirts of the city and on the chain of +forts, the white fingers of the searchlights were sweeping the sky +questioningly, looking for the sky-destroyer to deal out death to him in +his turn. The guns boomed and cracked incessantly, sending a rain of +missiles upward. + +But flying high, and favored by a misty sky, the Zeppelin escaped +without injury, leaving a panic-stricken city in its wake. There was no +more sleep for any one in Antwerp that night. Vigilance against spies +increased ten-fold, and it was bruited about that the real object of the +aviators had been to blow up the royal palace, and by destroying the +king and queen to terrify the Belgians into submission. + +Naturally, sleep was out of the question for the boys. They spent the +rest of the night wandering about the city and visiting the ruins of the +house that had been struck just before the hotel. Its entire front was +torn out by the force of the explosion, and just as they arrived, three +bodies had been found in the ruins. + +The sight of the shrouded, still forms brought home to them with still +greater force the horror of it all. + +"Tell you what, Bill," said Jack, as they returned to the hotel to +breakfast, and found that the fire had been extinguished and the panic +quieted down, "war is a pretty thing on paper, and uniforms, and bands, +and fluttering flags, and all that to make a fellow feel martial and +war-like, but it's little realities like these that make you feel the +world would be a heap better off without soldiers or sailors whose +places could be taken by a few wise diplomats in black tail coats. It +wouldn't be so pretty but it would be a lot more like horse sense." + +"Gracious, you're developing into a regular orator," laughed Bill. + +"Well, the sight of these poor dead folks and all this useless wreckage +got under my skin," said Jack, flushing a little, for he was not a boy +much given to "chin music," as Bill called oratorical flights. + +During the morning they secured new clothes for the second time since +landing in the city, and then paid their appointed call on M. La Farge. + +"I have good news for you, boys," he said as they came into his office. +"Your man was last heard from at Louvain. I suspect he is rather given +to adventure, for I understand that he has been quite active in aiding +our people. It's strange that his people have not heard from him, +though." + +"Perhaps they have by this time," said Jack; "but if he has been +actively siding with the Belgians, isn't his neutrality in grave danger, +with all its serious consequences?" + +M. La Farge nodded thoughtfully. + +"I have heard much of your wealthy young Americans," he said, "and while +their hearts are warm and it is good of this young man to be doing what +he can, my advice to you is to get him to return home as soon as +possible--the Germans shoot first and listen to explanations afterward, +as they say in your country." + + + + + CHAPTER XXVII. + + "THE GERMANS ARE COMING!" + + +It was in the early days of the war when the gallant defenders of Liege +were still undauntedly holding back the Teuton thousands with their +great "caterpillar" siege guns that were destined, ere long, to hammer +down the stubborn defense of Belgium's neutrality. Trains were running +and business, although seriously hampered, was still being carried on, +though the foe was at the gate and the capital had been removed from +Brussels to Antwerp. + +Armed with passes signed by M. La Farge, to which their photographs were +attached for purposes of identification, the boys started for Liege the +next day. It was likely to prove an arduous and not unhazardous task +that they had embarked upon. In the first place "spy fever" was at its +height. Anyone not in uniform was liable to be held up and questioned, +and if satisfactory explanations were not forthcoming, they were liable +to very unpleasant consequences. + +The word of any frightened peasant choosing to "denounce" anybody had +led to riots and affrays in which men and women, suspected of espionage, +had been rescued by troopers after being half beaten to death. + +Above all, the boys were warned not to carry weapons of any kind, an +injunction which they obeyed as they did all the rest of M. La Farge's +admonitions. The train journey proved exasperating. Sometimes it would +be halted for hours on a side track while trains, loaded with +young-looking soldiers in a strange medley of gay Belgian uniforms, went +by, the men cheering and singing. Again, much time was wasted by careful +reconnaissances, for there was fear that bridges might have been +dynamited or the right of way mined by the spies who were rife +throughout the country. + +A whole day passed thus, with the train creeping like a snail and +continually stopping and starting. The roads at the side of the track +were alive with peasants flocking to different centres from their lonely +houses in the country. Some had their family possessions piled high in +small carts drawn by dogs. Others carried what they had been able +hastily to collect. It was another sad picture of war and the desolation +it had brought on an inoffensive, industrious little country. + +Several aeroplanes soared above the train, reconnoitering the country. +At first the boys were nervous lest there might be a repetition of the +bomb-dropping at Antwerp, but they were assured by the official on the +train, who had examined their passes, that the aircraft were all +friendly French and Belgian aeroplanes, after which they watched them +with less uncomfortable feelings. As Bill put it: + +"If we were at war and shouldering rifles for the dear old U. S. A., +we'd take the chances of war with the rest of them, but being a neutral, +there's no sense in throwing away our bright young lives," a sentiment +to which Jack agreed heartily. + +It was dark when the train rolled into Louvain. After innumerable +challenges by armed sentries, they at last reached the hotel of the +place where many of the soldiers were quartered. If Antwerp had seemed +like an armed fortress, signs of military activity were much more marked +in the old cathedral town. + +Lights were not allowed after eight o'clock. Citizens were kept off the +streets at night after certain hours. Artillery rumbled through the city +all night, going to the front, the boys were told. + +Disquieting rumors of the fall of Liege, and the advance of the Germans, +had already reached the town, and on the outskirts, barbed wire defenses +were erected and trenches dug hastily. Residents were warned, in the +event of the Germans entering the city, to behave themselves strictly as +non-combatants, the magnificent cathedral was fitted up as a hospital in +case of emergencies. The thrill of warfare was in the air. + +It was early the next morning that Jack aroused Bill from his sleep. + +"Hark, Bill!" he exclaimed, holding up one hand. + +From far off came the boom of cannon. The ground seemed to tremble under +the thunder-like reverberations. Down in the street a squadron of +cavalry raced through the town. Then came the rumbling of guns being +rushed to the front. + +"It's a big battle," declared Jack; "and what's more the sounds have +been growing louder. It must be a retreat." + +Bill looked grave. + +"In that case we are likely to be in the thick of it." + +"I'm afraid so, and it may be mighty difficult to get away. We'll have +to find Tom Jukes as soon as we can, and then get back to the coast." + +An aeroplane buzzed by overhead, its powerful engines whirring, buzzing +thunderously. By daylight the town was almost empty of soldiers; they +had all, except a few detachments, been called to the front during the +night. + +The landlord of the hotel was in a great state of perturbation. + +"Ah, those terrible Germans!" he exclaimed, "they will wreck our +beautiful town and put us to death. I know them. Oh, what unhappy +times." + +"Perhaps they may be beaten back," encouraged Jack. + +"Oh, no! No such good fortune," said the landlord, wringing his hands +miserably. Just after dawn, a mud-spattered courier arrived, and +declared Liege had fallen, "the Germans are coming." + +Everywhere that was the cry as, after a hasty breakfast in the +disordered hotel, the boys hurried out. + + + + + CHAPTER XXVIII. + + FAST TRAVELING. + + +The sound of firing was now much closer. Frightened faces were peering +from behind shuttered windows. All traffic appeared to have stopped, and +the only life beyond the few persons abroad, whose curiosity was +stronger than their fear of the big German guns, was when an occasional +body of troops would rush through the streets. + +The beautiful Hotel de Ville and the fine old cathedral, so soon +destined to be damaged by fire and bullets, attracted the attention of +the boys and gained a hearty expression of admiration from them both. +All at once there was a whirr and the snort of a horn, and an armored +war-automobile, carrying a machine gun, and painted a business-like +gray, dashed around a corner and sped on. Another car came close behind +it. + +The second machine carried an American and a Red Cross flag. It was +coming fast and contained two occupants. Both were youths, and one +carried a camera over his shoulder by a broad strap. But the other +attracted Jack's notice, for in him he recognized instantly the lad they +were in search of, Tom Jukes, the millionaire's son. + +"Hey, Tom Jukes!" he hailed. + +The car slowed up and the young driver turned questioningly in his seat. + +"Well, by all that's wonderful, it's Jack Ready and Bill Raynor!" he +exclaimed, as the two lads came up to the car. "What in the world are +you doing here?" + +"We've been sent to ask you that same question," responded Jack, who, it +will be recalled, became well acquainted with Tom Jukes when the young +wireless man was in the hospital in New York following his battle with +the desperate tobacco smugglers he was instrumental in sending to +prison. + +"What do you mean?" asked Tom with wide-open eyes. + +"Why, your father hadn't heard from you and----" + +"Hadn't heard from me! Why, I've written several letters," declared Tom. +"I'd have cabled, but they've stopped all that for the present, at +least. I declare, that's too bad. And so the governor sent you on a +searching expedition, eh?" + +"Well, it was to be a combination of that and a vacation," laughed Jack, +and he told something of their adventures on board the "Gold Ship." + +"My word, you fellows are always having adventures," said Tom, with a +smile on his good-looking face. "The fact is, I guess reading of your +exploits made me stay over here when this row started to see if I +couldn't have some of my own. I'm staying with Belgian friends, about +half a mile from here, and so far I haven't done much but get ready to +help in Red Cross work and so on. But now I guess it's up to me to get +back to the U. S. A." + +"If we can," said Jack. "I don't know where the ship we came over on, +the _St. Mark_, has been sent to. London and Paris are overrun with +American refugees. When we were there, hundreds of them were unable to +get passage, or even change their money." + +"Oh, the whole world seems to have been shuffled in this thing," frowned +Tom, "but let me introduce my friend, Philander Pottle. He's a +photographer for a New York newspaper." + +The boys shook hands with Pottle, a dark young fellow who talked as +explosively as a machine gun. + +"Glad to meet you--fine fight--be here soon--great pictures--snap! +bang!--action--that's the stuff!" + +"We're going out toward the front, that is, if we can get by," declared +Tom; "want to come along?" + +The boys looked rather dubious. + +"I don't know what your father----" began Jack doubtfully. + +Tom interrupted him impulsively. + +"Oh, there's no danger so long as we don't get in any of the scrimmages +ourselves," he declared, "and then the American flag and the Red Cross +emblem will keep us out of trouble." + +Both boys were anxious to go, so that it did not take much more +persuasion to make them get in. + +"Now then off we go--bang! biff!--big guns!" + +Outside the city lay an open country. Far off they could see a great +cloud-like mass of smoke which, no doubt, marked the place where the +fight was taking place. + +"We'll make a detour to the north," declared Tom. "There's rising ground +there and we can look down without danger of getting hit." + +"Not want to get hit--cannon ball--gee whizz, off goes your head--much +better keep it on," said Pottle, in his firecracker way. + +"He talks as fast as a photographic shutter moves," chuckled Bill to +Jack in a low voice and the other could not but agree. As they rode on, +they passed groups of soldiers and artillery. Now and then a lumbering +wagon, bringing back wounded men lying on piles of straw, jolted by, +bearing mute testimony of the havoc going on at the front. + +The boys began to feel sick and queer and even Tom sobered down at these +sights. They were stopped several times by small skirmishing bands and +made to show their papers, for a few days before German spies had been +captured in a car flying an American flag. The car sped up a hill and +then started swiftly down on the other side of the acclivity. + +At the foot of the hill, a long and steep one, was a wooden bridge. Tom +was driving fast, when suddenly there was a sharp, snapping sound and +the car leaped forward. Tom's foot was on the brake in a jiffy, but +there was no diminution in the speed of the machine. Instead, it +appeared to gain momentum every moment. + +"Bother it all," muttered Tom; "brakes bust. I can't slow down till we +get to the bottom of the hill." + +"I hope we don't meet anything," cried Jack. + +"If we do grand bust--smash--crash--no chance--wow!" exploded the +photographer. + +But there was nothing in sight, and beyond the bridge was another up +grade where Tom hoped to gain control of the runaway machine. But within +a few hundred feet of the bridge some soldiers suddenly appeared, +running from the bridge as if they were in haste to leave the vicinity. + +As the car came in sight they waved it frantically back. One even +leveled a rifle. + +"Can't stop," shouted Tom Jukes, "brakes bust." + +They flashed by the men who looked mere blurs at the pace the car was +now going. + +Bang! came a shot behind them, but the bullet whistled by, making them +involuntarily crouch low in the madly racing car. Behind them came +shouts and yells. They could catch something about Germans. + +"They think we're German spies," gasped Bill, as the car thundered +across the bridge. + +Hardly had it flashed across than there came a terrific explosion and +looking back they saw the whole bridge blown skyward. Their lives had +been saved by a miracle. + +"Those soldiers must have mined that bridge and set the fuse just before +we appeared," declared Jack, looking rather white and dismayed. + +"We weren't a second too soon. If we'd been going slower we'd have been +wiped off the map," added Bill soberly. + +"I'm going to keep running at this speed till we're out of this +neighborhood," cried Tom Jukes. "It's not healthy." + + + + + CHAPTER XXIX. + + THE UHLANS! + + +But clearly fate was against their seeing anything of the battle that +morning. They were still going fast, traveling through a wooded country +that alternated with open stretches, where they could catch a glimpse of +the far-off fight, when there came a sudden ominous sound: + +Bang! + +"There's a shot," cried Bill, looking round with alarm on his face. + +"That was no shot," returned Tom with a rueful grin, "it was one of the +tires blowing out." + +"Pop--bang--air all out--pump her up--hard work--too bad," exploded +Pottle. + +"Fritz, I'll be jiggered if you don't talk like a tire going on the +fritz yourself," laughed Tom, as he succeeded in slowing the car down on +a gentle grade by reversing the engine and then stopping at the bottom. + +"Fritz--German name--don't use it in Belgium--think you're a spy--then +you'll be on the fritz," sputtered Pottle. + +The car was brought to a standstill opposite a neat white farmhouse +approached by an avenue of slender dark poplars. A big dog bayed as the +car stopped, but there was no other sign of life about the place except +some chickens pecking and scratching in the dooryard. In the background +were yellow stacks, for the harvest had just been gathered. It made a +pretty, contented scene in contrast with the turbulent experiences +through which the boys had passed only recently. + +But they did not spend much time comparing the rural peace with the +unrest of the cities in the war area. There was work for them all to do. +First the brake was mended by replacing a broken bolt that had caused +the trouble that almost ended tragically for them. Then came the fitting +of a new "shoe" and tube, at which they all helped by turns. + +The work took some time, and at its completion they were all dusty, hot, +and very thirsty. + +"I'd give a lot for a good drink of cold water or milk right now," +puffed Tom, resting from his exertions with the tire pump. "What do you +say if we go up to that farmhouse and see if we can buy something to +drink?" + +"Oh, for an ice cream soda," sighed Bill. + +"You might as well wish for lemonade in the Sahara desert," scoffed Tom. +"They wouldn't know an ice cream soda here if they met it." + +Laughing and chatting, they approached the house, walking up the avenue. +But as they neared it, their cheerfulness appeared to receive a check. +No indication of life but those mentioned appeared about the place. It +was silent and shuttered. The stable seemed to be empty. No farm wagons +stood about. + +Repeated knockings at the door failed to produce anyone. + +"There's a well yonder," said Tom Jukes. "What do you say if we help +ourselves?" + +"We'll have to, I guess," agreed Jack. "Everyone about the place must +have been scared away by the battle." + +"Or more probably the men were called to arms and the women have gone to +some place of safety," was Bill's opinion. + +A great earthenware vessel stood by the well brink and they refreshed +themselves from this with long draughts of cold, clear water. + +"That's better," declared Tom, as he set down the pitcher after a second +application from it. "Now let's be getting on, for we've got to find +another road back." + +"Wait a minute--great chance--deserted farm--men at war--women flee in +haste leaving faithful dog!" exclaimed Pottle, unslinging his camera. + +"Well, hurry up and get through with your old picture box," conceded +Tom, "and, by the way, you might let that dog loose. Poor creature, +he'll surely starve to death tied up like that." + +Although the dog was a ferocious-looking animal, he seemed to know that +the boys meant to give him his liberty, for he allowed them to take off +his chain without any opposition and went to a small stream that flowed +behind the house to slake his thirst. + +This had hardly been done, and Pottle had taken a few snaps, when down +the road came a furious galloping and a squadron of Belgian cavalry +appeared, spurring for their lives, while behind came hoarse shouts and +shots. + +"Great Scott! We're in for it now!" exclaimed Tom in a dismayed voice; +"a flanking party must have attacked those fellows and driven them +back." + +The squadron, a small one, and probably a scouting party, galloped past +the house without even noticing the boys and the auto standing in the +road. It was plain they were hard pressed. They had hardly gone when +another body of horsemen appeared. They wore gray uniforms. Their metal +helmets were covered with canvas with the number of their troop +stencilled on it in large figures. Each man carried a lance with a +gleaming point. Like those they pursued they swept by without paying +attention to anything but the pursuit. + +"Uhlans!" exclaimed Tom. "I hope we haven't blundered into the thick of +this thing." + +They all stopped to listen. The noise of the pursuit had died out, but +now more hoof beats could be heard approaching rapidly. + + + + + CHAPTER XXX. + + "YOU ARE A SPY!" + + +In another moment a smaller body of men swept up to the farmhouse, +drawing rein at the sight of the stalled car. By their uniforms and the +fluttering ensign held up by a big trooper, the boys guessed them to be +officers. They paused for a moment and then, after a few words, turned +and came galloping up the poplar-lined approach. + +The boys exchanged blank looks. + +"Keep cool," urged Tom, "there isn't anything they can do to hurt us." + +"I don't know, I've heard some queer tales of the Germans," declared +Jack, rather apprehensively, "for one thing they've no great love for +Americans." + +"But they wouldn't dare to injure us," declared Bill. + +The horsemen, of whom there were six, and they saw that two were +slightly wounded, came galloping up and drew rein. The leader of the +party was a fierce, hawk-nosed old man with an immense drooping +mustache. The others were young officers, rather foppish-looking. Two of +them wore monocles. + +But it was the figure of the man who brought up the rear of the party +that excited Jack's attention to the exclusion of the others. + +"Radwig!" he gasped to Bill as he recognized the figure of the former +Herr Professor of the German War college, in spite of his wearing a +uniform. + +"Wow! There'll be trouble sure now," muttered Bill. "See, he's looking +at us." + +"Yes, he recognizes us and he doesn't look over amiable." + +Radwig spurred his horse to the side of the hawk-nosed old colonel and +spoke rapidly. The old man bent keen eyes on the party of boys. + +"Herr Radwig informs me that two of your party are spies," he said in a +chilling voice; "is that the truth?" + +"Of course not," declared Jack, paling a trifle. "We are all Americans." + +"Unfortunately, a great many persons, including English spies, are +protecting themselves under that banner nowadays," was the rejoinder. +"I'll trouble you to show your papers." + +"Why, Mr. Radwig knows me and my friend here," burst out Jack. + +"I know nothing but what I suspect," snarled Radwig, his eyes gleaming +viciously. "Colonel, will you allow me to search these boys?" + +The other nodded assent. + +"I would rather be searched by somebody else," protested Jack, guessing +what sort of treatment they would get from the man who hated him. + +"Herr Radwig will search you," was the rejoinder, and then, in German, +he gave orders to a non-commissioned officer,--a sergeant,--to get a +meal ready within the house. Radwig compelled the indignant boys to turn +out everything in their pockets and Pottle's camera was ordered +destroyed forthwith. + +Radwig's search was rapid and thorough. When it was concluded, he turned +to the colonel. + +"There is nothing incriminating on any of them, but on this one here," +he declared. + +He pointed at Jack as he spoke. + +"And he----?" + +"Has two passes on the Belgian railroads in his pocket." + +This was true, for Jack had not given up both passes the last time they +had to show them. + +"That seems to prove that he has some position of trust with the Belgian +government," declared Radwig, "and as such is properly a prisoner of +war." + +Jack looked his dismay; but the colonel gave a sharp order. Two soldiers +laid hold of the boy. He started to shake them off indignantly while his +friends looked on aghast. + +"I can explain all this," he cried; "this man Radwig had trouble with +me. He's trying to get even. He----" + +"Take him away," came the cold order in unmoved tones. "You are +responsible for him," added the colonel to Jack's two captors. "See that +he is carefully guarded till the court martial." + +"The court martial!" cried Jack. "Why, I--I'm an American citizen +and----" + +"There is no more to be said," and Jack, with an armed guard pressing a +revolver to either side, was marched off without a chance to say more. +As he went on, he could hear his friends protesting indignantly and +then, they too, were taken in charge by the soldiers and escorted to the +automobile. Then came a sharp order to them to drive back to Louvain on +pain of death. There was nothing for them to do but to obey. The iron +discipline of the German officers allowed no argument. And so, leaving +Jack to his fate, they were compelled to drive off with heavy hearts. + +"Don't worry, we'll get the American consul and get him out all right," +said Tom, as cheerfully as he could. + +But Bill, with the thought of a court martial in his mind, sat in a +miserable state all the way back to the town which they reached only +after making a long detour, necessitated by the blown-up bridge. + +His chum in the hands of the Germans, and subject to court martial, Bill +had good cause to feel worried and oppressed as to the outcome when he +realized the influence that Radwig, Jack's enemy, appeared to possess. +To what terrible lengths might not his desire for vengeance lead him? + + + + + CHAPTER XXXI. + + COURT-MARTIALED. + + +Poor Jack, with feelings that may be imagined, was roughly thrust into a +smoke house and the door slammed. Outside the sentries paced up and down +ceaselessly, showing him that to think of escaping would be useless. +There he must stay at the mercy of Radwig till his fate was decided. + +No wonder, as he sank on a rough stool, he felt for a moment sick and +apprehensive. The glitter in Radwig's eyes when he saw who it was he had +made prisoner had warned Jack to expect severe treatment. The hours +dragged by and no one came near him. It was pitch dark in the smoke +house, which, of course, had no openings and hardly any ventilation. + +The clank of the sentries' sabres, and their steady, monotonous tread, +were the only sounds that disturbed the stillness except for an +occasional, far-off rumble of cannonading. Evidently the main tide of +the battle had rolled back from the scene of the morning's engagement. +If it had not been for the presence of the sentries, which showed that +he was not forgotten, Jack would have been inclined to think that his +captors had ridden on and left him. + +But the steady tramp-tramp outside precluded all possibility of this. At +last the door was flung open, and the two men guarding him entered the +dark smoke house. Jack saw then that it was late twilight, but a cloudy +sunset, threatening a coming storm, made it appear later. + +"Come," ordered one of the impassive, gray-uniformed Germans, who +seemingly possessed a knowledge of a little English. + +There was no resource but to obey. Jack, with a beating heart, fell in +between his two guardians. + +[Illustration: "You have heard yourself accused of being a spy," began +the Colonel harshly.--Page 229] + +"I've got to be cool and keep my head," he told himself as he was +marched toward the house. "Any false step now might be fatal." + +Within the farmhouse, kitchen lights had been kindled. Two yellow +flaring lamps showed the group of officers about the table with their +swords laid among the remains of a meal. Wine spilled on the cloth and +empty glasses showed that the farmhouse cellar had been raided for their +entertainment. + +At the head of the table sat the hawk-nosed colonel. Next him was +Radwig. One of the officers, a major, was tilted back in his chair +snoring noisily. Jack's heart sank. He saw no signs of a fair trial. + +"You have heard yourself accused of being a spy," began the colonel +harshly. "What have you to say to the charge?" + +"Simply that it's ridiculous. If you will give me time my friends will +be back here with ample proof that I am an American citizen, a wireless +operator and----" + +"Ah, ha!" exclaimed the colonel, placing one finger to the side of his +hawk-like beak and looking cunning. "So that is it. A wireless operator +with Belgian passes in his possession. It looks bad." + +Radwig bent over and whispered something in the colonel's ear. + +"Herr Radwig tells me that you are a hater of Germans. That you had him +placed in custody in England and that he only escaped to join our army +after surmounting great difficulties. What have you to say to that?" + +"As to being a hater of Germans, no American is that," said Jack. "We +are all neutral in this struggle. So far as Herr Radwig being imprisoned +in England, he was already in irons on the ship before she docked." + +"Is that true?" demanded the colonel of Radwig, who smiled and waved his +hand with a gesture that signified "absurd." + +"You see Herr Radwig denies that you tell the truth," remarked the +colonel. + +"Surely my word is as good as his," protested Jack, trying to keep cool, +although he saw that things looked black indeed for him before such a +prejudiced tribunal. + +"Herr Radwig is a German we all know and honor," retorted the colonel. +"Who you are we do not know. Therefore, between you, we must believe +him." + +"You don't mean that you believe I am a spy?" blurted out Jack. + +"The evidence shows it," rejoined the colonel coldly. "You are aware of +the rules of war?" + +The whole room suddenly swam before Jack's eyes. A deadly chill passed +through him. For an instant he could not assure himself that it was not +a hideous dream from which he must soon awaken. But the next instant, +the reality, the horrible fact that he was about to be sentenced to +death as a spy, rushed back upon him. He tried to speak but his dry lips +refused to deliver a word. + +The colonel and Radwig whispered, and then the former announced in his +harsh grating voice: + +"It will be at reveille to-morrow. Remove the prisoner." + +"But you don't understand," he choked out, "surely you don't mean to +execute me, an American citizen, without a chance to explain. I----" + +"I will assume full responsibility," was the cold reply. + +Jack struggled with his captors, but a cruel blow in the small of the +back with the butt of a rifle so dizzied him, that by the time he +recovered his senses, he was back in the dark, foul-smelling smoke house +once more. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXII. + + THE LONG NIGHT. + + +Then followed the blackest hours of Jack's life. Outside the sentries +kept up their eternal pacing. In the distance a dog barked, and there +was still scattered firing. For a long time the unfortunate young +wireless man sat huddled on the floor of his prison in a sort of torpor. + +All at once he recollected that one of his guards spoke English. Perhaps +he could get the loan of pen or pencil and paper to write some last +words. But when hammering at the door for some moments brought a +response, his request was gruffly refused. The sentry resumed his +measured pacing. + +One--two! One--two! Hour after hour the sound beat into Jack's brain +till he thought his head would burst. + +Then came another sound. + +The sound of digging! The blows of a mattock! + +A cold perspiration broke out on Jack's forehead as he realized the +import of this. They were digging his grave, and by a refinement of +cruelty, within earshot of his prison place. Whether by accident or +design, poor Jack was being forced to hearken to the most grisly of the +preparations for the next morning's reveille. + +So the hours crept by leaden-footed. Sleep was out of the question as +much as was possibility of escape. The sound of the digging, which Jack +had stopped his ears to keep out, had ceased. + +Then came a sudden stir outside. The sound of hurrying feet and commands +barked in sharp, quick voices. Jack's heart gave a bound. + +Could it be a detachment of Belgians summoned by Tom and Bill coming to +wipe out the small force occupying the farm? + +He flung himself against the door of the smoke house, listening +intently. There was a tiny crack at one of the posts and through this he +could command a limited view of the moonlit farmyard. Then came an odd +sound. Like the dry whirring of insects in the fall. It grew in volume. +The hurrying and the shouts increased, too. Shots were heard, scattering +one after the other and a yell that sounded like a shout of warning. + +Then the world rocked and spurted flame. Screams and groans filled the +air. + +Again there came an explosion that shattered the night and sickened the +senses. Jack, half stunned, fell to the floor of the smoke house as part +of its roof was torn off. + +Then came silence, broken an instant afterward by groans and moans and +swift, alarmed orders. There was a rat-a-plan of hoofs. The queer +whirring sound died out. Only the moans still continued. Dizzy and sick, +Jack got to his feet. + +As yet he could not quite realize what had happened. Suddenly followed +realization. + +A night raiding aircraft had spied the shifting lights of the encampment +and, by the moonlight, caught the gleam of stacked arms, and had struck. + +The sound of the sentries' ceaseless pacing had stopped. Jack shouted +and pounded on the door of the partially wrecked smoke house, but there +was no answer but the moans and cries that were now getting fainter and +less frequent. The sides of the smoke house were of rough logs and +without much difficulty Jack clambered to the shattered roof. + +He raised himself and clambering over, gave a hasty glance about him. It +was a terrible scene of wreckage that he surveyed. In the earth two +immense holes, big enough to bury two horses, had been torn, and close +by lay two men. Over toward the house was a third figure stretched out. +Three horses, one of which died as Jack was looking over the carnage, +lay not far off. + +There was nobody else in sight. + +Jack clambered over the edge of the gap the shell had torn in the roof +and dropped lightly to the ground. + +"Wasser!" moaned one of the wounded men, whom Jack recognized as one of +his guards. The boy sped to the well and hastened back with the big +earthen pitcher from which they had refreshed themselves earlier that +day. + +But he was too late. Even as the boy held the cooling draught to the +sentry's lips, the man died. The other was already dead when the boy +dropped to the ground, his body frightfully shattered by the aerial +bomb. + +There was still the third man lying by the house and Jack, thinking he +might be able to minister to him, hurried over. But here, too, the bomb +had struck fatally. + +A shaft of moonlight fell through the poplars and illumined the man's +face. It was Radwig, struck down in death even as he had planned a cruel +revenge for another. Jack covered the dead professor's face with the +man's huge blue cloak and then stood silent for a moment. The rapidity +with which it had all happened almost stunned him. + +Fifteen minutes before he had been a prisoner with the hideous sounds of +spade and mattock in his ears. Now he was, by nothing short of a +miracle, free again. He raised his face to the sky and his lips moved +silently. Then, with a last look about the place, he prepared to leave, +fervently hoping that before another day had passed he would be with his +friends once more in Louvain. + +All at once he heard a loud whinny. One of the dead troopers' horses had +been left behind in the mad flight from the farmhouse. It was saddled +and bridled, although the girth had been loosened. Jack untied it, +tightened the girths, and mounted. He did not know much about riding, +but somehow he managed to stick to the animal's back as he directed it +down the road. + +Every now and then he drew rein and listened. He had no desire to +encounter prowling bands of Uhlans or to run into the small force that +had evacuated the farmhouse, no doubt believing him to be dead. But dawn +broke while he was still traveling, not at all certain that he was going +in the right direction. + +Jack decided to abandon his mount. Taking off its bridle so that it +could find forage along the roadside, he patted its neck and said: + +"Thanks for the ride, old fellow." + +Then bareheaded, and tired almost to exhaustion by all he had gone +through, yet driven on by dire necessity of reaching the Belgian lines, +the lad struck off across a wheat field into a path of woodland. On the +edge of the field he shrank suddenly back into the tall wheat. There lay +a man's coat, a stone jug and a basket. No doubt the man was close at +hand. But although he crouched there for a long time, nobody came, nor +was there any sound of human life. Birds twittered and once a rabbit +cocked an inquisitive eye at the lad as he lay crouched in the wheat. + +Cautiously Jack raised himself and parting the stalks, peered out. He +saw something he had not noticed before. The man, who doubtless owned +the belongings which had alarmed Jack, lay stretched out at the foot of +a tree. He was on his face sleeping. + +But was he sleeping? + +An ugly, dark stain discolored the ground around him. His shirt was dyed +crimson. Jack saw, with a shudder, that he had nothing to fear here. The +poor peasant was dead. Shot down by wandering Uhlans no doubt, as he was +about to gather his harvest. + +"Poor fellow, he'll never need these now," said Jack, as driven by +thirst and hunger he investigated the stone jug and the basket. One held +cider, the other the man's dinner of black bread, onions and coarse +bacon. + +Too famished to mind the idea of eating the dead man's dinner, Jack +stuffed his pockets, took a long pull of the cider jug and then plunged +into the wood. Here he flung himself down to rest and eat. Then, tired +as he was, he forced himself to rise and travel on again. + +Faint and far off the distant rumble of cannonading came to his ears, +but here in the woods it was as calm and peaceful as if war, death and +slaughter were forgotten things. At length he came to a place where the +woods thinned out and there was a small clearing. He was about to +advance across this when he saw something that caused his heart to give +a quick leap and stopped him short in his tracks. + +At one side of the clearing was an aeroplane! + +It was a big monoplane with gauzy, yellow wings and a body painted the +color of the sky on a gray day, no doubt to make it invisible at any +considerable height. + +Any doubt that it was a war machine was removed by the sight of a small +but wicked-looking rapid-fire gun that was mounted on its forward part. + +Jack was still looking at it, rooted to the spot as if he had been a +figure of stone, when there was a sudden crackle on the floor of the +wood behind him. + +Then came an order sharp and crisp. + +"Arrette!" + +Jack was not a French scholar but there was something in the way the +command was given that made him stand without moving a muscle. Footsteps +came behind him and then he felt rather than saw a man passing from the +rear to face him. + +He worked round to the front of the boy and then Jack saw that he was a +small man with carefully waxed mustache in whose hand was a particularly +serviceable-looking revolver, which he held unpleasantly level at Jack's +head. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXIII. + + THROUGH BULLET-RACKED AIR. + + +The man with the revolver gave a sudden cry: + +"_Mon ami_ Read-ee!" + +"Great Scott, de Garros!" gasped Jack, recognizing the French aviator. +"What are you doing here?" + +"I might ask zee same question of you," smiled the other. "I leave you +on zee sheep and now, voila! I find you in a Belgian wood wizout zee +hat, wiz your face scratched by zee bramble and looking--pardon me, +please,--like zee tramp." + +"I guess I do," laughed Jack, in his relief at finding that instead of +falling again into the enemy's hands, he had met an old friend; "but I'm +lucky that there's nobody to say 'how natural he looks'----" + +"Pardon, I don't understand," said de Garros in a puzzled tone. + +Jack plunged into a recital of his adventures, interrupted frequently by +a hail of "_Sacres_," "_Nom d'un noms_," and "_Chiens_," from the +Frenchman. + +"And now it's up to you to explain how I find you here in the heart of a +Belgian wood with a war machine," said Jack as he concluded. + +"Zat is eezee to explain," said the Frenchman. "After you leave me in +New York I get passage on a French liner for Havre. We arrive and I am +at once placed in command of zee air forces of Belgium. Since zat time, +pardon my conceit, monsieur, I think zat wizout bragging I can say I +'ave cause zee Germans very much trouble. Last night I fly over zee +country and where I see Germans I drop a little souvenir,--but what is +zee matter, monsieur, you look excited." + +"No, no, go on," said Jack; "I was just thinking that it's possible the +day of miracles has come back." + +De Garros stared at him but went on: + +"In zee course of my journey I see a farmhouse where Gerrman cavalry +horses and stacked arms show in zee moonlight," said the Frenchman. + +"How did you know they were Germans?" asked Jack. + +"Did you not know all zis territory is now overrun by zem? Yesterday +they advance. They are now near Louvain. But nevaire fear, someway we +drive zem back. But to continue. I drop one, two bomb wiz my compliments +and----" + +"Saved my life!" exploded Jack. + +De Garros looked concerned. + +"Once more pardon, my dear Readee, but you are well in zee head? Zee +sun----?" + +"No, no, don't you see?" cried Jack; "those were your bombs that +resulted in my being saved from a spy's death." + +"_Sacre!_ Ees zat possible? And yet it must 'ave been so! Embrace me, my +dear Readee, nuzzing I 'ave done 'ave give me so much plaisair as zees." + +Jack had to submit to being hugged by the enthusiastic little aviator to +whom, as may be expected, he felt the deepest gratitude. + +"And now what are zee plan?" asked de Garros, when his enthusiasm had +subsided. + +"I want to join my friends in Louvain," said Jack. + +"_Nom d'un chien!_ You are trying to walk zere through zees part of zee +country!" + +"Why, yes. I----" + +"_Mon ami_, you might as well commit zee suicide. It is swarm wiz +German. I hide in zees wood till night when I can travel wizout having +zee bullet swarm like zee bee round what you call zee bonnet." + +"Then what am I going to do?" he demanded. "I can't stay here and I've +had one experience with the Germans, and I assure you it was quite +sufficient to last me for a lifetime." + +"I 'ave zee plan," said de Garros. + +"Yes." + +"My aeroplane hold three people." + +"Go on." + +"You shall fly wiz me." + +"To Louvain?" + +"If that is possible. If not, to some place where you can communicate +wiz your friend. 'Ow you like zat?" + +Jack hesitated a moment. He was not a timid lad, nor did he fear +ordinary danger. Yet flying above the German troops, between the place +where they were talking and Louvain, was a risky business to say the +least of it. + +Yet there was no alternative that he could perceive. The mere idea of +getting captured by Uhlans again gave him goose flesh. As if he read his +thoughts de Garros said: + +"You run no more of zee reesk in zee flight than you do on zee ground. +Not so much. At night I fly high and I promise you I will not make any +attacks." + +"You're on," said Jack, extending his hand. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXIV. + + A FLIGHT OF TERROR. + + +"Take zees. You need zem. We fly fast. _Tres vite._" + +De Garros was speaking as he handed Jack a pair of goggles. It was dusk +and they, having finished an excellent meal from the aviator's provision +pannier, were about to start on their flight across the war-smitten +country. + +Already the flying man, aided to the best of Jack's ability, had gone +over the aircraft, testing every part of it. Everything was in perfect +order, from the big Gnome eight-cylindered, self-contained motor, +mounted with the big propeller forward, to the last bolt on the +dragonfly tail. + +Just before full darkness fell, which might have involved them in an +accident in rising, de Garros gave the word to get on board. They +clambered aboard, Jack with a heart that beat and nerves that throbbed +rather more than was comfortable. + +There are few people who do not feel a trifle "queer" before their first +flight above the earth, and in Jack's case the conditions of danger were +multiplied a hundred-fold, for before they had cleared the woods and +risen to a safe height they might be the target for German rifles and +quick firers. De Garros wore a metal helmet padded inside. Jack had to +be content with an old cap that happened to be in the aeroplane, left +there by some machinist. + +But, as de Garros said, the metal helmet would not be much protection +against the projectile of a quick firer, or even a rifle. + +The fighting aircraft was fitted with a self-starter, obviating the +necessity of swinging the great propeller. + +"All ready?" asked the Frenchman of Jack, who sat behind him, tandem +wise, in the long, narrow body of the machine. + +"Ready," said Jack, in the steadiest voice just then at his command. + +"Then up ve go." + +The self-starter purred, and then came the roar and a crackle of the +exhausts as the propeller swung swiftly till it was a blur. Blue smoke +from the castor-oil lubricant spouted, mingled with flame, into the +thickening air of the evening. The wholesome smell of the wood was +drowned in the reek of gasoline and oil fumes. + +"Gracious, if there are any Germans within a mile, they'll hear this +racket," thought Jack, with a gulp. "It sounds like a battery of gatling +guns." + +De Garros took his foot from the brake lever and the machine darted +forward. Jack clutched the sides desperately till his knuckles showed +white through the skin. Then he gave a shout of alarm. + +The machine had suddenly reared up like a startled horse. The jolting +and bumping of the "take-off" stopped. The boy realized with a thrill +that they were flying. + +At that instant from the trees on one side of the clearing burst several +Uhlans. + +"Germans!" cried Jack. + +"Maledictions!" exclaimed the Frenchman. + +For a second or two the Uhlans stood paralyzed as the machine shot +upward. They had heard the staccato rattle of the engine from where they +lay camped, not far off in the same woods that had sheltered de Garros +and Jack. Thinking it betokened a skirmish, they had hastily run toward +the noise just in time to see the wasp-like machine whirr its way +skyward. + +But the machine was not well above the trees when they recovered from +their surprise. Rifles were leveled. + +"Look out!" cried Jack, "they are going to fire on us." + +"Hold tight now, I show you zee trick," rejoined the flying man quietly. + +The aeroplane was now above the wood which on that side was a mere belt +of tall trees. Suddenly the machine ceased its upward flight. It +rocketed downward like a stone. Above it bullets whistled harmlessly as +the Uhlans fired at the place where it had been and was not. + +The ground rushed up to meet them as the machine plummeted downward. +Jack's head swam dizzily. + +"We'll be killed sure!" he thought, but strangely enough, without much +emotion, except a dull feeling that the end was at hand. Then just as +disaster seemed inevitable, the machine suddenly began to soar again as +Jack could have sworn it grazed the tall grass. + +Up and up they shot, in a long series of circles, and then de Garros +turned and grinned at Jack, showing his white teeth. + +"'Ow you like?" he asked. + +"I--I guess. I'll tell you after a while" rejoined Jack, with suspended +judgment. + +The earth lay far below them now, although it was still light enough to +see the fields marked off like the squares on a chess board and the +countless fires of the Germans that dotted the landscape almost as far +as could be seen. At every one of them were men, who, if any accident +befell the machine and it had to descend, would make things very +interesting for the air travelers. + +Jack could not help thinking of this as the aeroplane flew steadily +along, her motor buzzing with an even sound that told all was going +well. But he knew they were not out of danger yet. + +A hundred things might befall before they arrived safely in Louvain. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXV. + + THE BULLY OF THE CLOUDS. + + +And then all at once the danger came. + +Ahead of them loomed, in the darkness, for the moon had not yet risen, a +bulking dark form. + +An exclamation burst from the Frenchman's lips. + +"A Zeppelin. Malediction!" + +"Do you think she'll attack us?" asked Jack. + +"I don't know. I can't tell yet which way she is coming. Ah!" + +A long ray of light, like a radiant scimitar, glowed suddenly from the +mighty aircraft, 400 feet long and capable of carrying many men and tons +of explosives. + +Hither and thither the ray was flung. + +"Zey heard our engines. Zey look for us!" exclaimed de Garros. + +He shot up to a greater height. He was manoeuvering to get above the +Zeppelin, where her guns would be useless against the aeroplane, which +was more mobile and swifter in the air than the Kaiser's immense +sky-ship. + +But suddenly the glowing light enveloped them in its full blaze. +Dazzlingly it showed them in its rays. It was the most peculiar +sensation Jack had ever experienced. It was like being stood up against +a wall with a fiery sabre pressed to your breast. + +With a quick movement of the wheel, de Garros sent the aeroplane out of +range of the revealing light. The next moment came a sharp crackle and +something screamed through the air. + +"Missed!" exclaimed the aviator with satisfaction. + +Again the questioning finger pointed its interrogating tip hither and +yon across the night sky. Others from below now joined it in its quest. + +The firing from above, and the sight of the searchlight had been rightly +guessed by the Germans encamped below. They knew that a hostile aircraft +was above them and were helping in the search for it. + +A sharp exclamation broke from the Frenchman. He bent and fumbled with +some contrivance on the floor of the aeroplane. + +There was a sharp click. + +"What have you done?" asked Jack. + +"I have released zee bomb." + +"The dickens!" + +"Watch! Now you see!" + +Fascinated, even in the midst of the awful danger they were facing high +above the earth in the upper air, Jack leaned over and stared at a +battery of searchlights sending out fan-shaped rays on every side. + +He guessed this was the objective of de Garros' bombs. He was right. + +As he gazed there was what looked like the sudden opening of a flaming +fire below, and the searchlights went out as if a giant had snuffed a +monstrous candle. + +Then came the report, booming upward through the air. + +"Aha! Zere are some Germans below zere who will not do zee mischief +more!" exclaimed the Frenchman with vicious satisfaction. + +But his congratulations to himself were premature. + +Again the light of the Zeppelin enveloped them. The glare seemed like a +warm bath of all-revealing light. There was a flash and then the shriek +of a projectile as the aeroplane dipped under the glow of the light. +Then came the boom of the report. + +"Zey ought to learn to shoot," muttered de Garros. + +"Thank heaven they can do no better than they are," rejoined Jack. + +"Now we show zem zee clean pair of heels and run away," said de Garros. + +"I'm glad to hear that. I couldn't stand much more of this," thought +Jack. + +"If I was alone, or had an officer wiz me, we go above zat Zeppelin high +in zee air and blow him up," announced de Garros cheerfully, after a +minute or two. "Ah! zey get us again. _Peste!_" + +The whine of a machine gun sounded as the searchlight of the pursuing +Zeppelin again enveloped the bold little aeroplane. Her great bulk, big +as a steamship, was rushed at top speed through the air. They could +catch the roar of her four motors being driven at top speed. + +De Garros had dropped again, and thanks to his skill, the aeroplane was +still unhit, although the projectiles from the quick firer had come +close enough for the occupants of the monoplane to hear their whine. + +"We beat zem out!" exclaimed the Frenchman. + +"Then we are faster than they are." + +"Oh, very much." + +"Well, we can't be too fast for me," muttered Jack. "I----" + +"_Sacre!_" + +The searchlight had again caught them, and again there had come reports +from her underbody. This time the sharp crackle of rifles. + +"Are you hurt?" cried Jack, as the Frenchman gave a sharp exclamation +recorded above. + +"Malediction, yes. Zey nick my hand. Eet is not bad. But worse zey hit +zee motor I think." + +The smooth-running machine was no longer firing regularly. Its speed had +decreased. + +"What are you going to do now?" cried Jack. "We'll be mowed down by +those machine guns if we slow up." + +"We must come down." + +"But the Germans?" + +"There are no campfires below us now." + +"But can you make a good landing?" + +The Frenchman shrugged his shoulders. + +"_Parbleu!_ If I cannot zen all our troubles are over, _mon ami_." + +The aeroplane began to descend, slowly at first and then faster. The +dark earth sky-rocketed up at them from below. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXVI. + + A MYSTERIOUS CAPTURE + + +But the disaster de Garros had feared more than admitted did not happen. +Between two patches of wood lay an open field, readily distinguished +even in the dark by its lighter color. In the stubble of a mown crop the +aeroplane alighted, not without a considerable jolt to its occupants. + +Their main anxiety now was the great Zeppelin they could hear, but not +see, above them. Jack trusted they were equally invisible and that the +searchlight would not reveal them, for high explosive bombs in a deadly +rain from above would certainly follow. + +De Garros, while wringing his wounded hand with pain, was helped out of +the machine by Jack. + +"Malediction, and I not get zee chance to fire on zat _chien_ of a +Zeppelin," lamented the Frenchman. "Some day I pay zem back." + +"Is your hand badly hurt?" asked Jack anxiously. + +"I do not know and we dare not yet use zee electric torch I 'ave on zee +machine." + +"Why not?" + +"It would show zee Zeppelin where we 'ide." + +"Then you don't think they guess that we have descended?" + +"No, if they had zey would search zee ground wiz zeir light." + +"That's so." + +"But now they are point eet 'ere, zere, all over zee sky. If zey no find +us zey think zat we are keel and zey go away." + +Jack shuddered at the narrow escape they had from this being made +literally true. + +For a long time, or so it seemed to the anxious watchers below, the +Zeppelin soared above them, her searchlight swinging in every direction. +But at last the noise of her engines grew dimmer and the light vanished. + +"Zey go away disgoost," said de Garros, shrugging his shoulders. "Now we +see what are zee chances of patching up my hand and getting zee engine +going again." + +The electric light, carried to locate engine trouble at night, was +switched on and brought out by its long wires over the side of the +craft. Then began an anxious examination of the aviator's hand. + +It proved that the tip of his thumb, where it had laid on the edge of +the wheel, had been badly nicked by a bullet, but luckily it was the +left member. + +"If zee engine ees capable of being fixed I can drive wiz my right +hand," declared the aviator. "Thank the _bon Dieu_ that it was not zee +steering wheel zat was struck." + +With the first aid kit, carried by all soldiers in the field, they soon +dressed and bound the injured member, and then came the examination of +the engine, an investigation on which much depended. If it proved to +have been too badly damaged to be repaired, they would not stand much +chance for escape in a country so overrun with German troops. For all +they knew some might be camped not far off. But they had to take their +chance of that. + +"_Ciel_, we are in zee luck!" exclaimed de Garros, after a brief +examination, "the _chiens_ only smashed a spark plug. I soon fix 'im and +zen once more we start." + +The repair kit contained the necessary plug, which he quickly replaced. +Then the journey through the night, which had already proved so +eventful, was renewed. But now Jack felt a fresh alarm. How would they +be able to tell at Louvain that it was a French and not a German +aeroplane hovering above them. + +He put the question to de Garros. + +"Zat is easy. I 'ave on zee side of zee machine a set of four electric +lights. Two are red, one is green, one is white. Zat is zee secret night +signal of zee French machines." + +"But suppose the Germans should find out your code?" asked Jack. + +"Eet is changed every night. Sometimes two green, one white, one +red--many combinations are possible." + +"By Jove, I never thought of that!" exclaimed Jack, struck by the +simplicity of the idea, and relieved at the thought that there would be +no danger of being attacked by mistake. + +Half an hour later they landed at a sort of fair ground in Louvain after +answering all challenges satisfactorily. The Germans were not yet at the +gate of the city. But they were near at hand and the place was wrapped +in darkness. However, on account of de Garros' rank, they obtained an +escort to the hotel. + +Tired from the excitement and nervous strain, Jack went to bed, sighing +with relief at the thought that all was so promising. + +In about an hour or so he awakened from a deep sleep. The night was +sultry, and there was a strange calmness in the atmosphere seemingly +weighed with grave and impending events. + +Jack could not resist an impulse to leave his room and wander out into +the deserted streets of Louvain. + +He had not taken a dozen steps when a heavy hand fell on his shoulder. +Before he could turn to see his assailant, he was whisked from the +ground and swept onward to a great height. + +Still dead silence reigned. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXVII. + + THE MIGHT OF MILITARISM. + + +It was some time later that Jack began to realize that he was a prisoner +and borne on a giant aeroplane. + +How did he get there? + +Try as he would he could not answer that question. He gazed about him. +Away in the distance he could distinguish small specks of light, which, +were they not moving so rapidly about space, he would have mistaken for +stars. + +Below searchlights swept the horizon. Here and there were the +glimmerings of fast dying out camp-fires. Suddenly a faint streamer of +red light shot high into the air, held steadily for a moment, and then +broke into a million colored globules. + +"A signal," thought Jack. "I wonder if it will be answered." + +He then became aware of a movement on the part of the air pilot. Till +that moment he had not noticed the least sign of life from the wheel +man. Now there came a soft _blob_ and a red light shot into the air. + +Almost instantly there again was darkness. + +"By Jove!" whispered Jack to himself, amazedly. "This certainly is +marvelously fast work!" + +There was no repetition of the signals. + +For a while Jack was content to gaze about him in idle wonder. He seemed +indifferent to his plight. He drank in the scenes about him, gazed +interestedly at other air-craft that passed them, and watched the sky +begin to turn a dull slate color. It was the dawn of another day of +carnage. + +Others, too, were on the watch for these faint signs of day. From +somewhere came the long, awful boom of a huge cannon. + +Jack tried to get up, but fell back to his former position. He only then +realized that he was chained to his seat. He had a certain amount of +freedom, but beyond that he was a prisoner, helpless. + +"Well," mused Jack upon this discovery, "even if my hands and feet were +free, I could not escape from this height. We must land some time, and +then I'll have more need to use them." + +So Jack settled back to watch developments. Now everything was astir. A +faint murmur was wafted to him on the morning breeze. + +He could see the soldiers moving about, the great cannons and howitzers +beginning to lumber onward, the column of Uhlans already in saddle, and +the hundreds of air-craft rising to greet the early sun's rays. + +"It's wonderful!" whispered Jack, fascinated. "Yes, wonderful, but how +terrible! This whole array is primed to create nothing but havoc, +sorrow, destruction, and death! Gee, but I'm glad the good old United +States has no need for such military organization!" + +Another sound came to his ears, and cut short his thoughts of America. +In an astonishingly brief time, the Army of the Invasion had completed +its formations and was on the march, the rank and file, all +deep-throated men, singing _Das Fatherland_. + +"Good God!" gasped Jack. "They are going to their death with a song on +their lips!" + +From somewhere in front of these columns came a roar of cannon. The air +was filled with shrill, piercing shrieks as tons upon tons of metal, +charged with fearful destructive powers, tried to stem the human flood. + +For a few minutes the smoke and steam hid the dreadful spectacle from +Jack. He gazed intently below him, anxious to see the victor of this +clash. + +Of course, it must not be forgotten that the human waves of men were +supported by great artillery fire on their own side. Unaided entirely +these men would have been annihilated miles before the fortresses. + +The ranks were on the double run now. Their bayonets glistened in the +dull sunlight. On, on, ever on, they went, keeping perfect stride, never +faltering. + +Jack could not tear his eyes from the sight. + +Even while storming the redoubt, the ranks held firm. Another sheet of +flame checked them for a moment. They tried to recover, and somehow +couldn't. Again came that destructive, raking fire. The lines faltered. + +Jack trembled from excitement. Was this magnificent effort to fail? He +was not thinking of them as Germans. He was only aware of brave, +dauntless men trying to best steel and explosives. + +Again came a sheet of flame. + +The ranks actually seemed to fall back. + +Then once more, from the rear, rose the deep notes of _Das Fatherland_. +It stiffened the thinned ranks. They rushed forward, the fierce cry of +victory mingling with the strains of their national anthem. + +"That was great!" cried Jack. "My sympathies are not very strongly with +the Germans, but I'm bound to give credit where credit is due. Well, +what now----?" + +Jack became aware that the machine on which he was a prisoner was going +to make a landing. Silently, swiftly, the winged mechanism was guided +toward earth behind the German lines. + +Jack smiled with satisfaction. + +"I'll have a chance to stretch my legs," he said. "As long as Radwig is +dead, I have not so much to fear. I wonder what they want of me?" + + + + + CHAPTER XXXVIII + + MILITARY CROSS-EXAMINATION + + +The machine came to a stop. The pilot never moved from his seat. +Instead, he motioned to a soldier to come to him. Evidently a few words +were exchanged. + +A sharp command was issued. + +Two soldiers came up to Jack. He held up his hands to show that he was +chained. One of the soldiers leaned forward, and pressed a button at the +side of the car. The chains fell from Jack. + +Without comment the two soldiers seized Jack and flanked him. A detail +of six additional men fell in step, a petty officer wheeled about,--a +movement that acted as a signal for the soldiers to march. + +A five-minute walk brought them to a small cottage. Here they halted. +Jack was blindfolded. When the bandage was removed, he found himself +facing an elderly man seated at a desk. Jack could not make out his +features, as they were hidden in a gray mask. + +"_Sprechen sie Deutsch?_" he was asked. + +Jack understood the question, and replied: + +"No." + +"What is your nationality?" came the question in English. + +"American." + +"What part of America?" + +"New York." + +"Your occupation?" + +"Wireless operator." + +"For your government?" + +"No, for the Transatlantic Shipping Combine." + +There followed a short pause. Jack was wondering what next to expect. +The questions had been brief and propounded in a crisp, commanding way. +There was no leeway for equivocation. + +"Do you tell the truth?" + +"I do," replied Jack quietly. + +"Why do you tell the truth?" + +"Because I believe in it," said Jack simply. + +"Under what circumstances did you first meet Herr Radwig?" + +Jack, greatly surprised, hesitated. Would it be wise to tell everything? +How under the sun did this man in the gray mask know so much? + +"Remember, the truth." + +Jack thought quickly. The question implied that this officer had some +knowledge of his dealings with Radwig. Possibly, also, the officer was +about to test the value of his declaration that he told the truth. So +Jack figured. But was this not an amazing illustration of the wonderful +efficiency and thoroughness of the German Secret Service. + +"Speak!" came the imperative command. + +"Very well," replied Jack calmly. "It was on the _Kronprinzessin +Emilie_. It seemed that we were about to be dashed to pieces on floating +icebergs. Some shrieked: + +"'The _Titanic_!' + +"'The boats!' shouted a man. He violently pushed two women aside, wedged +in the panic-stricken throng. I stood at the head of the companion way. +The man told me to get out of the way. I tried to calm the people. But +this man seemed to have lost his reason. He rushed at me, trying to +strike me. I was too quick for him. I struck first. He staggered back, +subdued. It was only later that I learned this man's name." + +"And then--how and when did you meet Herr Radwig?" + +So Jack had to relate incident after incident. Always, at the end of a +recital, came the same question, asked in the same matter-of-fact tone +of voice: + +"And then--when and where did you meet Herr Radwig?" + +Everything must have its end. At last Jack had modestly related every +episode with which the reader has been made acquainted. The even tone of +his questioner, his piercing eyes, and the unbroken silence was +beginning to weary Jack. He felt that he could hardly keep his wits +about him. + +Evidently the German officer noticed these signs and was patiently +waiting for them. He leaned forward, and the steady monotone now gave +place to a rasping, menacing gruffness. + +"Who are you?" he suddenly snapped. + +"An American," came the tired reply. + +"An American!" jeered the officer. + +"Yes, and I'm proud of it!" + +"Why should you be proud of something you could not help?" + +"I don't understand you," replied Jack, passing his hand over his brow +as if to clear away the ever increasing drowsiness. + +"You don't understand me?" + +Jack shook his head. + +"Answer me!" + +Jack opened his mouth to speak, his lips moved, but he could utter no +sound. He stood still, staring stupidly at the man in front of him. His +thoughts were befuddled. What did he--the man in the gray mask--want? + +"I wish those eyes wouldn't glare at me so," Jack mumbled to himself. "I +didn't do anything to them." + +But the eyes behind the gray mask became larger, rounder, more +compelling. Jack knew instinctively that they meant him harm. What power +they held! Something within him fought to arouse him. He tried to move +and could not. Larger, ever larger those eyes seemed to grow! The +features of the man were lost; in fact, those eyes seemed to belong to +no one; they seemed to have life and power, dreadful power, of their +own. + +Jack shrieked with terror! + +Was he lost? + + + + + CHAPTER XXXIX. + + SHATTERING THE SHACKLES. + + +Did it ever occur to you that nature plays many pranks? From the many +learned books and men--and from daily events--we are lead to assume that +nature is grim, relentless. On the whole, this assumption is true. But +one of the things that has made nature a harder problem for man to solve +is that there are the most unexpected exceptions to the most carefully +proved rules. Sometimes these exceptions take place with things and +sometimes with persons. + +Nature had played a prank with Jack. + +When he came to his senses he found de Garros solicitously bending over +him, his broken English running riot in his native French. + +"What's up?" questioned bewildered Jack. + +De Garros shrugged his shoulders. + +"I--er--_phew_! Zee--la--_compron_--eh---- I understand not! You make +zee big cry, I in rush--excited much--_phew_!" + +Jack sat up in bed. + +"Are we still in Louvain?" he demanded. + +"_We_, _we_, certainly!" de Garros hastened to assure him. + +A big sigh of relief welled from Jack. + +"De Garros," he said, "I have had the most remarkable nightmare!" + +Whereupon Jack related to de Garros, as well as he could recall the +details, the dream that had seemed so real. + +De Garros was thrilled. Every now and then he broke into the recital +with exclamations most expressive of the impressions they made upon him. + +"And now," Jack said in conclusion, "I think it is best for us to dress. +I have never dreamed before, and I never want to dream again, if all +dreams are so terribly real." + +De Garros laughingly agreed with him. + +When Jack had dressed, he began to explore the corridors of the hotel. +He felt that Bill, Tom Jukes and Pottle were guests of it. Of course, +the easiest way about it would have been to inquire at the office. + +As the hour was rather early he did not care to do this at once. A +little later Jack was joined by de Garros, and together they walked into +the dining room. Even at this hour several tables were occupied. + +Almost at once the two were espied by their friends. A more amazed and +glad set of chaps would have been indeed difficult to find anywhere. + +"Honest, Jack," cried Bill, tears of real joy in his eyes, "we had given +up all hope of ever seeing you again." + +"Man alive!" declared Tom Jukes, "you can't imagine how we felt, for we +knew that there was no chance of getting through to save you." + +"Blues--here--everybody!" exploded Pottle. "Funeral cheerful in +comparison--no eat--no food--just blues!" + +"Come, Jack," invited Bill, "and de Garros, breakfast with us and tell +us about it." + +So, between mouthfuls, Jack related his experiences with Radwig's party +of Uhlans. Affectionately he placed his hand on de Garros' arm, and +soberly said: + +"I owe my life to you. If it hadn't been for you----" + +"It was sure luck, the greatest ever," declared Tom Jukes. + +"Fine stuff--fooled the enemy--shot at sunrise--others get shot +instead--up in the air--down again--all safe--at last--hurray!" cried +Pottle, capering about wildly. + +"I can't think it was luck," said Jack gravely. "I think there was a +higher power than that concerned in it." + +"You are right," agreed Bill. + +"Read--ee--_mon ami_, you 'ave not forget zee dream," slyly remarked de +Garros. + +Jack turned scarlet. Somehow he felt that it was not very manlike to +have even bothered with nightmares. + +"What's this?" demanded Bill. + +"Come on, now," coaxed Tom; "don't hold anything back." + +"Dreams?" questioned Pottle. "Dreams? Great stuff--big inventors--and +Columbus--dreamers!" + +So Jack went over that adventure again. + +This time, however, he decided to tell it in the way it actually +happened. The result was that when Jack led them up to the climax he +held even de Garros spellbound. + +Jack ceased to speak and looked at his friends. + +"How did you get away?" asked Bill. + +"I didn't," was the smiling reply. + +"You didn't!" came the perplexed chorus. + +De Garros was chuckling softly. He had to admire Jack's cleverness. + +"Battle--prisoner--great fight--man in gray mask--disappear--eyes bigger +and bigger--what's this--fairy tale?" + +"No, Pottle," replied Jack, "it was only a dream." + +For a moment there was silence and then they all broke into peals of +laughter, laughter that seemed so strange and out of place in these days +frought with war's devastation. + +So they had the good sense to check their merriment, especially as they +saw the eyes of many surprised men and women upon them. + +They soon left the dining room, and prepared to leave Louvain. Late that +afternoon arrangements were completed. + +Regretful good-byes were said to plucky little de Garros, whose +demonstrative eyes were wet as he clasped their hands in farewell. + +"We may nevaire meet again," he stammered, "but I nevaire forget you +all." + +"Nor will we forget you!" cried Jack warmly. "You--you, if it hadn't +been for you----" + +"Read--ee, _mon ami_, you 'ave forget what you do for me long ago. A +fair exchange. You save _my_ life." + +"You're fine," exploded Pottle. "Legion of Honor cross for you--long +war--much dead--much wounded--but you'll live!" + +A prediction, strangely enough, that came true. + + + + + CHAPTER XL. + + OLD GLORY AGAIN. + + +Before the fall of Louvain, Jack and his friends were across the border +in France. Ultimately they were lucky enough to rejoin the _St. +Mark_--sent for the accommodation of refugees--at Marseilles. + +A cable was despatched to America, telling of Tom Juke's safety. + +Pottle, the young photographer, cabled his paper, asking for permission +to remain in the battle zone. This was granted. + +So the trio--Jack, Bill and Tom--said farewell to Pottle. + +"When I get back--possible--the paper will make--hurrah!--look me +up--eh?" + +"We sure will, old top," promised Tom. + +The voyage across was without incident, save that, as was expected, they +were stopped by British warships. + +So, one fine morning, unannounced, Jack called upon Uncle Toby Ready. +The old tar gave vent to a great cry of joy. Though Jack had often been +away for long periods, Uncle Toby never fully knew the thrilling +adventure Jack had participated in. Now there was no hiding of the +truth. The war was at hand. The Germans were sweeping everything before +them. How had it fared with Jack? This uncertainty had worried Uncle +Toby. He felt that he would never be able to forgive himself, had +anything happened to Jack. + +When the first greetings were over, Uncle Toby could not help but ask +about his Golden Embrocation and Universal Remedy for Man and Beast. + +"Did you meet up with the King of England?" he queried. + +"No, Uncle Toby," laughed Jack, "I did not." + +"Be it so with the Kaiser?" + +"No, not the Kaiser, either." + +"How now--was it the Czar?" + +Jack shook his head. + +"But made a--use of 'em?" + +"Yes," replied Jack with a twinkle in his eye. "I did make----" + +At this moment there came a sharp rap on the door. Jack opened it, and a +messenger, upon ascertaining who he was, handed him a telegram. + +"What now?" demanded Uncle Toby. + +Jack tore open the envelope. The inclosed sheet read: + + "Congratulations and grateful appreciation. Report immediately. + + "JACOB JUKES." + +"Yeou ain't a-goin' back to Europe!" declared Uncle Toby emphatically. + +"Don't worry, Uncle," replied Jack. "I don't think it is for that Mr. +Jukes wants me." + +"Well, if he don't," replied the old captain, "give 'im a bottle of my +Golden Embrocation and Universal Remedy for Man and Beast with my +compliments." + +"All right," laughed Jack as he put the bottle in his pocket, never +intending, of course, to carry out the errand. + +Jack found Mr. Jukes in earnest conversation with his son, Tom. However, +the moment Jack entered, father and son arose. + +"Jack," said Mr. Jukes, extending his hand, "let me thank you." + +It was said sincerely and simply. Their handclasp was hearty and true. + +Mr. Jukes began to pace the office. + +Tom looked at Jack and winked. + +"Young man," suddenly said Mr. Jukes, sternly addressing Jack, "you are +bound to succeed in life. You have the _makings_. You have your +trade--or shall I call it profession? But operating wireless is not +everything. You can be a wireless operator all your life and your salary +will be your only means of keeping the wolf from the door. Too many of +our people have to depend on that means of support. Some day I feel it +will be different. At all events, I shall make a beginning with you. So +Tom and I have decided to give you a number of shares in our Combine." + +Thereupon Mr. Jukes went on to explain the value of the shares, +instructing Jack just what he should do with them. To tell the truth, +Jack had never troubled himself very much with the intricacies of stock +values. + +Finally Jack left Mr. Jukes' office feeling like a millionaire. + +"Strange," mused Jack, "that this good fortune should come to me when +thousands of others are losing their all in Europe." + +Feeling thus satisfied, Jack decided to acquaint Helen Dennis with the +good news. As he strolled down to the dock, he could not help but note +that in so far as New York was concerned, the war did not exist. People +went about their business in their accustomed way. Beyond the usual set +or serious expression characteristic of the average New Yorker when he +is engaged in earning his dividends or salary, as the case may be in +different instances and walks of life, the average person seemed +absolutely unconcerned of the World Tragedy that was unfolding itself +across the sea. + +At the docks, however, there was increased activity. The demand upon +American ammunition and commodities had jumped by leaps and bounds. +Shippers were reaping a harvest. + +The _Silver Star_, Captain Dennis' ship, was in port. Jack had little +difficulty in getting aboard. Captain Dennis was delighted to see Jack. +He could spare but little time, so when Jack had told him only briefly +of his experiences, the wise tar, his eyes twinkling with mischief, +said: + +"Really, Jack, don't you think Helen would be more interested in your +adventures?" + +Jack blushed. + +"Never mind, lad," laughed the captain, "we all have those days, you +know." + +So Jack made his way to the captain's cabin. + +But let us say nothing more of them; rather let us ask what became of +Bill Raynor? + + + + + CHAPTER XLI. + + WAR IN TIMES OF PEACE. + + +Just before Jack called upon his Uncle Toby, Bill had expressed a desire +to stroll about the Great City. + +"You see," Bill said in explanation, "the sight of old New York makes me +glad to be back again. They say it's a selfish place. Well, perhaps +there are towns that make you feel more at home, but once you know +Manhattan's ways, you don't want to change!" + +"Have it your way," agreeably laughed Jack. + +So they parted for the time being. + +Feeling hungry, Bill decided to visit one of the select downtown +restaurants his purse seldom allowed him to patronize. Now, as the +reader will remember, Bill had no need to worry over funds--at any rate, +not for the immediate future. + +Bill thoroughly enjoyed his meal. He left the restaurant feeling like a +prince. + +"Those prices are steep," he reflected, "but the food and service are +worth it." + +Barely had he walked a block when he recognized Tom Jukes a few strides +in front of him. Bill's first impulse was to hail Tom, but something +about the latter made him hesitate. + +"Something seems queer," muttered Tom, puzzled. He was undecided. Should +he follow the millionaire's son? + +Tom Jukes seemed anxious to avoid being seen. Every now and then he +glanced about him hurriedly. He kept close to the building line, his cap +pulled over his eyes. He turned into one of those ancient alleys down in +the financial district of New York. + +Bill Raynor came to a quick decision. + +"I'll follow him!" he muttered. + +A moment later Bill was also in the moldy alleyway. Tom swung south, +then west, and south again, and finally halted before a pair of +ornamental iron gates of the most antique and peculiar design. + +Bill, mystified that such places still existed in the Great Metropolis, +dogged Tom's footsteps, always careful to keep well out of sight. + +He saw Tom pass through these iron gates. A moment later Bill had +followed Tom through, though now he had to be far more careful, for +every flagstone seemed to give up a hollow bellow. + +Tom walked up an iron staircase clinging to a decaying bulk of a +dirt-gray stone ramshackle building. He climbed one flight and then +disappeared from view. + +Bill, very carefully--every nerve alert--followed. A moment later he +stepped into a long, dim, lofty corridor, walled with marble of a +greenish tint, and smelling faintly of dry-rot. + +Picking his steps with the greatest caution, Bill felt his way forward. +Somewhere in front of him he saw the shadowy form of Tom. + +Bill saw Tom pause before a door, which he opened very slowly. A faint +light came from within. A moment later Tom had disappeared from view. + +Bill crept forward. + +Should he open the door? + +"I wish Jack were here," said Bill to himself. + +Jack, it was, who had won the approval of Jacob Jukes, head of the great +shipping combine, and father of Tom, for his masterly handling of many +difficult situations. + +Under the circumstances, Bill did not flinch in his determination to +learn _what was going on behind that door_! + +Bill put his ear to the door--and at once heard a faint _tick-tick_, as +well as a muffled voice. Slowly Bill felt the door for the knob and to +his surprise he found there was none! + +"Entrance by signal only!" instantly decided Bill. + +But how was he to get in without it? + +His eyes were now more accustomed to the gloom. He looked about him, +hoping to find a window or some outlet that might lead to the barred +room. + +Farther down the corridor, to his right, he saw a stairway--or what +appeared to be a stairway. He walked toward it, always bearing in mind +to be extremely careful. + +He climbed up one flight without mishap. On this floor, the feeling of +desertion and forlorn desolation grew deeper. Bill could barely suppress +a shiver. + +Suddenly a rat scampered across the floor. + +"Phew!" ejaculated Bill, "this is _some_ place!" + +He noticed a thin ray of daylight a short distance from him. Bill at +once decided to discover its origin. A moment later he saw that the +light flowed from the cracks of a door. + +A brief investigation proved the door to be unlocked. As he quietly +pulled the door open he saw that the room was absolutely bare, and that +the light came from the mud-pasted windows facing a brick wall not five +feet from them. + +Bill tip-toed across the room, and raised one of the windows. To his +satisfaction he at once noticed the drain pipe at arm's length. A moment +later he had slid to the floor below. + +To his surprise he saw the window of that mysterious room wide open. He +could see only part of it. There seemed many men listlessly sitting +about, though the majority kept unseeing eyes on a blackboard. + +"A blind tiger!" breathed Bill, amazed. + +Bill meant that it was a fake racing broker's place. In years gone by +there were many such dens of evil in New York, where congregated the +broken-hearted, the reckless, the unscrupulous, all of whom tempted fate +on this horse or that. As a rule the proprietor controlled the destinies +of his victims, for he could "fake" any information he desired as to +what horse won or lost. Happily these dens are now more scarce than +hen's teeth. It was these dens, the graves of dupes, that were called +_blind tigers_. + +"Does Tom play the ponies?" wondered Bill. + +He listened intently. + +Somewhere a ticker droned, and a husky voice announced: + +"Gas a half--five eighths; Steel six--nine hundred at a quarter--a +thousand--five-hundred--a quarter--an eighth--Erie--an eighth--Steam--an +eighth----" + +"What does this mean?" questioned Bill. "It sounds like stock +quotations. Can it be----?" + +He decided to risk glancing into the room. + +At some risk of losing his hold he balanced himself in order to +accomplish his wish. + +He saw a room, unclean and unwholesome. The men seemed to be of the +discarded of the street, the diseased and maimed of the financial +district; here and there was a younger, smarter type, the kind that +makes the gangster, the pickpocket and worse. He also saw Tom sitting +quietly yet alert. At his elbow was a young man, somewhat older than +Tom. On the wall facing the window was a great blackboard, and as the +ticker spelled out its information, and the slovenly dressed clerk gave +it voice, a second clerk chalked away without cessation. + +Beyond this clerk's announcements everything was quiet. Bill felt +himself slipping, so he silently swung back to his former position. The +light of understanding was in his eyes. + +"By Jove, it's a bucket shop!" + +Now a bucket shop is where people buy and sell stock on less margin or +in smaller quantity than is accepted on the curb on Broad Street or on +the Stock Exchange. These establishments, too, are fast disappearing, +though as is always possible in New York, an exception--as in all +directions of semi-organized crime--manages to keep from the sharp +talons of the law for a longer period of time. + +The bucket shops were where messenger boys and clerks gamboled with Dame +Fortune. Sooner or later they lost--lost not only every cent to their +names, but much of their self-respect and honesty. It was also the place +for the men who had gone down to defeat in the great battle fought +bitterly every minute of the day in the great financial arena. These men +were unfit for everything else, so they turned to the bucket shops as a +drowning man grasps at a straw. But we have digressed enough--though +this was really necessary--and let us continue with the narrative. + +Bill did not know what to make of it all. + +Surely Tom Jukes had little need to play for stakes. His father was +sufficiently wealthy and knew the great money game, and its pitfalls, +not to have acquainted his son with them. The more Bill thought, the +more puzzled he became. + +Suddenly he heard Tom shout: + +"You robber, you thief!" + +"Git out," bawled the voice, evidently that of the proprietor, "or I'll +have you put out!" + +"You do, and I'll have you in the hands of the police within twenty-four +hours!" + +"You will, will you?" came the snarling challenge, followed by a general +commotion. + +"Here's where I take a hand!" decided Bill, and leaped into the room, +now in fearful confusion. + +"Stop!" cried Bill, drawing his revolver, which he had a special permit +to carry at any time he wished, "or I'll fire!" + +His command was obeyed. + +"Stand where you are!" Bill demanded, noting a suspicious movement on +the part of several to escape. + +"Bill, good old Bill!" exclaimed Tom, overjoyed. + +"Yes, it's Bill," was the reply. "Call up Headquarters while I hold them +in line." + +"That's your tip, Fred," said Tom, turning to the young man Bill had +noticed before. "On the run now!" + +The young man called Fred seemed to need no further invitation. + +Tom now joined Bill. From one of the drawers of the desk at which the +proprietor had been seated, Tom brought to light an ugly-looking Colt. + +"Let's move 'em toward the rear!" suggested Tom. "Some of 'em are +showing signs of restlessness." + +"All right!" acquiesced Bill. + +So, at the point of the revolvers, everyone in the room was lined up +against the rear wall. The older men, who had seen better days, appeared +indifferent to it all. To them life meant very little. Spirit, youth, +ambition, success had long passed them by. They still clung to the vain +hope of winning something out of sheer habit. Stock gambling, like +opium, oftentimes urges on its victim until the sands of life slowly ebb +away. The younger no-accounts scowled darkly. But what could they do? +Those two lads were too business-like to attempt anything rash. + +"Say," growled the proprietor, addressing Tom, "can't we call this +quits?" + +"Nothing doing!" was the curt reply, both boys at once becoming more +alert that ever. + +"Aw, take a joke," pleaded the man. "I'll square it with you. Honest I +will." + +Both boys remained silent. + +"I'll tell you what," continued the owner, "just to square myself, I'll +throw in one hundred dollars." + +Silence. + +"Five hundred!" + +"You're going out of business," announced Tom. "Save your breath!" + +"One thousand dollars!" + +"One more word," warned Bill, "and I won't be responsible for my action. +Keep still." + +Defeated, the man depicted his silent disdain. + +A moment later Fred and the police arrived. The police captain in charge +wanted the boys to go along to press the charge, but Tom, upon quickly +satisfying the officer of their intentions of doing so the next +day--especially establishing that Tom was the son of Jacob Jukes, the +multimillionaire--were at liberty to proceed as they pleased. + +"Explanations are now in order." + +"Correct," replied Tom. "Let me first introduce Fred Strong, an old-time +friend of mine. Bill Raynor, one of the finest boys in the world!" + +The introduction was acknowledged with appropriate remarks. Tom then +unfolded a most interesting story. Fred was a Wall Street clerk--and, +like many others, dabbled in stocks. He kept on losing. So, desperate, +he attempted to court luck at the bucket shop a friend of his had told +him of. For a time he won. His hopes rose. Then the inevitable reverses +began. The proprietor meanwhile had studied his victim. Fred, without +realizing it, became one of his dupes. He loaned money from every one. +He began to tamper with his books. Disgrace stared him in the face when +he met Tom. A few hours had straightened out all tangles. Tom, however, +insisted on bringing the bucket shop keeper to book. + +"Well, that's all to it!" interspersed Tom. + +"Hold on," expostulated Bill, "why did you sneak along the street as if +wishing to be unrecognized?" + +"Easy," replied Tom. "Saw dad, across the street, so had to--as you +say--_sneak_." + +"_Phew!_" whistled Bill, astonished. "I never saw him. One other point, +how did you know the revolver was in that desk?" + +"It seems," answered Tom, "that the bucket shop proprietor made it a +practice to show new customers that weapon. I suppose it was an +effective reminder that all disagreements might be settled rather +abruptly." + +"Well," chimed in Fred, "let us forget about it. I'll never play the +market again. But, boys, I want you to come with me. I have to tell this +story to the sweetest girl in town. You've got to meet her!" + +"If you insist, lead on," replied Tom. "But suppose you tell her the +truth of the matter, and then,--well--I guess Bill and I will be +honored, I'm sure!" + +Bill laughed outright. + +"I never suspected," he said, "you had so much of the so-called 'society +sass'." + +Tom chuckled with glee. He was highly satisfied with the first day's +adventure in America. In excellent spirits, the trio rode uptown. While +en route Bill briefly told, in turn, of catching sight of Tom, and the +consequences thereof. + +An hour later Fred brought them to a neatly nestled house. There was a +hand-ball court on the property, and Fred saw to it that they were made +to feel at home. Then he entered the house. + +"Elsie," said Fred, when first greetings were over and they were +comfortably settled, "I've something to tell you." + +"What is it, Fred?" + +"I--I couldn't buy you the engagement ring--be--because I lost the +money." + +"That is _too_ bad! But don't mind it, dear. I can wait." + +"It's nice of you to say it, but I lost the money on stocks." + +"Tell me about it," she requested calmly, though there was a break in +her voice. + +So Fred related the facts already familiar to us. Nor did he spare +himself in the recital. At its conclusion, there was a moment's silence. +Then---- + +"Fred," said the girl softly, "I'm glad you told me of this. Please, +Fred, don't gamble again--whether it be on cards or stocks--and if you +were younger--I'd add buttons and marbles." + +"I've already promised not to do so--but Elsie, I have something else to +tell you. I have a new position at a higher salary--thirty dollars a +week." + +"That's great!" + +"It'll be more--if I make good." + +"Fred, I'm _so_ glad." + +A pause. + +"The cost of living is very high now," asked Fred--"isn't it?" + +"I should say so! Diamonds will soon be cheaper than onions or potatoes +or cut sugar." + +"Elsie!" + +"Yes?" + +"Would you like--could you--I mean--er--do you think two persons could +live on thirty dollars a week?" + +"_Certainly!_" + +"How about _us_?" + +"Oh, George!" + +"Elsie!" + +A blissful interval. Then-- + +"Elsie--I've completely forgotten! Those two boys I told you of are +playing handball. They insisted that I confess my crimes before you met +them!" + +A moment later Fred was introducing Tom and Bill to Elsie. The young +lady's form of greeting was most unexpected and unconventional. Before +either of the boys could surmise her intention, she had kissed them! + +Of course general laughter and banter followed. Of this let us say no +more. + +The reader, however, may rest assured that the boys whose adventures we +have followed through six volumes were always true to American ideals +and aspirations. They participated in many strange and thrilling +adventures. We may write of these in the near future, but for the time +being, with every good wish for the bright future that appears assured +to them, we will bid farewell to the Ocean Wireless Boys. + + THE END. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Transcriber's Notes: + + 1. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. + 2. Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation in the original document + have been preserved. + 3. 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