Bert Wilson, Marathon Winner Part 5

On the upper deck the Committee had built a cork track three hundred feet long and wide enough for two men to run abreast. This was for the use chiefly of the sprinters, although all found it valuable for limbering up, and even the milers and long-distance men could use it to advantage. The deck itself was a fifth of a mile in circ.u.mference and here the Marathon men took their practice. It was planned that there should be two sessions every day, the first at ten in the morning and the second at three in the afternoon.

But running was not allowed to eclipse the other features. The rifle and revolver men had a special gallery where they practised steadily. The bicycle team were provided with machines lashed securely to the stanchions of the vessel. Here they pedaled away religiously, working like beavers yet never getting anywhere. But the practice itself was almost as good as though the miles were actually spinning away behind them. The tennis men had a backstop ten feet high and an imaginary court where they practiced what strokes they could. The fencing team had not been overlooked, and especially well-lighted quarters had been a.s.signed to them.

For the swimmers there was a canvas tank, replenished daily, fifteen feet long and five wide. A belt about the swimmer's waist was tied to a rope above that held him in the center of the tank. So that while, like the bicycle team, getting nowhere, they could yet go through the motions and keep in perfect condition.

The throwers of the discus and the hammer were naturally at some disadvantage. There was not enough open s.p.a.ce anywhere in the ship for them to try out their specialties. But they were not to be wholly denied. A section of the rail at the stern of the ship was removed, and fastening the discus or hammer to a rope, they cast it out over the waves as far as they could and then drew it back, repeating the feat as often as their trainers deemed best.

Then, in addition to these special arrangements, there were the general ones in which all took part, such as chinning the bar, skipping the rope and pa.s.sing the medicine ball. The entire schedule was a tribute to the ingenuity and thoroughness of the Committee. In the period devoted to practice every c.h.i.n.k of time was filled up and, as d.i.c.k put it, "no guilty minute was permitted to escape."

But work had no terrors for these husky youth. It was by dint of hard work that they had reached their present position in the athletic world, and now, with the greatest possible prize in view, they were in no mood to let up. Some, in fact, had been worrying over the prospect of a break in training during the voyage and they were delighted to find that their fears were groundless.

It is safe to say that no one ship since the world began had carried so much brawn and skill and speed as did the _Northland_. It carried more--the faith and hope and pride of the American people. And when, the next day, with whistles blowing and flags flying and bands playing and crowds cheering, she pa.s.sed down the bay and stood out to sea, none doubted that the bronzed athletes she bore would return crowned with the laurels of victory.

CHAPTER VI

OFF FOR THE FIGHT

The boys stood leaning on the rail as the stately steamer pa.s.sed through the vast array of shipping on either side of the river, slipped by the colossal figure of Liberty and, bidding farewell to the Sandy Hook lightship, breasted the waves of the Atlantic. They were ardent patriots, and, as the irregular skyline of the great city faded from their view, they felt the pang that always comes to one on leaving his native land. But in the "bright lexicon of youth" there's no such word as melancholy, and as they thought of all that lay before them their hearts swelled with antic.i.p.ation. Adventure beckoned them, glory tempted them, hope inspired them.

"We're starting out with colors flying," said d.i.c.k. "Here's hoping we come back the same way."

"If we don't it'll be the first fizzle," said Bert. "This is the fourth time Uncle Sam has sent his boys abroad and they've never yet come back empty-handed."

"Yes," added Tom, "they've never had to slink back and spend the rest of their lives explaining why they didn't win. It has always been the glad hand and the big eats and the bra.s.s bands and the procession down Broadway."

"I can see Bert already sitting in one of the swell buzz-wagons with the Marathon prize alongside of him and trying to look unconcerned," chaffed d.i.c.k.

"You've got good eyesight," retorted Bert, drily. "I may be only one of the 'also rans.'"

"Such shrinking modesty," mocked Tom. "Tell that to the King of Denmark."

"Speaking of kings," went on d.i.c.k, "I suppose we'll see plenty of them on the other side."

"Likely enough," said Bert. "There were several of them at the last games. As for princes and dukes, they'll be thick as blackberries.

Perhaps we ought to be overwhelmed at the prospect of seeing so many high mightinesses, but somehow I can't get much worked up over it."

"Neither can I," said d.i.c.k. "I'm afraid I haven't much more reverence than the old sailor on an American ship that was being inspected by a lot of royalties. He came up to the captain and touched his cap.

'Beggin' your pardon, capting,' he said, 'but one of them there kings has fell down the hatchway.'"

"Well," returned Bert, when the laugh had subsided, "some of 'them there kings' are pretty decent fellows, after all. The German Emperor, for instance, is all right. n.o.body in Germany works harder than he does.

He's always on the job and even if we don't agree with his views we have to hand it to him. He's the biggest figure in Europe to-day. I like him because he isn't a mere figurehead like the rest of them. He throws himself right into the game and he's there all the time from start to finish. He's taking a lot of interest in the Olympics and I hear he's going to open them in person. And no doubt he'll be the one to give out the prizes at the end."

"Well, if he does he'll have a chance to shake hands with quite a bunch of American sovereigns," said d.i.c.k, "for there'll surely be a big raft of them up there standing in line when the trophies are handed out."

"The Germans are certainly making great preparations for the games,"

said Tom. "I hear that the stadium at Berlin is going to be the biggest thing in that line that ever happened. They dedicated it the other day and all Berlin turned out to see it. The Kaiser himself was there and made a speech, and just as he got through they released thirty thousand doves who flew in a great white cloud over the field. Rather artistic idea you see--'the dove of peace,' and all that sort of thing."

"The idea is all right," rejoined d.i.c.k, cynically, "and yet you notice that England keeps building dreadnoughts, and France is increasing her term of service from two years to three, and Germany herself this year is raising an extra billion of marks for new troops. The ideas don't jibe very well, do they?"

"No," a.s.sented Bert. "When I hear them talk of doing away with war altogether, I think of that saying of Mark Twain's that 'the day may come when the lion and the lamb will lie down together, but the lamb will be inside.'"

"Don't say anything that suggests eating," chimed in Tom, "for this sea air is making me feel already as though I were starving to death."

"That's your normal state, anyway," laughed d.i.c.k. "Don't try to put it off on the air. But there goes the steward's gong now. Let's go down and see what kind of a training table they set."

A very good table they found it to be, despite the absence of luxuries that are usually to be found on ocean liners. Wines and liquors of all kinds were banished, together with rich pastries and many kinds of starchy foods. But there was a royal abundance of meats and fruit desserts that made them forget the absence of the richer indigestibles.

And the way the food melted away before the onslaught of these trained athletes made the stewards gasp.

"Let us eat, drink and be merry," quoted Drake, "for to-morrow we get seasick."

"Don't tell that to able-bodied sailors like us," retorted d.i.c.k. "We got our sea legs long ago on the Pacific. After the typhoon we went through off the j.a.panese coast, I don't think that any shindig the Atlantic can kick up will worry us much."

"Well, you're lucky in having served your apprenticeship," returned Drake, "but for lots of the fellows this is their first trip and it's a pretty safe bet that there won't be as many at the dinner table to-morrow as there are to-day."

"Oh, I don't think it will bother them," said Bert. "It's the fellows with a paunch who have been living high that usually pay the penalty when they tackle a sea trip. Our boys are in such splendid shape that it probably won't upset them."

After dinner they made the round of the ship. Training was not to start until the next morning, and the rest of the day was theirs to do with as they liked.

As compared with the _Fearless_, the steamer on which they had made the voyage to China, the _Northland_ was a giant. Apart from the splendid athletic equipment that made it unique, it ranked with the finest of the Atlantic liners. The great prow towered forty feet above the water. The ship was over seven hundred feet in length and nearly eighty feet wide.

Great decks towered one above the other until it resembled a skysc.r.a.per.

She was driven by powerful double screw engines of the latest type that could develop thirty-six thousand horsepower and were good for over twenty knots an hour. The saloons and cabins were the last word in ocean luxury. Ample provision had been made for safety. There were enough lifeboats and collapsible rafts, including two motor boats, to take care of every one of the pa.s.sengers and crew in case of need. The lesson of the _t.i.tanic_ disaster had not been forgotten, and there was a double hull extending the whole length of the ship, so that if one were ripped open the other would probably be left intact. There were thirty-two water-tight compartments divided by steel bulkheads that could be closed in an instant by pressing a b.u.t.ton either from the bridge or the engine room. The bridge itself was eighty feet above sea level, and it made the boys dizzy to look down at the great swells that slipped away smoothly on either side of the prow. Her length enabled her to cut into three waves at once so that the tossing motion was hardly perceptible. She rode the waters like a veritable queen of the sea. Her captain was a grizzled old veteran, who had been thirty years in the company's employ and enjoyed their fullest confidence.

To the eager boys, always on the lookout for new impressions, their exploration of the ship was of the keenest interest. They were constantly coming across something novel. Their previous trip on the _Fearless_, when Bert had been the wireless operator, had of course made them familiar with most things pertaining to a ship. But the _Fearless_ had been designed chiefly as a trading craft and the pa.s.senger feature had been merely an incident. Here it was the main thing and as each new fad and wrinkle came to their attention it awoke exclamations of wonder and approval.

"It's the real thing in boats," declared d.i.c.k, emphatically.

"That's what it is," echoed Tom. "It's brought right up to the minute."

"We're getting a pretty nifty sea education," remarked Bert. "By the time we get through this cruise, we ought to know a lot about the two greatest oceans in the world."

"Yes," replied d.i.c.k; "there'll only be the two Arctics and the Indian Ocean left. The Arctics I don't hanker after. There's too much cold for yours truly, and seal meat and whale blubber don't appeal to me as a steady diet. The Indian, on the other hand, is too hot, but after some of those days on the Pacific when the pitch fairly started out of the deck seams, I guess we could stand it."

"Well, if we never get any more sea life than what we're having, we'll be way above the average," said Bert. "And now let's get down to the wireless room."

And here Bert felt thoroughly at home. All the old days came back to him as he looked around at the wireless apparatus and saw the blue flames spitting from the sounder, as the operator sat at the key, sending and receiving messages from the home land that was so rapidly being left behind. Again he heard the appeal of the _Caledonian_, on fire from stem to stern, as her despairing call came through the night. Once more he was sending messages of cheer and hope to the battered liner whirling about in the grip of the typhoon. And, most thrilling of all, was the memory of that savage fight with the Chinese pirates when the current from the dynamo had shot its swift death into the yelling hordes just when their triumph seemed a.s.sured. What a miracle it all was, anyway--this mysterious force that linked the continents together--that brought hope to the despairing, comfort to the comfortless, life to the dying--this greatest of man's discoveries that seemed almost to border on the supernatural!

The operator then on duty--one of three who worked in shifts of eight hours each, so that never for a moment of day or night was the key deserted--a bright, keen young fellow, but little older than the boys themselves, was pleased at their intelligent interest in his work, and, in the intervals between messages, fell into conversation with them and rapidly became chummy. When he learned that Bert himself was one of the craft, he suggested that he try his hand at sending and receiving a few, while he sat by and rested up. Bert a.s.sented with alacrity, and the little smile of good-natured patronage with which he watched him quickly changed to one of amazement, as he saw the swiftness and dexterity with which Bert handled the messages. Especially was he struck by the facility which he displayed at writing down the Marconigrams with his left hand while keeping the right on the key.

"Great Scott!" he exclaimed, "you're a dandy. That two-handed stunt is a new one on me. It would make my work twice as fast and twice as easy if I could do it. Where did you get the idea?"

"Old Nature's responsible for that," laughed Bert. "When I was a kid I found it was almost as easy for me to use my left hand as my right, and I fell into the habit."

"It's a mighty good habit all right and don't you forget it," said the operator, emphatically. "I'm going to try to get it myself. If I do, I may be able to hit the company for a raise in salary," he grinned.