Boy Scouts in the North Sea Part 12

"Frank Shaw!" cried Jimmie, crowding close to the lad lying on the locker. "What's that you're saying about the 'U-13'?"

"I say 'Look out for it,' that's all!"

"No, it isn't all!" protested the boy. "Take another drink of this coffee and then brace up and tell us what you know! How did you get here and what and who and where and why is this 'U-13'?"

Frank smiled as he struggled to a sitting posture.

"If you'll rub the cramp out of that leg, boys, I'll 'fess up'

everything," he began. "That leg feels as if some one were trying to pull some teeth out of it by the roots. A cramp is fierce."

Two lads began ma.s.saging the offending member.

"If I'd known it was you swimming to us, I'd have lowered a boat myself and come to your a.s.sistance!" declared Jimmie.

"And if I'd known you were on board this schooner," replied Frank, "I'd have left that ship long before I did!"

"Why, what's the matter on that ship, Frank?" asked Ned.

"Oh, nothing, only it's one of these 'work-houses' just exactly like we have read of. The captain is a hard nut and the mates are both of the 'bucko' type. There isn't a man aboard who hasn't got a mark from one or the other of the mates. They're a tough crowd!"

"I'll bet you didn't just fall overboard, then!" shrewdly guessed Jimmie.

"You missed your footing purposely! You know you did!"

"How do you know?" grinned Frank, nursing his cramped leg.

"I was watching through the binoculars," answered Jimmie. "But go ahead and tell us something. We're dying from curiosity!"

"Well," began Frank, "you know I wasn't quite satisfied to be left behind when you four lads left in chase of the fellow who had stolen the Panama plans. I wanted to go along in the Grey Eagle."

"We know that, and we're sorry we didn't take you!" cried Ned.

"I went to see Mr. Bosworth about following you," continued young Shaw.

"He was opposed to that plan, but you know I usually get my own way somehow. I put together a kit and started out. I had little difficulty in securing pa.s.sage on a ship loaded with miscellaneous cargo for England.

The vessel was a British tramp--a 'bucko' ship.

"We got close to Land's End after a rather uneventful voyage across the Atlantic. I was dreaming of getting ash.o.r.e in a short time and then hiking across the channel into France to hunt you up.

"One fine morning we were all startled to hear a hail from the lookout informing the deck that a submarine was approaching. We hove to at the command of the submarine people. They commanded our captain to get his crew into the boats as quickly as possible, for in five minutes they intended torpedoing the ship. They wouldn't take 'No' for an answer."

"That was going some, I must say!" put in Jimmie.

"You needn't be told, of course," went on Frank, "that we lost little time making preparations. One of the sailors disputed my right to take my kit into the small boat. I objected and he cracked me on the jaw. When I recovered I was alone on the vessel. The boats were at some little distance away, with the crew pulling like racers.

"For a moment I was quite desperate, not knowing how to escape. I thought of trying to signal the submarine, but could see the vessel just launching a torpedo. Seemingly the whole after end of the ship was shattered by the explosion. As soon as I could I tried to signal the enemy, but they were just turning about to leave the spot.

"Maybe I didn't hustle about some. The ship was already filling rapidly.

The stern was settling fast. All the boats were gone. I could see nothing to serve as a float. Desperately I seized a capstan bar and knocked the wedges and battens off a hatch cover. Then I got a small piece of line. I pa.s.sed it through a ring bolt and made fast. I figured that when the ship went down the cover would float free for a raft on which I could keep up.

Before I was fully ready the compressed air blew the cover off with a 'boom'. It landed close to the rail.

"Just as the hull took a last slant I jumped overboard. After swimming quite a distance away I saw the ship go down. I turned back. There was my hatch cover floating just as I expected."

Here Frank paused to extend his hand for another cup of coffee.

"You're the wise little Scout!" declared Jimmie, admiringly.

"Sure!" agreed Frank. "Then," he continued, "I floated around for the rest of the day on that hatch cover. Toward evening I saw a smoke off to the southwest. It was just out of the glare of the sun. When it got nearer I knew it was a steamer bound for England or some nearby place. It was the Anne of Melbourne. So here I am!"

"But what about this 'U-13'?" inquired Harry, eagerly.

"Oh, yes, I nearly forgot," said Frank. "The submarine that torpedoed the ship was marked 'U-13' on the side!"

"They've been doing a lot of that, according to the newspapers!" stated Ned. "But why do you warn us to look out for her?" he asked.

"When I told the captain of the Anne of my experience," went on Frank, "he decided to head north, intending to go to the westward of Ireland, around between Scotland and the Shetland Island into the North Sea, in the hopes of dodging the submarine, which seemed to be working the waters of the English Channel. Yesterday morning we were hailed by a submarine.

I could see that it was the same old 'U-13'!"

"How did it get way up here?" questioned Ned, incredulously.

"Search me!" replied Frank. "They ordered us to heave to, but that captain is a daredevil. He cracked on all steam full speed ahead, declaring that if they took him they'd have to catch him.

"The submarine launched a torpedo at us, but it only smashed our rudder.

We had good headway on. That, of course, put us in a mighty bad fix, as the submarine could then have easily sent a torpedo into us, but for some unknown reason they turned and left us.

"The captain was nearly crazy when he discovered what damage had been done. The vessel had been bad enough before, but it became ten times worse. I got a crack or two with a rope's end that sting yet!"

"How could they navigate?" asked Jimmie.

"They couldn't!" answered Frank. "We just lay in the trough of the seas and let the old tub roll. They even put preventer stays on the masts and on the boilers to keep them from rolling out of the crazy old wagon. You never saw such a place as that ship was!"

"And then when the captain got her under the lee of this land and you saw this schooner you just concluded that you'd jump the ship?"

"Exactly!" agreed Frank. "I had lost my kit when the sailing vessel went down, so I left nothing on the steamer."

"I'm awful glad you got here safely," stated Ned, grasping Frank's hand in a hearty clasp that spoke eloquently of the friendship between the two boys. "But you're too late to help capture the Panama Ca.n.a.l plan thief.

He's out of his misery quite a while ago!"

"But he's just in time to get mixed up in this 'U-13' business!" urged Jimmie. "He's right in the midst of the excitement!"

"But since you don't want any more Boy Scouts along we'll pitch Frank overboard again!" declared Harry, with mock gravity.

"Aw, you go on!" scorned Jimmie. "I didn't know it was Frank!"

Laughing at Jimmie's confusion the boys related to their chum the salient points of their experience up to the time of their strange meeting. Frank was greatly puzzled over the circ.u.mstances of the strange package, for the presence of which in their kits the boys could not account.

For some time the lads remained in the cabin, drying the uniforms of the swimmers and exchanging experiences. It was the opinion of all that they would be adopting a wise course to return at once to New York.

Captain von Kluck was greatly interested in his strange pa.s.sengers. He listened eagerly to Frank's account of the doings of the strange submarine. At the conclusion of the recital he paced the deck nervously.

Not until midafternoon did the wind decrease sufficiently to permit the Lena k.n.o.bloch to venture forth from her position of shelter.