Dave Darrin and the German Submarines Part 23

"That goes for both of you," said the staff officer smilingly.

"I wish I had a line on the new duty, though," said Dalzell, as he turned away.

"So do I," half-sighed Dave. "But wishing doesn't do much for a chap in the Service."

Turning, they walked briskly toward the naval club frequented by British and American naval officers. There, by good luck, they found Curtin, who had just come ash.o.r.e.

"There are orders for you at the admiral's office," Dave reported. "I may as well tell you, Curtin, that Dalzell and I are detached for other duties; that you have gotten your step to a lieutenant-commandership and that you are to swing the 'Logan' from now on. Congratulations, old man!

And I know you'll make a record at your new post, just as you have made in your lower grades."

"And remember, my boy," grinned Dan, "we won't be a bit jealous, no matter if you succeed in sinking the Kaiser's entire submarine fleet!"

Curtin's face showed his joy. He immediately wrote and submitted to the censor a cablegram informing his wife that he had been promoted and given a command. Further information he could not send.

"What are we going to do this evening, Danny-boy?" Dave inquired.

"I don't know, but I expect my activities will be confined to guessing what my new line of service is to be."

"If Curtin has attained to independent command, there's a big chance that you will also," Dave observed.

"That would separate us," muttered Dan, looking almost alarmed. "David, little giant, I don't believe I'll be able to serve as well if I'm not on the same craft with you."

"Nonsense!" laughed Darrin.

"Fact!" Dan insisted.

"Then what are you going to do when you become an admiral?"

"I'll have lots of time to think that over," retorted Dalzell.

Three days later the von Bechtold trial came off before a court-martial of British naval officers. The German commander was found guilty of having landed in Ireland as a spy, and was condemned to be shot, a sentence soon afterward carried out. He would give no information about the civilian found dead on the submarine, but the stranger was believed to have been a civilian government official from Berlin.

Right after that Hartmann, alias Jordan, was placed on trial before an American court-martial on a charge of treason. His trial was short because the prisoner broke down and confessed his ident.i.ty as a German spy. He implicated two German spies then in Ireland, both of whom had been masquerading as Swedish ship-brokers. These two latter were captured, tried by the British naval authorities, and sentenced to death. Jordan was ordered shot, and soon afterward paid the penalty of his crime before a firing squad.

Runkle, who had been a witness against Hartmann, alias Jordan, was now detached from the ship on which he had been serving, and was placed on waiting orders.

And then, one morning, Dan broke in on Darrin at the naval club, his eyes gleaming.

"I've got my command and my sailing orders!" he shouted, gleefully.

"What ship?" Dave asked, springing up.

"The 'Prince'!" Dalzell exclaimed, jubilantly.

"Never heard of that craft," Darrin returned, his eyes opening wide.

"She doesn't sail from this port, does she?"

"No," and Danny Grin, his mouth wreathed in smiles, named a near-by port.

"When do you take her over?"

"To-morrow."

"And sail?"

"Same day."

Darrin gripped his chum's hand, murmuring:

"I wish you all the success in the world, Danny-boy," he called, heartily.

"How would you like to go with me?" Dalzell continued, eagerly.

"What on earth are you talking about?"

"About taking you as a pa.s.senger," Dan went on. "You'll go as my guest, if you favor me to that extent. I spoke to the flag lieutenant about it, and he said that your orders would not be ready for two or three weeks yet, and that you will have plenty of time to sail with me if you so desire, and be back in time for your new detail. Do you want to go?"

CHAPTER XV

DAN'S TURN TO GRIN

"Stop your nonsense, Danny-boy, if you'll be so good. Of course you know that I want to go with you. But can't you tell me something about the 'Prince'?"

"Not a word," Dan protested.

"Or the kind of work in which your ship is going to engage?"

"Not a word!" Dan Dalzell laughed merrily. "Will you go?"

"Yes; of course, old chum."

"I thought you would," Dan continued, "so I took the liberty of obtaining official permission for you to go along with me. Here it is, over the admiral's signature."

Dave eagerly scanned the official-looking, typewritten sheet. It was simply a written permission, and gave not the slightest clew to the nature of Dan's new venture.

"Dan Dalzell, I believe that you're going to keep me on the guessing rack," Dave declared.

"You don't believe anything of the sort," Dalzell laughed; "you _know_ it."

"All right, then," sighed Darrin, good-humoredly, putting away the official envelope in an inner pocket.

"Then you're going with me?"

"Yes, sir, and right into the jaws of whatever mystery you have arranged for me," Dave said.