Navy Boys Behind the Big Guns Part 21

There never was a crew at sea yet in which some of its members were not superst.i.tious. Seven Knott was not the only one troubled by the ghostly clock. Stories of haunted ships became common among certain groups of seamen and marines during the hours off duty.

To most of the boys and enlisted men it was all a huge joke; nevertheless there were enough of the crew really superst.i.tious for the tale of the clock-ticking sound to interfere with the general morale of the ship's company.

The chief master-at-arms finally made what he deemed a thorough investigation of the report. But it was evident that he had made up his mind to counteract the influence of the strange sound upon the men by denying its existence.

This, of course, did no good at all. The men, or, at least, some of them, could hear the "tick-_tock_! tick-_tock_! tick-_tock_!" for themselves. Those who wandered into the room where the lumber was stowed were strongly impressed by the unexplained sounds. By and by the men as a rule fought shy of entering that part of the ship.

When Whistler was told by Frenchy and Ikey that they had first heard the "ghost-clock" after the subsiding of the storm, he declared it to be nonsense, pure and simple.

"Don't you fellows forget the scare we all got aboard the _Graf von Posen_ over that old lead coffin in her hold? I should think you would know better than to circulate such yarns about the ship," he declared in some heat.

"We didn't say a word about it," Frenchy denied. "Only to you and Torry.

Seven Knott started the row, not us."

"And he ought to be keelhauled for it," growled Torry.

Nothing would satisfy Frenchy and Ikey, however, until Phil and Al went down with them to listen to the strange sound themselves. It was there, all right. When their ears became used to the steady thumping of the engines, they were able to distinguish the clock-like noise.

"It's some trick," declared Torrance, with conviction. "Sure you chaps haven't started a joke on us?"

"No joke!" denied Ikey.

"We've sworn off practical jokes," joined in Frenchy earnestly.

"Huh! what's the matter with you?" sniffed Torry suspiciously. "Why this eleventh-hour conversion?"

But the two smaller fellows refused to be "drawn." They merely reiterated that they knew nothing about the cause of the ghostly sound.

The four overhauled all the stowed tackle and lumber in the compartment, but found nothing but a locked carpenter's chest that was too heavy to move. And the noise did not seem to come from that.

"It's in the air--it's all about us," declared Whistler seriously.

"I doubt if the source of the noise is in this room at all; it is somewhere near and by some freak of acoustics the sound is heard more plainly in this place."

"You can try to explain it as you will," returned Torry. "It's mighty mysterious."

"'Mysterious' is no name for it," said Frenchy. "It'll be more than that before all's said and done. By St. Patrick's piper that played the last snake out of Ireland! some of these garbies are getting blue around the gills already."

"Laugh at them," commanded Whistler. "We're Americans. We ought not to have a superst.i.tious bone in our bodies."

"Arrah!" grunted Frenchy. "I don't know rightly that it's me bones that are superst.i.tious. But that 'tick-tock' gives me the creeps, just the same."

In a week the bulk of the _Kennebunk's_ crew were keeping strictly away from the compartment on the lower deck from which came the strange sound. In addition, a run of small accidents broke out which seemed to the minds of many of the crew to a.s.sure that the ship was doomed to bad luck.

"The ship is haunted," continued to be whispered from division to division. The sternness of the petty officers could not halt the spreading feeling.

"How about our very first gun sinking a submarine?" demanded Philip Morgan of one group.

"Oh, that was just a chance," was the reply.

"Hump!" said Whistler with disgust. "I have an idea the old _Kennebunk_ is going to be blessed with similar chances."

There followed, however, a really serious accident. A pipe in the boiler room burst, and several men were scalded, one so badly that the ship's surgeons declared he must be transported to a sh.o.r.e hospital as soon as possible.

The operation of skin grafting could not be performed successfully on shipboard, and nothing else would save the unfortunate victim of the accident from having a terribly disfigured face.

Many of the man's shipmates would gladly have aided by giving patches of healthy skin for the benefit of the patient; but the operation was too delicate to be undertaken on the battleship, and the healing of the unfortunate man would be too tedious.

After communicating with the Navy Department by wireless, Captain Trevor decided to send the steam runner into Hampton Roads with the injured man, while the battleship continued her southerly course in compliance with her orders.

The steam-screw tender of the _Kennebunk_ was a good sized craft and perfectly seaworthy. They were too far from sh.o.r.e to trust a motor boat; and to use one of the big whaleboats under sail would take too long.

The derrick swung the big boat overside, and she was lowered into the sea as lightly as though she were a featherweight. Meanwhile Ensign MacMasters was a.s.signed to her command and he had the privilege of picking his crew to suit himself.

The steamer mounted a gun forward and one aft. To the delight of Phil and Al, the ensign chose them as members of the gun crews.

Immediately Frenchy and Ikey clamored to be taken, too. Ensign MacMasters without doubt displayed favoritism at this time. He acquiesced in the desires of the two younger boys from Seacove.

"I suppose you would pine away and refuse your chow if you were separated from Morgan and Torrance," the ensign said laughingly. "Get your hammock-rolls and go aboard. I'll fix it with the executive officer."

So, when the steamer started from the towering side of the battleship, the four Navy boys were members of her crew, and likely to experience a variety of adventures.

CHAPTER XVII

BLOWN UP

The change from the huge _Kennebunk_ to the comparatively tiny steamer was great indeed; and for the first few hours of the run sh.o.r.eward the boys were afraid they would be ill. There was a heavy swell on, and the tender rode up the hill of each roller, and slid down the other side, dizzily.

They were two hundred miles off sh.o.r.e and three hundred from Hampton Roads. The time occupied in the journey could not be much less than three days and two nights. She was much slower than the motor boats; but she sailed much more safely, and the injured man could be made more comfortable on deck under the awning.

The poor fellow complained a good deal about having had his voyage cut short.

"No chance for me to get a crack at the Huns," he repeated again and again.

The boys from Seacove tried to comfort him. Ensign MacMasters told him that he had done his share, even if his fate was not so brilliant as that of men shot down in battle.

"I wouldn't mind being shot for my country," said the poor fellow. "But I hate like a dog to be boiled for it! There ain't nothing heroic in this, Ensign."

The cruise of the steamer was not unattended with peril. They were confident that German U-boats were beginning to infest the sea bordering on the Atlantic coast of the United States. One might pop up at any time and take a shot at the tender.

A sharp lookout was kept, and the gun crews scarcely slept. Every sail or streamer of smoke created excitement on board.

But the first night pa.s.sed in safety and the day broke charmingly. The steamer was kept at top speed. Everything was going smoothly when, about midforenoon, they sighted a strange vessel hull down and somewhat to the northeast of their course.

It was rather hazy, and the strange craft was at some distance. Her course was not one to bring her very near that of the battleship's steamer.

She did not appear to be more than two hundred feet long, and the concurrence of opinion was that she was some small tramp freight boat and was laden heavily. She had a high bow, rail all around, and, as far as could be seen, she flew no flag at all.