Two Boys of the Battleship Part 18

Their life at the naval training station had been more fully occupied than they had expected, and there was no time to take the trip to Georgia. They had regretted the matter very much at the time, and Mr.

Arden was greatly disappointed at not seeing his nephews. But he knew it could not be helped. Now, however, there might be a chance to do him a much greater service than would have resulted from a mere visit.

"Heat isn't the only thing that's disagreeable down in the tropics,"

went on the sailor the next time he saw Frank and Ned.

"No?" asked Ned.

"I should say not! There's no telling what sort of disease you may catch."

"Well, I'm not going to try and catch any," laughed Frank. "If some disease wants to catch me I'll do my best to get away, too."

"And there's all sorts of bugs and crawling things," continued the blue-jacket, making a wry face.

"Oh, don't listen to him!" exclaimed Hank Dell, who, of late, had become quite chummy with Frank and Ned. "He's a regular calamity-howler, he is!"

"Yes, and you'll be a howler, too, when some of those South American chiggers get after you and burrow under your skin," predicted the other as he went below.

The news that the _Georgetown_ had been ordered to South American waters where there was a prospect of some real fighting, soon spread all over the ship. As boat after boat returned from the drill, and was hoisted to the davits, the sailors discussed the wireless message that had been received. Of course the enlisted men did not know any of the particulars, merely being told that the rather aimless cruising about, which had thus far marked the voyage, was at an end, and that orders had come to start South.

Now the _Georgetown_ had a definite object in view, and it was rumored throughout the ship that hereafter drills would be stricter and that drills with the big guns would be more frequent.

"Of course we won't stop for any target practice, though," reasoned Ned.

"Hardly," agreed Frank. "I guess, too, they won't fire away many of the big, expensive projectiles. We may need them for Uridio."

"Yes, we may have a run-in with their navy," his brother said.

"Navy!" laughed Hank. "Say, I don't believe they have any more navy than Switzerland has, and all that country can put out is a motor boat on Lake Constance."

"Well, I guess there won't be any waste of ammunition if there's a prospect of some real work," another sailor remarked.

As has been said, the word for the _Georgetown_ to proceed to Uridio had come by wireless, and later it was learned that the battleship was to stop at Havana for sealed orders, and also to take on board certain stores-ammunition and supplies that would be waiting for her.

"It means business all right," said Frank to Ned, as they were talking the matter over before turning into their hammocks for the night. "I wonder if we shall be able to go ash.o.r.e and get any sort of a line on that business of Uncle Phil's?"

"We'll make a good try, anyhow," declared Ned. "I guess the captain or some of the executive officers will give us help and advice if we ask them."

"That's a good idea," Frank added.

As soon as all the boats had returned, the course of the battleship was changed, and now, with black smoke pouring from her funnels, she was rushing away through the night toward Cuba, there to stop, and as soon as possible afterward to take up her journey again toward South America.

A totally different spirit and feeling was on board now, at least among the younger enlisted men. It was the nearest any of them had yet come to conditions of actual warfare, though probably the matter of proceeding to regulate matters in a small republic, such as Uridio was, and looking after the interests of United States' citizens there, was really a small affair in the minds of the higher officers, some of whom had been with Dewey at Manila when the Spanish fleet was defeated.

A change was made the next day in the nature and manner of holding the drills. For some time the lighter forms of evolutions had been the order of the day. But after the wireless orders were received there was more big gun drill and more, too, of infantry and light artillery tactics insisted on.

The United States blue-jackets often have to perform the services of a soldier in time of war, and that they may be familiar with those duties special drills are devised. Often, when a ship is in port, the men will be landed and go through these drills on sh.o.r.e. But now, in the case of the _Georgetown_, they took place on the big decks.

The manual of arms was gone through with again and again, and the light artillery was brought up and put into action against an imaginary enemy, blank charges being fired. Frank, Ned and their chums greatly enjoyed this drill.

"If you do as well when you're ordered ash.o.r.e to proceed against a howling mob, you'll be all right," remarked one of the officers at the conclusion of some snappy work one day.

"Oh, we'll do it!" said Ned, to his brother.

While it was not for a moment thought that the _Georgetown_ would be endangered from the shots of any hostile ship, or from the guns of a fort on sh.o.r.e, still drills were held that would enable the men to repair any possible damage in such a contingency.

These drills were collision, fire-quarters, general-quarters, and clearing ship for action.

The signal for collision drill was unexpectedly sounded one day when they were but a short distance from Havana. At once all the water-tight doors in the battleship were closed by machinery, and Frank, Ned and the others rushed to the various stations that had previously been a.s.signed to them.

It was the work of the squad, or division, that included Frank and Ned to put over the side a thick, heavy collision mat, which was lowered to cover an imaginary hole, supposed to have been blown in the ship below the water-line or near it by a torpedo or projectile. The object of the collision mat is to stop the inrush of water until the water-tight doors can be made fast, or dropped into place.

In order to give as many as possible practice at this drill it was gone through with a number of times, several collision mats being used. It was hard work, for the mats were heavy, and Frank and Ned were not sorry when it was over.

Havana was reached in due season, and sh.o.r.e liberty was allowed to all in turn, for the ship was to remain there two days. Frank and Ned greatly enjoyed the novel sights ash.o.r.e, and were rather sorry when they were under way again. But they were also eager for the work ahead of them, and anxious about the prospect of aiding their uncle, and saving, if possible, their own fortunes.

The night after leaving Havana Frank was awakened by a violent pitching and tossing. He heard Ned, next to him, moving about restlessly, and asked:

"What's up?"

"I don't know, unless it's a storm," was the reply.

"That's it, we've run into some heavy weather," said an older sailor.

Though there was a violent pitching and tossing, which motion was imparted to the _Georgetown_ in spite of her great size, still our two heroes were not made greatly uncomfortable. The swaying hammocks did not take all the motions through which the vessel went, though the "beds"

did sway more than usual. But the recruits had gotten their sea-legs some time before, and none was made seasick. This malady had not bothered Ned and Frank at all, for they had gone through their initiation in that regard years before, on Great South Bay and the adjacent ocean.

In the morning the _Georgetown_ was plowing her way through a stormy sea, a heavy gale was blowing and sending the salt spray across her decks.

"It's like the time we were out in our motor boat," remarked Ned.

"Yes," agreed Frank, and he thought regretfully of the _Ellen_. "And maybe we'll have the same pleasure some time later, if we get back the money from the revolutionists," he added.

"Why, are you going to quit the battleship?" asked Ned.

"Oh, no, I haven't any idea of that sort, but if we get back our money we might apply for a leave of absence. Or after our four years are up, we can take a furlough."

CHAPTER XVII-A CHASE

Just what the orders were that the commander of the _Georgetown_ had received at Havana was known only to himself and to his immediate official family. They were not made public, but the fact that the ship kept on down the South American coast in the direction of Uridio, was sufficient evidence that the trouble in the small republic was not yet over.

"We'll see some sort of action all right," predicted Hank, in talking the matter over with Ned and Frank, as the battleship labored on through the storm.

"Action! Say, if there's any more action than we're getting right now, I'd like to see it-or, rather, I wouldn't," cried Sam Bowler, the sailor who had found so much fault about the prospective heat.

"There you go again, old calamity-howler!" laughed Tom Dawson, who, with Hank, had become quite chummy with Ned and Frank.