Two Boys of the Battleship Part 22

It is said that in the present European war the continual fear on the part of the men of the different fleets that their craft may be torpedoed so works on their nerves that some of them go insane. There is no rest day or night, and even the most careful watching can not be depended on to guard against the danger. A submarine gives very little evidence of its approach.

Of course, in this case no such danger was to be apprehended, but no chances were being taken.

So after the Uridian officials had departed, double sentries were posted at all stations aboard, and the men were told to be on the watch for the approach of any craft, or for any unusual disturbance in the water.

"It's a heap more fun to read about a condition like this than to actually have to take part in it," remarked Frank, as he went on duty.

He had an early "trick," but Ned had to get out of his hammock at two o'clock in the morning to go on guard duty.

However, the night was pleasant and not too warm, and after Ned was fully awake he did not so much mind it. He paced up and down his part of the deck, with ready rifle, on the alert to challenge and fire if he saw anything suspicious.

Off about a mile lay the town, only a few lights showing. Ned wondered how many Americans were there, and if they were in any danger. He wondered, too, just how and where his own and his brother's fortunes were invested, and what the chances were for recovering them. It was very still and quiet, save for the occasional footfall of some of the other sentries, or the little talk that went on as the guards were changed.

Ned was beginning to get sleepy again, in spite of the fact that he walked to and fro. His gun was feeling heavy. He wondered, after all, if there was any need of all this precaution.

Suddenly he thought he heard, in the water just below him, a slight commotion. At once his heart began to beat violently. Suppose it should prove to be a submarine after all. Or an automatic torpedo, which would presently burst and send them to the bottom. How had it gotten so near without his having heard or seen it? And there was, all about the _Georgetown_, a torpedo net, let down over the side to prevent the deadly missiles from hitting the ship's plates!

Ned leaned over. Yes, something was moving in the water. He brought his rifle to bear, and was about to fire and give the alarm, when a searchlight was suddenly turned full on the very spot where there was a ripple in the calm surface of the sea.

Then there came a swish, and a flurry, and in the gleam of the powerful light Ned saw that it was a school of fish which had probably gathered near the battleship to feed on the sc.r.a.ps the cooks tossed overboard.

"Ha! That's a good one on me!" Ned mused. "I'm glad I didn't give any alarm."

The sentry in charge of the searchlight said he had also heard the commotion in the water, and that was why he switched on the light. Of course the officer in charge of the sentries saw the light and had to be told why it was turned on. But there the incident ended.

"Sh.o.r.e leave will be granted!" was the unexpected order that was issued next day, the night having pa.s.sed without accident.

"Hurrah!" cried Frank.

"Great!" echoed Ned. "Now we'll have a chance to see what this country looks like, and we may find out something about the missing fortunes."

Our heroes were among the first to be granted permission to land, and soon they were speeding toward the town in cutters. There were only a few small piers in what was a very small harbor, and not well protected at that, so the battleship had to anchor out. Up to the public pier raced the cutters, and out on sh.o.r.e leaped the eager sailors.

CHAPTER XX-THE RIOT

"Well, we're here at last!" exclaimed Ned, as he fell into step beside his brother, walking along the water front.

"Yes, Ned, and it remains to be seen what we can do-I mean about our business and uncle's. As for quelling any trouble here, there doesn't seem to be any."

This was true enough, as far as it went. The two battleship boys and their comrades found themselves in a typical city of the tropics. It was a large one, and there were many improvements that would scarcely have been looked for. But a number of European firms, including many Germans, were in business, and this accounted, in part, for the up-to-dateness.

"But I don't see any signs of a revolution," declared Ned.

"Maybe they've cleared it all away," Frank suggested. "Don't you think, though, Ned, that there is a sort of air of expectancy about the people-as though they were looking for something unpleasant to happen, as we were last night on board?"

"Well, maybe you're right, Frank," Ned admitted, as he looked into the faces of the inhabitants. There were furtive glances cast at the men from the United States battleship, but, back of that, there seemed to be something else. And more than once Ned and Frank saw little knots of men gathered on the street corners. And they would look and point in the direction of the hills, where the big guns had made great holes in the earth.

"I wonder what they'd say if they knew you had a hand in making the dirt fly?" said Ned.

"Well, not much more of a hand than you had, Ned. We all had a finger in the pie, even if I actually did fire the big gun. I couldn't have done that unless you fellows had helped. But I guess there's no danger of 'em knowing what I did. Not that I care. Though they don't seem much concerned at what we did."

"No, and that's the odd part of it. You'd think they'd be angry at us."

"Unless these people in the city belong to the party we've come here to protect," Frank suggested. "It may be that, you know. The revolutionists may have jumped out for the time being."

"Yes, that's so. Well, it's a queer go however it is. Say, I wonder if we couldn't go out and take a look at those holes the projectiles made?"

"I guess so. We'd better find out how far it is, though, and if we'll have time to go and get back."

But when Frank spoke to the commanding officer the latter shook his head.

"It's too far out there to begin with," he said, "and for another thing-" he paused and looked around as though to make sure no one else was listening. "For another thing," he added, "we'd rather none of our men went out there-just now."

"Why?" impulsively asked Ned.

Again the officer looked around.

"Well," he said, "I don't mind telling you, because I can see that you are a little different from the general run of our recruits. Not that they're not fine fellows, and all that," he hastened to say, "but some of them have been handicapped in life, and they haven't as much natural intelligence as they might have. But I don't in the least hold that against them. They may be all the better fighters when it comes to a brush."

"Do you think we'll have a fight?" asked Ned, and his voice was eager.

"Well, it's hard to say," replied the officer. He and the two boys of the battleship were off by themselves, on a quiet street leading up from the water front. For the time being none of the other men who had sh.o.r.e leave were around. "There is a peculiar situation here," he said to Frank and Ned. "The captain has given orders that we must be very careful, and not go out to the place where we blew the tops off the hills, or, rather, where you did," and he nodded at Frank.

"Why is that?" asked Ned, again displaying his impulsiveness.

"I can't tell you," was the smiling answer. "But you may learn in a few days."

Frank and Ned knew better than to argue the point. They had a feeling that something momentous might occur at any time, and they wanted to be ready for it.

Deprived thus of permission to go out to the hills where the big guns had wrought the damage, they strolled about the town, looking with interest on the sights they saw.

They stopped for chocolate in a quaint little place, and bought some souvenirs to send to their uncle, thinking thus to cheer him in his loneliness.

But with all their looking about they saw nothing of any of the business enterprises in which Mr. Arden had told them their money, as well as his own, was invested. Later they learned that the mines, and the places where the natural products of the country came from, were some distance out in the little republic.

"What strikes me as queer," said Ned, as they walked back toward the boat landing, for their time was nearly up, "what strikes me as queer is that every one we've seen-that is, the natives, if you can call them such-seem to be expecting something."

"You mean something to happen?" asked Frank.

"Yes. They keep looking off there to the hills where you blew the top off, and talking to themselves in their queer lingo."

"It isn't such a queer lingo," said Frank. "It's Portuguese, and that language is very like Spanish."

"Well, I never did like Spanish. But what do you guess is going on?"