The Battleship Boys in Foreign Service; or, Earning New Ratings in European Seas

by Frank Gee Patchin

  CHAPTER II

  A SERIOUS CHARGE

  By the time the patrol reached headquarters the Battleship Boys hadrecovered consciousness. They were half-smothered, lying on their facesas they were.

  Sam began to fight and kick.

  "Get off my neck!" he howled, in a muffled voice. "Get off, or I'll passyou a punch when I get out of this!"

  "Keep quiet, Sam," advised Dan. "They will use you roughly if youdon't."

  "Keep quiet, nothing! I'll show them they can't use an officer in UncleSam's Navy this way."

  His further remarks were lost, for the man who was sitting on Hickey'sneck moved over, throwing his weight on the lad's head.

  Soon after that the wagon drove up before the dingy headquarters. Theprisoners were jerked from the wagon rather than lifted out, and weredragged into the building, up a pair of stone steps and along a dimlylighted corridor.

  Arriving in front of a grated door, the policemen in charge of the boyswaited until an attendant had unlocked and opened it, whereupon theythrew the Battleship Boys inside.

  The door shut with a loud clang, and the gendarmes marched away, downthe corridor without a word to their prisoners.

  For a moment the boys lay where they had been thrown. Then Dan sprang tohis feet, and, going to the door, peered out into the corridor. All hecould see was a brick wall in front of him.

  Sam sat up, rubbing his red head reflectively.

  "I wonder where we are?" muttered Dan.

  "Where we are?" repeated Sam.

  "Yes."

  "Don't you know?"

  "I do not."

  "I know."

  "Where are we?"

  "We're in the brig again."

  "In the brig? Why, we are in Paris. Have you forgotten? I guess yourshaking up must have resulted in a loss of memory."

  "I have forgotten nothing. I'll never forget the wallop I got. Say, Dan,do you know what they hit me with?"

  "No, that is what I have been trying to decide in my own case."

  For a few minutes there was silence.

  "This is a nice mess--a fine mix-up!"

  "Yes," agreed Dan Davis. "I fear we have gotten ourselves into a lot oftrouble. We have assaulted the Paris police. I wonder what the captainof the 'Long Island' will say when he hears of it?"

  "If it's left for us to tell him it will be a long, long time before hehears anything about it."

  "Don't be foolish. We will tell the police the truth and they will haveto let us go; but the question is, when are we going to be allowed totell the truth? It doesn't look as if we were even going to bequestioned to-night."

  For full two hours the boys sat on the hard stone floor, discussingtheir predicament, trying to plan some way of extricating themselvesfrom their present unfortunate position. No conclusion was reached. Allthey could now do was to wait and trust to luck.

  "Well, I'm going to bed," announced Sam Hickey.

  "Where?"

  "Right here on the floor. It isn't much of a hammock, but I'm going topipe myself down just the same. I wish I were back on the battleship.Don't you, Dan?"

  "Yes, I do. Good night, Sam."

  "Good night."

  Sam rolled over on his back, using his arms for a pillow, and was soonsnoring loudly. This made Dan feel sleepy, and he, too, shortly toppledover sound asleep.

  How long they had lain thus they did not know. Sam suddenly awakened.Some one had hold of one of his feet and was dragging him across thecell.

  "Leggo my foot!" yelled the red-headed boy, struggling to get up.

  Dan, hearing the commotion, bounded to his feet. He was quickly seizedand jerked out into the corridor, where he was soon joined by Sam. Thenthey discovered that they were in the hands of officers, though not thesame ones who had arrested them.

  Neither of the officers said a word, but, taking firm hold of the armsof their prisoners, marched them rapidly down the corridor.

  "I guess they must be going to hang us," said Hickey.

  "They don't hang people over here," answered Dan.

  "They don't?"

  "No."

  "What do they do with them?"

  "Guillotine them."

  "What's that?"

  "In other words, they cut your head off here in France," answered Dan,with a short laugh.

  "Wow!" exclaimed Sam with such vehemence that the officers in charge ofhim gave him a violent shake, uttering some rapid commands in his ownlanguage.

  "I guess we'd better not stir up the animals any more," said Sam, with awink at his companion.

  "No. And be careful what you say. Do not volunteer any information. Itwill perhaps be better for me to answer the questions, unless theyquestion you directly."

  The officers conducted the lads into a sort of reception room, wherethey stood holding tightly to their prisoners until a door was opened atthe far end of the room and another man in uniform beckoned them toenter. The officers did so, thrusting their prisoners into the roomahead of them.

  Unlike the outer room, this one was brilliantly lighted; so much so thatthe boys blinked vigorously for a few seconds. Then, becoming used tothe light, they began to take stock of their surroundings.

  The first thing that caught their attention was a keen-faced man sittingbehind a flat desk, industriously twirling his moustache as he surveyedthem keenly from beneath half-closed eyelids.

  The boys gazed at him intently. There was no quailing on their part,though had they realized what a questionable looking pair they were,they might have lost some of their assurance.

  The officer behind the desk addressed them in French.

  "We do not speak your language, sir," spoke up Dan.

  "Ah, so I perceive," answered the man in very good English. "You areEnglish?"

  "Not much. We're Yankees," Sam blurted out with considerable emphasis."And you'd better not monkey with us unless you want the United StatesGovernment to get you by the collar and jerk you seven different ways atthe same time."

  "Be silent!" thundered the officer.

  "I'm mum," answered Sam, with a sheepish grin.

  "What is your name?"

  "Sam Hickey, sir."

  "And yours?" glancing at Dan.

  "Daniel Davis."

  "Residence of both?"

  "United States of America," answered the boys with one voice.

  A clerk was noting down their replies.

  "May I ask, sir, why we are thus detained? We have done no wrong."

  "Stop! I will ask all the questions here. What is your business, if youhave any?"

  "We are sailors on the U. S. S. 'Long Island.'"

  "Sailors, eh?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "If this be true, where are your uniforms?"

  "We are wearing what is left of them, sir."

  The officer glanced at the trousers of the lads and observed that theywere such as were worn by sailors.

  "A very excellent disguise."

  "Disguise!" exclaimed Sam with explosive force. "What are you talkingabout?"

  "Be quiet," warned Dan. "You are only making it the harder for us. Hedoesn't believe our story, as it is."

  "I don't care whether he does or not. I'm getting warm where my collarwas until it was torn off. Disguise! The idea!"

  "What are you doing in Paris?"

  "Getting into trouble, principally," muttered Sam under his breath.

  "We came here to see the city, sir," answered Dan.

  "When?"

  "This morning, or yesterday morning. I do not know whether it is morningor evening now," he answered.

  "You say you are from a United States ship?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "What is the captain's name?"

  "Captain Farnham, sir."

  "Where is your ship?"

  Dan told him.

  "When did the ship arrive?"

  "Yesterday morning."

  The officer went over some papers on his desk, finally selecting onewhich he consulted, then replaced it on hi
s desk with a nod.

  "Where is the rest of your gang?"

  "What do you mean, sir?"

  "The other men who ran away."

  "I am sure I do not know. We were trying to catch up with them when wewere caught."

  "Ah! You admit!"

  The officer spoke rapidly in French to the clerk, who scribbledindustriously.

  "Well, sir, what have you to say for yourself?" demanded the officerabruptly, turning toward Sam.

  "I've got a lot that I should like to say, if you will give me half achance," said Sam promptly.

  "I'll hear your story. Bear in mind that whatever you say will be usedagainst you. It is being taken down by the secretary. Speak! I shalllisten."

  "It was this way," began Hickey.

  "Be brief!" commanded the officer sternly.

  "We were walking along Sausage Avenue, peaceable like----"

  "What's that?"

  "He means the Bois de Boulogne," explained Dan, with the trace of asmile on his face. "Never mind, Sam; I will tell the officer, if he willpermit."

  "Silence!"

  He motioned for Hickey to continue.

  "As I was saying, we were walking along Bologna Avenue----"

  "Bois de Boulogne," again corrected Dan.

  "Yes; something of that sort. We were talking, when, all at once, myfriend here heard a woman scream. Then two women screamed. We didn'tknow what they were screaming about, because they were screaming in somelanguage we didn't understand. Maybe they were talking in French. Iguess they were. Well, we didn't know what kind of trouble it was, butwe knew it was a woman in trouble, and that was enough."

  "Proceed!"

  "We sailed in. There were a lot of fellows attempting to rob a couple ofladies beside a cab. We thought so, anyway, and we mixed it up rightaway. I gave the fellow who was holding the horses a short arm punchover the eye with my left, and hooked his jaw with my right. You oughtto have seen him curl up and go to sleep," added Hickey, with a laugh.

  "Never mind that; tell me what happened."

  "That's what I'm trying to do, if you will let me alone. While I wasdoing that, my friend Dan had fired himself right into the bunch. He putseveral of them out and by the time I mixed in everybody was fighting.Some of the fellows tried to stick us with knives, and one miserablecoward fired a shot at me. I guess he came pretty near winging me. Hisbullet nearly clipped a lock of hair from my head. Well, anyway, we hadthem pretty well thrashed when, all of a sudden, one of the robbers letout a yell and in a minute they had hit the trail for the bushes, withDan and myself after them. If I hadn't fallen over a curbstone maybe wewould have caught them. About that time the police jumped on us, and Idon't remember very much after that, until we were taking a ride in theautomobile."

  "Your story is well told, but it is not in accordance with the facts."

  "You mean that I lie?" demanded Sam belligerently.

  "Why did you assault the gendarmes?" demanded the official, ignoringSam's question.

  "We did not know they were the police, sir," spoke up Dan Davis. "Wecould not see plainly in the darkness under the trees. We thought therobbers had returned. We defended ourselves as best we could, sir. I amsorry we struck any of your men; it was a mistake."

  The official, with chin in hand, regarded the boys thoughtfully for aminute or so.

  "Your story is not satisfactory."

  "I am sorry, sir," answered Dan.

  "We might give you another one. Perhaps that would please you more,"growled Sam, whose temper was rising.

  "Oh, Sam!" exclaimed Dan.

  The eyes of the official narrowed.

  "I have no doubt of your ability to do so," he said sarcastically.

  The officer pressed a button, whereupon four police officers entered theroom. Addressing them in French, he said:

  "Remove the prisoners to the Conciergerie," this being the detentionprison where those awaiting trial were confined. "I am satisfied thatthey are desperate characters."

  "What are you going to do with us?" demanded Sam Hickey sullenly.

  "Put you both in prison."

  "Sir," spoke up Dan, "may I not ask why you are doing this--what chargeis made against us?"

  "Yes, seeing you are so innocent, I will tell you. You were caught redhanded. You are accused of attempting to rob two women--you are accusedof assaulting police officers of the republic of France, and, further,you are believed to belong to the desperate band of Apaches with whichour city is infested."

  Dan uttered an exclamation of surprise.

  "Well, I must say you're the worst lot of thick-heads I ever saw in mylife," remarked Sam in deep disgust.

  The official waved them away, whereat the officers led the boys from theroom.

  "I wish we could get word to the battleship," said Dan in a low tone. "Iwish I had thought to ask him to permit us to do so."

  "It wouldn't do any good. They're determined to make a mark of us. Butwait till the Old Man hears of this. Won't he raise a row? Won't he makethese chattering Frenchmen stand around lively? Well, I guess he will!"

  "Perhaps Captain Farnham may not know anything about it, and when we donot return on time we will be black-listed as deserters. That will beawful."