CHAPTER XI.
OFF TO THE WAR.
"So you want to go to war, eh?"
It was Lord Hastings who spoke. Frank and Jack had lost no time inputting their plans before him when he returned home the evening onwhich the two lads had talked over their future.
"Yes!" replied both lads, in the same breath.
Lord Hastings stroked his mustache.
"Well," he said, "if you have set your minds on going, I know there isno use of my trying to stop you. Now, I have a plan that I believe willmeet with your approval."
The boys listened eagerly as Lord Hastings continued:
"As you know, the British home fleet is in the North Sea, bottling theGermans up in Kiel and Helgoland. There is likely to be a battle therealmost any time. My yacht, the _Sylph_, has been converted into a scoutcruiser, and has been heavily armed.
"Although the _Sylph_ is listed as being able to make a speed of onlytwenty knots, nevertheless it is swifter than any of our war vessels.This unknown speed has been useful more than once. My naval rank is thatof captain, and I have been ordered to the North Sea with the _Sylph_!"
"What!" exclaimed the two lads, and Frank continued:
"Why cannot you take us with you?"
"Just what I was about to propose," declared Lord Hastings. "Would youlike to go with me, or would you prefer to join the army?"
"The sea for me!" exclaimed Jack.
"For me, too!" declared Frank.
"Good!" replied Lord Hastings. "Then that part is settled."
"But what will be our duties?" asked Jack.
"Well, while you will be only unofficial members of the crew, in view ofthe service you have done for England, I believe my influence is greatenough to have you rated as midshipmen."
"But we know nothing of naval warfare," declared Frank.
"The chances are that we won't have to do a great deal of fighting,"explained Lord Hastings. "But I guess you will both be able to give agood account of yourselves if we do."
"We shall do the best we can," declared Frank.
"You won't find us shirking our duties," Jack agreed.
"I'm sure of that," replied Lord Hastings, rising. "I must go now, and Ishall try and get your appointments to-night. I shall let you know whatsuccess I have in the morning. Good-night."
Lord Hastings left the room, and Frank and Jack immediately fell into adiscussion of the times that were to come. So interested did they becomein their talk that it was well after midnight when they finally went tobed.
They were up bright and early the next morning, however, so eager werethey to learn the result of Lord Hastings' mission, and were alreadythere when that gentleman entered the breakfast room with a smile on hisface.
"Well," demanded Frank, so anxious that he was unable to wait for LordHastings to speak, "is it all right?"
"Did you fix it?" asked Jack.
Lord Hastings nodded.
"Yes; it's all right," he replied. He drew from his pocket two officialand important looking papers. "Here are your appointments as midshipmenin his majesty's navy. You have been assigned to the _Sylph_, under mycommand."
"Hurrah!" cried Frank.
"Hurrah!" shouted Jack.
Lord Hastings smiled quietly at their enthusiasm.
"I am glad you are pleased," he said.
"You bet we are pleased," said Jack. "We can never thank you enough."
"We certainly can't," declared Frank. "But when do we go?"
"Now, don't get excited," laughed Lord Hastings. "There is plenty oftime. We shall go on board the _Sylph_ to-night and sail about midnight.Now come with me, and we'll see about getting your uniforms."
Their uniforms obtained and their other needs having been supplied, theboys spent the rest of the day strolling about the city. So great wastheir impatience to be off that the hours dragged by slowly and timehung heavily on their hands as they wandered about, waiting for sixo'clock, when they were to meet Lord Hastings at his home.
As with everything, however, the time came and passed, and Frank andJack at last stood again upon the deck of the _Sylph_. It was almostmidnight when the little scout cruiser finally slipped her cable andsteamed proudly down the Thames.
"Well," said Jack, "we are off at last. I wonder where we shall be nextmonth at this time?"
Frank shrugged his shoulders.
"Who knows?" he replied.
For several hours the two lads stood upon the deck, gazing over the railinto the dark waters of the river; but at length they turned in.
The _Sylph_ was manned with a crew of 100 men, besides her officers. Asmall cruiser, she nevertheless had been an extremely large-sized yacht.All told she mounted ten eight-inch guns and several smaller pieces.
Used frequently as she had been by Lord Hastings on diplomatic andpolitical missions, the _Sylph_ had always been prepared to resist anattack, so that her present armament was only twice what it had been.
While the _Sylph_ would stand little chance against one of the greatGerman dreadnoughts or battle cruisers, Lord Hastings had little doubtthat she could give a good account of herself in an encounter with someof the enemy's smaller vessels. If he encountered one of the enemy'sbigger vessels, it was Lord Hastings' plan to run, and he was positivethat he could not be overhauled; for the _Sylph_ had the heels ofpractically anything afloat.
Officers and crew were trained to the minute. Picked from among theflower of Britain's sailors, drilled so that they went about their worklike well-oiled cogs in a great machine, they were all eager to get intoaction.
Although rated as midshipmen, Frank and Jack were not assigned to fixedstations. They had been given a cabin just off the one occupied by LordHastings. The _Sylph_, ostensibly a pleasure yacht, had been fitted upwith roomy and beautiful cabins, and this space, although the yacht nowwas a war cruiser, necessarily had to be utilized.
Under Lord Hastings, Lieutenant Edwards was the second in command. Thenext two ranking officers were Second Lieutenant Taylor and ThirdLieutenant Harvey.
Bright sunlight streamed into the cabin occupied by the two boys whenthey awoke the morning following their departure from London. Theyjumped up, dressed hurriedly, and went on deck. There was no land insight, nor was there even a sail in the distance; nothing but water asfar as the eye could see.
The little cruiser steamed swiftly along, rising and falling gently withthe swell of the sea. For a long time the boys stood gazing out over thewater, and they were still there when Lord Hastings approached.
"Good morning," he greeted them. "How do you think you will like life onthe ocean wave?"
"It's glorious," replied both lads in a single voice. "Where are we?"
"We are headed straight for the North Sea," was the reply.
"Is there any danger of our meeting a German warship?"
"Very little. Of course, there may be a cruiser prowling about, but Idoubt it. I did hear, however, that there was a German cruiser in thesewaters several days ago. Nothing has been heard of her since, in spiteof a keen search. She has probably put into some neutral port. In thatevent she must either leave in twenty-four hours or disarm until the endof the war."
"Are we to join the fleet immediately?"
"No, not immediately. We shall do some scouting for several days off theScandinavian coast, trying to pick up some of the Germans who, underneutral colors, have been laying mines in the North Sea."
"But isn't there some danger of our striking a mine?"
"Not around here. Farther along, of course, we shall have to beextremely careful."
For two days the _Sylph_ continued on her way without incident.
Frank and Jack quickly fell into the routine life aboard the cruiser,and performed such duties as were from time to time assigned to them insuch manner as to draw forth the praise of Lord Hastings and hisofficers.
It was on the third evening after leaving London that Frank and Jack,who were standing on deck, were s
tartled by a cry from the lookout:
"Cruiser off the port bow, sir!"
The word was passed and Lord Hastings quickly appeared on deck.
"A German, as sure as I am a foot high!" he declared, after a long andcareful scrutiny through his glass.
"She's a German, sir," agreed Lieutenant Edwards, "and she is headeddirectly for us."
"We'll go a little closer, and try to make out her identity," was LordHastings' order. "Slow down to fifteen knots!"
Soon the ship, at first but a speck in the distance, was close enoughfor Lord Hastings to make out her colors.
"American!" he said; then turning to Lieutenant Edwards, added:
"Try her on the wireless!"
"No reply," came the answer from the wireless room a few moments later.
Still the ships continued to draw nearer to each other.
Suddenly the American flag at the masthead of the stranger fluttereddown, and a moment later the German colors were run up in its stead.
At the same moment a loud boom sounded from across the water, and therewas a great splash in the water behind the _Sylph_.
The wireless operator approached Lord Hastings:
"A message from the German, sir!" he said.
Lord Hastings took the slip of paper extended to him, and read aloud:
"Surrender, or we shall blow you out of the water!"
The Boy Allies on the North Sea Patrol Page 11