CHAPTER VIII
A RESCUE
"If one of them pill boxes bumps us on the water line it's all day withyour Uncle Sam's U-boat _Dewey_," vouchsafed Bill Witt as he stoodsurveying the mine field into which they had stumbled.
In response to the warning from the lookout forward, LieutenantMcClure had stopped the submarine and was taking account of thedangers that beset his ship. The sea was running high and it washard to discern the mines except when they were carried up on theswell of the waves.
Swept along thus with the rise and fall of water, one of the floatingmissiles seemed now bearing down upon the _Dewey's_ port bow. LieutenantMcClure saw it just as a huge wave picked up the whirling bomb andcarried it closer up toward the submarine.
"All hands below; ready to submerge!" he called out sharply, at the sametime directing Executive Officer Cleary to get the _Dewey_ under way.
"Stay here with me a moment," continued McClure, addressing Jack. Theywere standing alone on the forward deck.
Another wave brought the mine dangerously close.
"You armed?" called out Lieutenant McClure.
"Yes, sir," replied Jack, as he drew his heavy navy automatic.
"Shoot at that mine, boy," commanded the officer. At the same timethe young lieutenant drew his own weapon and began blazing away. Hehoped thus to explode the deadly thing before it was hurled againstthe _Dewey_.
Jack followed suit. The target, however, was so buffeted about by thewaves that it was next to impossible to sight on it. The only thingto do was to fire at random, hoping against hope that a lucky shotwould result in the detonation of the mine.
"It's no use," shouted McClure above the crack of the firearms and theroar of the sea.
Their shots were rattling harmlessly off the metallic sides of themine.
By now Cleary had swung the _Dewey_ around until she was pointed almostdirectly at the nearest mine, it being slightly off the port quarter.The engines had been reversed and started, and the submarine wasdrawing away.
"We ought to clear this one and then be able to dive and get out ofhere," said McClure.
But as he spoke a huge wave lifted the mine again and flung it full inthe path of the submarine. As though drawn by some mysterious magnetthe floating explosive seemed following the _Dewey_ at everyturn---an unrelenting nemesis bent on the destruction of the Americanvessel.
"Quick, Jack; grab that wireless upright forward!" commanded the younglieutenant.
With alacrity Jack flung himself upon the steel aerial and wrenchedit loose. It was a long tubing very much like an ordinary length ofgas pipe set up usually forward as one of the wireless supports, andfolding down into the deck plates when the _Dewey_ was stripped forundersea navigation.
"I am going to take a chance on exploding that one mine that seems tobe our hoodoo," shouted Lieutenant McClure.
Jack waited anxiously to see just what his lieutenant was doing. Takingthe wireless upright in hand after the manner of a track athletethrowing the javelin, the young commander drew it well back and thenlaunched it full upon the mine floating not more than fifteen ortwenty feet from the _Dewey_.
"Hit it!" exclaimed McClure as the improvised battering ram left hisstrong right arm.
It did, and with the desired result. The impact of the long steeltubing directly upon the shell of the mine was sufficient to explodethe deadly thing. A terrific detonation rent the air and immediatelya column of water was hurled high, towering over the _Dewey_ like ageyser, and then engulfing the little submarine. Jack and hiscommander were swept off their feet in the deluge. As though someunseen hand had suddenly clutched them with a grip of steel the pairwere flung from the deck of their craft into the seething foam.
It seemed an endless eternity to Jack as he was carried down into thedepths. The roar of a million cataracts throbbed in his brain andbefore his mind flashed the panorama of his life.Home---Winchester---Brighton---all the old chums and the "profs!"
Death seemed so near to the youth as ho felt his strength givingway. His senses reeled. In his ears pealed the medley of a thousandbells. In this horrible abyss he knew he could not long survive.
Then, just when it seemed life was gone, his head shot up out of thewater and he found himself swimming free and breathing normally again.Above, the same old blue sky. Turning over on his back and paddlingthus until he floated, the boy remembered gain the submersible andthe fearful mine explosion that had cast him into the sea.
He looked for the _Dewey_ and in a moment beheld it still riding thewaves. Yes, the old sub had survived the mine explosion, or at least,was still afloat, if damaged.
But what about Lieutenant McClure? Now Jack recalled his gallantcommander and how he, too, had been cast from the deck in the deluge.Was "Little Mack" still alive?
The _Dewey_ was slowly picking her way among the other mines. Jackshouted to her, but getting no response he started to swim withvigorous strokes. He had gone but a few yards when an object appearedon the crest of the water directly in front of him. It took only aglance to convince him that it was the form of Lieutenant McClure.With a supreme effort Jack drove himself forward with mighty strokestoward the inert form of his commander.
Glancing up for a moment, what was the delight of the youth battlingwith death to see the _Dewey_ bearing down upon him!
Some one had seen him and they were coming to his rescue.
The sight renewed his strength. After what seemed a long while Jackwas able to clutch the collar of his chief officer. "Little Mack"was unconscious.
By degrees Jack succeeded in turning over the limp form until itfloated face upward. Locking his left arm securely around the neckof the apparently lifeless officer so that the face was held above thesurface of the water, and using his strong right arm and legs, Jackbegan swimming as best he could in the general direction of thesubmarine that he knew to be not far away.
The weight of the lieutenant's body dragged heavily upon his left arm.His strength was ebbing away fast. His arm became numb and his senseschaotic.
Instinctively the lad closed his eyes. It seemed he must let loosethe burden tugging in his arms and himself slip away into the depthsand into that long sweet sleep that seemed just now so alluring, socompelling.
"Catch the rope when I fling it"---the words were borne into hisstifled senses. It sounded like the voice of his good chum.
Was it Ted? Again came the call, seemingly closer at hand. It wasTed, now faintly, now more clearly. The sound of that voicegalvanized the youth in the water.
Jack flung out his free limbs in a frenzy of muscular energy. Somethingloomed up in the blue of the sky near him and he beheld for one instantthe periscopes of the _Dewey_.
She was drawing closer to the pair in the water!
On the deck stood a number of the crew disregarding the floating minesthat had been engaging their attention. Someone was whirling a rope,aiming to throw it to the pair in the water. Every one seemed to beyelling at the same time.
"Hold on---we are coming---don't let go---catch the rope!" Jack heardthe calls from his shipmates.
Out over the water spun a coil of rope---only to fall short of thedesired mark and trail off into the sea many yards from the floatingpair. Yes, it was Ted, winding frantically again, and yellingencouragement to his chum.
"Hold 'em!" Ted shouted over and over again, just as the Brighton ladshad been wont to yell in unison at their football games when theopposing eleven was smashing its way toward Brighton's goal. Onceagain the coil was ready; once again it was flung outward from thedeck of the _Dewey_. This time it fairly lashed Jack's face. Thesting of the hemp seethed to whip new courage into him. Making onelast frantic effort he clutched and held the precious rope, just asTed sprang from the submarine and dived to the rescue.
Jack remembered no more. When he came to he was stretched in his bunkin the hold of the _Dewey_. Ted was bending over him.
"Thank God you are alive, Jack, old chum!" Ted was murmu
ring, withglad tears brimming from his eyes.
Jack strove to raise himself on one elbow but fell back limply, weakfrom the terrible struggle through which he had passed.
"How about 'Little Mack'?" he managed finally to ask faintly.
"Alive but yet unconscious," replied Ted, "They have gotten most ofthe water out of his lungs and are using the pulmotor."
Jack closed his eyes again and murmured a prayer of thanks for hissafe deliverance and for the life of his lieutenant.
"Was the _Dewey_ damaged by the mine explosion?" he asked.
Ted replied that so far as could be determined no serious damage hadbeen inflicted, although Officer Cleary had expressed some apprehensionas to the condition of the port seams forward on the under side of thehull. The examination was still in progress.
For an hour Jack rested quietly in his bunk. The _Dewey_ had submergedafter taking aboard the half-drowned commander and his rescuer, andat a safe depth gotten safely out of the zone of danger. Now she hadcome to the surface again for further examination of her hull.
Jack and Ted were conversing in low tones, when Bill Witt stumbledalong the passageway leading into the men's quarters and stopped besideJack. His face was stern.
"What's the matter, Bill---you seasick?" queried Ted.
"Wish that's all it was," muttered Bill.
"Tell us, what's up?" pressed Ted.
"Isn't very cheery news for a fellow knocked out like Jack after makingsuch a plucky fight for his life and saving his lieutenant," answeredBill with a shrug of his broad shoulders.
Jack smiled.
"If I survived that, I guess I can hear what's troubling you," was hisreply.
"Well, it's bad news, boys---mighty bad," went on Bill. "ChiefEngineer Blaine reports a leak in the main oil reservoir to starboard.That mine explosion loosened up the seams and the fuel stuff is slowlybut steadily streaming into the deep blue sea!"
Brighton Boys with the Submarine Fleet Page 8