CHAPTER X
VICTORY
"Never mind that gun, Frank!" shouted Jack. "Take the wheel!"
Frank obeyed without hesitation. He knew that one machine there wouldbe as good as a dozen, and he realized that to keep the big ship on aneven keel would be of great assistance.
Again Jack raised his voice. "Lord Hastings!"
His hard pressed commander caught the sound of the lad's voice. Heglanced about.
"To the bridge!" cried Jack. "Get out of the line of fire, sir."
Lord Hastings gave a sharp order to his men. Immediately they jumpedback, and at a second command, dashed toward the bridge, fully twohundred of them. The others lay about the deck in scattered heaps.
Realizing the import of this ruse, the Germans ran swiftly after themthat they too might be out of the line of fire from the machine guns onthe bridge.
But the men under Lord Hastings had acted too promptly for theGermans. With the British and Americans out of harm's way, Jack turnedthe machine gun loose on the deck.
Shrieks and cries arose. Jack stopped his fire.
That single machine gun had done more execution in one single instantthan the attacking party had done in the rest of the battle.
"Throw down your arms!" Jack commanded.
The Germans obeyed.
"Jack," said Lord Hastings, "take twenty men and search the shipbelow. Shoot any man who offers resistance. Tom, take the wheel.Frank, take twenty men and go to the engine room and make prisoners ofthe stokers."
The two lads hurried away on their several errands.
Frank found the men in the engine room working as though nothing hadhappened. In some unaccountable manner they had not heard of thefighting above. Frank's men covered them. There was no resistance.
Jack, descending the hatch with his men, encountered opposition in thecaptain's cabin. Half a dozen men had taken refuge there and refusedto emerge.
"Come out or we shall fire through the door!" Jack shouted.
Revolvers spoke from the inside and bullets crashed through the door.This was the German reply.
"Break down the door, men," said Jack quietly.
This was the work of an instant, although one man dropped while it wasbeing done. The door flew inward.
A single volley greeted Jack and his men as they appeared in thedoorway but the men had stooped low and none was hit.
Before the Germans could fire again, Jack and his men dashed forward.The Germans were soon overpowered. Jack marched them back on deck.
There Lord Hastings had just accepted the surrender of the vessel froma young ordnance officer, the sole German officer left alive with theexception of Captain Koenig, who was still unconscious in his cabin.
"Jack!" instructed Lord Hastings, "take fifty men and march theprisoners below and lock them up."
Jack touched his cap. "Very good, sir."
He selected his men, surrounded the prisoners and marched them below.
Frank appeared a few moments later with the crew of the engine room.These, too, were locked up, Lord Hastings detailed some of thevictorious seamen for engine room duty, ordered the decks cleared ofthe dead and injured, and motioned Frank to follow him.
"Mr. Chadwick," he said, "you are my second officer. You will hold thebridge until Mr. Templeton, the first officer, relieves you."
Frank touched his cap and Lord Hastings descended below.
Half an hour later the captured raider got under way. Jack and LordHastings were also on the bridge now.
"Shape your course north, sir," said Lord Hastings to Jack.
"North she is, sir," said Jack, passing the word along.
"I suppose you will be interested to know where we are bound?" askedLord Hastings a few moments later.
"Yes, sir," said Frank and Jack in a single voice.
"New York," said Lord Hastings.
"New York!" echoed Jack. "I supposed of course we were bound forLiverpool or Glasgow."
Lord Hastings smiled.
"No," he said. "I had offered, if successful in this venture, to turnthe Vaterland over to the American government. It will be used totransport troops to Europe."
"I see, sir," said Frank. "And when shall we return to England, sir?"
"Not immediately, I believe. We shall probably remain in New Yorkuntil the first United States expeditionary force sets forth. We shallprobably go aboard one of the convoys."
"That suits me, sir," said Jack. "Does it you, Frank?"
"Down to the ground," was Frank's reply.
"Very well," said Lord Hastings. "Mr. Templeton, you will take thebridge. I'll announce the watches later. In the meantime I'll go downand have a talk with my friend, Captain Koenig. Come along, Frank."
Under administering hands Captain Koenig had returned toconsciousness. He was in no amiable mood.
"How are you, Captain?" said Lord Hastings cheerfully, as he enteredthe cabin.
Captain Koenig looked at him with a savage scowl.
"I trust you are feeling better, sir," said Lord Hastings.
"No, I'm not, you blasted Britisher!" said Captain Koenig in very goodEnglish.
"I'm sorry, Captain. Is there anything I can do for you until I turnyou over to the United States military authorities as a prisoner ofwar?"
"Not a thing," declared Captain Koenig.
"Too bad," commented Lord Hastings. "What do you say to concludingthat game of chess?"
Captain Koenig's reply was a fierce German imprecation.
"Come, Captain," said Lord Hastings, "don't let your temper run awaywith you. It is very foolish. Why, do you not remember how calmly Itook my captivity?"
"You had something up your sleeve," growled Captain Koenig.
"Well, that's true," returned Lord Hastings, "and I'm glad that youhaven't. Until we reach New York, Captain, you shall be kept underclose guard here. If there is anything you want, please let me know."
Lord Hastings bowed and left the German commander to his ownreflections.
Half an hour later, on deck, Frank again encountered ElizabethWheaton.
"It was splendid!" exclaimed the girl. "I am so sorry I doubted you inthe first place."
"I guess it was only natural," said Frank, with a smile. "I guess Iwould have done as you did under the circumstances. How is yourmother?"
"She is as happy as she can be. She says that she knew the Americannavy would look out for us."
"You might tell her," said Frank, with a smile, "that it was theBritish navy that pulled off this job, although I am an American. LordHastings and Mr. Templeton are British."
"I guess I won't tell her," laughed the girl. "It would spoil it forher. She thinks there is nothing like the American navy. But what areyour duties now?"
"Well," said Frank, "I am the second officer of this ship, rank oflieutenant. Mr. Templeton is the first officer."
"Is that so?" asked the girl in some surprise. "You are so young forsuch an important position."
Frank turned red.
"I--I--I'm not so awfully young," he stammered.
"May be not," admitted Miss Wheaton, with a smile, "but I'll wager youare not over twenty."
"I'm nineteen," said Frank.
"Just a year older than I am," mused the girl, "and still, think ofwhat a lot of excitement you have been through."
"Were you frightened during the fight?" asked Frank, changing thesubject.
"Not a bit. I knew you would capture the ship. Mother wasn'tfrightened either, but some of the others were. It must have beenterrible."
"It was," said Frank simply.
Frank took the bridge at 6 o'clock and Jack turned in. And, as the bigship sailed smoothly along during the long hours of the night, Frankgazed out over the deep with a strange sensation in his breast.
He was going back to his own country for the first time in more thanthree years. He had at this moment one thought in his mind.
"Maybe," he told himself over
and over through the night, "maybe Ishall have time to go home and see father!"
Boy Allies with Uncle Sam's Cruisers Page 10