by Roy J. Snell
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE CAPTAIN'S DINNER
That evening at the hour when Silent Storm had promised to be waiting athis Florida airport to receive any urgent message Sally might send,Sally sat alone in her cabin. Her fingers were on the dial, headphonesover her ears, speaker under her chin.
"I will," she whispered. "I must. It's for the best pal I ever had, forDanny."
And yet, she hesitated. It was very still in the cabin. There was onlythe faint sound of water rushing along the ship's side. The thin fogcontinued. The convoy moved majestically on. Everyone said they had wona marvelous victory. Five, perhaps six submarines had been destroyed. Noone could tell for sure about the other two. That her secret radio hadplayed a major role in this victory she knew quite well. With her help,this radio with its gleaming red eyes had put out long fingers andtouched the subs here, there, and everywhere. Then those brave boys intheir planes had gone out and destroyed them.
"Danny got one. And then--" She did not finish.
She could not.
She started as there came a knock at her door. After hastily throwing ablanket over the radio, she said:
"Come in."
The door opened. "Oh! Mrs. Duke!" she exclaimed. "I'm glad you came."
"I thought you might need me," The words were spoken in a surprisinglycalm voice.
"Yes, I-"
Sally lifted the blanket from the radio.
"That's good! It's a fine and noble gesture." Danny's mother took achair.
"It--it's not just a gesture!" the girl exclaimed. "It's the realestthing I ever thought of doing in all my life!"
"Yes, but you must not do it. You must not send the message."
"It's for Danny, your son, my friend and pal!"
"Yes, Danny is my son." The gray-haired woman spoke slowly. "My onlyson--he--he's been my life. But you must not send that message. It wouldalmost surely mean court-martial for yourself."
"Yes--I know. I don't care." Sally's hand was on the dial.
"Thought You Might Need Me," She Said]
"Yes, I know. You would sacrifice your freedom and your honor for Danny.That is noble. I would do the same and much more.
"But there are others to consider." The woman's voice sounded tired. "Somany others! There are more soldiers in this convoy than we know about,thousands of them! They too are fine young men, just as fine as ourDanny. They too are prepared to sacrifice their lives for their country.It would be tragic if their lives were wasted."
"But our boys destroyed those submarines!"
"Not all of them, not for sure, and there are other enemy wolf-packs.There were never as many as now. We know that they use the samewave-length as your radio does. They will hear your message and willhunt us down."
"We will be listening, Nancy and I, night and day. Let them come! Ourairplanes will destroy them!"
"Perhaps, perhaps not. The weather may not be right for flying. Andthen, try to think what it might be like."
"But Danny?" The words came in a whisper that was like a prayer.
"Danny is alive. I feel sure of that. He's on his rubber raft. The seais calm."
"But it may storm."
"God will look after Danny. You believe in God's care for his children,don't you?"
"I--I don't know. I've never been able to think that through."
"Then you'll have to trust Danny's mother." Mrs. Duke smiled a raresmile. "The time may come when Danny will mean more to you than he doesto me. When that time comes, I shan't mind. You are a splendid younglady. But until that time I shall have the right to say: 'Sally, don'tsend that message.'"
"All right." Sally went limp all over. "You win."
A moment later, after giving herself a shake, she stood up. "I'll putthe radio away. There'll be no more subs for a time. Nancy and I havebeen invited by the Captain to have our evening meal with him at theofficers' table."
"That's splendid!" Mrs. Duke stood up. "You'll enjoy it. You're a realhero."
"Will I? Am I?" Sally asked these questions of herself after Danny'smother had gone. She did not know the answers.
* * * * *
Danny's mother was right. For the moment at least, Danny was safe andquite comfortable. After battling his half-wrecked plane to a pointwhere further struggle and loss of altitude might prove fatal, he gaveup the fight and, circling down, went in for a crash landing.
His was as successful as any crash landing can be. Between the time hehit the water and his plane sank he was able to inflate his rubber raft,look into its equipment, and even salvage a heavy leather coat hecarried for an emergency.
Scarcely had he accomplished this and paddled a short distance, when theplane put its nose into the water, stood there quivering, thendisappeared from sight.
"Good old plane," he murmured, as a strange feeling of loneliness sweptover him. "You did your full duty. You sank a sub and probably saved aship. Now, in Davy Jones's Locker, you can rest in peace.
"Looks as if I'd get some rest, too," he thought as, a short time later,he settled back against the soft, rounded side of his raft.
"A good, long rest," he added as a cool damp mist, touched his cheek andthe chill, gray fog came drifting in.
When he first hit the water the boom, bang and rat-tat-tat of battlewere still in the air. After that had come comparative silence,disturbed only by the low roar of planes returning to their ship.
"A fine bunch of fellows," he thought, as a lump rose in his throat."Finest ever. Here's hoping they all land safely."
A faint hope remained that one of those planes would get away to searchfor him. When the fog came in he knew that hope was at an end.
He found the silence, broken only by the lap-lap of little waves,oppressive.
"Going to be lonesome," he thought as he started to examine the gadgetsthat came with the rubber raft. There was a fish line and someartificial bait.
"I'll try them all out," he chuckled. "If I catch a whopper with one ofthe lures, I'll send the manufacturer a picture of it with a story.He'll like it for his catalogue.
"Only I won't," he murmured a moment later. "They forgot to pack acandid camera."
Instead of a camera he found a device for distilling fresh water fromsalt, some iron rations, and a small bottle of vitamin B1.
"What? No vitamin D?" he roared. "But then, I've heard that there's lotsof the sunshine vitamin in the ocean air."
At that he settled back for a rest. Even if worse came to worst he wasbetter off than those wolf-pack pirates who had come after them.
* * * * *
It was with a feeling of misgiving that Sally allowed herself, alongwith Nancy, to be led to the door of the officers' mess hall thatevening. But when the Captain met them at the door with a bow and asmile instead of a stiff salute, things began looking better.
As they entered the mess hall they found all of the officers standing intheir places. When the Captain had escorted them to their places at thehead of his table he stood smartly erect, every inch a commander, as hesaid:
"Gentlemen, I propose a salute to the ladies of the day, Sally Scott andNancy McBride of the WAVES."
Instantly every man stood erect and snapped to a salute. It was a simpleand impressive ceremony, one long to be remembered, but to Sally's utterconfusion, she almost forgot to return the salute.
It was all over in twenty seconds of time. Then they were all seated intheir places ready for the meal that was to be quite a feast, incelebration of a real victory.
There was fried chicken with cranberry sauce, and sweet potatoes, fresh,crisp celery, and baked squash. All this was topped with ice cream andvery fine coffee.
Was Sally conscious of all this wealth of good things? Well, hardly. Shewas, first of all, tremendously interested in Captain Donald MacQueenwho sat at her side. All her life she had dreamed of really knowinggreat and important people. Not t
hat she wished to brag about it, farfrom that. She did long for an opportunity to study them, to feel theirgreatness, to try to absorb some of the qualities that had made themgreat. Now just such a man was giving the major portion of his time toher for one blissful half hour. A young lieutenant had taken over thetask of entertaining Nancy, and he did not seem at all unhappy about iteither.
Important to Sally also were the things Captain MacQueen was saying toher.
"This old friend of yours--his name is Kennedy, I believe--must be agreat genius," he suggested.
"Oh, he is!" she beamed.
"But it does seem strange that he should have entrusted such a pricelessdevice to a, well, to any young person."
"Perhaps it may seem that way to you," was her slow reply, "but, CaptainMacQueen, I think that too often those who boast of gray hairsunderestimate the dependability, the devotion, yes, and the wisdom ofthe young people of today--and--and," she checked herself, "I haveworked with him for six years."
"Everything you say is true." His dark eyes twinkled. "But such apriceless invention! Look what it has accomplished today--given us aclean-cut victory, perhaps saved hundreds of lives and very preciouscargo.
"Miss Scott," he leaned close, speaking low, "this is one of the mostimportant convoys ever to cross the Atlantic. Our enemy is not through.He will attack again and yet again, perhaps. But if we can always know,as we did today, the hour, the very moment of his attack--what a boon!"
"C. K. Kennedy is a very old man." She was speaking slowly again, "He isan extremely modest man. In the case of another important invention hemet with disappointment. I am sure he did not realize the real value ofthis secret radio."
"But now he shall know. He shall be richly rewarded. Of course thegovernment will want to take over his invention, but even so--"
"He does not ask for reward, only recognition."
"He shall have both, and in good measure," the Captain declared. "Andnow, let's talk for a little while about the radio that is in yourstateroom right now."
"Ah," Sally thought, with a sharp intake of breath, "now it is coming!"
"Of course, you realize, Miss Scott," he said, speaking low butdistinctly, "that for the present and probably for a long time to come,your radio has value to the Navy only as a listening ear."
"No," she replied quite frankly. "I'm not sure of that. It works quitewell as a sending set."
"In bringing such a radio on board you must have realized that you werelaying yourself open to serious charges."
"Yes, of course."
"Then, why did you do it?" His words were spoken in a tone that betrayedonly a kindly interest.
"Because I believed the radio to be a great invention, one that could bemade to serve my country, and because I wanted to bring honor to a realfriend."
"You did not really mean to try communicating with anyone on land?" heasked in a quiet tone.
"Only in case of a great emergency, and then only with an officer." Hervoice was low.
"I can think of no emergency that would warrant the sending of such amessage. The truth is that such a message would be almost certain tobring in one more sub wolf-pack to hunt us down.
"That is not all." He was still speaking in a low, friendly voice. "Themoment our enemy realizes that we are able to listen in on his talk fromsub to sub, that moment your radio loses its value. Think what it willmean if the escorting vessel in every convoy should be able in thefuture to listen as we did today while the wolf-pack moves in!"
"I-I have thought." Sally wet her dry lips. "I shall not attempt tocontact anyone with my radio, unless you sanction it--not--" sheswallowed hard, "not for anything."
"That is being a good sailor." Putting out a hand he said: "It will be apleasure to shake the hand of a lady who does honor to the Navy." Theyshook hands solemnly.
When at last Sally and Nancy found themselves on the open deck oncemore, they were in prime condition for a long promenade.
"My head is in a whirl!" Nancy exclaimed. "How could all this happen tous?"
"We're just what Danny would call fools for kick," was Sally's reply.
And then, at the very mention of Danny, she felt an all butirrepressible desire to sink down on the deck. Danny too should have hada part in all this. And where was he now?
"The Captain was wonderful," she said to Nancy. "He must know how wefeel about Danny."
"Of course he does. He knows we all worked together on the radio."
"And yet he never once mentioned Danny."
"Didn't he?"
"No, and I think that is about the most wonderful of all."
For a time after that they marched on in silence. In a shadowy cornerthey passed two other WAVES seated on a pile of canvas. It was too darkto distinguish their faces.
After passing beyond a ladder, they paused to watch the moon, a faintyellow ball, rolling through the fog that was thinning and blowing away.
Then they heard one of the other WAVES talking. "Know who those girlsare?" she was saying. "They are the ladies of the day. Imagine!" Herlaugh was not good to hear. "One of them worked in a radio shop. Theother was a radio ham. Now they're the ladies of the day. And I gave upa five-thousand-a-year secretarial job to act as yeoman to Captain MacQueen. Isn't war just wonderful?"
"Who is that girl?" Sally whispered, as she and Nancy hurried on.
"She's the Old Man's yeoman all right (secretary to you)," Nancyreplied. "I recognized her voice."
"What's she got against us?" Sally asked in a puzzled voice.
"That's for her to know and for us to find out," said Nancy. "But she'llbear watching!"