DOWN THE AMMUNITION HOIST
The searchlights flashed out over the troubled sea. Nothing but
water--angry, foaming water--could be seen. Not a sign that looked as if
it might be a man were they able to pick up.
"They're trying to find us. They think we have gone overboard," muttered
Dan Davis. He uttered a loud shout.
At that instant there sounded another shout close by him. At first he
thought it was the echo of his own voice. All at once he made the
discovery that some one else was near.
"Hello!" shouted Dan.
"Hello yourself!"
"Is that you, Sam?"
"No, it's only part of me. Most of me has been blown overboard. That
you, Dan?"
"Ye-e-e-s," answered Davis in a choking voice. "Yell, Sam, if you've got
any voice left. Yell for your life. They don't see us."
Hickey uttered a lusty howl. Dan saw at once that the men in the tops
were unable to depress the searchlights enough to sweep the quarter-deck
with the light rays.
"They don't see us, Sam. Yell louder."
"I'll have to borrow a stomach pump to jerk the salt water out of me,
before I can yell any more at all. I'm afloat, inside and out, and not a
compass to guide me. Where are we?"
Dan felt about him cautiously.
"I think we are astern somewhere. Judging from the position of the
searchlights, I think we must be somewhere on the quarter-deck."
"How'd we get here?"
Another wave made it impossible for Davis to answer for a minute or so.
When finally he had gotten his breath he said:
"I think we must have been washed here. But----"
"Say, let's get out of here, Dan."
"But how we ever dropped from the topside to the quarter-deck without
being killed is more than I can figure out."
"I'm going to try to cross the deck."
"Don't do it, Sam. You will be swept into the sea instantly. Wait! I
have a plan."
"What is it?"
"Can you work your way along the rope railing to where I am?"
"I can swim over to you."
"Come on, then, but keep tight hold of the rail."
"Here's the flagstaff," shouted Sam. "I've got my bearings now."
"You will need something more than that to get you out of this scrape.
Come up close to me and I'll tell you what to do."
"Here I am. Where are you?"
Dan reached out a hand, grasping the arm of his companion.
"There ought to be a rope right at the foot of the staff, here. Yes,
here it is. Hold fast to me, so I don't go overboard, while I untie the
knot."
"What are you going to do?"
"I'll show you in a minute."
Dan made the rope fast to a cleat on the after stanchion, then took a
twist about his own arm with the free end.
"Now, I want you to stand right here until I give three tugs on the
rope."
"What are you going to do?"
"I don't know what I am going to do, but I'm going to try to get to the
twelve-inch turret with this rope."
"You'll have to swim for it, then."
"I expect to have to swim part of the way, but leave that to me. When I
give three long tugs on the rope you start working along it."
"But where will we go? The water-tight doors are fastened on the inside;
we can't get in. We shall be swept from the deck. I guess I'll stay
where I am, and hang on until morning."
"No; you can't do it. You will be washed overboard. Watch the rope. I
may go over, too, but you can tell by the feel of the rope, and if you
think I'm going over, haul in. I'll yell, too. The wind is this way and
you can hear me. Now, don't bother me. I'm going in a minute."
Dan hung to the rail, rope in hand, watching the roll of the ship, which
he was obliged to observe not by sight, but by the sense of feeling.
All at once, as the stern rose into the air, he darted forward. He was
in water nearly up to his waist, but as the quarter-deck rose the water
rushed to the sides of the ship in a raging flood.
Suddenly Dan felt himself being drawn backward. At first he could not
understand the meaning of it. Then he realized. Sam was hauling him in.
"Stop it! Stop it!" yelled Davis.
Sam kept on hauling. Losing his foothold on the slippery deck, Dan went
down. At the same time the quarter-deck shipped a big wave and Dan was
swimming blindly. Through it all he managed to keep hold of the rope
with one hand. He was being dragged along the deck so fast that he
could not get to his feet, even after the water had receded a little.
Finally, yelling at the top of his voice, Hickey finished his work,
grabbed Dan from the deck and slammed him against the rail.
"I got you! I got you! I saved your life, didn't I?"
"Sam--Sam Hickey, you're the biggest fool I ever bumped into in all my
life!"
"A fool--a--see here, is that all I get for saving you----"
"What did you haul me back for?"
"Because you yanked on the rope."
"I did nothing of the sort."
"You did."
"I didn't."
"We--we won't argue the question. I--I haven't enough breath left in me
to argue. Now, next time, don't you pull on the rope until you hear me
yell, or until the rope swings way over to port. I am going to run
quartering so that if I get caught by another wave I will be washed
toward the twelve-inch turret. Understand?"
"Sure, I understand."
Waiting until the stern rose again, Dan made another dash. This time he
had, as he had planned to do the other time, reached a spot opposite
the turret before the deck sank under another wave. He was washed right
up against the turret when the wave did come.
The instant the wave left him, he took a turn about a big ring-bolt on
the turret.
"Sam! Sam!"
A faint "hello" was wafted to him on the gale.
"Come on!"
Dan waited and waited, but no Sam came. He began to grow worried.
"Sam!"
"Yeow!"
"Come on. I'm waiting for you."
A strain on the rope told Davis that his companion had started, and a
few minutes later Sam Hickey stood beside him.
"What's the matter, Sam?"
"Nothing, except that I'm wet."
"Why didn't you come when I called you?"
"I was watching the sparks up there on the wireless aerials. Say, it is
just like a lot of lightning bugs. Did you ever watch the sparks at
night?"
"Yes, but not when I was trying to save my life and another's. I don't
believe it was half worth the effort. I am beginning to think that there
doesn't much of anything matter, so far as you are concerned. Let's get
inside now."
"How are you going to do it?"
"We will climb up under the turret, through the manhole."
"I never thought of that."
Dan unfastened the opening on the under side of the turret projection,
and, sending Sam ahead, climbed in after, closing the opening behind
them. It was intensely dark in the turret and the room was so small that
it was with difficulty that the boys could find their way through.
For a minute or so they were engaged in climbing up to get into the
enclosure from where a ladder led down into the lower part of the
turret.
"Now, Sam, be very careful that you don't fall. This is a bad place to
be fooling around in when it is dark. I wish I could turn on the
electric lights here, but I don't know where the button is."
"Shall I light a match?"
"No, sir!"
"Why not?"
"Supposing there should chance to be some powder scattered on the floor,
and----"
"Wow! That would be a nice thing, wouldn't it? There'd be an explosion,
eh?"
"There might be. Better take the chance of bumping our heads----"
"Say, Dan, where are you going?"
"I am going to follow you. Come here. Give me your hand."
"What for?"
"Get in here. Make yourself as small as possible."
Hickey crawled into the small opening, though he did not know where he
was.
"What is this place you're stowing me in?" he demanded.
"It's the ammunition hoist," answered Dan, as he began to pull down on a
rope.
The ammunition hoist for the twelve-inch guns is a sort of dumb waiter
that is raised and lowered by pulling on a rope attached to its top and
bottom.
A few minutes later the guard on duty in the magazine corridor was
startled by a creaking and groaning sound. After listening a moment, he
traced the sound to the ammunition hoist.
All at once the hoist came down with a bang, spilling Hickey full length
on the floor of the corridor. The guard made a grab for the newcomer,
and, at the same instant, Sam Hickey wrapped both arms about the legs of
the marine who was on guard duty.
That worthy went down on top of Sam. For a minute there was a lively
tussle, but ere it had come to an end, the ammunition hoist shot down
again and Dan Davis leaped out into the passageway. He gazed in
astonishment at the two men on the floor.
"Get up, Sam! What in the world are you trying to do?"
Sam threw the guard off.
"This chocolate candy soldier jumped on me when I came down. Let me at
him----"
Davis pulled his companion away.
"You'll have to come with me," announced the guard. "I shall be obliged
to arrest you. Your conduct is suspicious."
"Well, I like that!" grumbled Sam. "First you get tossed overboard and
then you get arrested because you didn't go drown yourself. I won't be
arrested."
"Take us to the master-at-arms; he understands," said Dan.
They were led to the upper deck, where they were suddenly confronted by
Captain Farnham.
"What's this, what's this?" he demanded.
The marine guard explained.
"You may release them, guard. Now, lads, explain how you got into the
ship? I can see from your appearance that you must have had a hard
time."
"We got in through the twelve-inch turret," explained Dan, after having
told the captain of their experiences.
"Most remarkable. I have come to the conclusion that there is no use in
worrying about you boys. It is evident that there is nothing on land or
water that can kill you. But you are shivering, Davis."
"I am a little cold," admitted Dan.
"Go to the chief steward and tell him I order that coffee be made for
you. How about you, Hickey? Are you in a chill also?"
"No, sir; my hair keeps me warm, sir. At least that's what the
boatswain's mate says."
The captain laughed heartily.
"Run along, both of you, and get warmed up. It will soon be time to turn
in. Good night."
"Good night, sir," answered the Battleship Boys, saluting and turning
away.