THE BOY CAPTAIN AND HIS LIEUTENANT
The U.S.S. Plymouth was Jack Templeton's first command. He had been
elevated to the rank of captain only a few weeks before. Naturally he was
not a little proud of his vessel. When Jack was given his ship, it was
only natural, too, that Frank Chadwick, who had been his associate and
chum through all the days of the great war, should become Jack's first
officer.
In spite of the fact that Jack's rating as captain was in the British
navy, he was at this moment in command of an American vessel. This came
about through a queer combination of circumstances.
The American commander of the Plymouth had been taken suddenly ill. At
almost the same time the Plymouth had been ordered to proceed from Dover
to Liverpool to join other American vessels. Almost on the eve of
departure, the first officer also was taken ill. It was to him the command
naturally would have fallen in the captain's absence. The second officer
was on leave of absence. Thus, without a skipper, the Plymouth could not
have sailed.
Jack and Frank had recently returned with a British convoy from America.
They were in Dover at the time. From his sick bed in a hospital, the
captain of the Plymouth had appealed to the British naval authorities. In
spite of the fact that he was in no condition to leave when he received
his orders, he did not wish to deny his crew the privilege of seeing
active service, which the call to Liverpool, he knew, meant.
The captain's appeal had been turned over to Lord Hastings, now connected
prominently with the British admiralty. Lord Hastings, in the early days
of the war, had been the commander under whom Jack and Frank had served.
In fact, the lads were visiting the temporary quarters of Lord Hastings in
Dover when the appeal was received from the commander of the Plymouth.
"How would you like to tackle this job, Jack?" Lord Hastings asked.
"I'd like it," the lad replied, "if you think I can do it, sir."
"Of course you can do it," was Lord Hastings' prompt reply. "I haven't
sailed with you almost four years for nothing."
"You mean, sir," replied Jack with a smile, "that I haven't sailed with
you that long for nothing."
"That's more like it, Jack," put in Frank laughingly. "I've learned a few
things from Lord Hastings myself."
"It is hardly probable," continued Lord Hastings, "that your promotion has
been unearned, Jack. No, I believe you can fill the bill."
"In that case, I shall be glad to take command of the Plymouth
temporarily, sir."
"And how about me?" Frank wanted to know. "Where do I come in, sir?"
"Why," said Lord Hastings, "I have no doubt it can be arranged so you can
go along as first officer. I understand the first officer of the Plymouth
is also under the weather."
"But isn't all this a bit irregular, sir?" Jack asked.
"Very much so," was Lord Hastings' reply. "At the same time, many
precedents are being broken every day, and I can see no reason why two
British officers cannot lend their services to an ally if they are asked
to do so."
"It is a little different with me, sir," said Frank. I'm an American."
"All the same," said Lord Hastings, "you're a British naval officer, no
matter what your nativity."
"That's true, too, sir," Frank agreed. "I haven't thought of it in just
that way."
"Well," said Lord Hastings, "I shall report then that Captain Templeton
and First Lieutenant Chadwick will go aboard the Plymouth this evening."
"Very well, sir," said Jack.
This is the reason then that Jack and Frank found themselves aboard an
American destroyer in the Irish sea.
Frank Chadwick, as we have seen, was an American. He had been in Italy
with his father when the great war began. He had been shanghaied in Naples
soon after Germany's declaration of war on France. When he came to his
senses he found that his captors were a band of mutinous sailors. Aboard
the vessel he found a second prisoner, who turned out to be a member of
the British secret service.
Frank met Jack Templeton, a British youth, aboard the schooner. Jack came
aboard in a peculiar way.
The schooner, in control of the mutineers, had put into a north African
port for provisions. Now it chanced that the store where the mutineers
sought to buy provisions was conducted by Jack. The lad was absent when
the supplies were purchased and returned a few moments later to find that
the mutineers had departed without making payment.
Jack's anger bubbled over. He put off for the schooner in a small boat.
Aboard, the chief of the mutineers refused the demand for payment. A fight
ensued. Jack, facing heavy odds, sought refuge in the hold of the vessel,
where he was made a prisoner.
During the night Jack was able to force his way from the hold into the
cabin where Frank and the British secret service agent were held captives.
He released them, and joining forces, the three were able to overcome the
mutineers and make themselves masters of the ship.
Now Jack Templeton was an experienced seaman and knew more than the
rudiments of navigation. Under his direction the schooner returned to the
little African port that he called home. There the three erstwhile
prisoners left the ship to the mutineers.
Later, through the good offices of the British secret service, Frank and
Jack made the acquaintance of Lord Hastings, also in the diplomatic
service. They were able to render some service to the latter and later
accompanied him to his home in London. There, at their request, Lord
Hastings, who in the meantime had been given command of a ship of war, had
them attached to his ship with the rank of midshipmen.
Both Jack and Frank had risen swiftly in the British service. They had
seen active service in all quarters of the globe and had fought under many
flags.
Under Lord Hastings' command they had been with the British fleet in the
North Sea when it struck the first decisive blow against the Germans just
off Helgoland. Later they were found under the Tricolor of France and with
the Italians in the Adriatic. With the British fleet again when it sallied
forth to clear the seven seas of enemy vessels, they had traversed the
Atlantic, the Pacific and the Indian oceans. It had been their fortune,
too, to see considerable land fighting. They had been with the
Anglo-Japanese forces in the east and had conducted raiding parties in
some of the German colonial possessions.
Several times they had successfully run the blockade in the Kiel canal,
passing through the narrow straits in submarines just out of reach of the
foe. In Russia, they had, early in the war, lent invaluable assistance to
the Czar; and more lately, they had been in the eastern monarchy when Czar
Nicholas had been forced to renounce his throne.
Once since the war began they had been to America. This was shortly after
the United States entered the war. They were ordered to the North Atlantic
in order to help the American authorities snare a German commerce raider
which, in some unaccountable manner, had run the British blockade in the
North sea, and was wreaking havoc with allied shipping. Later they went to
New York, and then returned to Europe with a combined British-American
convoy for the first expeditionary force to cross the seas.
In temperament and disposition Jack and Frank were as unlike as one could
conceive. Jack, big for his age, broad-shouldered and strong, was always
cool and collected. Frank, on the other hand, was of a more fiery nature,
easily angered and often rash and reckless. Jack's steadying influence had
often kept the two out of trouble, or brought them through safely when
they were in difficulties.
Both lads spoke French and German fluently and each had a smattering of
Italian. Also, as the result of several trips to Russia, they had a few
words of the Russian tongue at their command.
In physical strength, Jack excelled Frank by far, although the latter was
by no means a weakling. On the other hand again, Frank was a crack shot
with either rifle or revolver; in fact, he was such an excellent marksman
as to cause his chum no little degree of envy. Then, too, both lads were
proficient in the art of self defense and both had learned to hold their
own with the sword.
Up to the time this story opens the combined allied fleets had succeeded
in keeping the Germans bottled up in the strong fortress of Helgoland.
True, the enemy several times had sallied forth in few numbers, apparently
seeking to run the blockade in an effort to prey upon allied merchant
ships. But every time they had offered battle they had received the worst
of it. They had been staggered with a terrible defeat at Jutland almost a
year before this story opens, and since that time had not ventured forth.
But even now, in the security of their hiding places, the Germans were
meditating a bold stroke. Submarines were being coaled and victualed in
preparation for a dash across the Atlantic. Already, one enemy
submarine--a merchantman--had passed the allied ships blocking the English
channel and had crossed to America and returned. Some months later, a
U-Boat of the war type had followed suit. A cordon of ally ships had been
thrown around American ports to snare this venturesome submarine on its
return, but it had eluded them and returned safely to its home port.
But soon--very soon, indeed--German undersea craft were to strike a more
severe blow at allied shipping, carrying, for the moment, the war in all
its horrors to the very door of America. While the United States was
arming and equipping its millions to send across the sea to destroy the
kaiser and German militarism, these enemy undersea craft were crossing the
Atlantic determined to reap a rich harvest upon American, allied and
neutral shipping off the American coast.
And the blow was to be delivered without warning--almost.
When the U.S.S. Plymouth, under Jack's command, returned to Liverpool, the
captain of the vessel, having somewhat recovered, came aboard and relieved
Jack of command.
"I'm obliged for your services, Captain," he said, "but I'll take charge
of the old scow again myself, with your leave."
Jack and Frank went ashore, where, at their hotel, they received a brief
telegram from Lord Hastings. It read as follows:
"Return to Dover at once. Important."
"Now I wonder what is up," said Frank after reading the message.
"The simplest way to find out," replied Jack, "is to go and see."