JACK'S ADVENTURE
Frank Chadwick jumped from a chair in the front window and ran toward
the door. A form had swung from the sidewalk along the drive that
marked the entrance to Lord Hasting's London home and at sight of it
Frank had uttered an exclamation. Now, as the figure climbed the
steps, Frank flung open the door.
"Jack!" he exclaimed with outstretched hand. "I feared something had
happened, you have been gone so long and we had heard nothing of you."
"I'm perfectly whole," laughed Jack, grasping his friend's hand. "Why,
I've been gone less than two weeks."
"But you expected to be gone only a day or two."
"That's true, but a fellow can't tell what is going to happen, you
know. I wasn't sure I should find you here when I returned, though."
"You probably wouldn't had you come a day later," returned Frank.
"How's that?"
"We sail tomorrow night," said Frank.
"By George! Then I'm back just in time," declared Jack. "Where bound
this time?"
"I don't know exactly, but personally I believe to America."
"Why?"
"The United States, I understand, is about to declare war on Germany. I
have heard it said that immediately thereafter American troops will be
sent to Europe."
"What's that got to do with our voyage?"
"I'm coming to that. There will be need, of convoys for the American
transports. I believe that is the work in which we will be engaged."
"That will be first rate, for a change," said Jack.
"But come," said Frank, leading the way into the house. "Where have
you been? Tell me about yourself."
"Wait, until I get a breath," laughed Jack, making himself comfortable
in a big armchair. "By the way, where is Lord Hastings?"
"He is in conference with the admiralty."
"And Lady Hastings?"
"Shopping, I believe. However, both will be back before long. Now
let's have an account of your adventures."
"Well, they didn't amount to much," said Jack.
"Where've you been?"
"Pretty close to Heligoland."
"What! Again?"
"Exactly. You remember how Lord Hastings came to us one day and said
that the admiralty had need of a single officer at that moment, and
that we both volunteered?"
"I certainly do," declared Frank, "and we drew straws to see which of
us should go. I lost."
"Exactly. Well, when I reached the admiralty I found there a certain
Captain Ames. I made myself known and was straightway informed that I
would do as well as another. Captain Ames was in command of the
British destroyer Falcon. He was bound on active duty at once, and he
took me along as second in command."
"Where was he bound?" demanded Frank. "And what was the nature of the
work?"
"The nature of the work," said Jack, "was to search out German mines
ahead of the battleships, who were to attempt a raid of Heligoland."
"Great Scott!" exclaimed Frank. "I hadn't heard anything about that.
Was the raid a success?"
"It was not," replied Jack briefly.
"Explain," said Frank.
"I'm trying to," smiled Jack. "Give me a chance, will you?"
He became silent and mused for a few moments. Then he said
meditatively:
"The destroyer service might well be called the cavalry of the sea. It
calls for dashing initiative, aggressiveness and courage and daring to
the point of rashness. Where an officer would be justified--even duty
bound--by navy standards to run away with a bigger and more valuable
vessel, the commander of a destroyer often must close in to almost
certain annihilation."
"Hm-m-m," said Frank slyly. "You are not feeling a bit proud of
yourself, are you?"
"Oh, I'm not talking about myself," said Jack quietly. "I was thinking
of a man like Captain Ames--and other men of his caliber. However,
I've been pretty close to death myself, and having come as close to a
fellow as death did to me, I believe he'll become discouraged and
quit. Yes, sir, I don't believe I shall ever die afloat."
"Don't be too cock-sure," said Frank dryly. "However, proceed."
"Well," Jack continued, "I followed Captain Ames aboard the Falcon and
we put to sea immediately. It was the following night that we found
ourselves mixed up in the German mine fields and so close to the
fortress itself that we were in range of the land batteries as well as
the big guns of the German fleet. Our main fleet came far behind us,
for the big ships, of course, would not venture in until we had made
sure of the position of the mines."
"Right," said Frank. "I can see that--"
"Look here," said Jack, "who's telling this story?"
"You are," said Frank hastily. "Go ahead."
"All right, but don't interrupt me. As I said, we'd been searching
mines for the battleships. Better to lose a dozen or two of us little
fellows than one of the dreadnoughts, so we steamed ahead like a fan
with nets spread and a sharp lookout. We lost a few craft by bumping
mines, but we destroyed a lot of the deadly things by firing into the
fields and detonating them.
"We could generally tell when we were getting close to a field, which
at this point was protected by the land batteries, for the batteries
would redouble their fire. Might better have saved their powder and
let us run into the fields and be blown to bits, you will say. Not at
all. They would consider that a waste of good mines. Nobody wants to
waste a whole mine on a poor little torpedo boat destroyer--and
twenty to forty men. There's no profit in that.
"We were sneaking along slowly, feeling our way and sitting on the
slippery edge of eternity when the batteries opened up.
"'We're getting warmer,' said Ames.
"It was close range work and we were able to reply to the fire of the
land batteries with our little 3-inch beauties, although I don't
suppose we did much good. It makes a fellow feel better, however, as
you know, if he's barking back. It's funny how most men have a dread
of dying without letting the other fellow know why he's there. It
doesn't seem so bad when you're hammering him.
"Anyway, it was part of our business.
"There was a bunch of red buoys anchored along one side where our chart
showed the channel to be, and we supposed that they had been used by
the German destroyers as channel buoys or to mark mine fields.
"It developed that the Germans had anchored those buoys and got the
range of them so they could have their guns already set for anything
that came near them. Some of our boats were hit by the first fire. It
was a desperate spot.
"We were up near the lead and we had to run fairly well in advance of
the main body. As you know, it often happens that when a vessel is
steaming head-on very fast, it is difficult to hit her. It seems to
rattle the gunners the same as charging infantry does the defenders.
"Shell after shell missed, but there were so many of them falling
around us that we were almost smothered in the spray. We had all been
under fire before, so it didn't have much effect on us, though.
"Then a shell hit us amidships and tore out one of our boilers. I was
on the bridge with Captain Ames at the time.
"'Go below and report,' said Ames, just as calmly as though we were at
maneuvers and one of our piston rods was pounding a little.
"I went down into a cloud of steam and found two men, pretty well
scalded, dragging out the others who had been more badly hurt by the
explosion. There wasn't enough of the water tight compartment left to
shut it off from the rest of the vessel, but we still had one boiler
intact.
"I directed the men to carry the wounded above and started back for the
bridge. Just as my feet were on the bottom of the ladder there was
another crash. The body of a man who had just reached the deck came
toppling down in a shower of splinters and debris.
"Well, I got back on to my feet and made the deck. A shell had
exploded right atop of us and nearly swept us clean. The bridge was
almost carried away. Captain Ames lay under a light steel beam and I
thought he was dead. I ran over to him. As I approached he shook off
the beam and got up. One of his legs gave way and he had to hold on to
a stanchion for support.
"'Cut off my trouser leg!' he shouted, very much excited.
"I ripped out my knife and did as he ordered. Then he twisted the
cloth around his leg above an ugly gash and tied it.
"'What's gone below?' he demanded. 'One boiler,' I replied.
"'Might have been both,' grunted Ames, and added, 'Well, we're not out
of this fight yet."'
Jack paused a moment.
"A brave man!" cried Frank. "Go ahead, Jack."
Jack cleared his throat and proceeded.