CALLING IN VAIN
“Did you wish to see me?” the lieutenant asked, as Jerry and his chums
looked in rather a fixed manner at the young man.
“Yes, sir,” replied the tall lad. “We wish to find out where Captain
Ware may be found. We’re in his company, and----”
“Oh, yes. You were asking me that when I had to give instructions to
these sentinels. If you’ll come with me I’ll take you to Captain Ware.”
He turned to go, but, before leaving, he looked again at the marine
corps sentinels, one of whom stood on either side of the closed door
of the mysterious cabin--at least it was mysterious to the three Motor
Boys.
“Don’t forget!” the lieutenant cautioned. “No one is to enter that
cabin--not even I--without a written order from Captain Munson.”
“Yes, sir,” was the answer in chorus, and, acknowledging the salutes of
the sentries, the lieutenant strode away, followed by Ned, Bob, and
Jerry.
“Has there been a mutiny, sir, or anything like that?” asked Ned of the
lieutenant, at the same time nudging his two comrades to indicate that
he was taking a chance in thus putting a question to a superior officer
on a subject that might well be a forbidden one.
“A mutiny? What makes you think that?” was the quick retort.
“Oh, on account of what happened--the blowing up of the boiler, and all
that. I thought maybe some one had been found planting a bomb in the
engine room, sir, and----”
“You must have been doing quite a bit of thinking,” was the smiling
comment of the young officer. “Be careful you don’t do too much. Or, at
least, if you do, keep your thoughts to yourself.”
“Yes, sir,” assented Ned, and he knew then that his questions were not
to be answered.
“Who told you the boiler had been blown up, and what made you think a
bomb had been placed in the engine room?” asked the lieutenant.
“Oh, we just imagined so, that’s all, sir,” Ned replied.
“It sounded like an explosion, sir,” said Jerry.
“Well, it was,” and the lieutenant’s answer was a bit snappy. “One of
the boilers blew out a main feed steam pipe. It takes an explosion to
do that, or rather, the act is explosive in itself. But that doesn’t
say it was a bomb.”
“I’m glad it wasn’t,” commented Bob.
“I didn’t say it wasn’t!” came quickly from the young officer. “All I
said was that a steam boiler could blow up without a bomb having caused
it. I don’t know that any one knows exactly what caused the accident
to the ship. We are still investigating, and the less talk about it
the better--especially when no facts are known. So I advise you young
gentlemen not to do too much talking.”
“All right, sir,” murmured Ned. “But we were just thinking--about that
cabin, you know--we were just thinking----”
“But keep your thoughts to yourselves--for the time being,” interrupted
the lieutenant. “You may hear all about it later, and again you may
not.”
They found Captain Ware in a small cabin which he had to share with
fellow officers, so crowded were accommodations aboard the _Sherman_.
The captain greeted the boys cordially.
“Now don’t tell me,” he began with a smile, “that you have come to
complain of the sleeping quarters, the food, or the lack of exercise. I
know all that already--a dozen times over,” and he motioned to a pile
of papers on his bed.
“Oh, we haven’t come to complain, sir,” voiced Ned. “But we have
something we’d like to tell you, and it may have to do with the
accident that disabled the ship.”
“Well, that’s interesting, to say the least,” commented the captain.
“Come in, boys. There isn’t a great deal of room, but if you stand up
while you’re talking I guess we can squeeze you all in. These cabins
were made for only two.”
Thereupon the trio entered and, after a few false starts and a friendly
rivalry as to who should open the narrative, the story was finally
told. It began with the encounter in the Brest restaurant, when
Jerry mistook a stranger for Professor Snodgrass with the consequent
unreasonable indignation on the part of the little bald-headed
_cochon_, as he had been dubbed.
Then the boys told of having met the man in the passageway, and of how
he turned back at the sight of them, evidently trying to conceal a
black object he carried.
Ned told of having smelled what seemed to be a burning fuse; and from
there the tale went on to the guarded cabin.
“Hum,” mused Captain Ware, when the boys had finished. “Is that all?”
“Yes, sir,” replied Ned, who had assumed the role of spokesman. “Except
that we thought we ought to report it all to you, sir, so you could
tell Captain Munson if you thought best to do so.”
“You have done quite right. And, now that you have reported to me,
please don’t say anything about it to any one else.”
“Do you think there may be anything in it, sir?” asked Bob, who could
not refrain from his impulsive question. “I mean do you think this
little man, who looks like our Professor Snodgrass from the back, could
have tried to blow up the ship?”
“Oh, yes, he could do it easily enough, if he was so minded and had
the opportunity,” answered the captain. “But, mind you, I am not
saying that he did. This must be investigated, and Captain Munson, in
connection with our army officers, will be the one to do this. I am
glad you told me what you did. Now don’t talk about it any more. There
is no use in starting rumors, the effect of which we can tell nothing
about. And, too, it may prove to be a false alarm.”
“That’s what we were afraid of,” said Jerry. “We didn’t want to get in
wrong. But we thought it best to speak after we saw the marines put on
duty at the cabin, for we thought it might be of more importance than
it seemed in the beginning.”
“Yes,” answered the captain, noncommittally. “Well, I’ll let you know
when your further testimony is needed. Now don’t forget to keep still
about this.”
He dismissed them with a smile, and the boys, feeling they had done
all in their power to set things right and to prevent any further
outrages, in case it really should turn out that an attempt had been
made to blow up the ship, went up on deck.
“I’m glad that’s off my mind,” remarked Ned.
“So’m I,” added Bob. “There must be something in it all right, or they
wouldn’t be guarding that cabin.”
“It’s queer, to say the least,” admitted Jerry. “If we could only
know----”
“Hark! What’s that?” interrupted Ned, as they neared the head of the
companionway.
“The wireless!” cried Bob. “It’s working again!”
And to the ears of the boys came the well-known crackle that told of
electrical impulses being sent off into space.
Quickly the three chums looked about them when they reached the deck.
A group around the wireless room testified that in some manner the
disabled machinery had been put in operation again.
“Yes,” Ned was told by a comrade to whom he put an inquiry, “they
managed to fix up a small dynamo, and they’re sending out calls for
help.”
“Then we’re all right!” decided Bob. “I guess my appetite will come
back now.”
“Didn’t know you’d lost it!” mocked Ned.
“Why, I didn’t feel a bit like eating!” retorted the stout lad.
“Well, it’s the first time such a thing has happened in a good many
years,” commented Jerry.
With every one else on board, they were vitally interested in the
reëstablishment of the wireless. But as the day went on and no replies
came to call after call that was flashed into the void, the feeling of
hope gave way to one of despair.
“Don’t they answer?” was the question asked over and over again.
“No reply,” was the report of the wireless men, as they bent over their
keys and strained their ears to catch the faintest click that might
come through the ear-pieces strapped to their heads. All their flashing
calls seemed in vain.