ON DECK ONCE MORE.
Jack was lolling in a deck chair fifteen minutes later, still digesting
the astonishing news that had come out of space, when a deck steward
approached him and, with an air of caution, leant over the lad and said:
"Captain Rollok would like to see you in the wireless room at once,
please."
"Now what's up?" wondered Jack, as greatly astonished by this message,
he made his way to the radio cabin. "I guess I'm in for a call down for
sitting in at the key. Poor Poffer, I'll see that he doesn't get into
trouble if I can help it, and as for me--I'm a passenger now and
captains have no terrors for me."
These thoughts occupied him as far as his destination. Within the cabin
were Captain Rollok, a giant of a man, with a fresh complexion and huge
blond beard, one of his officers and Hans Pollak, the latter looking in
fear of his life as the big captain berated him, in German, with force
and vigor. As Jack entered the cabin, the great bulk of the captain
swung round on him.
"So you are de young mans who sits in at der vireless vile dis
cabbage-head goes stuffing himself midt pretzels, is it?" he demanded,
with what appeared great severity, but with an underlying twinkle in his
eyes.
Jack contented himself with nodding and a brief admission that he had
taken Poffer's place at the key while the latter refreshed himself. He
half-expected an outburst from the big German but, to his astonishment,
the captain clapped him on the back with a force that almost knocked him
off his feet.
"_Ach, du lieber!_" he exclaimed; "it was goot dot you vod dere,
uddervise dis foolish Poffer would haf left der key anyvay undt dot
British cruiser would have overhauled us. Now I got a proposition to
make to you. You are a vireless man. Our second operator is sick undt
idt is necessary dot dere is someones at der vireless all of der time.
Vill you take der chob?"
Jack hardly knew what to say. The proposal had come so abruptly that he
found it hard to make up his mind.
"You would want me to help out all the way to Europe?" he asked.
"We are not going to Europe," was the reply. "I am going to run back for
der American coast undt try to dodge capture. Six million dollars is a
big enough prize to make der search for us pretty active. I don't
believe dere would be a chance for us to reach der udder side."
"Well," said Jack, after some consideration, "I guess my holiday is off
anyhow, and I might as well get down to work now as later on. All right,
Captain, you can count on me."
"Goot for you. I vill see dot you are no loser by idt," said the big
German, and so Jack, by a strange combination of undreamt-of
circumstances, became the wireless man of the "gold ship," whose
subsequent adventures were destined to fill the world with wonder.
Poffer's hours of duty ended at dinner time that evening, and by the
time Jack sat down at the key, it was dark. No more word had come from
the British cruiser, and so far the _Kronprinzessin's_ course had not
been altered. A hasty message in cipher had been sent to the offices of
the line in New York, but so far no orders to turn back had come through
the air.
However, Jack had not been on duty an hour before the expected command
came. The passengers strolling and sitting about the decks were suddenly
aware that the big ship was slowing up and being turned about. The
incredulous ones among them were speedily convinced that this was
actually the case when it was pointed out that the moon, which had been
on the starboard side of the ship in the early evening, was now to be
seen off the port quarter.
Rumors ran rife throughout the great steel vessel. There had been an
accident to the machinery, there were icebergs ahead, some plot against
the security of the gold in the specie room had been discovered--these,
and even wilder reports, were circulated. The captain and the other
officers were besieged for explanations, but none were forthcoming, for
the time being.
Shortly before midnight, however, the captain in person entered the
smoking room with a telegram in his hand.
"Gentlemen," he announced to those assembled there, "I am sorry to say
that var has been declared bedween England and Germany, Great Britain
siding against my Vaterland mit France and Russia."
He held up his hand to quell the hub-bub that instantly broke loose.
When a measure of quiet was restored, he resumed:
"Id is therefore imbossible for the voyage of this ship to continue. As
you haf observed, her course has been altered. Ve are on our way back to
America."
"To New York?" demanded a score of voices.
The captain shook his head.
"New York vill be vatched more carefully than any udeer port on der
Atlantic coast," he said. "I haf not yet decided for vere I vill make;
but I ask you all to take der situation philisophically and try to quiet
any alarm among der lady passengers."
The turmoil of questions and answers and excited conversation broke out
again, and in the midst of it the captain's broad form disappeared
through the doorway. A few moments later, Raynor was in the wireless
room after a fruitless search for his chum in other parts of the ship.
"Say, what are you doing sitting at that key?" he demanded. "Have you
gone to work for the ship?"
"Looks that way, doesn't it?" smiled Jack.
"Did you know that we are running away from British cruisers?" asked
Raynor, breathlessly.
"Knew it before the ship was turned around," said Jack, calmly. "But I
couldn't have told even you about it at the time. It was confidential.
But there's no reason why you shouldn't hear it all now," and he
launched into a narration of the events just passed which had had such a
strange culmination. He was in the midst of it, when one of the junior
officers of the ship appeared.
He told the boys they would have to close the door of the wireless room
and cover the ports. Not a ray of light must be visible about the ship,
he informed them. In the darkness even the glow of a single port-light
might give a clue as to the whereabouts of their quarry to the lurking
British cruisers. In the passengers' quarters of the great ship, similar
orders were issued. Stewards went about blanketing portholes and turning
out all unnecessary lights. By ten o'clock, except in the "working"
quarters of the ship,--and there, they were carefully concealed, as in
the wireless room,--there was not a light on board.
In order to insure obedience to his orders, the captain had had the
cabin lights disconnected from the dynamos at that hour. On the darkened
decks, little groups of timid passengers, who refused to go to bed,
huddled and talked in low tones, constantly gazing seaward to catch
sight of a tell-tale searchlight which would tell of pursuit or
interception.
Through the darkness, the great ship was driven at top speed without
warning lights of any description. Watches were doubled, and on the
bridge, the unsleeping captain kept vigil with his anxious officers.
Through the long hours, Jack sat unwinkingly at his key. But it was not
till the sky was graying the next morning that anything disturbed the
silence of the air. Then came a break in the monotony. The British
cruiser _Essex_ was speaking to the _Suffolk_. But the messages were in
code and told nothing except that Jack caught the name of the liner and
knew the radio talk between the warships concerned her.
At breakfast time the passengers assembled in the saloon, for the most
part anxious and haggard after sleepless nights. The captain spoke
encouragingly, but even his words had little effect. Every one on board
felt and showed the strain of this blind racing over the ocean with
watchful naval bull-dogs lying in wait ready to pounce on the richest
prize afloat on the seven seas.