HELPED BY AN ENEMY
“What’s that?” inquired Ned, startled at the unexpected sound.
“Loose board, I guess,” replied Jimmie, rather disgruntled at the turn
affairs had taken. “The wind’s ripping everything loose!”
Again the tapping was repeated in an insistent manner.
“I’m going to see what’s going on here!” declared Ned, rising from his
position. “Some one is trying to communicate with us!”
“Some bloomin’ Dutchman’s tryin’ to ask us whether we want sausage with
our pancakes for breakfast!” growled Jimmie. “Let ’em alone!”
Disregarding this statement the older lad proceeded toward the window,
where fitful gusts of sleet beat. Outside the darkness covered
everything. Only an occasional point of light indicated a sentry hut.
“Who’s there?” demanded Ned in a low tone.
“Sh-h-h!” came a hiss from the darkness. “Open the window!”
Ned fumbled a moment at the fastening. Presently he found the catch
sliding the sash back in its channel. An exclamation escaped him as he
did so. The face of the visitor was none other than that of their missing
acquaintance, Mackinder. Ned was astounded.
“Thought you were dead!” he cried in amazement.
“Hush!” cautioned the other. “Not so loud. Now, if you lads want to get
out of here this is your time. Everybody’s busy or asleep!”
“How do you know we want to get out of here?” demanded Jimmie in a low
tone as he approached the opening.
“Don’t you suppose I have eyes? I saw what you were up to!”
“Oh, you did, eh? Then what do you want us to do?”
“If you want to get away from this place according to your plan, now is
the time to take action,” replied Mackinder in a whisper. “If you prefer
to wait until tomorrow and stand trial for an offense of which you are
innocent I cannot offer any objection of course.”
“Ned, I think we’d better make our getaway while the going’s good!”
“Second the motion!” declared Harry, who had softly approached the
window. “Let’s make a noise like a drum!”
“I’m with you!” stated Frank, raising a foot to the window sill.
“Easy there!” cautioned Jimmie. “Mind your step!”
Frank was through the window in an instant. He landed on the earth with
Mackinder’s assistance without noise. Quickly the others followed. Ned
took the precaution to slide the window shut.
Cautiously the little group of six made their way in the direction of
the wharf where the submarines were moored. Mackinder took the lead as
if familiar with the ground. Once he paused, extending a warning hand to
Jimmie, who was directly behind him. The lad performed a similar service
for those in the rear. A sentry was approaching.
Mackinder sank upon the ground. Although the night was too dark for
the lads to see this action they were close enough to be aware of the
movement. Instantly all followed suit.
In a moment they breathed more freely. The sentry had passed within a
few paces of their position. Evidently his feeling of security in the
isolation of the island had made him somewhat negligent of his duties.
He proceeded against the storm with head bent low.
Again Mackinder rose to his feet. Cautiously he crept forward.
On tiptoe the party gained the shelter of the warehouse.
“Gee!” declared Jimmie as the edge of the wharf was gained, “I clean
forgot my kit! What shall we do?”
“Hush!” warned Ned. “Don’t even dare think of your kit!”
“I should say not!” put in Harry. “Think of your head instead!”
“And the mines at the harbor entrance,” added Frank.
“All right!” submissively agreed Jimmie. “I’ll keep quiet!”
The wind had risen to such an extent that walking on the narrow planking
was not only uncertain but extremely dangerous. Mackinder solved the
problem by dropping to all fours. The boys followed suit.
Directly, they gained the submarine, the hatch was placed quietly in
position for prompt closing and the lines which held the boat were let go.
Owing to the movement of the boats caused by the roughened surface of the
harbor creakings and groanings of the fenders had served to drown any
noise the party had made in crossing the narrow bridge of planks.
Jimmie held the wheel as Ned gave the signal for casting off the lines.
A touch of Harry’s hand on the lever started the engines. The submarine
began to move. Suddenly a loud splash alongside attracted the attention
of all. Frank came scuttling down the ladder.
“Now I’ve done it!” he gasped. “I forgot to shove the plank back onto the
next boat and it fell into the water as we started!”
“Wonder if the guard has heard it!” speculated Ned. “Let me up!”
Under protests from his companions the lad mounted the iron ladder and
thrust his head through the hatch.
“I hear someone running along the dock!” he announced presently. “I’ll
bet they have heard that noise! I see a light!” he added.
“What are they doing?” inquired Jimmie, holding the boat directly in the
center of the channel as he peered anxiously ahead.
“A fellow with a lantern is running out along the planks,” replied Ned.
“They’ve got to the outside boat now. Now they’re turning back.”
“Better get that hatch closed so we can dive,” admonished Jimmie. “This
is our time for getting out of sight in a hurry!”
“There goes their searchlight!” shouted Frank, who had crowded up the
ladder close beside Ned. “They’re going to spot us in a hurry!”
“Ah,” cried Ned as a sullen roar came to their ears. “They’re taking a
chance shot at us from that cannon on the hill. Let’s dive!”
Quickly the two boys adjusted the hatch. As they signaled to their
companions that this task was completed Harry and Jack turned the
deflecting rudders. The half-manned submarine slowly began to descend.
“Get some water into the tanks quick, Harry!” called Jimmie.
“Pump’s going right now!” declared the other. “We’re going down!”
“Take a look through the periscope, Ned,” requested the pilot, “and let
me know what you can make out. Can you see any buoys ahead?”
“Try to see if they’ve located us with their searchlight,” suggested
Mackinder. “Maybe they are getting our range with that gun!”
“Never mind about that searchlight,” snapped Jimmie. “I want to find out
what’s ahead, not what’s behind us. We’ll run this boat!”
“I simply wanted to know,” objected Mackinder somewhat ruffled at the
lad’s peremptory manner. “No objection, is there?”
“All the objection in the world!” declared Jimmie. “You’re quite welcome
aboard as a passenger, but we’ll navigate the vessel, please!”
Scarcely knowing whether to be amused or defiant at this attitude
Mackinder chose the wiser course and refrained from further comment.
Although the boys could not be sure that the persons on the island were
making efforts to hinder their escape they felt the better course was to
remain beneath the surface until well out of the harbor.
Directly Jimmie called the attention of his comrades to an object in the
water at no great distance ahead. The rays of the searchlight with which
the submarine was provided indistinctly revealed a huge bulk slightly
above the level at which they were traveling.
“What is that, a ship?” asked Harry wonderingly.
“I’ll bet a cookie that’s a mine!” declared Jimmie positively. “I’m going
to give it a little more leeway, anyhow. It pays to be safe!”
Ned was working the periscope in an effort to locate the buoys as
directed by Jimmie. Occasionally he turned the glass toward the group of
buildings they had just left.
“They’re shooting at us, I guess!” he stated presently. “I can see the
flash of that cannon. It seems to be pointed this way!”
“Let ’em shoot, they can’t see anything but the periscope and they’d have
an awful time hitting that!” boasted Jimmie.
Scarcely had the lad spoken before the vessel was shaken by the force of
a mighty concussion. A gigantic wave tossed the craft up and forward with
a heave that threw the boys off their feet.
“What was that?” gasped Jimmie glancing at his companions with a
terrified face. “Has one of the fuel tanks blown up?”
“Nothing doing!” replied Harry. “I think that cannon hit the mine we just
passed. I’m glad we were no closer!”
“We’ll soon be out of their range!” stated Jimmie. “Shut up your
periscope and we’ll go deeper. Give us a little more speed, Harry!”
In an hour Jimmie declared that they should be out of sight of the
island altogether. The engines had been working at full speed ahead.
Harry nursed the machinery constantly, knowing that it was new and would,
therefore, require considerable care. Their urgent need for speed induced
the lads to crowd the machinery to the limit, and Harry was gratified to
note that every part responded properly to its task.
“Well, Mackinder,” stated Ned as the tension on their nerves began to
relax with the increasing distance traveled, “we’re surely grateful to
you for suggesting that we get away as you did!”
“My motive was largely a selfish one, I must confess,” returned
Mackinder. “I wanted very badly to get away from that island.”
“How did they ever get hold of you, anyhow?” questioned Jack.
“I left Amsterdam the same evening you did. After the Lena Knobloch went
past us as she did I knew there was little use trying to delay you.
Therefore, my aide and myself left at once on a train for Rotterdam.
There we found a fishing boat which we thought would answer our purpose.
We induced the captain to take us aboard, intending to cross to England.
After traveling some distance the storm overtook us. We were blown far
out of our course. The vessel was badly battered. The crew left in a
panic, leaving me on board. Just in time the German destroyer came along
and took me off. That’s it in a nutshell.”
“Yes, and then when you discovered us in our little boat you went and
told the captain of the destroyer a lot of nonsense, didn’t you?”
questioned Jimmie in a somewhat aggressive manner. “Why did you do it?”
“I only told him that you had at one time a package that belonged to me.
I wanted the package badly. I thought he would assist me.”
“That wasn’t a very nice way to go about it,” declared Jimmie with
emphasis. “After searching our baggage twice, and after we had told you
how the package was in our kits without our knowledge, also that it had
been stolen away from our possession, why didn’t you believe us?”
“There is an old saying that all is fair in love and war!” replied
Mackinder. “You know that my country and Germany are at war. As an
officer in the British army, it is my duty to do everything possible to
assist my country. I believe that package contains information that my
country could use. That is my justification for my acts, and I hope you
boys are fair-minded enough to hold no resentment.”
“I’m just fair-minded enough to be neutral,” declared Jimmie, “if I have
to fight for the right to remain that way. I’m just a little sore at you
for supposing that four boys who are citizens of a neutral country would
be carrying information around for another country at war!”
“I’m sorry you feel that way,” said Mackinder. “I assure you there was
nothing personal in my acts. I simply tried to do my best!”
“Well, you did a lot, at that!” returned the lad.
“All right, folks, let’s drop the subject,” spoke up Ned. “I feel that
the air in here is getting bad. Suppose we go to the surface.”
“Right you are,” agreed Harry. “Let’s rise and fill the tanks!”
Jimmie, in compliance with this wish, steered the craft upward.
At the surface the boys found the water much smoother than they had
expected would be the case. Jimmie declared that he intended painting
the balance of the name “U-13” on the vessel while the other lads were
occupied in airing out the vessel and refilling the compressed air tanks.
Slung in a boatswain’s chair over the sloping deck the lad soon completed
this task. Feeling a considerable degree of elation at the success of his
undertaking Jimmie returned with his brush and paint.
“If you’re ready now we’ll dive again and proceed!”
“Wait a minute, Mackinder’s still on deck!” stated Jack.
“He wasn’t there when I came below!” protested Jimmie.