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[Illustration: "WELL, SHE'S GONE," SAID JACK, QUIETLY.]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE TERROR OF THE SEAS
Or
The Last Shot of Submarine D-16
by
Ensign ROBERT L. DRAKE
Author of
"The Boy Allies on the North Sea Patrol"
"The Boy Allies Under Two Flags"
"The Boy Allies with the Flying Squadron"
A. L. Burt & Company
New York
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright, 1915
By A. L. Burt Company
THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE TERROR OF THE SEAS
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contents
I. UNDER THE SEA.
II. THE D-16.
III. THE ENGAGEMENT.
IV. A DARING PLAN.
V. TROUBLE ON BOARD.
VI. THE SPY.
VII. DEATH OF THE SPY.
VIII. HELIGOLAND.
IX. A DESPERATE VENTURE.
X. IN THE KIEL CANAL.
XI. AT CLOSE QUARTERS.
XII. CAPTURED.
XIII. A SUBMARINE RAID.
XIV. THE ESCAPE.
XV. INTO THE BALTIC.
XVI. IN TROUBLE AGAIN.
XVII. PETROGRAD.
XVIII. A PLOT.
XIX. THE PLOTTERS FOILED.
XX. BOUND WESTWARD AGAIN.
XXI. A NEUTRALITY VIOLATION.
XXII. IN THE MEDITERRANEAN.
XXIII. THE CHASE.
XXIV. OFF FOR THE DARDANELLES.
XXV. IN THE DARDANELLES.
XXVI. SCOUTING.
XXVII. A DESPERATE UNDERTAKING.
XXVIII. A CAPTURE.
XXIX. THE LAST SHOT OF THE D-16.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE TERROR OF THE SEAS.
CHAPTER I.
UNDER THE SEA.
"One!"
The speaker was Jack Templeton, an English youth and first officer of
the British submarine D-16, Lord Hastings, commander.
Frank Chadwick, an American lad about the same age as Jack, the second
officer of the under-sea fighter, laid his hand upon his friend's arm.
"Let me take a look," he said.
Jack relinquished to his chum his place at the periscope, and the latter
peered into the instrument long and earnestly.
Into the periscope--which protruded slightly above the surface of the
water while the submarine was still submerged--came the vision of a
sinking warship, and the sight, enlarged by powerful binoculars, was
apparent to Frank's eyes.
"She's done for, all right," he said quietly, turning away at length.
"Pretty good shooting, I should say."
"One torpedo only," replied Jack briefly.
"You may give the signal to rise, Mr. Templeton," said a third voice,
and Lord Hastings, commander of the submarine, stood before them.
Jack turned away in response to this command.
Another moment and the pumps were at work, forcing the water from the
tanks. Gradually the submarine began to rise, and at last rode quietly
upon the surface of the North Sea.
Followed by Jack and Frank, Lord Hastings led the way up through the
little conning tower, opened now that the submarine was above water, and
from there to the bridge, only a few feet above the surface of the sea.
Here all turned their eyes toward the east, where, less than half a mile
away, a German ship of war was slowly sinking by the head.
"A good shot, Mr. Templeton," said Lord Hastings, turning to Jack.
"Pretty fair, sir," was the latter's modest reply, for he had launched
the torpedo with his own hand.
Aboard the sinking German vessel all was confusion. Men rushed hither
and thither in wild excitement. Officers shouted hoarse commands. Men
scrambled wildly about and jumped madly for the life boats as they were
launched. So great was the panic that two of the small boats were
overturned and the men thrown into the sea.
"They'll be drowned!" exclaimed Frank. He turned to Lord Hastings.
"Cannot we rescue them, sir?"
"It is impossible," was the quiet response. "We have no room for them.
We are carrying a full crew, as you know, and have no room for another
man."
"But it is terrible to let them drown," protested Frank.
"True," replied his commander, "and yet think how some of our merchant
vessels have been sent to the bottom without warning and their crews to
a watery grave, noncombatants though they were. It is retribution; no
less."
Frank was silent, but he stood watching the struggling German sailors
with an anxious eye.
Now the officers aboard the sinking vessel had succeeded in gaining some
semblance of order from the confusion that had reigned a few moments
before, and the enemy was going about the work of launching the boats
more coolly and successfully.
At last all the boats and the crew had left the ship--all but one man,
who still stood calmly upon the bridge. This was the commander, who,
rather than leave his ship, was preparing to go down with her. In vain
did his officers from the boats call upon him to jump. To all their
calls he turned a deaf ear, and stood calmly at his post, with folded
arms.
Now the sinking vessel began to settle more swiftly. Suddenly she seemed
to leap clear of the water, there came a thundering roar, and then,
seeming to despair of her efforts to keep afloat, she dived, in another
moment she disappeared and the waters of the North Sea closed with an
angry swirl over the mighty German warship and her gallant commander.
"Well, she's gone," said Jack quietly.
"Then we may as well go also," declared Lord Hastings. "Shape your
course due west, Mr. Templeton."
"Very good, sir," replied Jack, saluting, and he disappeared below.
Lord Hastings and Frank continued to peer at the flotilla of German
small boats, which, at a command from the officer in charge, had shipped
their oars and were pulling toward the east with lusty strokes.
"I hope they make land safely, or are picked up," said Frank.
"So do I," replied his commander. "Come, we shall go below."
The D-16 again on her way, Frank betook himself to his own quarters,
which he and Jack shared together. Here he was surprised to see the
latter cutting a notch on the side of the highly polished small table in
the center of the cabin.
"What are you doing there?" he asked in surprise. "What are you cutting
up that table for?"
"Well," said Jack, "in reading some of your American literature, I
learned that every time one of your wild westerners killed a man he cut
a notch on his gun. I'm following along the same lines, only I intend to
cut a notch on this table every time we sink one of the enemy."
"Quite an idea, that," said Frank. "But when you say you read that stuff
in American literature, you are wrong. I won't deny that you have read
it, but I'd call it American fiction, not literature."
"Never mind," said Jack, "it'll answer my purpose, whatever you call
it."
"Guess I'll turn in for a couple of hours," said Frank. "I'm feeling
rather tired."
"Help yourself," replied his friend. "I want a few words with Lord
Hastings."
He left the cabin, while Frank, kicking off his shoes and removing his
coat, threw himself down on his bed, and in a few moments was fast
asleep. As he is taking much needed repose, we will take the time to
introduce these two lads more fully.
Jack Templeton, the son of an Englishman, had spent the better part of
his life in a little village on the north coast of Africa. His father,
who owned a small store, had been his only instructor, but in spite of
this the lad had been given a first-class education. He was well read in
literature and history, could pass muster on almost any other subject
and was well posted on current events.
Jack's father had been taken suddenly ill and after a protracted
sickness died. Jack took charge of the store. One day a ship put into
the harbor and several sailors landed, went to the store and procured
provisions. In Jack's absence, they departed without making payment.
Jack returned a little while later, and when he learned what had
occurred, he put off in a small boat after the ship, which he reached
before she could get under way.
Now Jack, though young in years, was a stalwart lad. He stood above six
feet, and was built proportionately. The sailors laughed at him when he
demanded payment and a struggle followed. By exerting his powerful
strength and some resourcefulness, Jack succeeded in overcoming the
crew.
It was then that he learned there were two prisoners aboard the ship.
These he released. They proved to be Frank Chadwick and a British secret
diplomatic agent.
Frank, who had been in Germany when the great European war broke out,
had become separated from his father after getting over the border into
Italy. In Naples one night he had gone to the aid of a sailor on the
water front and saved him from injury at the hands of three others.
The sailor whom Frank had rescued showed a queer sense of gratitude by
having him shanghaied aboard a small schooner. Here, under the stern
rule of an American skipper, he had become one of the crew. The crew
mutinied, killed the captain, and, binding Frank securely, threw him
below with the other prisoner, the diplomatic agent.
Jack's unexpected appearance upon the scene was indeed a welcome sight
to both. Upon learning the nature of the work upon which the secret
agent was bound, the two lads had volunteered to help him out. This
offer was accepted, and thus both found themselves principal figures in
a diplomatic coup that broke up the Triple Alliance and took the support
of Italy away from Germany and Austria.
It was while with the secret agent that they had met Lord Hastings, and
it was through the good offices of the latter that they finally found
themselves attached to the British fleet as midshipmen. Lord Hastings
had taken an instant liking to the lads and had them attached to his
ship. Later they had been commissioned lieutenants.
Jack and Frank had seen considerable fighting. It was through their
strategy that the British had won their first sea victory, off the coast
of Heligoland, when four of Germany's most powerful sea fighters had
been sent to the bottom. They had saved the British fleet from possible
annihilation by being fortunate to discover a spy.
The two lads, since the war began, had seen service in many waters. They
had been on patrol duty off the west coast of Africa; they had served
under the French flag when, under the tricolor, they had delivered a
severe blow to the Austrian fleet in the Adriatic; they had trailed the
German cruiser _Emden_, nicknamed the "terror of the sea," through the
Indian ocean, and had been present when she was finally sunk by the
Australian cruiser _Sydney_; they had taken part in sinking the German
fleet in the South Atlantic, off the Falkland islands; they had been
aboard a British submarine that sank three Turkish cruisers in the
Persian Gulf; they had seen the capture of the German fortress of
Tsing-Tau, in China, by allied British and Japanese troops, and finally
they had been instrumental, while in London, of exposing a plot that
would have been a severe blow to Great Britain, and of capturing a
second German spy and a British traitor, who stood high in the regard of
Winston Spencer Churchill, first lord of the Admiralty.
Three times the ships to which they were attached had been sunk, and
they had had many narrow escapes. Once Lord Hastings had gone down with
their vessel, and the lads had believed him drowned, but he escaped and
they encountered him weeks later.
When their last craft had been sunk, upon the boys' suggestion, Lord
Hastings had requested command of a submarine, and when they had once
again set forth, it was in the D-16.
And as the D-16 was something absolutely new in the way of submarines, a
few words concerning it are necessary here.