IN A MINE FIELD
Without any further ado the _Dewey_ got under way. While the inspection
of the hull had been going on the submarine's batteries had been
recharged and she was ready again for further diving upon a moment's
notice. Lieutenant McClure climbed into the deck steering station---the
bridge of a submarine---and assumed charge of the electric rudder
control, the wheel of a submersible.
Jack and Ted were ordered onto the bridge with their commander and
instructed to keep a sharp lookout on the horizon with powerful
glasses. The wireless was snapping away exchanging messages with the
allied fleet and getting a line on the pursued raiders. The cool fresh
air felt invigorating after the night's cramped vigil in the fetid
air of the submarine.
When mess call sounded, Jack and Ted, relieved from duty, went below
to get some "chow" and snatch an hour or two of rest.
A radiogram was handed Lieutenant McClure while at breakfast giving
the position of the U.S.S. _Chicago_. A little later H.M.S. Congo, a
"limey," was spoken. Soon the sub was hearing the chatter of half a
dozen American and English warships.
Hastening back to the conning tower, Lieutenant McClure conferred for
a few moments with his executive officer and as a result of their
calculations the course of the _Dewey_ was altered. Headed due north,
it was the aim of the submarine officers to intercept the retreating
column of German raiders whom they knew now to be in full retreat,
hotly pursued by the allied squadron.
Not half an hour had elapsed when the lookout reported a blur on the
horizon that, despite the mist of early morning, was easily discernible
as the smoke of several vessels under forced draft. Very soon the head
of the column loomed over the horizon---a German cruiser in the
lead---followed closely by a destroyer that was belching forth dense
black smoke from its funnels.
"They are making for home under a smoke screen from their destroyers,
and I'll bet some of our ships are not very far away either," was
Lieutenant McClure's observation as he stood surveying the field of
action through his glass.
"Yes, and that destroyer there is probably the chap who nearly ran us
down last night," added Executive Officer Cleary.
Lieutenant McClure nodded assent and then turned toward Jack, who had
been watching the approaching Germans from a position on deck just aft
the conning tower.
The _Dewey's_ commander motioned the young seaman to climb into the
steering station.
"I want you to stand right by and act as my aide," said McClure.
"That goes, not only now, but until further orders. You and Mr.
Wainwright will relieve each other as my aides. Go below and tell
Chief Engineer Blaine we are about to close in on the Huns and want
all the speed possible during the next hour or so."
Jack saluted and lowered away into the conning tower hatch. As he
climbed down into the hull he heard the sound of heavy cannonading
across the water. It was certain now that a running fight was in
progress and that behind the veil of the black German destroyer
smoke were allied warships.
The retreating column was well off the port bow and racing eastward
toward the shelter of the big guns at Heligoland. Coming up out of
the south the American submarine had run at right angles into the line
of the Hun retreat. The _Dewey_ held a strategic position. She
viewed the approaching squadron as though looking down the hypotenuse
of the angle. The Germans were speeding along the base. The _Dewey_
had but to slip down the perpendicular to intercept the panicky
Prussians.
And that was just what Lieutenant McClure proposed doing. All hands
were ordered below and the hatches sealed. Running on the surface,
the oil engines were put to their best endeavor and the _Dewey_ cleft
the whitecaps at her best speed.
"Go forward, Mr. Hammond, and inquire of Chief Gunner Mowrey how many
torpedoes we have aboard," ordered Lieutenant McClure.
Jack hurried away and returned in a few minutes to report that all
four tubes were loaded and two auxiliary Whiteheads in the racks.
The _Dewey's_ torpedo range was two miles, but her commander preferred
to be within less than six hundred yards for a sure shot.
McClure could now see the leader of the German squadron---a powerful
battle cruiser---crowding on all speed. His guns astern, powerful
fourteen-inch pieces in twin turrets, were in action, firing huge
salvos at his pursuers. The destroyer rode far to starboard of the
cruiser, emitting a steady stream of smoke designed to blind the eyes
of the pursuers.
Jockeying into position after another twenty minutes' run, the _Dewey's_
commander decided to let loose with a torpedo. The cruiser had pulled
up now until it was nearly dead ahead of the American submersible. The
destroyer was dancing along several hundreds yards in the rear of the
cruiser.
So intent were the Germans on keeping away from the pursuing warships
that they had not noticed the sly little submarine that had slipped up
out of the south!
Jack had now an opportunity to witness the actual firing of a torpedo
at an enemy vessel at close range. Directly in front of the _Dewey's_
commander, just above the electric rudder button, glowed four little
light bulbs in bright red---one for each of the torpedo tubes in the
bow bulkhead. When they were lighted thus it indicated that every
chamber was loaded. As soon as a torpedo was discharged the bulb
corresponding with the empty tube faded out. Lieutenant McClure had
but to touch the electric contact under each bulb to send one of the
death-dealing torpedoes on its way. This Jack was to see in a moment.
Crouching with his eyes to the periscope until the racing German
cruiser drew up to the desired fret on the measured glass McClure
clutched the lower port toggle and released a torpedo. Again the
jarring motion that indicated the discharge of the missile and the
swirl of the compressed air forward. Through the eye of the forward
periscope the commander of the _Dewey_ followed the course of the
torpedo as it skimmed away from his bow.
"There she goes!" exclaimed Executive Officer Cleary as the mirror
reflected the frothing wake of the giant Whitehead.
For a moment or so there was a breathless silence in the conning
tower of the Yankee sub as the two officers followed their shot.
Only for a moment however, for Commander McClure, knowing full well
the German destroyer would sight the speeding torpedo and immediately
turn its fire on the Yankee's periscopes, gave orders to submerge.
But as the _Dewey_ lowered away he gazed ahead once more. The
spectacle that greeted him made the blood leap fast in his veins.
"It's a hit!" he yelled in sheer delight.
So it proved. Officer Cleary, still straining at the reserve periscope,
beheld the same picture. The torpedo had shot across the bow of the
destroyer and leaped forward to finally bury its steel nose in the
great gray side of the cruiser.
"Almost directly amidships," called out "Little Mack."
And then, as the _Dewey_ plunged beneath the waves, Lieutenant McClure
explained eagerly how he had beheld the explosion of the torpedo just
aft the main forward battery turret directly on the line of the
forward smoke funnel.
"Giving them a dose of their own medicine," ejaculated Cleary as his
commander turned laughingly from the periscope.
"This will settle a few scores for the Lusitania, to say nothing of
the many more ships with defenseless men and women that have been sunk
since the beginning of the war," added McClure seriously. Then turning
to Jack Hammond he added: "I guess you are the good-luck chap. We got
both those Boche boats since I called you into the turret as my aide.
Don't forget, you are to stay right here permanently."
Jack saluted mechanically, but his heart beat high and he could scarce
repress an exclamation of delight.
At a depth of sixty feet the _Dewey's_ engines were slowed down and she
floated gracefully out of range of the German destroyer. After
traveling ahead for half a mile the submersible was stopped again and
began slowly to ascend.
As the eye of the periscope projected again out of the sea Lieutenant
McClure hastened to get a glimpse of his surroundings.
There, off the port bow, lay the crippled German cruiser---the same
vessel that had been hit by the _Dewey's_ torpedo. She was listing
badly from the effect of the American submarine's unexpected sting
and had turned far over on her side. A British destroyer was standing
by rescuing members of the Teuton crew as they flung themselves into
the water from their overturning craft.
Far off the _Dewey's_ starboard bow could be seen a moving column of
warships---the remnants of the German raiding fleet in the van,
followed by the English and American patrol vessels.
"Useless for us to follow them," declared McClure, as he took in the
situation. "Might as well stand by this stricken Hun cruiser and pick
up some of her floating crew."
"There's a lot of them in the water," said Cleary, as he swung the
other periscope to scan the open sea well to the sinking cruiser's
stern.
In a few minutes the _Dewey_ ascended and made herself known to the
British "limey." Over the decks of the latter clambered several score
German seamen who had been fished from a watery grave.
A stiff wind had come up out of the southeast and was kicking the sea
into rollers with whitecaps. However, the men of the _Dewey_, armed
with life preservers, steadied themselves on the turtle-back deck of
their craft, and started the hunt for swimming Germans.
Ted had joined Jack forward, carrying a coil of rope, and they were
scanning the sea, when their attention was diverted by the gesticulations
of Bill Witt standing well forward. He was pointing off to port.
"Look---a floating mine!" he shouted. Almost at the same moment Jack
spied another mine closer up off the starboard quarter.
In a mine field! The retreating German warships had strewn the sea
with the deadly implements of naval warfare, and the _Dewey_ had come
up almost on top of a number of the unanchored explosives!