IN THE RAT'S NEST
Trapped in the German wireless station with a burly Prussian at the
other end of the business-looking revolver, Jack Hammond was
completely at the mercy of his captor. For a moment the American
lad debated in his mind the advisability of knocking the weapon out
of the hand of the German; but he noted the forefinger firmly
pressed on the trigger and knew full well the least show of resistance
would take him out of life altogether.
"Where come you from?" asked the German in his best and gruffest English.
Jack declined to answer, but instead sat staring insolently at the
towering figure. His reply was a shrug of the shoulders.
From the wireless operator on the floor came a low moan as he slowly
regained consciousness. The fellow had been merely stunned. Now
he rolled over and struggled into a sitting posture.
The two Germans conversed together for a few minutes in their own
language. Jack, who had studied German at Brighton before the war,
was able to gather from their conversation that the wireless operator
was telling his companion of the surprise attack. Soon the wireless
man was able to get upon his feet and as he did so glowered at Jack
as though he would like to leap upon him.
Again they tried to question him; but he refused to answer their
questions. This only angered them the more. The wireless operator
shuffled over to a closet in the corner and returned in a moment with
a coil of rope which he handed to his superior, who was apparently the
officer of the guard.
"Sit down in that chair," commanded the German officer.
At that he thrust a revolver under Jack's ear and motioned with his
other arm for the American to wheel around facing the wireless with
his back to the door. Securely they bound him to the chair. His
arms and legs were pinioned so tightly that the rope cut into his
flesh. One of them now withdrew from the room and the other remained
on guard at the door. Every once in a while the German officer on
guard walked over to Jack and glared at him with a fiendish sort of
grin; kicking at the boy's bound legs and brandishing his revolver
in a menacing fashion.
"B-z-z-z-z," the wireless began to talk. But not for long, for the
German on guard, who apparently knew little about the operation of
the wireless apparatus, scurried over to the table and, after
fumbling about for a moment madly and in haste, succeeded eventually
in shutting off the key and stopping the flow of words that had
been filtering in over the wires. But not before Jack, alert to the
message in code that he had heard, was able to translate in part.
As near as Jack could make out it was the U.S. destroyer _Farragut_
speaking a United States battleship in the North Sea at something
like seventy-five miles away. But now the wireless was stopped and
the lad sat helplessly in the power of the enemy.
After about twenty minutes' wait Jack heard the sound of approaching
footsteps outside and the clink of accoutrements that denoted the
approach of an armed body of some sort. The sentry at the door came
to attention and saluted the leader of a file of some ten men who
halted and set their guns down with a thud that Jack could plainly
hear in the wireless station. There was a short exchange of words
at the door and then the commander of the detail stalked over and
took a look at the prisoner. Jack looked up to see before him a
brawny German in the uniform of a lieutenant of the Imperial German
Navy.
"Who are you?" the officer demanded.
Jack shook his head in reply.
"How did you get here?" came the command more sharply.
Still Jack kept silence.
"Search him!" ordered the officer, and after a search that revealed
nothing, he added in German:
"Take him away---we'll go into his record later. He's only a boy anyhow,
and boy spies are not worth bothering about in this man's war."
Jack was marched off to the canal bank and, following the towpath for
a time, the party reached a small fishing village of not more than
thirty or forty huts built upon the banks of a stream that Jack
realized immediately was the same waterway up which he had made his
way to the wireless station. Now he was a mile or more inland from
the lagoon and the seacoast.
In the water, moored alongside a wharf, was a huge submarine---one of
the latest type of U-boat. This, no doubt, was its hiding place and
the rendezvous of other U-boats. Like a flash it occurred to the
American boy that he had penetrated, or rather had been escorted, into
the heart of one of the submarine bases.
"If I ever get out of this mess," he resolved to himself, "I'll put
Uncle Sam wise to this rat hole."
Down into the village he was led and directly to the headquarters of
the base officer. The party paused before a cottage that once had
been the happy home of a Belgian fisherman. The German lieutenant
tapped him on the shoulder and motioned for him to follow. In a
moment Jack was ushered into the presence of a corpulent German
naval captain with sleepy eyes, who looked without interest at the
youthful prisoner and yawned as he heard the story of the capture.
"Shoot the wireless man who fell asleep," he drawled. "Lock up the
boy for the present. I'm not in the mood to cross examine a young
spy." And yawning again he waved dismissal.
Jack was conducted to an old boat house that in the days before the
war had been used by the Belgian fishermen as a repair shop for
their fishing craft. He was glad of a chance to rest. The ropes
had bound his legs and arms painfully, and his muscles ached from
the battering he had received in the sea while making his escape
from the _Dewey_. The _Dewey_! Jack thought now of his good old
ship and wondered what "Little Mack" and the rest of the boys were
doing.
Completely tired out, he climbed into a dilapidated old fishing dory
and stretched himself out in the bottom of the boat. Using a
tarpaulin for a cover, he made himself as comfortable as possible
and dozed off.
So fatigued was he that he slept soundly, unconscious of the activity
without, where the moored U-boat was being fitted for another voyage
into the North Sea.
It was several hours past noon when he was awakened by the roar of
guns, hoarse cries of men, and the stamp of feet outside his prison.
As he jumped to his feet and clambered out of the boat a shell burst
just over the fish-house, scattering a hail of metal over the flimsy
roof and tearing a jagged hole in the wall above the doorway. Running
to a window that looked out over the canal wharf, Jack saw Germans
scrambling up out of the hold of the U-boat, some of them carrying
rifles, others lugging a machine gun. The village was in wild confusion.
"Am I dreaming?" Jack asked himself incredulously, "or is the village
being attacked?"
For answer came another shell that ripped its way clean through the
frame building in which he was housed, bursting with a roar that
brought the flimsy structure crashing down upon the head of the
imprisoned boy. Blinded by the dust and splinters, he fought his
way madly through the mass of debris until he emerged clear of the
wreck. The first thing he stumbled upon was the body of the German
sentry who had been posted outside the guardhouse. He had been
struck down by a fragment of the shell and blood flowed from an
ugly wound in the head.
Jack paused only long enough to rip off the sidearms and ammunition
belt of the stricken German and then ran pell-mell across the open
space that fronted the old guardhouse to one of the village streets
up which the stream of German sailors had vanished. As he got an
unbroken view up the street and on to the higher ground that stretched
away from the village, Jack beheld a pitched battle in progress with
a skirmish line stretched out as far as the eye could carry. The
Germans had raffled to the defense of their hiding place and had
hurriedly thrown up an emplacement for their machine guns.
"Crack---crack----crack!" came the spitting of the rifles, interspersed
now and then with the louder detonation of light artillery.
Whoever they were, whether English, French, or American, Jack saw at
a glance that the village had been attacked. He thought of the U-boat
at the wharf and forthwith decided that his bit in the spectacular
drama now being staged was to prevent the escape of the craft.
Hurriedly retracing his steps, he made for the wharf, running at top
speed and drawing the revolver he had appropriated from the wounded
sentry. As he came dashing down to the wharf he discerned a German
at the quay-post endeavoring to cast off the towline.
"Drop that rope!" he commanded. The German turned, saw the approaching
boy and the menacing pistol. He threw up his hands instantly.
"Now get aboard as fast as you can," commanded Jack, pointing the way
over the gangplank, after he had relieved his captive of a brace of
revolvers. Jack followed hard on the steps of the German and once on
the deck of the U-boat, ordered the fellow below.
"Close that hatch as you go down and keep it closed," ordered Jack.
"And if there are any more below deck tell them to stay right where
they are. If anybody shows head above deck I'll blow out his brains."
Soon Jack was in command of the situation. Making sure that the
submarine was securely moored ashore, he retreated again to the
deck of the U-boat, drawing after him the heavy plank that had been
laid down as a gangplank. The battle on the outskirts of the village
was still raging with fury. Shells were bursting all around the
submarine. Running to starboard, Jack took up his position directly
behind the conning tower with the steel turret between him and the
village. Crouching with a revolver in either hand, he kept sharp
watch at the closed hatches for any attempted outbreak from within.
Soon they came, pouring in wild retreat down the village street
toward the wharf, running pell-mell for the U-boat. At a glance
Jack could see the tide of battle had turned against the Germans and
they were being worsted. He resolved to stand his ground and prevent
the escape of the enemy by way of the submarine.
On they came, a dozen or more of them, heading directly for the
U-boat. The leader of the column, looking in vain for the gangplank,
called to a companion and together they attempted to swing another
timber into position. Leaning around the turret Jack took careful
aim and fired. The foremost of the pair threw up his hands and
dropped. Maddened at this unexpected turn of affairs, the infuriated
Germans began raining a hail of fire at the turret of the U-boat.
Shielding himself as best he could, Jack returned the fire, making
a special effort to keep the Germans away from the towline ashore.
As he fired again at a skulking figure, Jack felt a sting in his right
arm and at the same moment his revolver fell from his fingers and
splashed into the canal. He almost despaired of holding out longer
when with a great cheer the attacking party burst through the village
and hurled themselves upon the remnants of the Germans making their
last stand at the wharf.
Risking a glance over the top of the turret between the bases of the
periscope poles, Jack was stunned with joy to see the familiar
uniforms of the bluejackets and marines of the United States Navy!