OUT OF THE NET
In stolid silence the German "Herr Kommander" signaled for the conning
tower hatch to be thrown open and turned to find that Commander
McClure had taken a crouching position directly behind him in the
conning tower, a huge automatic gripped in one hand. Bonte had been
summoned from the wireless room to overhear and translate to the
American commander every word spoken by Herr Schmidt. The latter
grumbled a reply with a nod of his head.
"Remember now, if you betray us, you die instantly," cautioned McClure
as the lid of the conning tower flew open at the touch of a button
and the German thrust his head out into the early morning atmosphere.
A thin silvery mist floated over the water, and McClure, from his
position, could see the, stars twinkling above him. The German
destroyer hovered right at hand and her captain on the forward deck
was bellowing a challenge at the _Monitor_ through a megaphone.
There was a tense silence in the conning tower of the submarine during
the parley that followed.
"Don't attempt to move," said McClure to the German at his side.
In whispers, at intervals in the German dialogue, Bonte translated
to McClure the conversation of Herr Schmidt. The Teuton was telling
his fellow countrymen that it was all a mistake; that this was the
U-108 and that she had stumbled into the net by accident, having been
pulled off her course by a defect in the diving rudders.
McClure had given orders that at the first sign of betrayal the
conning tower was to be closed and the _Monitor_ submerged again
as quickly as possible. Ted stood by ready to transmit the order
to lower away. But what was the surprise of "Little Mack" to have
Herr Schmidt turn and shout down the conning tower in German:
"Send men on deck through the fore and aft hatches equipped to cut
away the cable nets!"
Cramming his revolver into his holster, Jack hurried forward while
Ted made off aft to the engine room. In another moment the forward
hatch was thrown open and three of the German seamen emerged on deck,
followed by the _Monitor's_ executive officer in German naval uniform.
At the same time Ted climbed up from the engine room on the aft deck,
followed by four of the German prisoners. In the dim light the crews
moved about their work like phantoms.
As best they could the Germans lifted the steel wires and cables and
carried them along the deck of the _Monitor_; one toward the bow,
the other toward the stern. It was tedious work and hard work, too,
for the cables were heavy and so interwoven that it was a difficult
task to move them. Ted and his crew had the hardest work because of
the fact that the netting had become entangled in the propeller blades.
Jack and his men finished first, having lifted the last steel mesh
clear of the prow of the _Monitor_, the Germans under him standing
about the deck at his command as though but taking a little air
on the deck of their own vessel After what seemed an eternity to
the submarine commander in the conning tower, Herr Schmidt announced
that the vessel was clear of the entanglements.
"Fine!" exclaimed McClure. "Now we are going away from here."
So saying, he rang the engine room ahead and the _Monitor_ began to
move off at moderate speed. At the same time there was a great
commotion on the German destroyer and a voice at the end of a megaphone
demanded in stentorian tones where the U-boat was going.
"Tell them we are going into Ostend," said McClure, as the German
officer relayed the message into the conning tower.
Now the American officers were intent upon a safe get-away. In order
to make as small a target as possible of the _Monitor_ the tail of
the sub was turned to the destroyer and in that position she glided
away into the depths. In two minutes she was submerged, only the
tips of her periscopes showing.
"They have their aft guns trained on us and are firing away as fast as
they can load and reload," said Jack as he gazed into the tube.
"Well, they'll never get us now," exclaimed McClure as the _Monitor_
took in another three hundred pounds of water ballast and dived down
out of sight of the German warship.
There was danger now of running into another net and the officers of
the sub were fully cognizant of their peril. As a precaution McClure
stopped the engines entirely and then gave orders to submerge to one
hundred feet. Slowly but steadily the vessel dropped away into the
fathoms and was soon beyond the range of guns, depth bombs or other
menacing projectiles. When at last the depth dial showed the desired
depth the _Monitor_ was headed straight out to the open sea and
started ahead at eight knots an hour.
Unmolested, but feeling her way cautiously along until well out of the
danger zone of nets and mines, the _Monitor_ moved out to sea and set
her course for the Strait of Dover.
By noon she had made excellent progress.
Not a vessel had yet been sighted, and with the freedom of the open
sea the sub was able to cruise on the surface at full speed. Several
hours later the _Monitor_ picked up H.M.S. _Chesterton_, turned over
the German prisoners, and gave warning of the intended U-boat raid
on the transports. "We sank the mother ship of the submarines,"
McClure told the _Chesterton's_ commander, "but they'll probably
get their supplies elsewhere and try to pull off the stunt."
The world was electrified next morning by the news of a great battle
between the Allied High Seas Fleet and the German submarine flotilla,
in which the Germans, outnumbered and outgeneraled, were beaten off
with the loss of several giant U-boats. The _Monitor_ played a very
important part in the engagement and had the satisfaction of sinking
one of the enemy ships by gunfire, coming up at close range right
beside the U-boat and engaging her in an old-fashioned hand-to-hand
conflict.
Several days later while cruising in the North Sea a call came to the
_Monitor_---a radiogram from the flagship of the American admiral,
summoning the sub to a rendezvous with other allied submarines for
important instructions.