AFLOAT WITH THE NAVAL MILITIA.
As a rule boys seem to recover from seasickness much sooner than older
people. While several of the scouts still looked a bit “peaked,” and
seemed to have only a shadow of their former appetite on the first
morning out, Hugh knew they were coming around bravely. Before that day
ended they would be all right, having adjusted themselves to the motion
of the vessel.
With such a delightful experience before them, it would have been
strange indeed if any fellow could have allowed himself to be chained
down by such a small thing. And a determination to overcome the
distressing malady is after all half the battle.
The _Vixen_ was heading almost due north. It was no part of the
commander’s plan of campaign to go very far out of sight of land at any
time. The annual practice of the naval militia is only entered into with
the idea of giving the boys a certain amount of familiarity with
handling a war vessel and all that this implies.
Uncle Sam does not expect to man all his battleships, cruisers, torpedo
boats and other fighting craft in the piping times of peace. It would be
altogether unnecessary and at the same time very expensive. From time to
time some of these grim vessels of war are laid up in the various
Government yards, either undergoing repairs or just standing idle.
At such times their former crews are distributed around on other boats,
or else discharged, the time of the enlistment of the men having
expired. In case a sudden need should arise for manning these idle
craft, the services of the Naval Reserve would become very valuable.
Uncle Sam recognizes this fact, and in gratitude to the young men who
form the main part of the reserve corps, extends every facility possible
toward making their several weeks’ practice afloat of real benefit.
On the _Vixen_ they took almost sole charge, and with a few seasoned
officers to superintend things, pursued a systematic course of drill
that would enable them to man a cruiser or a torpedo boat during war
times with the skill of regulars.
Besides this they showed the utmost enthusiasm in their work that was
most promising. Their time being so short, and all these things so new
and novel, the practice took on the atmosphere of a holiday rather than
a working period. Perhaps had they been compelled to look forward to
three long years of the same sort of thing, they might not have enjoyed
it half so well.
As that first day wore on some of the scouts began to show signs of
disappointment. There seemed to be next to nothing that they could do
aboard but watch the drills of the Reserve men; and to boys that soon
becomes tiresome since they aspire to have a hand in whatever is going
on.
It is true that they learned many valuable things connected with the
working of a war vessel, all of which would remain pleasant memories
long after this cruise had become a thing of the past. The clever way in
which the crew was piped to quarters as an enemy’s vessel was supposed
to be sighted ahead, being really a floating target previously arranged
and anchored, was thrilling in the extreme. And then, as the guns with
which the _Vixen_ was armed began to thunder, with the water flying up
like a big geyser whenever the shot struck alongside the wooden
target—would they ever forget how it made their ears ring for hours!
Since the percentage of “hits” turned out to be larger than ever before
in a given number of shots, everybody aboard was in fine humor. Only
some of the scouts pulled long faces, because they did not have a share
in the grand work.
Hugh had been talking with the commander, however, for whom he conceived
a great liking, and was in a position to cheer up the drooping spirits
of these grumblers, of whom Alec Sands and Billy Worth were the chief
offenders.
The scout master managed to get all of the fellows forward where they
would not be in the way. At the time they were within plain sight of the
coast, and the sea happened to be fairly smooth so that even the sickest
of the scouts had become himself again.
“You fellows must stop looking as though you felt sorry you’d come,”
Hugh told them. “Just see what we’ve learned already, and there are
heaps of other things on the program that we’ve read all about, never
thinking we’d have a chance to see with our own eyes how they were done.
Just feel that salty air, will you? It makes me sniff right along, as if
I couldn’t get enough of it. Now I know what ails the lot of you; and
let me say right here that in good time we’re going to have our share in
this war game!”
“Bully for you, Hugh!” exclaimed Billy, forgetting the respect due to
the assistant scout master, which lack, however, went unnoticed in the
general eagerness to learn what Hugh meant.
“You’ve had chances to pick up information,” remarked Alec, in an
aggrieved tone, as though he could not get over being jealous of Hugh’s
having been placed in the high position he occupied, “that none of the
rest of us could command. I’ve seen you chatting time and again with the
captain of the crew in charge here.”
“That’s where I got my information,” replied the other smilingly. “You
see, Captain Conrad had met our friend, Professor Perkins, and I guess
he told him a lot about what the scouts have done in the past, for he
mentioned several things, and asked me a lot of questions about how they
really happened. To-morrow’s program, if the weather permits, covers
several maneuvers, the principal one of which is torpedo-launching
practice. You know they have two tubes arranged for that very purpose
aboard the _Vixen_, though as a rule scout cruisers don’t go in much for
that sort of thing, depending on their speed to work damage, and
surprise the enemy.”
“Torpedo practice, hey?” cried Billy, always having something to say.
“That’s a thing I always wanted to see done, and I’ll be tickled half to
death to get the chance right now.”
“But what part do we take in the game, Mr. Scout Master?” asked Alec
with just the slightest sneer in his voice as he pronounced the title.
He had long ago convinced himself that the boys had made a great mistake
when they selected Hugh to that high office and that his own general
knowledge of scoutcraft should have entitled him to holding it, instead.
“Yes,” added Monkey Stallings, “do we play the part of the torpedo, or
the whale that we used to sing about, you remember in ‘Pinafore’? I
don’t care who acts as the big fish so long as I’m allowed to be the
shooting stick that gallops through the water and rams things in its
way. You want to give Captain Conrad a hint that I’d make the finest
torpedo in the bunch.”
“I guess that’s right, Monkey,” laughed Don Miller, who thought the new
recruit as comical a specimen as he had ever met, and was never tired of
being amused by his remarks and antics. “If they chucked you into a
torpedo tube and shot you out headed for a hostile ship there’d sure be
something doing right away. You’d beat any old torpedo that ever wiggled
its way under water. But we can’t spare you, Monkey. We need you to keep
the blues away, don’t we, fellows?”
“So say we all of us!” declared Sam Winter. “But, Hugh, you haven’t told
us if we’re going to have any part in the torpedo-launching practice?”
“Nothing to count for much, I’m sorry to say,” replied the leader. “The
boats are sent out to recover the torpedo that has been shot and some of
us may be allowed to go along. Our time comes on the third day!”
“That sounds more like it, Chief!” exclaimed Billy gleefully. “Please
let us know what the program calls for then.”
“You know,” said Hugh, “that the Coast Artillery have their summer
maneuvers about this time, and it happens that some of the boys are
occupying a certain fort not more than fifty miles away from here,
practicing firing at a target away out on the water with some of the big
coast defense disappearing guns of a modern make.”
“Oh! I begin to smell a rat!” Blake Merton exclaimed, his face lighting
up with sudden enthusiasm and hope.
“Well, it has been arranged as a part of the practice for both arms of
the Government service that the Naval Reservists try to take the fort by
surprise. Of course the defenders will be on the watch every minute, and
it is a part of the game that if those aboard the _Vixen_ manage to get
within a certain distance unobserved, after making a landing under cover
of darkness, they will be credited with a victory; while the Coast
Battery must be given a black mark. Well, that’s where the commander
gave me to understand the scouts might be used to good advantage!”
“Go on and tell us some more, Chief! You’ve got the whole bunch worked
up to fever pitch right now!” urged Billy.
“Are we to be detailed to take the fort by creeping up in the dark?”
questioned Walter Osborne, plainly very much excited at the idea of such
a thrilling episode. If successful, it would go down in history as a
gallant deed, and perhaps engrave their names on the scroll of fame
alongside that of Paul Revere, he thought.
“Remember that I’m a champion crawler!” admonished Monkey, who evidently
did not believe in keeping his light hidden under a bushel and felt that
no one could blow his horn so well as himself.
“The plans have not all been worked out yet,” Hugh told them, “but from
certain things the captain let fall, I’m of the opinion the scouts will
be set ashore at some secret cove with instructions to make their way up
the beach unobserved until they can spy on the fort. After that I reckon
it’s up to them to have a series of posts, so that they can send the
news flashing down the line. The scout who is furthest south can relay
it aboard where one of our number will be waiting to take the messages.
In that way you see it will be all scout work from beginning to end. If
only the fellows at the head can find out the weak points of the defense
of the fort, the Naval Reserve men can capture the place as easy as you
please.”
“It sounds like the boss scheme, Chief,” Billy admitted. “And please
don’t pick me out to stay aboard while the rest of you have such a
glorious time ashore, with chances of your being captured by the enemy
and put in the darkest dungeon under the magazine of the fort.”
“You forget that the one who does have to stay will occupy a post of
honor,” Hugh told him. “The receiving of the messages will depend on the
able way he takes them, whether by heliograph or wigwag work. And
besides, a scout always stands ready to do his duty, however
disagreeable it may seem.”
“Oh! I reckon I’d look at it that way if I _had_ to,” admitted Billy,
“but I only hope I’m lucky enough to be one of the shore party, that’s
all.”
“Now, if only Arthur were along,” said Don Miller. “He might get up some
kind of a scheme to work his wireless on this job. We’ve got the
fixtures right on board here,” and as he spoke he glanced upward to
where the delicate antennae of the naval outfit could be seen strung
like spiders’ web tracery between the wireless masts of the _Vixen_.
“I don’t believe that would answer,” said Hugh. “There’d be too much
chance of the enemy discovering our tall masts. The relay system is
better all around. Besides it gives us scouts an opening to show what we
can do. When the full plans are worked out I’ll be in a position to tell
you more. By then, too, I’ll have decided just what part each scout is
to have in the game. And now let’s go aft to see what’s the next thing
on the program for to-day.”
“I’m a-hopin’ it’ll be that sweet bugle call,” sighed Billy as he rubbed
a hand over his stomach. “Beats all how keen this salt air makes a
fellow. Seems like I could begin one meal where the other left off. A
little seasickness must be a sort of tonic calculated to build up poor
appetites.”
At that remark the others broke out into a jeering laugh that indicated
that they did not believe the speaker could be so afflicted.