"I guess we"re lucky, after all!" he stated presently. "We"re not taking in water, so I"m sure they didn"t do very much damage."
"It might have been more serious, though!" commented Jack.
"Maybe the shot just carried away some of the light work like railings and so on around the deck. I don"t think the shot struck the hull, or we"d have heard more racket," went on Ned.
"Let"s keep below the surface for a while. Maybe we can get away from those fellows far enough to be out of their sight while we change air.
They"re not the least bit sociable!"
"Full speed ahead, Harry!" cried Frank. "Let"s hurry on!"
"Better take it easy," cautioned Jimmie. "We may not be out of the woods yet. Let"s just go along slowly for a while."
"Aw, go on!" scorned Frank. "What"s there out here to bother?"
"Sure!" chimed in Jack. "We"re away out in the North Sea where we can find nothing but warships and sailing vessels and such!"
"Maybe we might run into the real "U-13"," countered Jimmie. "Then, what would you do if you should meet that fellow?"
"Why, put on steam and run away from him, of course!"
"All right, go ahead if you want to," submitted Jimmie unwillingly, "but I don"t think it wise. It"s taking considerable risk!"
Since the majority seemed to be in favor of more speed, the engines were again urged to greater effort. Suddenly all were startled by a cry from Jimmie. The boat swerved sharply to starboard, rolling until the deck was at an acute angle. Harry reached for the levers, prepared to stand by the engines for orders from the pilot.
Directly Jimmie rang a stop bell. The vessel came again to an even keel.
The boys were once more able to stand upright.
"What"s the matter, Jimmie?" cried Ned, as he scrambled to his feet. "Is it a whale, or did you nearly have a collision?"
"Collision is exactly the word!" declared the other. "I saw the masts of a ship standing right in our path. I got this little craft turned just in time! That"s what we get for blundering along so fast!"
"What kind of a ship is it?" asked Frank, peering from one porthole after another. "Are you sure it was the mast of a vessel?"
"Why, certainly, I am sure!" was Jimmie"s decisive answer. "Don"t I know a ship"s masts? I surely do!" the lad answered his own question.
"Let"s swing around and see what it was," proposed Frank.
"All right, turn the deflecting rudders and down we go!"
Swinging in a broad circle, the submarine was directed downward to a level equal with that of the hull of the ship, whose masts had so nearly proven disastrous to the boys. As the craft sank deeper the crew watched with a great deal of curiosity from the thick gla.s.ses over the portholes.
Carefully they studied every detail of rig.
Although the sunshine penetrated to some distance below the surface, they found that at the depth where the hull lay a semi-twilight prevailed. The upper portions of the masts had been clearly visible, but the decks lay in a haze that prevented their seeing well.
"Looks like the ship is almost new!" stated Frank.
"Possibly it has been sunk only a short time," ventured Jack.
"Can you make out what ship it is?" asked Ned.
"Wait a minute until we pa.s.s the stern again," said Frank.
"I can see it!" declared Harry in a moment. "It"s the Wanderer of Sydney!
That will be an Australian vessel!"
"And that great gap in the port side indicates that the sinking was the work of our namesake!" stated Ned. "This is another victim of the German "U-13". Probably it is only one of many!"
"No wonder the other fellows don"t seem inclined to be any too sociable!"
said Jack. "They really cannot be blamed!"
"Right you are, Jack," responded Ned. "When anyone hits at the pocketbook we"re apt to consider everybody under suspicion."
"Let"s get closer and examine the damage done by the torpedo," suggested Frank. "I"d like to observe the effects of the attack."
Shortly the misnamed "U-13" was creeping alongside the hull of the sunken vessel. Jimmie handled the wheel dexterously, ever alert for possible danger. Harry stood by the engines, ready at a moment"s notice to a.s.sist in executing any maneuver desired.
"Looks as if the whole side of the ship had been torn away," stated Ned, as the submarine crept slowly past the jagged wound.
"Those torpedoes surely are powerful," agreed Frank. "I hope everybody got away from the ship before the explosion took place."
"They probably gave the crew plenty of time to escape if this is the work of the "U-13"," commented Ned. "You say they gave the crew on your vessel ample time to get safely away?"
"Yes, but the men let themselves become panic-stricken. They lost their heads and consumed a good deal of time. Besides that, they forgot they were civilized. One of them hit me an awful clip."
"And pretty nearly left you on board to be drowned!"
"These fellows did the same thing!" announced Jack, peering out.
"Did what?" queried Ned, wondering what the other meant.
"Left a man aboard when the ship sank," stated Jack, pointing through the little port hole. "There he is, walking about!"
Clearly the boys saw a figure apparently crossing the deck.
CHAPTER XVII
ALONE AND HELPLESS
"Good night!" almost shrieked Frank. "That"s uncanny! Whoever heard of a man walking about at the bottom of the ocean?"
"Where did he come from, Jack?" asked Ned.
"I saw that figure come out of the companionway," stated Jack. "I thought I was mistaken at first, because of the dim light. I looked again as you boys were talking. Then I saw that it was the figure of a man, apparently. He seems to be carrying something in his arms!"