Not risking even the delay of a shouted order, Darrin reached for the lever of the bridge telegraph and set the jingle bells in the engine room a-clatter. His quick order threw the propellers into reverse and then full speed astern. At the same time he swung the bow around.
Had he tried to zigzag it is doubtful if he could have escaped. Had he gone straight ahead the torpedo would have hit him just below the waterline.
As it was, the missile of destruction pa.s.sed by a scant dozen feet from the "Logan"s" bow.
This was the single instant of safety for which Darrin had worked. Now, he ordered speed ahead, and swung around, sailing straight to the spot where he believed the enemy to be.
By the time he was at that spot nothing was to be seen of the undersea boat. Submerging to greater depth the wily Hun had glided away to safety.
"Now, what does that German fellow mean by holding down our record in that fashion?" Dan demanded, wrathfully. "He"s no sportsman, not to take a chance."
"He may get us yet," was Darrin"s quiet answer.
It was Lieutenant Curtin who first discovered a number of small specks away over in the eastern sky.
"They"re not clouds," said Dave, eyeing the specks through his gla.s.s, "but at the distance I can"t make out what they are."
"If they can"t turn over submarines to us, I hardly care what they are,"
muttered Dan Dalzell to himself.
With the fleet dashing forward, and the specks moving nearer, it was not long before watchful eyes behind gla.s.ses discovered just what the specks were.
"Now, we"ll see something interesting," quoth Darrin.
"They"re coming to take our glory, instead of adding to it," Dan insisted.
"What do you care who puts the Huns on old Ocean"s bed, as long as they arrive there?" Dave asked, coolly.
"Will they put any Huns there?" Dalzell inquired, doubtfully.
"If they don"t, we can still sail in and help ourselves to the best we can find," laughed Dave.
CHAPTER XIV
TEAM WORK BETWEEN SKY AND WATER
From mere specks the oncoming objects grew larger and larger, until, to the unaided eye, they stood plainly revealed as hydroairplanes.
They were British, too, and built especially for the purpose of detecting and destroying submarines. Tommy Atkins calls this type of airplane a "blimp."
From high up in the air observers are able, when the light is right, to see a submarine at a depth of about one hundred feet below the surface.
Having detected a submerged enemy craft the hydroairplane flies over it, dropping a bomb.
"That they can see a submersible at such a depth makes me wonder why the hydroairplane doesn"t take the place of the destroyer," observed Lieutenant Curtin.
"The crew of a hydroairplane can see the submarine at a greater depth under water than can a destroyer," Dave explained, "but owing to the height at which they are obliged to observe they cannot drop their bombs as accurately."
"Then the chaps yonder are not likely to be of much service to us to-day."
Coming still nearer, one of the hydroairplanes made signals which the flagship of the destroyer flotilla answered. Then through the fleet ran the signalled message:
"When possible the hydroairplanes will destroy enemy boats by bombing. A smoke bomb in the air will denote position of submarine at that moment.
Destroyer commanders will act accordingly."
"Then the British flyers yonder will fight on their own account, or scout for us, as seems best," Dave announced.
One of the great flying craft neared the position into which the "Logan"
was steaming. Suddenly she swooped a bit lower and let go an object that dropped fast, going out of sight under the water.
There was a turmoil ahead among the waves. As the destroyer moved forward those on her decks saw oil spreading over the water.
"Signal a hit, then follow the airship," Dave directed.
Moving, now, no faster than did the destroyer, the hydroairplane scurried about through the air, swooping, banking, diving and rising. At last, apparently she located another submarine. A bomb dropped, but Dave, driving his ship through the water after the explosion, found no tell-tale oil signs.
"Wide of the mark," signalled the Britisher.
Presently the hydroairplane again caught sight of the prey it was stalking. Another bomb fell, but still no hit.
"We"ll fly just over the enemy," wirelessed the hydroairplane. "At the instant you"re fairly over we"ll signal you."
"That"s the right way to hunt," declared Danny Grin, under his breath.
Acting on the suggestion Darrin steamed in until he was directly under the air craft. The signal came. Dave ordered a bomb dropped, and steamed rapidly away from the place of the coming explosion. Then he swung around, driving back at full speed.
"A hit," signalled the airship.
"Easy, when you do all the work," Darrin signalled back. "Be good enough to find us another mouthful."
By this time the cannonading on all sides had become incessant. Despite the cloudiness of the night, the day had turned out bright, in a season when bright days do not abound in these waters. On such a day, though the periscope metal is dull, the drops of water adhering to the shaft make it a fairly bright mark.
Wherever a periscope showed, the handlers of more than one gun took a chance at it. Several broad patches of oil marked the graves of Hun submersibles and their crews.
The wake made by a conning tower was sure to lead a destroyer away in pursuit of that same tower. The hydroairplanes followed many of these wakes, in nearly every instance locating the sea monsters for the destroyers.
Besides, the torpedo trails in themselves served to lead the destroyers to many an enemy craft.
"This is the right combination," Dan muttered to Lieutenant Curtin.
"Airship and destroyer combined have an advantage that puts the submersible on the run or out of commission altogether. It takes the credit away from the destroyer too."
"I don"t care where the credit goes, if the pests are sunk," Curtin answered. "If we had had these airships yesterday we wouldn"t have lost the "Castle City.""
"But the hydroairplanes do not go so far out as we were sailing yesterday," Dalzell reminded the watch officer.
"I know it, but I believe that a type could be made that would have no difficulty in crossing the ocean from sh.o.r.e to sh.o.r.e."