"Stow your bloomin" lip," ordered the sentry menacingly.
d.i.c.k complied, mentally picturing the seaman"s confusion when the ident.i.ty of the supposed prisoners was established.
In a few seconds half a dozen bluejackets, headed by a sub-lieutenant, appeared on the scene.
"What have we here, Jenkins?" asked the officer.
"Germans, sir. Strolled right on top of me bayonet."
"Good! March them in. I"ll question them when we get them on board."
"One minute," expostulated d.i.c.k.
"Eh--what"s that? You speak English," exclaimed the officer.
"Rather--I am a British officer, and so is my companion."
"Keep off it--bloomin" cheek," interposed the man who had held up the supposed Germans.
"Silence, there!" rapped out the Sub-lieutenant sternly.
d.i.c.k gave his name and rank, and that of his brother officer.
"But be sharp and take us on board," he added. "You"ll have to send an urgent message to the Admiral. It"s a matter of extreme importance."
The sense of caution was deep within the mind of the Sub in charge of the landing-party; and although he complied with d.i.c.k"s request to hasten, he took good care to have the two grey-uniformed men surrounded by armed seamen until he reached the sh.o.r.e of a creek.
Here, lying about a cable"s length off, was a submarine of the "E"
type. She was almost awash, her hatches being open, while a skeleton-like framework extended over her contour from bow to stern.
Five minutes later the rescued officers found themselves within the hull of the vessel, where they were quickly able to establish their ident.i.ty, and the Lieutenant-Commander"s face grew grave as he listened to their narrative.
"A "U" boat in these waters!" he remarked. "Well, I"m not altogether surprised. Luckily, I"m in an independent command, so we"ll see if "dog won"t eat dog". I"ll go for her, by Jove! I suppose you could recognize the creek?"
"It"s less than twenty miles sou"-east by south, I should think,"
replied d.i.c.k. "Of course I haven"t seen the place from seaward, but I think I could spot it."
"Strange!" exclaimed the Lieutenant-Commander when he had introduced himself as Aubrey Huxtable. "I cannot see any opening shown on this chart."
"It would be about there," said d.i.c.k, pointing to a position where the coast-line presented an unbroken front. "The mountains on either side are shown, so I feel fairly certain about it."
"Very good; we"ll proceed at once," declared Huxtable. "I"d send a wireless to the _Hammerer_ announcing your safety, only it would be too risky."
"Exactly what the commander of the "U" boat said," added the Sub.
"Well, after six weeks of it, a few hours more won"t hurt."
"Say thirty-six," corrected Huxtable; "that is, unless you have strong reasons for not accompanying us. We were just about to start for a jaunt up the Dardanelles; that is the reason for this gadget," and he indicated the curved latticed girder above his head.
"An idea of mine," continued the Lieutenant-Commander. "It may work all right. The armourer"s crew of the _Tremendous_ rigged it up. You can see the overhead girder. There are others--one on each side, and at present seven feet below the water-line, and at a minimum distance of eighteen feet from the hull. All three meet at a point bow and stern."
"A kind of rigid crinoline," suggested d.i.c.k.
"Precisely. The idea is that if we encounter mines these steel rods will push the cables attached to the sinkers clear of us. Also, if the Turks had laid mines in pairs connected by a horizontal bridle, as I fancy they have, these guides will lift the obstruction clear of the housed periscope or any projection on deck."
"And if the mine explodes?"
The Lieutenant-Commander shrugged his brawny shoulders.
"That remains to be seen. For my part, I fancy that a cushion of water eighteen feet between the point of explosion and the side of our craft will considerably neutralize its effect. My governor was on the staff on the _Vernon_ when they experimented with the old _Resistance_ in Portchester Creek. He told me most emphatically that a torpedo exploded electrically alongside her extended torpedo-nets did no material damage to the hull. In fact, all the damage caused by the explosion was the unshipping of one bracket of the booms and a rent in the mesh of the nets. So I"ve pinned my faith on my device, and we are going to test it. Of course, if you wish to be put aboard----"
"Not at all," protested d.i.c.k. "I"m perfectly game."
"And young Farnworth?"
"Better ask him, sir," replied Crosthwaite.
Calling the midshipman to him, the skipper briefly outlined his plans and made him a similar offer.
"Only too glad of the opportunity, sir," declared Farnworth, his eyes glistening at the prospect of a daring piece of work.
"I"m glad of it," rejoined the Lieutenant-Commander. "Having completed our fit-up, I was not keen on displaying it to the eyes of the fleet.
I"d rather wait until it has proved its merits. Well, we are ready to start. We"ll submerge to ten feet, and if you"ll stand by, Mr.
Crosthwaite, and help me to con her into this secret lair, I"ll be everlastingly grateful."
"How do you propose to attack--by gunfire or torpedo?" enquired d.i.c.k.
"Oh, torpedo, by all means. Let the Germans know that we can use the "tinfish" whenever we get something worth going for."
The crew were now at their diving-stations.
Calmly and distinctly the Lieutenant-Commander gave his orders, and with a barely perceptible tilt the submarine dived till the gauge registered the required distance.
It was still dark. Through the periscope, only the rugged outlines of the sh.o.r.e were visible. Distance has to be estimated by the apparent height of the land; while steering a compa.s.s course the submerged vessel simply groped along, with her extended periscope rising clear of the turtle-back girder and showing less than two feet above the surface.
"We ought not to be far from the spot now," remarked the skipper after an hour had elapsed. "Do you make anything of it?"
d.i.c.k, who had borrowed a razor from an obliging officer and had removed his moustache and stubbly beard, was carefully examining the image in the object-bowl of the periscope. It revealed a seemingly unbroken coast, backed by two lofty mountains, one of which was serrated on its western side.
"That"s the place," declared the Sub. "Those ridges are the terraces where we played a novel game of hide-and-seek. That hummock is where the Germans posted a sentry. The entrance is about a cable"s length to the left of it."
"Very good; we"ll close the sh.o.r.e a bit," said the Lieutenant-Commander; and signing to the quartermaster to starboard the helm till the vessel was eight points off her former course, he ordered speed to be reduced to five knots.
"It"s a lucky job there are no currents in this part," commented the skipper. "By Jove, what a hole! and I thought I knew every yard of the coast between k.u.m Kale and Smyrna."
As the British submarine approached the sh.o.r.e the narrow entrance began to show itself in the form of a gap in the cliffs, backed by the high ground surrounding the inlet. Owing to the submarine"s slow speed her periscope hardly made a ripple on the placid surface, yet officers and men were on thorns lest the German look-out would detect the phosph.o.r.escent swirl as the vertical metal tube forged gently through the water.
"Let"s hope there isn"t a bar here," muttered the skipper.