The Submarine Boys" Lightning Cruise.
by Victor G. Durham.
CHAPTER I
WHY THE "DANGER" SIGN WAS UP
"Danger!"
That sign might have been over an air-hole in the ice; or it might have been near rapidly moving shafting and belting in a factory.
As a matter of fact, the letters, white against the red paint on the door of the shed, meant danger in the most terrible form. It was the sort of danger, which, defied too far, would send one traveling skyward.
The shed stood in a lonely corner of the big Farnum shipbuilding yards at Dunhaven. Now, it was the Farnum yard in which the Pollard submarine boats were built, and this shed contained some two dozen Whitehead submarine torpedoes, each with its fearful load of two hundred pounds of that dread high explosive, guncotton.
It was in the month of February, and the day, at this seacoast point, was cold and bl.u.s.tery, when two boys of seventeen, each in natty blue uniforms and caps resembling those worn by naval officers, crossed the yard toward the shed. Over their uniforms both boys wore heavy, padded blue ulsters, also of naval pattern.
"Danger?" laughed young Captain Jack Benson, stopping before the door and fumbling for the key. "Well, I should say so!"
"Something like two tons and a half of guncotton in this old shed,"
smiled Hal Hastings. "That"s not mentioning some other high explosives."
"It"s this gun-cotton that begins to make our calling in life look like a really dangerous one," muttered Jack, as he produced the key and fitted it into the lock.
"Once upon a time," murmured Hal, "we thought there was sufficient danger, just in going out on the ocean in a submarine torpedo craft, and diving below the surface."
"Yet we found that submarine travel wasn"t really dangerous," pursued Captain Jack. "Really, riding around in a submarine craft seems as safe, and twice as pleasant, as cruising in any other kind of yacht."
"After we"ve gotten more used to having hundreds of pounds of gun-cotton on board," smiled Hal, "I don"t suppose we"ll ever think of the danger in that stuff, either."
Jack unlocked the door, swinging it open. Then both young men pa.s.sed inside the red shed.
It needed hardly more than a glance, from an observing person, to make certain that neither boy was likely to be much bothered by any ordinary form of danger.
For a number of months, now, Jack Benson and Hal Hastings had lived all but continually aboard submarine torpedo boats. They had operated such craft, when awake, and had dreamed of doing it when asleep. Being youths of intense natures, and unusually quick to learn, they had long before qualified as experts in handling submarine craft.
They had yet, however, one thing to learn practically. It needs the deadly torpedo, fired below the water, and traveling under the surface, to make the torpedo boat the greatest of all dangers that menace the haughty battleship of a modern navy.
Now, at last, Captain Jack Benson, together with his engineer, Hal Hastings, and Eph Somers, another young member of the crew, were about to have their first practical drill with the actual torpedo. An officer of the United States Navy, especially detailed for the work, was expected hourly at Dunhaven. The three submarine boys were eager for their first taste of this work. Barely less interested were Jacob Farnum, shipbuilder, and president of the submarine company, and David Pollard, inventor of the Pollard type of submarine craft.
In this shed, placed on racks in three tiers, lay the two dozen Whitehead torpedoes with which the first work was to be done. As Jack stepped about the shed, looking to see that everything was in order, he was thinking of the exciting work soon to come.
Eph Somers was near at hand, though up in the village at that particular moment. There was a fourth member of the crew, however, named Williamson. He was a grown man, a machinist who had been long in Farnum"s employ, and who was considered a most valuable hand to have in the engine room of a submarine.
Williamson, during the preceding fortnight, had been away in the interior of the country. He had taken a midwinter vacation, and had gone to visit his mother. Now, however, the machinist knew of the work at hand, and his return was expected.
"Really," declared Jack, turning around to his chum, "Williamson ought to be here not later than to-morrow morning. He had Mr. Farnum"s letter in good season."
At this moment a heavy tread was heard on the light crust of snow outside. Then a man"s head appeared in the doorway.
"Speaking of angels!" laughed Hal.
"Williamson, I"m mighty glad to see you back," hailed Captain Jack, delightedly.
"I"m glad to be back, if there"s anything unusual going to happen,"
replied the machinist, as they shook hands all around. Then, as they fell to chatting, the machinist seated himself on a keg, the top of which was about half off, revealing, underneath, a layer of jute bagging.
"We"re going to have some great practice work," declared Hal, moving about. "We"re just waiting for that Navy man, and then we"re going out on the new submarine--the one that"s named after me, you know."
Out in the little harbor beyond rode at anchor two grim-looking little torpedo boats, each about one hundred and ten feet long. The older one was named the "Benson," after Captain Jack. But the latest one to be launched, which had had its full trial trip only some few days before, bore the name of "Hastings" after the capable young chief engineer of the Pollard boats.
Both of the boys, by this time, happened to be looking away from the machinist. Williamson, in utter unconcern, drew a pipe out of one of his pockets, filled it, and stuck the stem between his lips. Next, he struck a safety match, softly, against the side of the match-box, and lighted his pipe, drawing in great whiffs.
"Just how far does this practice go!" inquired the machinist, still sitting on the keg and smoking contentedly.
At that moment Captain Jack Benson caught, in his nostrils, the scent of burning tobacco.
In an instant a steely glitter shone in the young captain"s eyes. Firm, strong lines appeared about his mouth. All that part of the face showed white and pallid. Just a second or two later Hal Hastings also turned.
Like a flash his lower jaw dropped, as though the hinge thereof had broken.
When Captain Jack"s voice came to him it sounded low, yet hard and metallic. One would have wondered whether he had suddenly become ugly.
"Williamson," he directed, "just step outside and see if Eph is there!"
Hardly noting the unusual ring in the young commander"s voice, the machinist, still with the pipe-stem between his teeth, rose and walked out into the open. With an almost inarticulate yell Captain Jack Benson leaped after him, striking the man in the back and sending him spinning a dozen feet beyond.
Hal Hastings, too, dashed through the door way; then paused, grasping the edge of the door and shutting it with a bang.
"What on earth do you mean by knocking a fellow down like that?" demanded the machinist, angrily, leaping to his feet and wheeling about, leaving the lighted pipe on the snowcrust.
"Look at the sign on this door," ordered Hal Hastings, pointing to the big white letters.
"Danger, eh?" asked Williamson, speaking more quietly. "Well, that door was open and swung back when I came along, so I couldn"t see any warning. But what is there in the shed that"s so mighty dangerous?"
"What do you suppose is in the half-open keg that you were sitting on?"
demanded Captain Jack, rather hoa.r.s.ely.
"What!" queried the machinist, curiously.
"The head of that keg is half off," Jack continued. "Now, if any sparks from your pipe had dropped down and set the bagging afire--well, that keg is almost full of cubes of gun-cotton!"
"Whew!" gasped Williamson, beginning to look pallid himself.
"Nor is that all," Hal took up. "Of course, if you had touched off that gun-cotton in the keg, it would have sent us all through the roof. But the smaller explosion would have touched off the two tons and a half of gun-cotton in those Whitehead torpedoes. That would have laid the whole shipyard flat. In fact, after the torpedoes went up, there wouldn"t have been much left of any part of Dunhaven!"
"Gr--great Hercules!" gasped the machinist, his face now losing every vestige of color.