The Brighton Boys with the Submarine Fleet Part 25

Confident of security behind the ma.s.s of mines and submarine traps spread ingeniously across the harbor entrance, devoting their attention almost solely to the artillery duel with the dreadnoughts outside, the German cruiser knew naught of the stealthy torpedo from the daring _Monitor_ until it shot suddenly forward below the surface of the water, revealed in the glare of her own searchlight. But it was too late then to avoid the deadly missile and it struck home abaft the engines and directly at the after magazine chambers. With a great roar and the upheaval of a mighty column of water the torpedo exploded against the side of the wars.h.i.+p. One carefully aimed shot from the leading American submarine had laid low a ten-thousand-ton cruiser!

"Quick, down we go!" shouted McClure to his navigating officer. The _Monitor_ shot down now out of sight, and the helm was thrown hard to starboard. That one shot was sufficient to apprise the Germans of the presence of submarines and McClure realized full well he would be a marked man next time he showed his periscopes above water.

It was in mid-channel that the _Monitor_ ventured to the surface again. The periscopes showed another vessel, a second line battles.h.i.+p of the pre-dreadnought type, off the starboard beam. Undaunted by the hail of lead slugs that splashed the sea all around, the _Monitor_ swerved and ran straight for the battles.h.i.+p's bows.

"This one ought to settle scores for that poor old mine sweeper!"

yelled the Yankee skipper as he sighted through the periscope gla.s.s on the wide target in front of him not more than six hundred yards away.

"Give it to 'em, Mack! Give it to 'em!" cried Jack.

Again, a torpedo leaped from the bowcap of the _Monitor_ and hurled its ton and a quarter of steel gray ma.s.s directly upon the port bow of the German craft.

As the _Monitor_ dived away again her captain beheld the battles.h.i.+p listing badly, going down by the bow at a rapid rate.

"Two strikes!" he exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Some night!" gasped Ted as he clutched the foot rail that ran up the side of the conning tower.

"And some battle!" responded Jack at his side.

With engines slowed down the _Monitor_ ran along a hundred and fifty yards and then turned her nose upward again for another stab at the German fleet. As her periscopes cleft the crest of the waves again and she emerged into the arena of activity McClure caught sight of a destroyer off the starboard bow not more than five hundred feet away.

A searchlight on the forward deck of the German vessel swept the water in front of the _Monitor_ with a long white finger of light that fell in a moment upon the eyes of the American submarine.

"A destroyer driving directly at us at full tilt with all her guns in action!" roared McClure.

At the same moment he touched off another torpedo; but, in his eagerness for another "bull's eye" the American commander had fired too soon, and the torpedo shot past the destroyer, missing the mark by ten yards.

In retaliation, the forward guns of the German craft belched forth a salvo of leaden hail that followed the path of the searchlight's rays directly upon the eyes of the _Monitor_. With unerring aim the German gunners had found their mark. A sharp crash; a roar as the water above the _Monitor's_ conning tower was converted into a boiling maelstrom, and the impact of steel against steel betokened the fact that a shot had struck home in the superstructure of the attacking sub.

"Our periscope's cutoff clean as a whistle," exclaimed McClure as he backed away from the tube through which he had been observing the approach of the enemy craft.

"Quick, lower away!" he commanded.

s.h.i.+pping ballast in all her tanks, the _Monitor_ began dropping into the depths.

"Look, look!" yelled Jack as he pointed to the steel dome roof of the conning tower.

In consternation McClure and Ted followed the extended finger to a spot in the steel cas.e.m.e.nt where a jagged hole had been torn by a fragment of the German sh.e.l.l fire and where now a thin stream of water was percolating through the crevice.

"We've got to submerge, boys; that destroyer is almost on top of us now!" cried McClure in frenzied tones. "Get down into the control chamber---hurry!" he commanded.

Ted dived down the hatch as fast as he could scramble, followed closely by Jack, who observed by now a steady stream of water pouring into the turret of the _Monitor_ and splas.h.i.+ng on clear through to the flooring of the chamber deep down into the hold.

As Jack lowered himself away into the inner chamber amids.h.i.+ps the _Monitor_ was clutched suddenly by a terrific explosion that rocked the already crippled submarine with the force of a hurricane and swamped it as though by a tidal wave. She quivered under the whip of the mighty lash of steel from above.

The German destroyer, driving full speed at the spot where they had sighted the periscopes of the American tormentor, had crossed directly over the _Monitor_ and dropped a depth bomb that had exploded nearly upon the turret of the doughty fighter!

A great gap was torn in the turret through which the sea swept in a torrent. Fighting madly for the exit hatch into the chamber below, McClure was dashed off his feet by the lurch of the smitten submarine and sprawled against the steel side of the conning tower. With the spray das.h.i.+ng in his face Jack had a fleeting glimpse of his commander, and by a superhuman effort drew himself back into the turret against the ma.s.s of water. Hurling himself forward, he groped about for his captain and found him finally on the floor of the turret. Exerting all his strength, he succeeded in hurling "Little Mack" down into the control chamber.

Blinded by the swirling water, the youth dived headlong for the opening in a mad effort to escape the flood and get below that he might shut off the crushed turret from the rest of the submarine and hold the deluge in check.

"Close the steel part.i.tion!" he yelled to Ted as he leaped for the opening.

His chum, grasping the air lever, rolled shut the heavy curtain, but in such precipitate haste that it caught Jack just above the knees and pinned him fast. There he hung head down with the water pouring in all around his body.

"Pull me through, Ted! Hurry! Pull me through!" gasped the young executive officer, as he winced in pain from the smas.h.i.+ng blow dealt his limbs by the steel part.i.tion.

Grasping his chum under the armpits, with the water splas.h.i.+ng in his face, Ted braced himself against the side of the control chamber and pulled with all his might. Inch by inch Jack's body was dragged through the aperture, Navigating Officer Binns leaping to the a.s.sistance of Ted and hauling away until finally Jack's limbs cleared the opening and the steel part.i.tion closed entirely, shutting off the volume of water above.

"Are you hurt, chum?" asked Ted.

"Yes, but don't mind me," came the reply, as Jack sprawled out with both legs hanging limp and useless. Gritting his teeth to stifle a groan, Jack drew himself up into a sitting posture. By his side lay McClure unconscious. All around them flowed water, working its way fore and aft through the submarine.

"Go aft, Ted; find out how things are in the engine room," directed the injured executive officer. "And you, Binns, make an inspection forward."

The two officers hurried to make an investigation, returning soon to report that the boat had not suffered from the depth bomb so far as could be ascertained except for the damage to the conning tower.

Jack directed that the _Monitor_ be submerged until she rested on the bottom of the channel. The vessel dropped away until it came to rest shortly with the depth dial showing one hundred and forty-two feet.

McClure, stunned by a blow on the head, sustained when he was hurled against the side of the conning tower, was carried away still unconscious to his bunk. Jack, his limbs bruised, torn and partially paralyzed, insisted upon remaining at his post of duty and directed the dressing of his wounds.

"I'll be all right in a little bit," he murmured in response to inquiries.

Ten minutes pa.s.sed, twenty and then a half hour, while the crippled submarine lay inactive with a foot of water in her hull and her commanding officers seriously injured. And then came an added horror when the electric lights throughout the vessel began slowly to fade away into darkness. Chief Engineer Blaine came hurrying into the control chamber:

"Batteries short circuited by the salt.w.a.ter!" he exclaimed in a tone of dismay.

"And that means chlorine gas," added Jack.

"Yes, we notice it already aft," said Blaine all righted.

The pungent odor of the deadly fumes swept into the control chamber as he spoke!

CHAPTER XXVI

THE STARS AND STRIPES

The salt water worked its way into the batteries of the _Monitor_ the deadly acid was generated and the gas permeated the air. Gasping for life, half the engine crew retreated forward, covering their eyes and noses to escape the asphyxiating vapor. With bloodshot eyes Chief Engineer Blaine stumbled into the control chamber.

"Impossible to stay back there longer!" he exclaimed brokenly, addressing himself to Hammond.

"Any chance of putting a bilge pump on the water?" asked Jack.

"Not a chance in the world; no man can work back there," replied the engineer.

By now the gas had increased in such volume that every man in the conning tower base was choking and coughing. The only thing to do in such an emergency was to roll shut the steel part.i.tion shutting off the engine room from the remainder of the vessel. To make matters worse the lights throughout the _Monitor_ went out, leaving the vessel in utter darkness.