Ralph Henry Barbour

“ Seven bells had struck some time ago, when Nelson was midway between sleeping and waking, and now it was close on midnight. From across the passage came the deep snores of Mr. Cupples. The mate was a vigorous, hearty man even when he slumbered. In the dimly lighted captain’s cabin Pickles, having vanquished his adversary, sighed and stretched his long legs into new positions, without waking, and the boy above, dreaming, too, doubtless, muttered faintly in his sleep. ”

“ Nelson knew without seeing that a destroyer had dashed past them astern. The rudder chains were groaning, and from the engine rooms came a louder hum [248] and clatter. Sleep was gone now, and he hurried to his station. Shells were already coming up, and as Nelson fell in the command of “Stations!” was given. Through the port, as he sprang to the training wheel, lay a segment of choppy, drab ocean across which a gray destroyer was hurtling with clouds of oily smoke whirling back from her four stacks. A leaden sky was overhead and a sea-mist hung like a curtain a few miles away. ”

“ The submarine wallowed and plunged and quivered. The sudden change from silence to pandemonium was nerve-shattering and appalling. Nelson could hear the seas thunder down on the steel deck and rush off, leaving the submarine staggering. The air already reeked of oil. The first officer hurried up the ladder to the conning tower, followed by a seaman. The captain, who had been peering into the eye-piece of the periscope, swinging it to all points of the compass, turned away. ”

“ Although they could see nothing, their imaginations pictured the busy scene below: men, perhaps a half-dozen all told, bearing burdens from boat to shore, splashing through the ripples, grinding over the shingle, disappearing somewhere beneath, perhaps into a cave. The old tales of smuggling in the British Isles returned to memory and they had visions of a great, high cavern running back from the edge of the beach, a cavern piled with mysterious boxes and bales. ”

“ Once during the forenoon the sun had peered out for a brief moment from behind the wrack of leaden clouds, but now the world visible from the Q-4 was gray and somber slatey-green. The other ships were not in sight, for each had fought the gale in its own way and set its own course, but the wireless had picked up one of the destroyers the night before. She had had her bow bent by a sea and lost a funnel, but was keeping on about sixty miles north. Later the Q-4 got into communication with the flagship and with two submarines. ”

“ Amidship on the starboard side there was confused shouting and the squeak of tackle where a boat was being lowered. Nelson hurried toward it just as with a whine, a third shell passed the stern.
There were but four men at the boat. One was Mr. Cupples, the mate, and one was Leo. The other two were sailors whom the boy didn’t identify until later. He caught Mr. Cupples’ arm.
“Where’s dad?” he cried anxiously.
“Lower away! What? Is that you, Nelson? Are you hurt?”
“No, sir. Where’s father, sir?” ”

“ It was a tiny boat, no larger than a yacht’s tender. In the bottom of it were five forms, three sailors and two officers. At first glance life seemed to have departed from all of them, but as they were lifted out two showed consciousness. Quickly they were raised aboard and carried to the hospital: an elderly officer whose salt-stained uniform showed him to be a British Naval Reserve lieutenant, a younger man with the insignia of a midshipman and three sailors. Something in the appearance of the younger officer stirred Nelson’s memory and he thrust himself through the throng for a closer look. ”

“ Nelson’s fright gave way to a swift flood of anger, and as he hastened on deck, he trembled with the tempest of his wrath.
Even in the moonlit darkness the little schooner presented a pitiable sight. She was already far down at the head. Her foremast was broken short off and the great foresail shrouded the deck and dragged over the side. The first shell from [11] the unseen enemy had entered the hull aft the galley and just above the water-line and the succeeding explosion had opened the seams wide and piled the fore part of the ship with destruction. ”

“ Excitement was always just over the horizon, but seldom appeared to cheer the monotony. Only once was the Gyandotte engaged with a U-boat, and that was a long-distance affair that netted nothing save disappointment. The German submarine was not anxious for battle and, after firing four shells wide of the mark, quickly submerged. The Gyandotte’s fire was no more deadly than the U-boat’s, nor did the depth bombs which were later dropped from the cruiser succeed any better than the shells. ”

“ The ensign shook his head.
“I don’t think it is exactly revenge I want,” replied Nelson thoughtfully. “Killing a thousand Germans wouldn’t bring dad back, if he’s really—gone, but things like that aren’t right, sir, and I’d like to do my share in stopping them. No nation should be allowed to act like a pirate, to attack neutral ships on the high seas and murder [23] defenseless men. But of course you can’t teach nations of that sort by just talking to them; you’ve got to hurt them first. That, as I figure it, is why we’ve gone into this war, sir. ”

“ As Nelson observed him he spoke to the ensign.
“What you find there will be of no use to you,” he said. “If you seek to prove us guilty of anything unlawful, sir, you are doomed to disappointment.” He spoke in very precise English which might well have deceived his hearer until the latter had viewed the typically German countenance with its rather small gray eyes under heavy brows, its somewhat aquiline nose, high cheeks, carefully waxed mustaches and general expression of arrogance.
“We will let others decide that,” replied the ensign coldly. ”

“ In the ten days that the Wanderer had been on duty most of its occupants had come into nicknames, or had brought them with them, and this boy was known as “Chatty.” It was Cochran, GM2C, who had labeled him the first night at sea when, clustered in the tiny forward cabin that served as forecastle, those off watch had proceeded to get acquainted. The boy, a second class seaman, had had so little to say that the gunner’s mate had finally turned on him with a sarcastic: “Say, Jack, you’re a chatty guy, aren’t you? Come across with a few words, just to show there’s no hard feeling!” ”

“ That was a fine sight to Nelson. Leaning from the Gyandotte’s Number Four gun port, he waved back, and cheered a little, too, but was rather too chokey to make much noise. Lewis, first shellman, who leaned at Nelson’s elbow, didn’t try to shout. He just grinned all the time, and blinked his eyes, and kept muttering, over and over: “They’re the boys to do it! Good old kids from the U. S. A.!” Nelson wondered at the tier on tier of faces, blurred by distance, that looked down from the many decks of the big liners. ”

“ Why don’t you telegraph your folks to come half-way and meet you?”
Their dreams of the gayety of New York were doomed, however, to a sad awakening. When the morning watch went on at four the Wanderer was swinging at anchor in a choppy sea with nothing in sight in the gray darkness but a stretch of ghostly breakers a half-mile to the west. As the light grew a beach became visible beyond the surf and, finally, a low island stretched before them. Nelson, coming on deck at eight, viewed it curiously. ”

“ Officers must learn to know each other and their men, and the men, in the same way, must learn to know their officers and each other. Every soul on board has a particular and personal duty, or set of duties, to perform. When a member of the crew goes aboard he receives his station billet which tells him his rating, his watch number, his part of the ship, his mess, his boat and his station at quarters and fire quarters. He finds himself immediately under the authority of a leader who is, in turn, subordinate to a higher authority. ”

“ A ladder led upward to the conning tower above and a bench ran along one side, but for the rest the furnishings of the central station were all mechanical. Dials, valves, gyroscope compass, manifolds, steering and diving wheels, depth gauges, levers, clinometer for determining the boat’s inclination, motor controllers, engine room telegraph, navigating lights, voice pipes and other things were indicated by Martin. Here was the brain of the craft. Every activity was controlled from this white-walled, light-flooded chamber and from it wires and pipes led forward and aft like nerves. ”

“ In the lead were the two destroyers, while along the flanks were the four cruisers. Two other destroyers plunged along behind. So they steamed until darkness, when, obeying the good night instructions of the flagship, the convoys quartered off toward the rim of the world and the liners increased their intervals. But in the morning the destroyers came scampering back and the cruisers closed in again. That was a blustery, pitch-and-toss day, and Nelson, gazing across after gun drill, felt a bit sorry for those landsmen cooped up on the rolling top-heavy troopships. ”

“ Those destroyers were new at the game and filled with enthusiasm, and half a dozen times that day [210] the sharp bark of three-inch or four-inch guns added to the joy of life. When it wasn’t inanimate wreckage that made a lookout gasp and shout incoherently it was a porpoise. A porpoise appearing suddenly near the bow suggests just one thing in the world, and it isn’t “Porpoise!” It’s “Torpedo!” The Gyandotte was theoretically blown to bits at least five times that day by playful porpoises! ”

“ If you’ve lived in St. Louis you ought to know an American soldier when you see one.”
The other shook his head. “I never saw any when I was there. Well, I guess this war won’t last much longer, eh?”
“I hope not.”
“So do I. I’ve had three years of it.”
“How long have you been a prisoner?” asked Nelson.
“Four months. It’s better than fighting.” He grinned and winked. “There was an American in the prison camp where I was guard last Winter who used to say the United States would be in the war this Summer, but I didn’t believe him. He was a sailor, like you, but not in the Navy. ”

“ But there was a general feeling throughout the ship that the Benton’s encounter with the raider had been rather nearer at hand than that and that somewhere this side of Bermuda, toward which the cruiser was scouting, there would be something doing. Foretop and maintop lookout kept a sharp watch that day, but night closed down over a [89] tumbling sea without reward. In the wireless house the blue sparks sizzled and spat busily, and rumors flew about above deck and below incessantly. But Nelson, like many others, turned in that night a prey to disappointment. ”

“ The ensign’s head moved again and finally he walked away from them, step by step, still gazing upward. Nelson, for one, was fairly consumed by curiosity and would have remained so several moments longer had not his wandering gaze surprised Lanky Staples in the act of forming the word “wireless” with his lips. Then Nelson understood and peered eagerly into the topmost branches and, after an instant, saw what the officer had seen. Once detected the apparatus was startlingly evident. Twenty paces away from where Nelson stood, a twenty-foot sapling had been lashed to one of the taller trees. ”

“ Nelson lent a hand and the canvas covering was drawn back over the gun and laced tight. Staples wiped his hands thoughtfully on a bunch of waste. “Know what I’d rather have happen than a plate of beans and a quart of coffee, Chatty?” he asked, gazing westward over the plunging bow. Nelson didn’t and said so. “Well, I’d rather see a U-boat come up right over where that gull’s dipping. That’s my rather.”
“You’re likely to see it,” laughed Nelson.
“Why shouldn’t I?” demanded the other. “What’s the use of us fellers kiting around here if there’s never going to be any fun? ”

“ More than once on that voyage Nelson’s thoughts had dwelt on the events of that tragic night, now almost eleven months ago when the Jonas Clinton had met her fate and he had last seen his father. Doubtless the Gyandotte, since leaving Queenstown, had passed within a hundred miles of the spot, and for all he knew some of the wreckage they had sighted might have been from the schooner. Wind and current play strange tricks with flotsam. ”

“ A few points off the starboard bow Handkerchief Light Ship swayed her stumpy poles and marked the southern limit of the four mile shoal. Beyond, the sandy shore of Cape Cod glistened in the sunlight, and to port Nantucket Island came abreast.
The Wanderer was but ninety-six feet over all and was built with the slender proportions of a cigar. Barely more than a month ago she had been a private cruising yacht, but a fortnight in a [15] Boston basin had changed her appearance greatly. Now she was the color of tarnished pewter from stem to stern, from keel to tip of signal pole. ”

“ As nearly as possible the men of a division are kept together in the ship’s routine and as close to their battle stations as may be practicable. Each division is divided into four sections for duties, for keeping watch and for liberty, which is navy parlance for shore leave.
Perfect discipline is the foundation upon which the organization is built, and the recruit must learn discipline and subordination to authority first of all. But he must learn those things without losing his self-reliance, for he will be constantly called on to act on his own responsibility. ”

“ Nelson couldn’t help reflecting that the shell that had wrecked Number One gun might just as easily have chosen Number Four, in which case it was probable that he would have been lying quiet under a tarpaulin or groaning in the sick bay at this moment. But he didn’t let his thoughts dwell overmuch on that subject. Life was a thing one risked when one joined the country’s forces in time of war, and whether one was to die or come safely through was up to the Great Commander.
At Norfolk the Gyandotte underwent repairs and lay in the harbor four days with steam up. ”

“ Heligoland was a word to conjure with, and Nelson peered into a typical North Sea mist as though he meant to penetrate to the distant rock by sheer force of will.
“I bet you it makes England sick,” remarked Garey, when Nelson mentioned the German naval base. “She swapped that rock for something, I forgot what, and I guess she wishes now she’d kept it, all right. Gee, it’s a cinch for Germany! They say she spent fifty million dollars on it, making fortifications and so on. I’ll bet Gibraltar hasn’t a thing on Heligoland nowadays. Hundreds of eleven-inch guns they’ve got there, they say. ”

“ There was a softness in the air that was new to Nelson, a mildness that seemed to presage the southern latitudes toward which the little gray cruiser was plowing her way.
So far, in spite of the fact that he had been aboard three days, Nelson had made few acquaintances and no friends. This, however, need not be wondered at, for it was almost equally true of all others on the ship. It requires more than three days for officers and men to find themselves and to get shaken down. ”

“ Nelson’s appetite was fifty per cent better than at noon. They had “submarine turkey” for supper, a viand better known to Nelson as canned salmon, and bread and butter and apple-sauce—also canned—and enough coffee to float the boat. The big coffee urn was always simmering and always on tap, and the amount of the beverage that was consumed during twenty-four hours aboard the Q-4 was awe-inspiring. Some of the men seldom passed the galley that they didn’t stop and pour a cupful of it down their throats. And, or so Nelson thought, it wasn’t awfully good coffee at that! ”