Richard Bonner

“ A NAVAL ENCOUNTER.
“Jack, this is glorious!”
“You may well say that, Tom. I’m enjoying myself as much as if I were on a vacation.”
At twenty-five knots an hour the White Shark was cutting along on her voyage to the south. The sea was smooth, but it rippled just enough for the brisk, salt-laden breeze to blow an occasional shower of brine over the two lads standing on the rounded back of the novel submarine craft. ”

“ Duggan’s voice held a high, angry note.
“I wish they’d all get to fighting among themselves,” thought Jack. “What’s that old saying, ‘When thieves fall out, honest men come into their own’?”
“Come, Duke, give us our money. Then you take your car—the one you brought us here in ahead of the boys—and get out.”
“Yes, the car’s hidden in the bushes yonder. Give us our money, go start your car, and then we’ll go our way and you yours. You won’t see us again.” ”

“ Tom soon reappeared with Mr. Chadwick and old Silas. Mr. Dancer would not leave the wheel of his craft even to see a naval parade under such unique conditions. Of course the periscope afforded him a limited view of the inspiring sight.
Before long the monster war dogs were plainly visible and the glasses were no longer needful. There were eight of the ships—huge, formidable craft, painted the dull gray that is Uncle Sam’s fighting color. ”

“ As the voice which had struck Jack as familiar boomed out, Blinky made a rush at Tom not unlike the other rogue’s onslaught. But Blinky was more skillful with his fists than his companion.
Tom speedily found that it was all he could do to defend himself, strive as he might with every ounce of trained strength in him. He defended his face to good purpose against a tornado-like rain of blows. Blinky could not beat down his guard there. ”

“ Before he could recover himself, Duke was darting for the gate, but with Tom clinging to him like a bulldog to a cat.
“Good for you, Tom!” shouted Jack, gathering himself together and regaining his feet.
He was about to follow Tom and the man Duke when a moan from within the shed from which Duke had darted arrested him.
“Mr. Dancer or somebody is in pain or injured,” he exclaimed. “My first duty is to him.”
Flinging a quick word of encouragement to Tom, the boy ran into the shed.
“Mr. Dancer! Mr. Dancer! Are you there?” ”

“ Mr. Dancer, in the steering section of the White Shark, had seen the accident reflected in the periscope. His mind was made up in an instant. Using the emergency appliances he had for handling the engines, he had brought the White Shark around in incredibly short time and had headed for the drowning man.
Up on deck Jack and Tom had their shoes and their coats off, ready to leap after the castaway if necessary. Mr. Chadwick had seized a life-saving buoy from its hook just inside the hatch and stood ready to hurl it. As for old Silas, he shouted:
“Hold on, mate! We’re comin’! Hold on!” ”

“ Suddenly Tom gave a yell of triumph.
“Hurray! He’s slackening speed, Jack.”
“Sure enough he is. Something’s the matter with his machine. Hit it up, Jupe.”
“Look!” cried Tom the next instant; “he’s throwing something away.”
“So he is; a bundle of papers.”
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“They’re the ones he stole! I reckon he knows we’d soon catch him if his machine broke down, and he has thrown them away to cause us to stop and pick them up. Are you going to?”
“Yes; they must be more important than capturing the man. Slow up, Jupe, we’ll pick up those papers.” ”

“ Chadwick; “come, Tom, think up one.”
“I have already thought of one,” was the reply.
“The Mister T. Jesson, I suppose,” scoffed Jack.
“No, not that, nor the J. Chadwick, either,” retorted Tom;68 “my name was White Shark, Jr.”
“Very good, indeed,” said Mr. Chadwick with a laugh, “the White Shark, Jr., it shall be.”
“Let’s hope it proves a good example to its parent,” chimed in Jack.
“Well, the child is father to the man, as they say in the copy books,” smiled Mr. Dancer, “so let’s hope that the rule will work out in the case of a submarine.”
“Oughtn’t we to christen it?” asked Tom. ”

“ At any rate, it seemed certain that if they were anywhere near the submarine they would have heard the sound of the whistle; for Jack knew that those on board that craft must be worried half distraught by the nonappearance of the young fishermen.
“I wish this old boat had been at the bottom of the sea before we ever found her,” muttered Tom disconsolately.
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“So do I. But wishing will do no good. It’s action that counts in this world.” ”

“ Then he himself was laid hold of by Duggan, while Duke aided Blinky with Tom.
The lightning was now flashing incessantly and the angry growling of the thunder was getting momentarily closer.
“They ought to thank us for getting them out of the wet,” remarked Duke with grim humor as he aided Blinky to drag Tom across the road toward the barn. As for Duggan, he easily handled Jack, tied as the lad was.
As Duggan raised him to hurl him into the barn a bright flash showed Jack that the place was a gaunt, rat-haunted old structure, half filled with hay near the door. ”

“ Jack did indeed recall now the pile of steel rails, rusted and neglected, lying piled against the factory wall. The place had appeared deserted, for153 he had given it careful scrutiny for signs of life before he and Tom produced their money and transferred it to its new abiding place. How he wished now that he had looked behind that pile of rails!
“So now that you see there is no use of trying evasion with me, I’ll have Blinky and Duggan take off your shoes and relieve you of your wealth. It’s too much coin for a young chap like you to have, anyhow.” ”

“ Chadwick.
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“That’s not the difficulty,” said Mr. Dancer quickly. “I want to make the voyage. It will give the White Shark a testing out that will try her every rivet. But there may be danger. Your young folks here——”
Jack and Tom exchanged anxious glances. Perhaps, after all, the plans that had looked so rosy were to fall through.
“I haven’t the slightest doubt after what I have seen of her that the White Shark can survive any test that may be placed upon her. The fact that I am willing to take my lads along should prove my faith in your craft.” ”

“ But if they had expected to discern a single ray of hope, they were disappointed. The fog was as dense as ever, denser, if anything. The outlook, to say the least of it, was not encouraging.
Hour after hour wore on thus. During the afternoon they ate sparingly, and took turns lying in the bottom of the boat and taking a nap.245 At last darkness shut down on them, and then they began to be really panic-stricken.
Not a sound had come to them out of the fog, and, for all they knew, they might be miles from the White Shark. The ocean was full of currents thereabouts; that, Jack knew full well. ”

“ When it leaves the side of the White Shark a catch within that ‘launching box’ engages a projection on the side of the torpedo which starts the miniature engine in the latter.”
“And the submarine gun?” asked Jack.
“Right here. Doesn’t look much like a gun, does it?”
He indicated a cylindrical object of blued, glistening steel. To be sure, its “breech” was like that of the accepted type of modern guns built to handle high explosives, but its barrel was almost square and apparently projected through the skin of the White Shark. ”

“ The colored man agreed to be with them in half an hour, and, much relieved, the boys sauntered out of the shed with Mr. Dancer to await the arrival of the auto.
They were standing in the road outside the gates of the carefully secluded workshop, when a man on a high-powered motorcycle suddenly appeared from the direction of the grade down which the runaway car had dashed. ”

“ Wonder who he can be?”
“Well, there’s his name on a name plate on that motorcycle,—Adam Duke.”
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“That’s the name that Mr. Dancer used when he came up. By the way, what do you think of Mr. Dancer, Jack?”
“A fine type of man. He is rather dreamy and impracticable, as only too many inventors are apt to be.”
“He has some wonderful features embodied in that submarine, though.”
“Indeed he has. But a submarine that won’t dive isn’t much good.”
“No more use than a motor that won’t mote,” coincided Tom with alacrity. ”

“ The engine room of the White Shark was an odd looking place. Instead of pipes and valves, wires and switches were everywhere. In the center of the metal floor26 were two powerful electric motors, and at the side of each was a dynamo which, Mr. Dancer explained, connected with the storage batteries in which electricity was stored for practically every purpose on the diving craft.
“I light, cook, and drive my engines by electricity,” explained their guide; “in fact, everything on board is done by it. Even my steering devices and aluminum diving apparatus is electrically controlled. ”

“ Suddenly, from a small tin-roofed house that nestled under the tall lighthouse, a man came running at top speed. He had seen the boat and now shouted something, pointing to the other side of the island. Jack rightly guessed that he meant that there was a harbor on that side.
Hurling spray high over her, the little boat262 dashed around the end of the islet. On the other side the sea was just as high, but a sort of reef ran out at one point, behind which natural breakwater lay the harbor of which the lighthouse keeper had tried to tell them. ”

“ Dancer ran the White Shark into what appeared to be quite dangerous proximity to the big craft. But fast as the battleships were steaming, the White Shark kept pace with them. From the bridge inquiries were showered as to the nature of the submarine and whither she was bound. To these, evasive answers were returned, as it was not deemed advisable for the destination of the submarine to be known. ”

“ The diving boat gave a sickening plunge the next instant. It seemed as if she were making an almost perpendicular dive to the depths. Those in the cabin who had rushed from the deck in the nick of time were thrown in a bruised mass at one202 end of the main cabin. As for Jupe, only a wild yell proceeded from his regions. He had no idea of what was happening.
It appeared to him that the White Shark was taking her last plunge. It seemed that way to the others, too. Huddled together, they turned white, questioning faces on each other. Not even the unconscious man was more deadly pale. ”

“ The Sea King was Mr. Chadwick’s yacht. She has already figured in one portion of the boys’ adventures, namely, those related in125 “The Boy Inventors’ Wireless Triumph.”
“Too bad; the Sea King would have made the trip in no time. Isn’t there some other way?”
“I might charter a yacht; but it is a long job sometimes to find one that suits and is ready to start at once.”
“A small craft wouldn’t do?” asked Tom.
“No. It’s coming on to the hurricane season down in those waters. In case of bad weather no small craft could ride such seas.”
Jack had been knitting his brow. ”

“ Then came the moment when everything was declared ready down to the last detail.
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“The White Shark is now as perfect as human hands can make her,” declared Mr. Dancer with—for him—a rare touch of oratory.
At five-thirty in the evening, an hour when the sun was declining to the horizon, for the time was in early fall, the last of the party that was to make the adventurous trip was on board. The group gathered on the curved upper deck consisted of the inventor himself, Mr. Chadwick, Silas Hardtack, the two boys, and Jupe. ”

“ Jack promised him; “I’ll lay the case before my father to-night.”
“Thank you very much,” was the rejoinder; “there is nothing like putting a fresh young mind to work on such problems. Often the very fact that one has devised a thing makes one blind to its defects and thus unable to remedy them.”
“I hope we shall hit on a way of solving your difficulties,” struck in Tom. “By the way, we pass a police station on our way home; do you wish us to ask them to send protection to you to-night?”
“No, I have no fear of Duke returning. ”

“ All at once a tremor, a feeling of life ran through the structure of the craft.
The novel propellers had begun their work.
Gracefully as a floating swan the White Shark moved off on her maiden trip.
“So far without a hitch,” breathed Mr. Chad84wick, “but will she dive—and if she does, will she come up again?” he added. ”

“ Chadwick, somewhat grimly, “they’re no fun, I can tell you. But, seriously speaking, I think your suggestion a good one, Jack. We could live on board the White Shark in case of serious fighting ashore, and such a craft would afford a far swifter means of reaching Cuba than any steamer.”
It was half an hour later that two excited boys and a graver, more thoughtful senior, were discussing the proposal with Mr. Dancer. Mr. Chadwick’s liberal offer for the use of the White Shark for his proposed trip had almost literally taken Mr. Dancer off his feet. ”

“ All at once, as the tiny metal chip of a White Shark rushed along by the side of the huge leviathan of naval warfare, an object clothed in white fell from the stern deck. Like a flash it darted downward.
For an instant the watchers on the deck of the195 submarine thought something had been thrown overboard from the cook’s or quartermaster’s section of the ship.
But a moment later a booming, roaring cry ran along the battleship’s crowded decks. Her steam siren shrieked like the wail of a lost soul.
“What’s the matter?” demanded Jack.
“It’s a man overboard!” cried Silas.196 “That’s what it is!” ”

“ Click! Back slid the panel. In rushed fresh air and sunlight.
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“Now, boys, remember the instructions,” was Jack’s father’s warning as they stumbled up the steel steps toward the parallelogram of air and light.
With great self-control the boys held back their enthusiasm till ordered to “cut loose.” It was the more hard to do this, as from every ship came a deep, roaring and booming of cheers for the plucky little submarine craft and her brave ship’s company.
All about lay men-o’-war boats, ordered out on a search, doubtless, and each huge battleship lay motionless. ”

“ When on the surface these spirals could be set level, but a slight tilt would drive the White Shark down toward the bed of the sea. To rise, you would simply have to reverse the process.”
Mr. Chadwick nodded thoughtfully.
“Your idea sounds by no means impossible of being put into practice,” he said after a moment’s consideration and a swift scrutiny of Jack’s rough sketch.
“We would have to test it out with a model, of course,” said Tom. ”

“ You do the pulling, though. It’s too warm for one chap to do all the work.”
“Rowing’s my middle name; give me the oars.”
“Here they are. Don’t fall overboard in changing seats. I fancy I saw a shark’s fin cruising round here.”
“Now I’ll show you how to row.”
Tom bent to the oars and pulled with a will. The small boat cut over the water merrily.
After a while Tom paused. They looked about them.
“My, Tom, we’re a long way from the White Shark,” exclaimed Jack. ”

“ The words broke from Tom’s lips with a sort of sigh.
Then came a shout from Jack.
“Hold fast, all!”
It was well that he gave the cry. That is, it89 was well for Silas and Jupe. As for the rest, they knew what to expect and had gripped fast to some handhold.
Jack glanced at the engine room indicator.
The White Shark was being driven toward the bottom of the sea at an angle of thirty-five degrees. When it is considered that a grade of twenty-five degrees is called steep, one can form some appreciation of the position of things on board. ”