Stanley R. Matthews

“ Without paying much attention to Carl, Matt opened the locker and took out the submarine's copy of the Stars and Stripes.
"If the Sons of the Rising Sun try any of their old tactics," said Matt, "I'll make it plain that it's a ship carrying Old Glory."
"What do they care for any flag?" demanded Glennie. "Why, they're flying the Chilian flag now, and every man of them is got up in Chilian naval uniform. It's hard to tell them from the real thing, at a distance, too."
Matt ran up the ladder, gained the deck, and bent the flag to the halyards. ”

“ Matt and his guards had landed at quite a distance from the pile of timbers behind which Dick and Glennie were lying concealed. The path from the wharf led past the end of the pile, and it had not been difficult to discover that the approaching party was following the path.
The party was close, very close, as the two youths knelt near the ends of the timbers, listening to the crunch of footsteps and prepared for their reckless work.
"What's your plan?" whispered Glennie.
"Nothing but to jump out at 'em with our fists," whispered Dick. "As soon as Matt knows what's up, he'll help. ”

“ Presently Dick, followed by another Chilian armed with a harpoon that belonged on the boat, appeared in the tank room.
"Keep your offing, you loafing longshore scuttler!" cried Dick angrily as the Chilian touched him with the sharp point of the harpoon. "You're the swab I saved from the wreck, and I wish now I had let you go to the sharks. Matt, old ship, what do you think of this?"
"Never mind, Dick, what I think of it," answered Matt. "We'll get the Grampus to the top of the water; then, if they want her sunk again, you'll find there's something wrong with the ballast tanks. ”

“ Captain, may I be one of those who visit the Grampus?"
Captain Ichi shook his head.
"I am sorry," said he, "but those who put off to the submarine must have straight eyes! This Motor Matt is one of the sharpest Americans I ever had anything to do with. Slant eyes, lieutenant, would prove that we are not Chilians. Only those who have such eyes can go in the boat." ”

“ Dick, being in the lead, was the first to reach that part of the wharf nearest the Grampus. The boat, looking like a black blot on the water, was tantalizingly out of reach.
Dick whistled shrilly.
Bang! It was not another bullet, but the hatch cover being thrown open.
"Vat it iss?" came the wavering voice of Carl.
"Pull up your mud hooks and come to the wharf!" shouted Dick. "Matt's with us—and we're defying the whole town. Everybody in the place is tight at our heels." ”

“ Those who were unarmed had rushed away on the track of the captain. The one who had retained his musket, however, paused somewhere among the shadows and began to fire.
Bang!
A bullet whistled through the air close to Glennie's head.
"Cut for it!" shouted Dick. "Don't let any grass grow under you! This way, Matt."
Dick started for the wharf, pointing so as to reach it at the nearest point to the submarine. Matt and Glennie pushed after him—three fleeing streaks rushing for the water front of Punta Arenas with the clamor of alarmed soldiers awaking frantic echoes around the barracks. ”

“ Everybody at the wickiup, as we called the old division headquarters, was glad; but Healey rejoiced, Ed Peeto burned red fire, and his little dog Sport ate rattlesnakes.
There was a good bridge needed at one other point, the Peace River, a treacherous water, and Healey had told the new management that if they would give him a pneumatic caisson bridge there, he would guarantee the worst stretch on the system against tie-up disasters for a generation; and they had said go ahead; and Ed Peeto went fairly savage with responsibility and strutted around the wickiup like a Cyclops. ”

“ Clackett announced the depth as the Grampus came to a rest.
"We're forty feet from all the military and naval forces of Punta Arenas," said Glennie.
"But it's forty feet of water," added Dick, "and, even if those ashore knew where we were, it would puzzle them some to get at us."
"We're safe enough," said Matt. "In the early morning we'll rise until we show just the periscope ball and will start for the Pacific. Now that there's nothing particular for all hands to do, let's be comfortable and find out how it all happened." ”

“ Stronger than any man he was, before or since, for the work. All Brodie knew, all the Indians knew, all that a life's experience, eating, living, watching, sleeping with the big river, had taught him, that Healey knew. And when Brodie's bridge went out, Healey was ready with his new bridge for the Spider Water, which should be better than Brodie's, just as he was better than Brodie. ”

“ And lightning! I'm a Fiji if I ever saw it so sharp."
"Can you raise Cape Virgins?" queried Matt.
"I can see something off to starboard that looks as though it might be the cape."
"Well, after we once get around that we'll be in quieter waters and will submerge for the night. Keep your eyes peeled, Dick. This would be a bad time to collide with some steamer just leaving the strait."
Matt, braced on the locker, fell to examining the chart again. While he was at it, a yell of amazement and consternation came from Dick. ”

“ Just as they were abreast of the spot where the Chilian war ship was anchored, they heard a splash of oars.
"A boat's coming ashore," said Dick. "Let's draw back and watch. If the captain's in the boat we'll tackle [Pg 19] him and make him tell us something about Matt. It's no more than fair that we should be told what Matt's been arrested for."
"Quite right," agreed Glennie. "Here's a good place to wait, Ferral."
The ensign pointed to a pile of timbers close to the wharf.
"Just the place," assented Dick, and, in a few moments, they were screened from sight and watching the approaching boat. ”

“ There was nobody easy on the West End. Healey least of all, for that spring, ahead of the suns, ahead of the thaws, ahead of the waters, came a going out that unsettled the oldest calculator in the wickiup. Brodie's old friends began coming out of the up-country, out of the Spider Valley. Over the Eagle Pass and through the Peace Cañon came the Sioux in parties and camps and tribes. And Bucks stayed them and talked with them. But the Sioux did not talk, they grunted—and traveled. After Bucks Healey tried, for the braves knew him and would listen. ”

“ Matt, watching the periscope, signaled to Clackett to stop unloading the tanks just as the reflected image of the surface appeared in the mirror.
"How is everything, matey?" queried Dick through the speaking tube.
"The Salvadore is within twenty fathoms of us," replied Matt, "but everything is quiet. Full speed ahead, Gaines," he added. "We'll not come to the surface until we're several miles nearer Smyth Channel." ”

“ We've got to make good, you know, by delivering the Grampus safely at Mare Island Navy Yard."
"Well, I guess we've nothing but plain sailing ahead of us," said Dick. "You won't have to set a pattern of defiance for the rest of us again, or use our wireless apparatus to send a disguised Jap steamer around the Horn."
"When we ought to have gone around the Horn ourselves," added Matt.
"I don't agree with you there," said Glennie. "By coming through the strait you took the most dangerous passage, and it will count more as a test of the submarine's capabilities than rounding the Horn." ”

“ Presently, as the ballast tanks slowly filled, the Grampus sank until only five feet of the periscope mast was out of water. The motion of the boat was perceptibly easier, but steering by periscope was difficult. Huge waves flung themselves at the ball that capped the mast and thus sponged out the view that should have been reflected on the mirror. Only at intervals could a view above the surface be obtained.
Matt called Dick and had him lash himself at the periscope table, thus leaving Speake free to attend to the wheel.
"Keelhaul me!" muttered Dick. "It's as black as your hat all around us. ”

“ If she's not a war ship, she's not Chilian; and if she's not Chilian, she's Japanese; and if she's Japanese, she belongs to the Sons of the Rising Sun, who are trying to lay a trap for us. Here's where we have a chance to clip the dragon's claws—and we've virtually accomplished it by wireless."
Matt whirled away.
"Gaines," said he, "you and Clackett strip those wires off that tree and call Speake down from the top of the hill. Carl," he added, "you help Glennie clear these instruments out of the periscope room. ”

“ Even if the news did reach the Japs that we're in the harbor at Sandy Point, headed west, we'd still be ahead of them and their steamer. But they're so full of wily tricks they might hatch up something to make us trouble."
"I'm mighty glad they're going around the Horn, and not us," said Glennie. "You were wise when you made that change in the programme, Matt."
At that moment, Dick and Carl came dragging the leader of the escaped convicts into the periscope room. The fellow began to talk as soon as he saw Glennie. ”

“ We shall find the Grampus, and we shall prevent her from falling into the hands of the United States Government at Mare Island."
"We shall!" and a look of grim determination crossed the captain's face as he moved hurriedly toward the door.
"Banzai, Nippon!" called Kaneko.
Captain Ichi, pausing a moment, pulled a flag of his island empire from his pocket and pressed it to his lips. Just outside the door of the wireless room he met the lieutenant, repeating to him what had taken place in the "station." The lieutenant slapped his hands ecstatically. ”

“ Glennie gave the Chilians the substance of this, and their startled looks aroused Matt's surprise.
"They say," went on Glennie, repeating the spokesman's words, "that they do not want to go to Sandy Point or to any port in Chili. They want to know how far north we are going along the Pacific coast. If we are going as far as Peru they would like to travel with us."
"Dowse me!" muttered Dick. "We haven't room for them aboard. They'd only be under foot, say nothing of consuming our fresh air and making an inroad on the stores."
"Why don't they want to go to Punta Arenas?" asked Matt. ”

“ What of that?"
"Then you admit it!"
"I don't know why I shouldn't admit it," answered Matt coolly.
"Why have you a wireless machine on your boat?" went on the captain.
Matt had no intention of telling this Captain Sandoval about his trouble with the Sons of the Rising Sun.
"That is my business, Captain Sandoval," said he.
"Si, and mine, too, as you will find. Yesterday, this war ship was in Smyth Channel. Her wireless machine was out of commission and could not be used. The station at Punta Arenas kept calling for me. You answered! You replied that your boat was the Salvadore! ”

“ Matt had thrown off his coat and hat and was now taking off his shoes.
"It's our duty to do what we can," said he. "We can't leave those five men to be washed into the sea and drowned."
"No more we can't," seconded Dick, likewise beginning to peel off his extra clothing. "Watch your old periscope yourself, Speake. I wouldn't give tuppence for those fellows' chances if we don't snatch 'em off."
At that moment Carl and Glennie came rolling into the periscope room. ”

“ I hat enough oof dot oop in Cendral America."
"We all did," seconded Dick.
"We're not going to be caught in any more revolutions," declared Matt. "These Sons of the Rising Sun are giving us plenty to think about. I hadn't intended to stop at Punta Arenas, but we'll have to put in there long enough to leave these men. If they don't want to take chances in the town, we'll leave them outside. The injured man we'll take with us, and do our best to look after him. Tell them, Glennie, that that is all we can do." ”

“ Glennie put the question.
"He says," the ensign went on, "that he intends to have you and one other run the boat."
"Ah!" exclaimed Matt. "Unless we run the boat they won't be able to carry out their plans. I believe I see a chance here to do something. We can at least take the boat to the surface—and when we get her there we'll not sink her again. If we're on the surface, we may have a chance to communicate with some vessel passing through the strait. Tell him, Glennie, that there will have to be three of us given our liberty, one to run the engine, one to run the tanks, and another to steer. ”