CHAPTER IV.
GALLANT WORK.
The southern horizon had become almost a continuous glare of lightning.This was a help to the rescuers, otherwise the deep gloom thatprevailed would have rendered it impossible for them to do anything.The thunder rolled heavily, and this, united with the splash and roarof the sea, lent an accompaniment to the scene well calculated to trythe strongest nerves.
At times, Matt, Glennie, and Dick seemed to be adrift in the waste ofwaters with no substantial foothold under them. Rounded deck, and eventhe conning tower, were covered with the creaming waves. When they werenot completely deluged, the stinging spray was hurled into their faces,temporarily blinding them.
Glennie, however, kept his wits about him. Dick and Carl had neverliked the ensign, principally because his naval rank and his familypride seemed to have gone to his head, enlarging it. But the wayGlennie hung to the conning tower, keeping his eyes in the direction ofthe overturned boat and his hands on the steering and signaling devicesin the inner side of the tower, made a good deal of a hit with Dick.
By dexterous manoeuvring, Glennie brought the _Grampus_ to windward ofthe five men. He did not dare halt the submarine, for to try and holdher powerless in that rolling tumult would have invited disaster. Mattand Dick, understanding this, prepared to hurl their ropes as they cameclose to the other boat.
In some manner the five men had contrived to lash themselves to thekeel of their boat. They saw how gallantly the king of the motor boysand his friends were trying to rescue them, and waved their armsencouragingly. They must have shouted, too, although their voices werelost in the bedlam of sounds that surrounded them.
Matt, being forward of the conning tower, came near the overturned boatfirst. He had his weighted rope coiled in his hand, but did not cast itimmediately. He was holding back until the next wave should lift thesubmarine. At that time the five men would be in the trough, and thiswould give him a "downhill" cast.
Dick preferred not to wait. His line flew out, but was caught by thefierce wind and twisted from the hands that were stretched to grasp it.
The next moment the _Grampus_ was lifted high, and Matt swung thewrench. The rope uncoiled in his hand, was caught by one of the men onthe forward part of the wreck, and there was a cable stretched betweenthe two boats. But what happened during the next minute was hardlyexpected.
As the submarine poised on the crest of the wave, her propeller was outof the water, and racing; then, as the wave rushed on, the _Grampus_fell away in the trough, rolling her deck plates under. The wreck waslifted, and the pull of the line and the motion of the sea threw itover almost on top of the submarine.
The wooden hulk struck the iron plates a tremendous blow. All three ofthe boys had a narrow escape. Had the _Grampus_ delayed two seconds intaking the windward roll, they would have been crushed under the impactof the two grinding hulls.
The submarine, however, righted just in the nick of time. Two of themen on the wreck were thrown off. Glennie managed to catch one of them,and Dick laid hold of the other.
This left three still on the boat's bottom, with only Matt to deal withthe situation. Quick to think, the king of the motor boys flung thesecond of the two ropes he had brought with him. It was caught, and twoof the men fastened themselves to it. The other man had already lashedthe first line about his waist.
As the _Grampus_ plowed her way onward, placing a rapidly wideningdistance between herself and the wreck, the three men flung themselvesinto the water.
Glennie, although busy with his steering, with his signals to theengine room, and with his work of holding the man he had grabbed fromthe wreck, contrived to let Carl and Speake know that they were to haulin on Matt's two lines.
While those in the periscope room were engaged in this, Glennie waspassing his man down the hatch, and Dick was getting the other oneforward.
By the time Dick's man had followed Glennie's, Carl and Speake haddragged the other three close to the submarine. A wave threw them withcrushing force against the plates. One was rendered unconscious--Mattcould not tell, in the lightning glare, but that he was killed. As hislimp body slipped downward over the rounded deck plates, Matt jumpedfor it, and wrapped it in his arms.
A smother of water engulfed the _Grampus_. When she shook herself free,Glennie and Dick had the two men on the other line, and Matt was stillclinging to the one he had rescued.
Glennie and Dick passed their half-drowned charges to the safe regionsbelow, and Dick helped Matt with the last of the five unfortunates.
In some manner, the boys could never tell just how, they succeededin getting the man below deck and in following him themselves. Matt,who was the last to leave, was so nearly fagged that he had not thestrength to close the hatch. Carl bounded up the iron ladder, got thehatch in place, and slid down again.
Matt, Dick, and Glennie, utterly exhausted, were lying on the flooramong those whom they had rescued. Water, which had entered the openhatch, was churning back and forth and splashing through scuppers intothe tank room. Clackett had set a pump to work, and was ejecting thewater as rapidly as possible.
"Were any of the port plates sprung by that collision with the wreck,Carl?" inquired Matt, rousing himself. "Did all this water come downthe hatchway?"
"Efery pit oof id, Matt," declared Carl. "Clackett looked ofer derblates, und he say dot dey vas all righdt."
"Then submerge until the periscope ball is awash," went on Matt. "Thesepoor fellows can't stand this knocking around."
The violent rolling and pitching of the boat was throwing the five menin every direction.
Carl communicated at once with Clackett, in the tank room, and the_Grampus_ was soon riding easier, some ten feet under the surface.
"We're off Cape Virgins," announced Speake, once more at the steeringwheel and with his eyes on the periscope.
Matt crawled to the locker and pulled out one of the charts. After afew moments' study of it he gave Speake the course.
"As soon as we get into Possession Bay," said Matt, "we'll be out ofthis gale. Be careful, Speake."
"It's hard to be careful, Matt, when you ain't able to see the surfacemore'n a third of the time," was the answer, "but I'll do the best Ican. I think you fellows are entitled to a little rest after what youdone on deck. Je-ru-sa-lem! but that was a plucky fight you made. Iwouldn't have given the fag end o' nothin' for your chances of savin'those fellows--and not much more for your chances o' gettin' backyourselves."
One by one the rescued men began to recover. Carl had been working overthe unconscious man, and when he opened his eyes he began to groan.
"He's hurt," announced Carl. "He vouldn't make a noise like dot oof hevasn't hurt."
"I'll see if I can tell what's the matter with him," said Glennie.
Picking his way to the man's side, he and Carl lifted him and laid himon the locker. The man's groans redoubled as he was raised.
"It's his arm," announced Glennie, after a brief examination. "There'sa fracture."
"Do you know anything about surgery?" queried Matt.
Glennie shook his head.
"Then it's up to me," said Matt, leaving the periscope chamber.
There was a chest in the torpedo room well stocked with everythingnecessary in the medicine line, also with lint, bandages, and splints.Selecting a set of splints and bandages, Matt returned to the periscoperoom.
Glennie and Carl had already stripped the water-soaked flannel shirtfrom the injured man, and Matt, Dick, and Glennie at once got busy.
It was a painful piece of work. While Glennie held the man down on thelocker by the shoulders, Dick pulled at the arm, Matt pressing hishands about the fracture so that he might know when the bones got intoplace.
The patient groaned and yelled, for the pain must have been terrific.
"There you are, Dick," said Matt suddenly. "Now hold it that way untilI get it bound up."
Adjusting the splints, Matt wound them rapidly with bandages, andpresently had the arm rigidly in th
e cast.
The work had required some time, and when it was finished, Speaketurned from the periscope table.
"Here we are in Possession Bay, Matt," said he. "The chart shows twentyfeet of water under us."
"All right," answered Matt. "Drop to the bottom, Speake, and then getbusy and make us a little hot coffee. We all feel the need of a bracer,I guess."
Clackett could be heard opening the tanks, and the downward movementof the submarine became perceptible. The motor was stopped, and ina few minutes the boat touched bottom gently and came to a rest inundisturbed waters.
Speake went below to attend to getting the supper, and Clackett andGaines, all agog with curiosity, came into the periscope room.
Matt was just preparing to give his attention to the rescued men, andto learn how they had come to be in their desperate plight. Glennie, ina few words, explained to Clackett and Gaines how the rescue had beeneffected.
Motor Matt's Defiance; or, Around the Horn Page 4
