"Yes, and from some not very complimentary remarks he made about me,Bill," continued Jack, "I don't think he'd be averse to doing me somemischief, if he could."
"He'd better not try." Bill doubled his fists pugnaciously.
"The trouble is, I didn't overhear enough to find out just what hislittle game is."
"That's too bad. It's a shame we didn't know his identity earlier. Wewould have earned the thanks of that English cruiser."
"We certainly would. De Garros told me that Radwig is accounted a veryclever and dangerous man. He has invented explosives and is active inthe entire German military movement."
"By the way, where is de Garros?" asked Bill.
"I don't know any more than you do. After we left him at the depot inNew York on our return from Bar Harbor, I lost sight of him. In fact,things have gone on with such a rush since then, that I haven't had timeto think of him till now. He told me, though, that he would take thefirst ship possible to France."
"Well, to get back to old Earwig."
"Yes."
"Are you going to expose him?"
"Expose him to whom?"
"The captain, for instance."
"What would be the good? He has committed no crime. If he wants totravel under a false name that is not our business so long as he doesnot interfere with us."
"That's true, but just the same, if we are boarded by another Britishcruiser, I'll have something to whisper in the boarding officer's ear,"said Bill, truculently.
"I wish we knew who this Schultz was," confessed Jack.
"Does that name appear on the passenger lists?"
"On none of them. Besides, if it had, the man would have been questionedby that officer from the _Berwick_. He quizzed everybody with a namethat even sounded German."
"That's so," admitted Bill; "he certainly went through the ship with arake. I guess old Earwig's friend has some American sounding name thatwill carry him safe across the ocean no matter what happens."
Soon after, Jack sought his berth in the wireless room. As he approachedthe opened door of the radio station, from which a flood of yellow lightissued, he saw, or thought he saw, two lurking figures in the shadow ofone of the boats. But even as he sighted them, they vanished.
For an instant, Jack assumed that they were two of the boat crew but, asthey scurried past an open port, he saw they wore ordinary clothes andnot the sailor uniforms of the crew.
"Odd," he mused. "Those fellows were certainly hanging around thewireless room for no good purpose. If they had been, they wouldn't havesneaked the instant they saw me coming. I'm willing to bet a cookie oneof them was Earwig and the other his precious pal who understandswireless. Jack, old boy, it's up to you to keep your eyes open."
"Anything doing?" he asked Muller, as he entered the wireless room.
"Not a thing. Deader than a baseball park on Christmas Day," rejoinedMuller.
"You didn't see anything of our friend, for instance?"
"Who, Johnson? No, he hasn't been near here."
Jack nodded good-night and then turned in. But as the ship bored onthrough the darkness his eyes refused, as they customarily did, to closein his usual sound sleep.
His mind was busy with many things. It was clear that Radwig wascontemplating some use of the wireless which did not yet seem quiteclear. That it was his duty to checkmate him Jack was convinced, but asyet he had little to go upon except the conversation overheard behindthe ventilator.
"I guess watchful waiting will have to be the policy," he murmured tohimself as he fell asleep.
CHAPTER XII.
THE ARMED CRUISER.
The next morning, when Jack and Bill turned out, there was quite aflutter among the passengers. A large ship had been sighted in thedistance, coming rapidly westward. As she drew nearer it could be seenthat she was a monster craft of four immense funnels painted a sombreblack without colored bands to relieve the effect. Her upper works werea dull brown and her hull, black.
Speculation was rife concerning her identity, but it soon became noisedabout that the craft was the _Ruritania_ of the Anglican Line, whichhad, apparently, been converted into an auxiliary cruiser by the EnglishGovernment on the outbreak of the war. The sight of guns mounted on herfore and aft decks confirmed this.
On she came, a fine, grim spectacle in her dull paint. An absorbedshipload watched her, leaning over the rails as she drew abreast.
"Lie to!"
The signals fluttered from her halliards and the same order was flashedby wireless.
For the second time the _St. Mark's_ engines revolved more and moreslowly. The two big vessels lay opposite each other on the swells,nodding solemnly. Before long a boat came bobbing over the seas from the_Ruritania_.
"Now's your chance to give that fellow Earwig up," declared Raynor toJack, as, leaning in the door of the wireless room, they watched thescene.
"Somehow it seems to me that would be a shabby trick," said Jack, aftera moment's thought. "I'll confess, though, that when the _Ruritania_hove in sight such a thought came into my mind. But--oh, well, I guesswe'll let him get by this time."
"Maybe you'll be sorry for it later on," said Raynor, little guessingthat those words were prophetic. There was to come a time when Jack wasto bitterly regret having let Radwig escape capture by the British.
The inspection by the naval reserve officer of the _Ruritania_ did notvary from that which the _St. Mark_ had already undergone at the handsof the _Berwick_. Naturally, the German reservists having been alreadygiven up, there was little to do but to overhaul the ship's papers. Thisdid not take long, and before half an hour had passed, the twosteamships saluted each other and parted company.
That afternoon Jack had a visitor in the wireless room. It was Mr.Johnson. He opened the conversation ingratiatingly.
"I'm afraid I rather lost my temper the other afternoon," he said. "Iwant to apologize."
"That's all right," said Jack briefly, choking back a longing to tellMr. Johnson that he was perfectly aware of his identity.
"I--er--perhaps what I offered was not enough," he continued. "I maytell you now that I will double or triple the amount if you will send amessage for me,--using a code, of course."
Jack jumped to his feet, his eyes ablaze.
"See here, sir," he shot out, "you might offer me all the money there isin Germany but it would not be of the slightest interest to me. Now ifyou have nothing more to say, I'll ask you to leave this cabin beforeI----"
The angry boy checked himself with his hands clenched and his eyesflashing. A murderous look came into Mr. Johnson's bearded face, but heappeared to be determined to keep himself in check.
"Do not be foolish," he urged; "have an eye to your own interests. Asfor your reference to Germany----"
"You are going to say that you don't understand it," cut in Jack.
"Well, I must say I----"
"Don't go any further," interrupted the angry young wireless boy, "andnow 'Mr. Johnson,' or Herr Radwig, I'll ask you to leave."
Radwig looked for a moment as if he was about to choke. His face turnedpurple and his hands clenched and unclenched nervously. The sweat stoodout in tiny beads on his forehead.
"What do you mean----?" he began.
Jack leaned forward and looked at him significantly.
"Just this, Herr Professor, that in spite of that fake beard and yourdyed mustache, I know you. Your reason for being disguised and goingunder a false name is no business of mine _now_. See that you don't makeit so."
"You--you----" sputtered the man who was startled in the extreme.
"And furthermore," continued Jack, "we are likely to run across somemore British ships. If you annoy me any more, I shall point you out forwhat you are. That will be all. Now go."
Utterly bereft of words, Radwig turned heavily and half fell out of thecabin. He collided with Bill Raynor, who was just coming in. He fairlysnarled at Jack's chum, who airily remarked:
&n
bsp; "Don't slam the door when you're going out!"
"You young whipper snapper, I--I----" choked out Radwig, and being toodiscomfited to find words, ended the sentence by shaking his fist at thetwo boys.
"Well," said Raynor, as Radwig vanished, muttering angrily to himself,"it would appear as if you'd spilled the beans, Jack."
"It does look that way, doesn't it?" said Jack with a smile. "I ratherfancy our Teutonic friend will be good for a while now."
CHAPTER XIII.
A MESSAGE IN CODE.
"What happened?" was Raynor's next question.
"Oh, he came in here and offered me untold gold to send a code messagefor him. I fancy that it was about the _Ruritania_, telling herwhereabouts and so on."
"So that was his game, eh?"
"Well, he didn't work it. I got mad and told him that he needn't botherto conceal his identity from me, and that if he bothered me any more I'dshow him up to the first British officer that again boarded us."
"Phew! Going some. How did he take it?"
"I thought he was going up like a balloon for a minute," laughed Jack."Now, if we only could identify Schultz, we'd have both of them where wewant them."
"That's going to be a hard job," declared Bill. "They don't go abouttogether. At least, I've watched closely, but never saw Radwig talkingwith anyone on board."
"No, I guess they keep pretty well under cover for fear of accident. Iwish I could have gotten a look at them that night I overheard themtalking."
"Yes, it would have simplified matters a good deal," Bill admitted,"but, as you say, I don't think either of them will try to bother usagain."
The day passed uneventfully. In the afternoon they sighted a smallBritish freighter making her way west, and later on overtook a Frenchoil ship bound for Holland. Jack flashed them the latest war news, forthey had a small wireless outfit, and in return received the informationthat two German cruisers were somewhere in the vicinity and that theFrench ship was in fear of capture at any time.
That evening the wind blew rather hard. A high sea was whipped up by thegale and the _St._ _Mark_, big as she was, rolled and pitched violently.It was what sea-faring men would have called "a fresh breeze," but tothe passengers, that is, such of them as were unseasoned travelers, itwas a veritable storm.
Jack and Bill rather enjoyed the rough weather, coming as it did after amonotonous calm. After dinner they ascended to the boat deck and pacedup and down, chatting for some time. Inside the wireless room Muller wasat the key. Now and then, as they passed and repassed, they wouldexchange a word with him. It was on one of these occasions that Mullerhailed them excitedly.
"There's a ship just wirelessed the S. O. S.!" he exclaimed.
"Great Scott," cried Jack, "and on a night like this. What's thetrouble?"'
"Don't know yet. I'm trying to get them again. Notify the captain, willyou?"
"On the jump," cried Jack.
He despatched his errand in a few minutes, and was back in the wirelessroom with instructions to "stand by" and get further information as soonas possible.
"Anything new?" he asked Muller.
The wireless man shook his head.
"Nothing but that first S. O. S.," he said.
Suddenly there came a shout from Bill, who was standing in the door.
"Look, Jack, what's that off there?" he exclaimed, pointing to thehorizon.
A dull glow was reflected against the night sky in the direction heindicated. Now it flashed bright as a blown furnace, and again it sankto a faint glare. Jack was not long in deciding what it was.
"It's a ship on fire," he declared.
At almost the same moment a hoarse shout from the forward lookout and ashouted reply from the bridge told that the glare had been observed fromthere, too.
Possibly there is nothing at sea that thrills like the sight of a vesselon fire. Jack, it will be recalled, had witnessed such a spectaclebefore, but yet his heart bounded as he watched the distant glare nowbright and glowing, now dull and flickering.
"Hullo, the old man has rung for full speed ahead!" exclaimed Bill, asthe next moment the _St. Mark's_ speed was perceptibly quickened and hercourse changed.
Several seamen in charge of the third officer, a Mr. Smallwood, cametrampling aft. They busied themselves loosening the fastenings of one ofthe boats and getting it ready for launching. Presently they werejoined, and three additional craft were made ready for the work of lifesaving.
All this time the glow had been getting brighter as the _St. Mark_approached the burning ship. But the distance was as yet too great tomake out what manner of vessel she was.
"I'd give anything to get in one of those boats," observed Jack to Bill,as the two lads watched the preparations for lowering away.
"So would I," agreed Bill. "Do you think there's a chance?"
"I don't know. I 'deadheaded' a radio for Mr. Smallwood to his sickmother the day we sailed. That might have some influence with him. I'llask him anyhow."
Jack vainly pleaded with the at first obdurate officer, but after a longinterval, he returned to Bill with a smile on his face.
"It's all right," he announced. "It was a hard job to get him toconsent. I won him over at last. We go."
"Hurray!" cried Bill. "Now for some oilskins! It's not the sort of nightto be without them."
"I've got mine in the cabin," said Jack. "I'll borrow Muller's for you."
"Good for you. Gosh! Look at those flames. Seems to be a big steamer."
Both boys paused a moment to look at the awe-inspiring spectacle of theblazing ship.
As they did so, something occurred which chilled the hot blood in theirveins and caused them to exchange startled, bewildered looks.
Over the dark, heaving waters that divided them from the blazing vesselthere was borne to their ears what sounded like an awful concerted groanof agony. Again and again it came, rising and falling in a terriblerhythm. It was not human. It sounded like the sufferings of demons.
"Wow! But that's fearful!" exclaimed Bill, paling. "What under the suncan it be?"
CHAPTER XIV.
THE CATTLE SHIP.
The awesome sound continued while the boats were being lowered. Theweird nature of the uproar and its mystery made even the rough seamenapprehensive. The more religious among them crossed themselvesfervently.
"Bad cess to it, if it don't sound like the howling of poor sowls inpurgathory," muttered one of them.
As the boat in which he and Bill were sitting beside Mr. Smallwood waslowered, Jack glanced upward and had a view of the lighted decks, therails being lined with the heads of curious and excited passengers. Thencame a sickening swing outward as the ship rolled.
"Let go all or we'll be smashed!" shouted Mr. Smallwood.
For a moment, as the ship heaved back, it seemed indeed, as if the boatwas doomed to be dashed against her steel sides and smashed intosplinters. But in the nick of time the "falls" were let go "allstanding." The boat rushed downward and struck the top of a great wavewith a force that shook her. The next instant, the patent blocks openedand on the crest of the great comber Mr. Smallwood's boat, and theothers, were swept off into the darkness.
Behind them arose a mighty cheer, but they hardly noticed it in theexcitement and danger of the launching.
"A bad night for this work," muttered Mr. Smallwood as the boat waslifted heavenward and then rushed down into a dark profundity from whichit seemed impossible she could emerge. A blood red glow from the leapingflames enveloping the stern of the doomed craft, which was a large,single funneled steamer, lay on the roughened sea.
"Are there passengers on board, do you think?" asked Jack, rathertremulously, as the blood-chilling uproar from the burning vesselcontinued.
"Looks to me more like a freighter--hard there on the bow-oars,--meetthat sea,--she has no upper decks," replied the third officer.
"I don't see anybody on
board her, either," said Bill, after aninterval, during which the boat escaped swamping, as it seemed to theboys, by a miracle only.
"Let's hope they got away," said the third officer, "but that devil'sconcert on board beats me. It's not human, that's one sure thing. Whatin blazes is it?"
"It gives me the shivers," confessed Bill.
The noise grew positively deafening as they got closer. The intense heatof the blaze and the shower of falling embers that enveloped them addedto their discomfort.
"Row toward the bow," roared Mr. Smallwood, cupping his hands, "or we'llhave the boats afire next."
Already several of the seamen had hastily extinguished portions of theirclothing that had caught, and burns on hands and faces were plentiful.But as they pulled toward the blazing craft's bow, this annoyance wasavoided, the wind blowing the heat and embers from them.
All at once, as they swung upward on the crest of an immense comber,Jack uttered a shout:
"The mystery's solved."
"What do you mean?" demanded Mr. Smallwood.
"The mystery of that horrible noise. That's a cattle ship yonder, andthe poor beasts are mad with fear."
The next wave gave them a clear view of tossing horns and heads as theunfortunate cattle, penned on the burning craft, rushed madly about thedecks, in vain seeking some means of relief. It was a piteous sight, forthere was no way of saving them from being burned alive unless the shipsank first.
"Oh, but that's awful!" gasped Jack, with a shudder.
The Ocean Wireless Boys on War Swept Seas Page 5
