Bert Wilson, Marathon Winner

by John Kendrick Bangs

  CHAPTER VI

  OFF FOR THE FIGHT

  The boys stood leaning on the rail as the stately steamer passed throughthe vast array of shipping on either side of the river, slipped by thecolossal figure of Liberty and, bidding farewell to the Sandy Hooklightship, breasted the waves of the Atlantic. They were ardentpatriots, and, as the irregular skyline of the great city faded fromtheir view, they felt the pang that always comes to one on leaving hisnative land. But in the "bright lexicon of youth" there's no such wordas melancholy, and as they thought of all that lay before them theirhearts swelled with anticipation. Adventure beckoned them, glory temptedthem, hope inspired them.

  "We're starting out with colors flying," said Dick. "Here's hoping wecome back the same way."

  "If we don't it'll be the first fizzle," said Bert. "This is the fourthtime Uncle Sam has sent his boys abroad and they've never yet come backempty-handed."

  "Yes," added Tom, "they've never had to slink back and spend the rest oftheir lives explaining why they didn't win. It has always been the gladhand and the big eats and the brass bands and the procession downBroadway."

  "I can see Bert already sitting in one of the swell buzz-wagons with theMarathon prize alongside of him and trying to look unconcerned," chaffedDick.

  "You've got good eyesight," retorted Bert, drily. "I may be only one ofthe 'also rans.'"

  "Such shrinking modesty," mocked Tom. "Tell that to the King ofDenmark."

  "Speaking of kings," went on Dick, "I suppose we'll see plenty of themon the other side."

  "Likely enough," said Bert. "There were several of them at the lastgames. As for princes and dukes, they'll be thick as blackberries.Perhaps we ought to be overwhelmed at the prospect of seeing so manyhigh mightinesses, but somehow I can't get much worked up over it."

  "Neither can I," said Dick. "I'm afraid I haven't much more reverencethan the old sailor on an American ship that was being inspected by alot of royalties. He came up to the captain and touched his cap.'Beggin' your pardon, capting,' he said, 'but one of them there kingshas fell down the hatchway.'"

  "Well," returned Bert, when the laugh had subsided, "some of 'themthere kings' are pretty decent fellows, after all. The German Emperor,for instance, is all right. Nobody in Germany works harder than he does.He's always on the job and even if we don't agree with his views we haveto hand it to him. He's the biggest figure in Europe to-day. I like himbecause he isn't a mere figurehead like the rest of them. He throwshimself right into the game and he's there all the time from start tofinish. He's taking a lot of interest in the Olympics and I hear he'sgoing to open them in person. And no doubt he'll be the one to give outthe prizes at the end."

  "Well, if he does he'll have a chance to shake hands with quite a bunchof American sovereigns," said Dick, "for there'll surely be a big raftof them up there standing in line when the trophies are handed out."

  "The Germans are certainly making great preparations for the games,"said Tom. "I hear that the stadium at Berlin is going to be the biggestthing in that line that ever happened. They dedicated it the other dayand all Berlin turned out to see it. The Kaiser himself was there andmade a speech, and just as he got through they released thirty thousanddoves who flew in a great white cloud over the field. Rather artisticidea you see--'the dove of peace,' and all that sort of thing."

  "The idea is all right," rejoined Dick, cynically, "and yet you noticethat England keeps building dreadnoughts, and France is increasing herterm of service from two years to three, and Germany herself this yearis raising an extra billion of marks for new troops. The ideas don'tjibe very well, do they?"

  "No," assented Bert. "When I hear them talk of doing away with waraltogether, I think of that saying of Mark Twain's that 'the day maycome when the lion and the lamb will lie down together, but the lambwill be inside.'"

  "Don't say anything that suggests eating," chimed in Tom, "for this seaair is making me feel already as though I were starving to death."

  "That's your normal state, anyway," laughed Dick. "Don't try to put itoff on the air. But there goes the steward's gong now. Let's go down andsee what kind of a training table they set."

  A very good table they found it to be, despite the absence of luxuriesthat are usually to be found on ocean liners. Wines and liquors of allkinds were banished, together with rich pastries and many kinds ofstarchy foods. But there was a royal abundance of meats and fruitdesserts that made them forget the absence of the richer indigestibles.And the way the food melted away before the onslaught of these trainedathletes made the stewards gasp.

  "Let us eat, drink and be merry," quoted Drake, "for to-morrow we getseasick."

  "Don't tell that to able-bodied sailors like us," retorted Dick. "We gotour sea legs long ago on the Pacific. After the typhoon we went throughoff the Japanese coast, I don't think that any shindig the Atlantic cankick up will worry us much."

  "Well, you're lucky in having served your apprenticeship," returnedDrake, "but for lots of the fellows this is their first trip and it'sa pretty safe bet that there won't be as many at the dinner tableto-morrow as there are to-day."

  "Oh, I don't think it will bother them," said Bert. "It's the fellowswith a paunch who have been living high that usually pay the penaltywhen they tackle a sea trip. Our boys are in such splendid shape that itprobably won't upset them."

  After dinner they made the round of the ship. Training was not to startuntil the next morning, and the rest of the day was theirs to do with asthey liked.

  As compared with the _Fearless_, the steamer on which they had made thevoyage to China, the _Northland_ was a giant. Apart from the splendidathletic equipment that made it unique, it ranked with the finest of theAtlantic liners. The great prow towered forty feet above the water. Theship was over seven hundred feet in length and nearly eighty feet wide.Great decks towered one above the other until it resembled a skyscraper.She was driven by powerful double screw engines of the latest type thatcould develop thirty-six thousand horsepower and were good for overtwenty knots an hour. The saloons and cabins were the last word in oceanluxury. Ample provision had been made for safety. There were enoughlifeboats and collapsible rafts, including two motor boats, to take careof every one of the passengers and crew in case of need. The lesson ofthe _Titanic_ disaster had not been forgotten, and there was a doublehull extending the whole length of the ship, so that if one were rippedopen the other would probably be left intact. There were thirty-twowater-tight compartments divided by steel bulkheads that could be closedin an instant by pressing a button either from the bridge or the engineroom. The bridge itself was eighty feet above sea level, and it made theboys dizzy to look down at the great swells that slipped away smoothlyon either side of the prow. Her length enabled her to cut into threewaves at once so that the tossing motion was hardly perceptible. Sherode the waters like a veritable queen of the sea. Her captain was agrizzled old veteran, who had been thirty years in the company's employand enjoyed their fullest confidence.

  To the eager boys, always on the lookout for new impressions, theirexploration of the ship was of the keenest interest. They wereconstantly coming across something novel. Their previous trip on the_Fearless_, when Bert had been the wireless operator, had of course madethem familiar with most things pertaining to a ship. But the _Fearless_had been designed chiefly as a trading craft and the passenger featurehad been merely an incident. Here it was the main thing and as each newfad and wrinkle came to their attention it awoke exclamations of wonderand approval.

  "It's the real thing in boats," declared Dick, emphatically.

  "That's what it is," echoed Tom. "It's brought right up to the minute."

  "We're getting a pretty nifty sea education," remarked Bert. "By thetime we get through this cruise, we ought to know a lot about the twogreatest oceans in the world."

  "Yes," replied Dick; "there'll only be the two Arctics and the IndianOcean left. The Arctics I don't hanker after. There's too much cold foryours truly, and seal meat and whale blubber don't ap
peal to me as asteady diet. The Indian, on the other hand, is too hot, but after someof those days on the Pacific when the pitch fairly started out of thedeck seams, I guess we could stand it."

  "Well, if we never get any more sea life than what we're having, we'llbe way above the average," said Bert. "And now let's get down to thewireless room."

  And here Bert felt thoroughly at home. All the old days came back to himas he looked around at the wireless apparatus and saw the blue flamesspitting from the sounder, as the operator sat at the key, sending andreceiving messages from the home land that was so rapidly being leftbehind. Again he heard the appeal of the _Caledonian_, on fire from stemto stern, as her despairing call came through the night. Once more hewas sending messages of cheer and hope to the battered liner whirlingabout in the grip of the typhoon. And, most thrilling of all, was thememory of that savage fight with the Chinese pirates when the currentfrom the dynamo had shot its swift death into the yelling hordesjust when their triumph seemed assured. What a miracle it all was,anyway--this mysterious force that linked the continents together--thatbrought hope to the despairing, comfort to the comfortless, life to thedying--this greatest of man's discoveries that seemed almost to borderon the supernatural!

  The operator then on duty--one of three who worked in shifts of eighthours each, so that never for a moment of day or night was the keydeserted--a bright, keen young fellow, but little older than the boysthemselves, was pleased at their intelligent interest in his work, and,in the intervals between messages, fell into conversation with them andrapidly became chummy. When he learned that Bert himself was one of thecraft, he suggested that he try his hand at sending and receiving a few,while he sat by and rested up. Bert assented with alacrity, and thelittle smile of good-natured patronage with which he watched him quicklychanged to one of amazement, as he saw the swiftness and dexterity withwhich Bert handled the messages. Especially was he struck by thefacility which he displayed at writing down the Marconigrams with hisleft hand while keeping the right on the key.

  "Great Scott!" he exclaimed, "you're a dandy. That two-handed stunt is anew one on me. It would make my work twice as fast and twice as easy ifI could do it. Where did you get the idea?"

  "Old Nature's responsible for that," laughed Bert. "When I was a kid Ifound it was almost as easy for me to use my left hand as my right, andI fell into the habit."

  "It's a mighty good habit all right and don't you forget it," said theoperator, emphatically. "I'm going to try to get it myself. If I do, Imay be able to hit the company for a raise in salary," he grinned.

  "Here's hoping you get it," replied Bert, and after a little more talkand a cordial invitation to drop in whenever they could, the boys wentout in the open.

  The breeze freshened as night came on and the waves were running high,but the _Northland_ was as "steady as a church." After supper there wasa concert in the great saloon and there was no dearth of talent. Some ofthe fellows were members of mandolin and banjo clubs and had broughttheir instruments along. Others had fine bass and tenor voices, and gleeclubs were improvised. The amateur theatrical contingent was notlacking, and, what with song and sketch and music, the evening passedall too rapidly. The trainers, however, who never let pleasure interferewith business, came now to the fore and packed the boys off to theirstaterooms to have a good night's rest before real work began on themorrow.

  "Well," said Bert, the next morning, as, after a hearty breakfast, hesat on the edge of his berth, getting into his running togs, "here comesone more new experience. There's certainly nothing monotonous about theracing game. I've run up hill and down, I've run through the woods,I've run on the cinder paths, I've run round the bases, and, when thesavages chased us last year, I ran for my life. Now I'm to run on aship's deck. I'll bet there isn't any kind of running I haven't done.I've even run an automobile."

  "Oh, I don't know," said Dick, flippantly, "you haven't run up a boardbill."

  "No," added Tom, "and you haven't run for office."

  A well-aimed pillow that made him duck ended these outrages on theEnglish language, and, as Reddy poked his head in just then to summonhis charge, they tumbled up on deck.