CHAPTER XI
A MONSTER PERIL
The good ship _Northland_ had been traveling at reduced speed severalhours, and Bert, who was always intensely interested in the operationof the vessel, was quick to notice this. At supper time the speed hadnot increased, and accordingly Bert took the first opportunity thatpresented itself to ask the captain respectfully the reason for this.
"Why, it's this way," he was told, "we've been receiving wirelessmessages recently that there is considerable ice in these waters, andwe're going slowly in consequence. Of course, at this time of the year,we oughtn't to have to bother about icebergs at all, but the last winterwas very long and cold, and this is the result."
"Oh, I see," said Bert; "but how do you know when you're in theneighborhood of an iceberg? I should imagine it would be a rather hardobject to make out."
"No, you're wrong there," responded the captain. "They are very easy tosee, as they emit a pale sort of glimmer that makes them very prominentat night. Of course, you never have any difficulty locating them in thedaytime, fortunately. And then there's another thing: they always chillthe air for a considerable distance around them, and any sailor can tellwhat is threatening his ship when he feels this. Oh, no, they are easyenough to avoid, as a rule. Of course, sometimes a vessel running athigh speed will not get warning of the presence of the menace until itis too late, as in a fog, for instance. In that case there is generallya report of another wreck in the morning papers a few days afterward."
"But I should think there would be a way of detecting them by means ofsome instrument, say, for example, with an ordinary thermometer," saidBert.
"Well, devices of that kind have been invented and used," repliedCaptain Everett, "but in these days of high speed the warning generallycomes too late, unless the ship is steaming at a very slow pace."
"Well, then, science has been able to find nothing that is much betterthan the old method of a watch up in the crow's nest. Is that the idea?"questioned Bert, in a disappointed tone. He had great faith in theability of mechanical science to solve every problem under the sun, andaccordingly he was incredulous on this point.
"So far that is true," said the captain; "but a device has recently beenpatented that seems to fill the bill perfectly, as far as I can see."
"How does that work?" queried Bert.
"Well, to explain it, you would have to have a rather exhaustiveknowledge of icebergs and their habits," said the captain, smiling;"however, I will do my best to make it clear to you. You see, aniceberg, being so much colder than the surrounding water, sets up aseries of currents in the ocean, that are felt for a considerabledistance. The warmer water flows toward the 'berg, and the colder wateraway, just as in the air the warmer air will rise and the colder airrush in to take its place. Is that plain?"
"Oh, certainly, I can understand how that works, all right," repliedBert.
"Well, in that case, you can see how simple the rest is," said thecaptain. "All you have to do is construct an instrument that will beaffected by these currents, and your problem is solved. Of course thatis a comparatively simple matter, and the writer of the article I readclaimed to have done it. His theory seemed very plausible to me, and Iwould be very little surprised to see every ship equipped with hisdevice in the near future."
"It certainly seems feasible," agreed Bert, "in fact, it seems sosimple that it's queer someone has not thought of it before."
"Oh, there's nothing surprising in that, to my way of thinking," saidCaptain Everett. "Many of our greatest inventions, or rather theirprinciples, existed long before they were put to practical use. Takesteam, for example. Steam has existed from the beginning of theworld, with all its power and possibilities, yet it is not until acomparatively recent date that it has been harnessed and put to work.It's the same way with electricity, or any of a thousand things youcould think of."
"Yes, there's no doubt but what you're right," admitted Bert, "but justthe same, it seems too bad they couldn't have been discovered sooner.Look at the _Titanic_ disaster, for instance. If they had had thatdevice that you were just telling me about installed, the whole tragedycould probably have been avoided, and the world been spared a horribledisaster."
"It certainly does seem a pity," agreed the captain, "but then, ifeverything had been discovered right off, there would have been nothingleft for you or me to invent, and the world would have no work left foranyone to do. There seems to be a great plan back of these things, afterall."
"It's too bad we haven't something of the kind on board now," saidBert. "It might come in handy."
"I wouldn't be a bit surprised," said Captain Everett, with a worriedair. "I hate to lose valuable time crawling along at this pace, but ofcourse anything is better than what might happen if we didn't. I don'twant to cheat old Uncle Sam out of a victory by drowning all hisathletes," and here he smiled.
"Oh, it would be a terrible loss," agreed Bert, slyly, "specially thatof yours truly. That would indeed be an irreparable calamity."
"Oh, of course, of course," laughed the captain. "That goes withoutsaying, Wilson."
At this point Reddy strolled up, and joined in the conversation. Histhoughts, however, dwelt more with perfecting a certain crowd ofathletes for the coming Olympic games than with inventions to warn shipsof their peril, or any other kind.
After a time the captain asked Reddy how his charges were coming along.
"Oh, as well as could be expected, I suppose," growled the trainer.Secretly he was more than satisfied with their condition, but would havedied rather than admit it. "They seem more inclined to exercise theirjaw muscles than anything else, but otherwise they're not so awfulbad."
"That's rather negative praise," laughed Bert, "but we know very wellthat if we weren't all right Reddy would be exercising his 'jaw muscles'more than he does, so we have to be satisfied with that."
Reddy grinned, but made no reply, and shortly afterward sauntered off.After a little further conversation with the captain, Bert followedsuit, and strolled up into the bows, where a man was on lookout.
The sailor was gazing intently ahead, and did not look up at the soundof Bert's approach, or even when he spoke to him. He knew that thesafety of the whole ship and those on board rested on him, and he wastaking no chances.
He answered Bert's salutation civilly enough, however, but answered hisquestions only in monosyllables, and Bert soon gave him up as a bad job.He realized, moreover, that the man was right, as it was against theship's rules to talk while on duty.
So Bert leaned against the bulwarks in silence, having little else to doat the time, and gazed ahead in an abstracted fashion. No sound was tobe heard save the wash of the water against the bows, and occasionally ashout or laugh from the athletes amidships.
Suddenly Bert was roused from his reverie by a call from the lookout.
"Ice ahead! Ice ahead!" yelled the sailor, and dashed madly toward thestern, waving his arms wildly.
Bert gazed intently ahead, and could faintly make out a luminous masssome distance from the ship, but directly in its path. He was consciousof a feeling of damp chill in the air, too, and felt that they werenearing an iceberg. Suddenly the vibration of the engines ceased, andthen started again, and Bert knew they had been reversed. The shipseemed to lose little of its speed at first, though, and the huge 'bergloomed up closer and closer. The helm had been put over, and the shipswung around obediently, and so approached the 'berg at an angle. Shoutsand cries arose from the crew and some of the passengers, and it was anexciting moment.
Gradually the ship lost its momentum under the reverse pull of the bigpropellers, but to Bert it seemed impossible that they could stop intime. Nearer and nearer they came, and the ship seemed wrapped in an icyfog. Now Bert could make out details of the 'berg, and even in such atime as this, when it seemed that he was approaching certain death, henoted idly the huge spires and needles of ice that rose into the bluesky like church steeples.
Now the good ship was almost touching the 'berg, but
was at a long anglewith it. Bert saw that the impact would not be as great as he had atfirst imagined, but nevertheless he awaited it with bated breath.
Then it came--a jarring, grinding, glancing blow, and the ship trembledfrom bow to stern. Huge fragments of ice clattered down on her decks,and some of her crew were badly hurt by flying ice splinters.
There was great confusion then, and a few of the crew started a rush forthe boats, but were met before they could get there by Captain Everettand his first and second officers, all with revolvers in their hands.
"Back there! Back!" shouted the captain, and his ordinarily mild eyesblazed with an angry light. "The first man who moves another stepforward dies! Get back to your posts, every one of you, and be glad Idon't shoot you like the dogs you are!"
Cowed by his determined demeanor, and that of the other officers, themen slunk back, and Captain Everett set about finding what damage hadbeen done. Two sailors were sent below to inspect the hold, and thecaptain awaited their report with keen anxiety.
Soon the two men returned, and one said: "There seems to be nothing thematter, sir, as far as we can make out. She doesn't seem to be taking inany water."
"That's well!" exclaimed the captain, after the two men had saluted andgone forward. "It's barely possible that the ship may not be muchdamaged, after all, although it seems almost incredible. However, wewon't find any fault with providence if it isn't."
Strange as it may seem, by what appeared to be almost a miracle the shiphad come off from the encounter with a few bent bow plates and the lossof considerable paint.
Before long the ship had resumed its course, and the iceberg was fallingrapidly to the rear. Bert had been the only person in the vessel's bowsat the time of the collision, and he was soon encircled by a group ofathletes anxious to hear the story.
"Believe me, fellows," he said, in a sober voice, "I gave us all up forlost. I thought our goose had been cooked, sure. Why, that 'berg lookedas high as a mountain to me, and if we had hit it head-on it would havebeen all over but the shouting. It's a lucky thing the captain gotwarning in time to veer the steamer around a little."
Everybody realized that they had had a very close escape from death, andfor the rest of the day little else was talked about. It was just such acollision as had been responsible for the speedy sinking of the greatliner _Titanic_ with over two thousand souls on board. That ship hadstruck a glancing blow, in the same way that the _Northland_ had, butwas less fortunate as to the result. A great projecting sliver of icehad penetrated the ill-fated vessel's hull, and within a few hours shewas lying at the bottom of the sea. Indeed, at the present moment theywere but a short distance from the leviathan's last resting place, andthis made them realize all the more strongly what a miraculous escapethey had had.
Needless to say, every precaution was taken to insure against arepetition of their recent experience, and the ship fairly crawled alongat one-quarter speed. They sighted other 'bergs at intervals, but nevernear enough to give them any concern, and a day or so later were safelyout of the danger zone. Then Captain Everett ordered full speed resumed,and the _Northland_ began to plow through the blue water at itscustomary good clip.
Training, which had been more or less interrupted by the recent excitingevents, was resumed in good earnest, and everybody worked with a will tomake up for lost time. Reddy had an eye for every athlete on board, andwoe betide the man who was found shirking, even in the slightest degree.He was sure to be forced to make up his deficiencies, with some extrahard training "stunt" for good measure.
The second day after the encounter with the iceberg the sky became veryovercast, and bore every sign of an approaching storm. The haze veilingthe heavens became thicker and thicker, and the sun could be seenshining through it only at rare intervals, and then very faintly.
The barometer fell lower and lower, and there was every evidence of theapproach of a severe storm. Nor were these warnings groundless, as theysoon had occasion to find out.
Everything aboard ship was made ready, and no movable object on thedecks was left unsecured. The athletes regarded the approach of thestorm with feelings more of interest than anything else, but Reddysnorted his disgust.
"Everything's agin' me," he growled. "This trip so far has been nothin'but a bunch o' queer experiences that you could write a story bookabout, maybe, but that don't count for more than a plugged nickel whenit comes to gettin' a bunch o' would-be athletes in shape to make betterspeed than the runners at a fat men's picnic. I just get things settleddown and begin to kid meself that we're gettin' somewhere, when we goand bump into an iceberg, or some other fool stunt o' that kind. But ifthese fellers don't cop a few lovin' cups and medals over at the gamesit isn't goin' to be the iceberg that gets the blame, you can lay tothat. Nix! Everybody'll say, 'Gee, I bet old Uncle Sam's runners andjumpers would have made good if only they'd had a decent sort of atrainer along that knew a little about his job.' That's the line ofchatter that'll be handed out to me, all right. This trainin' businessis a thankless job, anyway, let me tell you. If the American team wins,they get all the glory and credit, but if they lose, it's yours trulythat gets the blame."
"Aw, don't you worry yourself about us, Reddy," said Drake, "we're goingto win every event over there, practically, and after watching ourwonderful work you ought to realize that fact," and he grinned.
"Oh, sure," replied Reddy, sarcastically. "If you boys win all you thinkyou're goin' to win, I won't kick. But I'm from the wilds of Missouri,and I've got to be shown."
Discussion of this sort lasted until the lunch bell rang, when there wasa wild dive to the tables, all disputes forgotten.
After lunch, when they returned on deck, they were surprised at theappearance of the ocean. The wind, which before they went below had beenblowing in fitful gusts, had now settled down to a steady gale that wasincreasing in violence with every hour that passed. The sea was risingrapidly, and already was dotted here and there with whitecaps. The sunhad entirely disappeared, and the sky was a dull gray color. Cloudsscudded across it with terrific speed, giving an indication of the forceof the wind back of them, and as the boys gazed across the tumblingwaves they every one felt a thrill of something very much likeapprehension.
There is something very terrifying and awe-compelling about a storm atsea, especially to those not used to it. At such time a ship seems avery small thing in the great expanse of tumbling billows and shriekingwind, and it seems almost impossible that anything constructed by mancan withstand Nature's fury.
Soon the storm became so wild that most of the passengers retired below,and many of them experienced sea-sickness for the first time on thevoyage, as the ship was now pitching and rolling wildly. Bert, Dick andTom, however, stayed on deck, and felt that nothing could hire them togo down. This was an experience such as they might not have again inmany a year, and they felt inclined to make the most of it.
They stayed on deck until supper time, and then went below. Severalathletes were absent from the tables, and of those who were there manyate very sparingly. Not one would admit that this was due tosea-sickness, however, and indeed, there was less of this than mightnaturally have been expected.
They were all in such fine physical condition that they were lessaffected by such an experience than the average passenger, and therewere few of them who were actually "down and out."
The storm lasted two days, but on the morning of the third day hadpractically blown itself out. When the three comrades went up on deckthe sun was shining gloriously, but the ocean was still very rough. In afew hours it had subsided noticeably, but the great billows still ranfifteen or twenty feet high. It was a wonderful sight, and one to beremembered for a lifetime. The boys gazed spellbound, and felt theywould have been contented to do nothing all day but drink in theinspiring scene.
Shortly after they got on deck the lookout cried, "Ship ho!" and theboys followed the direction of his pointing finger. At first they couldmake out nothing, but in a few minutes they glimpsed a vessel lif
ted upon the crest of a monster wave, and about a mile from their course.
As they drew nearer it became evident that the vessel was a partial orentire wreck. She had been a three-masted schooner, as they could tellfrom the stumps of the masts projecting from her deck, but they had allgone by the board.
One was still fastened to the ship by a mass of tangled rigging, andevery once in a while would be washed against the side with a crash.The vessel was low in the water, and it was evident that she wassinking.
The _Northland's_ course was altered so as to bring her alongside thedismantled vessel, and the athletes, every one of whom by this time wason deck, crowded to the rail, to get a closer glimpse of the wreck.
Bert Wilson, Marathon Winner Page 11
