The Motor Boys Bound for Home; or, Ned, Bob and Jerry on the Wrecked Troopship

by Clarence Young

  CHAPTER III

  THE LITTLE MAN

  “Say, this is getting a bit more than interesting!” cried Ned, as heand Bob gazed at Jerry.

  The stout lad looked up at the lifeboat near which he leaned on therail.

  “None of that!” warned Jerry. “Don’t start a rush. There’s no danger!”

  But his words did not seem to be borne out, for no sooner was itapparent to all on board that the _Sherman_ had come to a stop againthan a sort of panic began which the officers had to work hard tosubdue. Finally the colonel commanding the troops had to make anaddress from the main deck.

  “There is absolutely no danger!” he declared. “The captain assures methe ship is not leaking a drop, and we shall soon be back at the dockwhence we started. This is unfortunate, but it can not be helped. Weshall start for home again as soon as possible.”

  “When will that be, sir?” some soldier asked. While another--more thanone, in fact--inquired as to the cause of the trouble.

  “There has been an accident to the machinery,” the colonel stated. “Oneof the engines is disabled, and that puts all the work on the remainingunit. I am told that this excess caused a temporary stoppage of the onegood engine. But we shall soon be under way again.”

  “Was there an explosion?” some one asked.

  “A slight one, yes,” was the rather hesitating answer.

  “What caused it?”

  “Did we hit a mine?”

  “Was it a Boche?”

  These were only a few of the questions, hurled like hand grenades, atthe colonel.

  “I am not at liberty to say what caused the explosion,” he announced.“It can not be told at present. All I ask of you--all that yourofficers ask of you--is that you remain quiet. We shall soon startagain, to be quickly back at the dock.”

  “For how long?” asked several.

  That seemed to strike a popular chord.

  “I am sorry, but I am unable to answer that question,” replied thecolonel with a smile. “I know you all want it answered, and I will saythat if it is found it will require too long to repair the damage tothis transport another will be provided.”

  There was a cheer at this, and the colonel and his staff lookedrelieved. The danger of a panic and a rush for the boats seemed past.But many rumors were still in circulation, and that of a German spy orsome Hun sympathizer having tried to sink the transport and the troopsgained each hour.

  It seemed a very long time, though it was not more than two hours,before the ship was under way again. But she limped along under lessthan half steam, and many anxious hearts were glad when the dock theyhad recently left loomed in sight again.

  The accident, of whatever nature it was, had happened when the_Sherman_ was not far from shore, and, even had it been necessary tolaunch the lifeboats and rafts, it is probable that all on board wouldhave been saved.

  But there was always danger, especially when the wounded men wereconsidered, and there were not a few of them on board. Consequently, itwas with a feeling of relief that all observed the craft being warpedback to the berth she had so lately left.

  “Now the question arising is: What----”

  “Are we going to eat, and when!” interrupted Ned, breaking in on whatBob had started to say.

  “As you were! As you were!” growled the stout lad. “I wasn’t going tosay that at all. What I mean is: ‘What’s going to happen to us? Shallwe have to stay cooped up on board when there’s peace and plenty androom to move about on shore?’”

  “Not to mention Marie, of _le restaurant de la palma_ or something likethat,” mocked Jerry.

  “That’s right--keep on picking at me!” mourned Bob. “But you guys’llbe just as glad as I shall be to get off this tub if she isn’t movingtoward the U. S. A.”

  “Guess you’re right,” assented Jerry. “It isn’t going to be much funcooped up here if we’re going to stay tied to the dock. It’s toocrowded. Wouldn’t be so bad if we were at sea and knew we were movingtoward home. But if we have to hang around this dock it will give methe willies!”

  “You said another mouthful!” agreed Ned. “But it’s a good thing thisaccident didn’t happen when we were three or four days out. And maybethey’ll let us go ashore.”

  This hope was realized, at least on the part of the Motor Boys, alittle later. Once the _Sherman_ was made fast to the dock again,there were numerous petitions from the privates to their officers forpermission to go ashore, if only for a few hours. Ned, Bob, and Jerrymade their requests, and, to their delight, they were granted. PerhapsJerry’s D. S. C. and the honors attained by Ned and Bob had somethingto do with this.

  “But you must not go far away, and you must report back here on boardin three hours,” their captain told them. “It is thought the repairswill be completed by then.”

  Jerry and his chums were closely scrutinized and their passes examinedwith care when they walked down the gangplank to the dock. All who wereallowed to go on shore were thus observed, and as the three friendspassed out to the streets of the city which had loomed so large of lateas the location of the camp of much rain and mud, they noted that thesentries had been doubled around the wharf of the _Sherman_.

  “If there’s a German spy on board he’ll stand a fat chance if they findhim,” said Bob, as he and his chums started off on their leave.

  The three boys headed at once for a restaurant, for the emergencyrations which Bob had, somehow, managed to secure had long since losttheir effects. And, for a wonder, Ned and Jerry did not twit theirstout companion with being over-zealous in his desire for food. Theywanted it as much as he did.

  Moreover, they went to the restaurant where the pretty Marie waited onone of the tables. Bob had discovered this “life-saving station” in themidst of his wanderings about Brest, and after some persuasion on thepart of his chums had let them into the secret of it. Thereafter theyspent much of their leave-time in this place. Now again they headedfor it.

  And Marie was there. She welcomed the boys with a smile. With smiles,in fact; for though Bob claimed it as his right to bask in them to theexclusion of all others, Marie, in reality, smiled impartially on her“three musketeers.”

  “Back so soon?” she asked, with her fascinating accent and pronunciation.

  “Yes. Couldn’t stay away from you, _ma’m’sell_,” returned Bob, tryingto catch Marie’s eyes in a glance that meant more than words.

  “What’s that? What’s she got to sell?” asked Ned, winking at Jerry.

  “Oh, cut it out! That’s an old one,” replied Bob. “I can speak as goodFrench as you.”

  “Better, _mon ami_, much better!” laughed Jerry. “Now you two oldroosters stop kidding and get down to business. We have only threehours’ shore leave, so let’s make the most of it. What have you to eat,Marie?”

  “Now you’re talking!” commented Ned. “Bob can live on love if he likes,as for me, give me----”

  “Liberty or death!” chanted Bob.

  They all laughed gaily, and Marie was told, in a casual way, of theaccident to the troopship and her trip back to the dock.

  The boys were so taken up with the pretty waitress and with gettingtheir appetites in a fair way to be satisfied, that they paid littleattention to those around them at the other tables. But when they hadbegun to eat, and the sharp edge of their hunger was somewhat dulled,Jerry looked about the restaurant to note the possible presence of someof their friends who, like themselves, might have also received shoreleave from the _Sherman_.

  Jerry did not see any soldiers whom he and his chums knew, though hedid observe a number of Uncle Sam’s boys, together with some Frenchpoilus and British Tommies. What attracted his attention, however, wasthe sight of a little bald-headed man seated at a table two or threeremoved from the one at which he and his friends were dining. Thelittle man was in civilian clothes.

  “Look!” excitedly exclaimed Jerry, nudging Ned, who sat next to him.“Look over there!”

  He pointed to the little bald-heade
d man, who was busy over his soup.

  “Professor Snodgrass!” exclaimed Ned. “Well, this is luck!”

  Jerry arose from his chair, followed by Ned, and started toward theman to whom he had called the attention of his chums. The man’s backwas toward the lads, but there was no doubt in their minds that he wastheir scientific friend.

  “Where have you been, Professor Snodgrass?” asked Jerry, as, with Ned,he stood at the other table.

  And then the two boys received the surprise of their lives. For thelittle man who gazed quickly up at them was not Professor Snodgrass atall, though he bore a wonderfully striking resemblance to him from theback.

  But more strange than the fact of his being the professor’s double(which was not so pronounced when his face was seen) was the action ofthe little man. His face turned red with rage, and he fairly splutteredas he rose from his chair, facing Jerry and Ned, and exclaiming:

  “What do you mean? How dare you call me Professor Snodgrass? How dareyou insult me? I shall complain to the manager! How dare you?”

  Highly indignant, he motioned to Jerry and Ned to move back, and,hardly knowing what they were doing, they retreated, while the eyes ofall in the restaurant were turned on them.