by Nell Speed
CHAPTER XI.
"L'HIRONDELLE DE MER."
Kent Brown, when he reached New York on his return trip to Paris inquest of the rather wilful, very irritating, and wholly fascinatingJudy, got his money changed into gold, which he placed in a belt wornunder his shirt.
"There is no telling what may happen," he said to the young Kentuckian,Jim Castleman, with whom he had struck up an acquaintance on the train."Gold won't melt in the water if we do get torpedoed, and if I have itnext me, whoever wants it will have to do some tearing off of clothes toget it. And what will I be doing while they are tearing off my clothes?"
"Good idea! I reckon I'll do the same--not that I have enough to weighmyself down with." Castleman was on his way to France to fight.
"I don't give a hang whether I fight with the English, French, Serbsor Russians, just so I get in a few licks on the Prussians." He was astrapping youth of six feet three with no more idea of what he was goingup against than a baby. War was to him a huge football game and hesimply meant to get into the game.
The _Hirondelle_ was a slow boat but sailing immediately, so Kent andhis new friend determined to take it, since its destination, Havre,suited them.
"I like the name, too," declared Kent, who shared with his mother andMolly a certain poetic sentiment in spite of his disclaimer of any suchfoolishness.
There were very few passengers, the boat being a merchantman. Kent andJim were thrown more and more together and soon were as confidential astwo school girls. Kent had been rather noncommittal in his replies atfirst to Jim's questions as to what his business was in the war zone atsuch a time if it were not fighting. As their friendship grew anddeepened, as a friendship can on shipboard in an astonishingly shorttime, Kent was glad enough to talk about Judy and his mission in Paris.
"She sounds like a corker! When is it to be?"
"I don't know that it is to be, at all," blushed Kent. "You see, we arenot what you might call engaged."
"Your fault or hers?"
"Why, we have just drifted along. Somehow I didn't like to tie her downuntil I could make good--and she--well, I believe she felt the same way;but of course I can't say. She knows perfectly well that I have neverlooked at another girl since I saw her at Wellington when she and mysister graduated there. She has--well,--browsed a little, but I don'tthink she ever meant anything by it. We get along like a houseafire,--like the same things,--think the same way,--we have never talkedout yet."
"Well, if you'll excuse me, I think you were an ass not to settle thematter long before this."
"Do you think so? Do you think it would have been fair? Why, man, I owedsome money to my mother for my education in Paris and did not even havea job in sight!"
"Pshaw! What difference does that make? Don't you reckon girls have asmuch spunk about such things as men have? If I ever see the girl I wantbad enough to go all the way to Paris to get her, I'll tell her so andhave an answer if I haven't a coat to my back."
"Perhaps you are right. I just didn't want to be selfish."
"Selfish! Why, they like us selfish."
Kent laughed at the wisdom of the young Hercules. No doubt they (whoever"they" might be) did like Castleman selfish or any other way. He lookedlike a young god as he sprawled on deck, his great muscular white armthrown over his head to keep the warm rays of the sun out of his eyes.His features were large and well cut, his hair yellow and curly in spiteof the vigorous efforts he made to brush it straight. His eyes were blueand childlike with long dark lashes, the kind of eyes girls alwaysresent having been portioned out to men. There was no great mentalityexpressed in his countenance but absolute honesty and good nature. Onefelt he was to be trusted.
"Doesn't it seem strange to be loafing around here on this deck with nothought of war and of the turmoil we shall soon be in?" said Jim oneevening at sunset when they were nearing their port. "We have only aday, or two days at most, before we will be in Paris, and still it is soquiet and peaceful out here that I can hardly believe there is any otherlife."
"Me, too! I feel as though I had been born and bred on this boat. Allthe other things that have happened to me are like a dream and this lifehere on the good old _Hirondelle de Mer_ is the only real thing. Iwonder if all the passengers feel this way."
There were no women on board but the other passengers were Frenchmen,mostly waiters from New York, going home to fight for _la France_. Thecargo was pork and beef, destined to feed the army of France.
"What's that thing sticking up in the water out yonder?" exclaimedKent. "It looks like the top of a mast just disappearing."
"A wreck, I reckon!" exclaimed Jim.
Kent smiled at his countryman's "reckon." Having been away from theSouth for many months, it sounded sweet to his ears. The "guess" of theNortherner and "fancy" of the Englishman did not mean the same to him.
The lookout saw the mast-like object at the same time they noted it, andsuddenly there was a hurrying and scurrying over the whole ship.
"Look, it's sunk entirely out of sight! Jim Castleman, that's a Germansubmarine!"
The shock that followed only a moment afterwards was indescribable. Itthrew both of the Kentuckians down. They had hastened to the side of thevessel, the better to view the strange "thing sticking up out of thewater."
The boats were lowered very rapidly and filled by the crazed passengersand crew. The poor waiters had not expected to serve their country bydrowning like rats. As for the crew,--they were noncombatants andnot employed to serve any country in any way. They were of variousnationality, many of them being Portuguese with a sprinkling ofScandinavians.
"Here's a life preserver, Brown! Better put it on. This ain't the Ohio."
"Good! I'll take my chances in the water any day rather than in one ofthose boats. Can you swim?"
"Sure! I can do three miles without knowing it. And you?"
"Hump! Brought up within a mile of the Ohio River and been going over toIndiana and back without landing ever since I was in pants."
"Well, let's dive now and get clear of the sinking boat. If anythinghappens to me and you get clear, you write my sister in Lexington--she'sall I have left."
"All right, Jim! Let's shake. If I give out and you get through, pleasego get Judy and take her back to my mother."
"That's a go! But see here, there is nothing going to happen to us ifendurance will count for anything. Have you got on your money belt?"
"Yes; and you?" said Kent, feeling for the gold he carried around hiswaist.
"I'm all ready then."
The boats, loaded to their guards, were putting off. Our young men feltit was much safer to trust to themselves than to the crazy manning ofthe already overloaded boats. They were singularly calm in theirpreparations as they strapped on the life preservers.
"Jim, throw away the papers you have, recommending you to that Frenchgeneral. We may get picked up by the submarine, and as plain,pleasure-seeking Americans we have a much better chance of being treatedproperly than if one of us was going to join the Allies." Kent hadinherited from his mother the faculty of keeping his head in time ofperil.
"Good eye, old man! They are in my grip and can just stay there. Ireckon I'm a--a--book agent. That won't compromise me any."
"All right, stick to it! And here goes! We must stay together."
The Kentuckians dived as well as the bulky life preservers would permitand then they swam quietly along side by side. The ship was rapidlysettling. The last boat was off, so full that every little wave splashedover its panic-stricken passengers.
