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Page 40
"We hit her!" said Beany at the rail.
The Firefly, with every ounce of steam on, dashed ahead, doubling
here and there and darting about like a frightened hare. A spot
of oil appeared on the water.
"Something wrong," said Porky; "but you can bet we are slated to
get right out of the immediate vicinity of here at our earliest
convenience!"
The Captain, on the bridge, was talking earnestly with Colonel,
Bright and the other officers. Every face held a look of almost
incredulous relief. The gunners stood close to their steel
charges, every man ready for instant action. The Firefly raced
ahead, on and on. No one thought of the interrupted meal. No
one thought of anything but the danger so narrowly passed. They
were still far away from the danger zone. It had been a most
unexpected attack.
No one noticed when the sun went down or when dusk fell. Not
until darkness wholly hid the sea did they turn from their
sea-wide search for approaching danger.
Then the Captain came down from the bridge and approached the
boys.
"How did you happen to discover the periscope before the lookout
did?" he asked.
Porky spoke for his brother. "It's his eyes," he said. "You
see, sir, he has what they call abnormal eyesight. He can see
farther and clearer than anybody else. He can see in the dark
too, nearly as well as by day. So it wasn't the fault of the
lookout that Beany saw it first. He always sees everything
before anybody else gets a chance."
"That's odd," mused the Captain. "Well, young fellow, you saved
the ship this time all right. It looks as though you had better
be stationed on deck when we reach the danger zone. Come down
now and get you supper. You never want to go into danger when
you are hungry." He slapped Beany on the back and passed on.
The boys followed, suddenly conscious that they had omitted the
important ceremony of dinner, but Beany was almost too nervous to
eat. He felt as though those keen eyes of his should be on deck.
There was a great clatter at the table, the Captain alone sitting
in his usual serious silence.
Young Cogggins called out, "Well, that's over with, anyway! They
say lightning never strikes in the same place twice."
The Captain smiled. "That's true enough," he said, "but for the
sake of safety I had better tell you that these submarines nearly
always travel in pairs. We are apt to meet the sister U-boat
yet."
A silence fell. "I don't feel sleepy," murmured young Coggins.
"Wouldn't it be nice to sleep on deck to-night?"
"Deck for mine!" said Porky in a low voice. "I will say I don't
get many thrills out of this being cooped downstairs when there
are subs all around."
"Downstairs!" quoted Coggins scornfully. "Don't let the Captain
hear you talking about the 'downstairs' of his ship, you
landlubber, you!"
"Well, I don't care what you call it! It's downstairs to me
anyhow! And whatever you call it, I don't want to sleep there."
"Bosh!" said Coggins. "I tell you we won't see another sub on
the whole trip. Do you know the percentage of boats that see
subs on their way over?"
He launched into a flow of statistics. Porky and Beany seemed to
listen. In fact they were thinking hard. As usual, they thought
the same thing, and as they were fully conscious that they were
doing so, they found the process as satisfactory as a regular
spoken conversation.
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