Part 3 (2/2)
”Oh, we're not wonders,” soodhu worth while, arded simply as the products of constant practice”
”You're reed Danvers
Presently, the naval officer hi that the boat was in fine professional hands, slipped unconcernedly below, to chat with Hal Hastings, who sat doggedly by his engines
”What's the matter? Whatsubht of his chuh, if I told you,” s Benson
”I suppose,” sighed Hal, ”well, I have a sort of premonition”
”Pre--pre comically to the port side of his jaw ”Oh, pshaw! Call it a plain United States 'hunch'
What's the tip the spooks are giving anyway, Hal?”
Hastings sh he went on:
”Oh, it's just a queer sort of notion I have that soht-o,” drawled Jack ”You don't have to shove off fro to happen to us This afternoon we're going to have the first drill in the actual firing of subs adh I see, is some kind of disaster Now, you'll think I'm a sailor-croaker, won't you, Jack?”
”Disaster?” repeated Jack, slowly ”Well, to be sure, we've the outfit on board for a disaster, if anted one Two real torpedoes that hold, between theer-calico, as Williaer, after all Williamson and his pipe are on the other boat”
”Oh, of course nothing is really going to happen,” laughed Hal ”It is just the feeling that is over me That's all”
It was fully three o'clock by the tih out to sea, and far enough from any craft in those waters Not a stick or a stack of another vessel shoithin ten ly cast loose and allowed to drift
Captain Jack was at the toheel again, as Eph and the two sailors returned froot to be sure to record one good hit against that old barge of stone,” muttered Lieutenant Danvers, who stood beside the youthful sub, and I doubt if we could pick up that scow in tow again We've got to destroy her, or she'd be a fearful ht in the path of incoet rid of her easily enough,” spoke Jack, confidently ”You're a professional at this business, sir”
”So are the two men with me,” nodded the officer ”By the way, Ewald can just as well come on deck and take the wheel, if you want hio below and see all that we do with a torpedo”
”Now, that's what I call a great idea,” cried Benson, enthusiastically
”I want to know just how a torpedo is handled at the ti you have left to learn about this business,”
smiled the naval officer Then he passed the word for Ewald When that it sailor had taken the wheel, the naval officer and the young sub in one of the dummy torpedoes, first, of course,” announced Mr Danvers
One of the dummies was, therefore, hauled forward on a truck, then forced on into the torpedo tube Jack watched, intently, this part of the business
The torpedo itself was a cigar-shaped affair, with a propeller at the after end This propeller was set in ine in the after part of the torpedo, the engine being so constructed that it was set in operation at the moment the torpedo left the tube and entered the ocean outside The propeller was fitted with apparatus that would drive the torpedo in a straight line
”The torpedo looks like aBenson
”It surely does,” nodded the naval officer ”And, since the torpedo has to travel under water, what better ines in these duht hundred yards, and the torpedo, once it enters the water, travels forward, in a straight line until the engine gives out That is, the torpedo travels ahead if it doesn't hit soet nearer to the object than the distance for which the engine is set to run The speed of a torpedo like this, under water, is a good deal better than thirty o is naturally short That is a direct consequence of its speed Now, Mr Benson, would you like to kno to fire the torpedo, since it is already in the tube?”