Part 13 (1/2)

for a sight of him. Sure, I stayed awake nights worryin' for fear the convoy sent out to meet us would be so good it would scare all the subs away. It was nearin' the point where we expected the sub chasers to meet us that I got me wish.

It was about five in the afternoon with the sun goin' down like a red balloon, when we sighted a raft with a barrel propped up at one end.

There were two fellows aboard her, in a bad way from the looks of them, stripped to their waists, wavin' their s.h.i.+rts to us for help.

We had been after hearin' how dangerous it was to stop your engine in the Zone and rescue survivors, but good G.o.d! who'd have the heart to pa.s.s those poor fellows by! Perhaps they had wives and kids at home same as us. We drew up about five hundred yards from them and started to lower the boat when the raft rose out of the water and turned over and the men dived off. Under it we saw the deck of a submarine, the barrel still on her periscope.

It's trapped we were by her dirty trick! She struck us amids.h.i.+ps and then submerged. There wasn't time to fire. We were sinkin' stern first.

The boats were swung down and I started to get into me own when I remembered the wife's picture! Sure, I had to have it! There wasn't no two ways about it. I just wouldn't get off the s.h.i.+p without it. Someone called to me to come on. Someone pulled me arm. But I tore it loose.

”It's goin' back I am,” I told him.

”You're crazy! She'll be down in four minutes.”

”I tell you, it's goin' back I am... .”

And he let me go. I guess he thought he'd done his best to save a poor loon. All hands were on deck. I made for the hatchway and found it fillin' with water. The furniture was floatin' around like the little toys the kid puts in the bath tub.

I fought me way to me bunk. Over it I'd nailed the picture. I felt with me hands until I found it. I tore it off the wall and stuffed it in me s.h.i.+rt, then I started out. The water was clean up to me waist and pourin' in. The force of it sent the chairs and tables cras.h.i.+n' against the wall. I dodged them and found the stairs. They were submerged. It's on me hands and knees I crawled, until I reached the top. The water poured in on me.

I found the deck deserted. I looked down. A few boats were bobbin' on the waves. I dived off. When I came up it did me eyes good to see a boat a few yards away. I swam toward it and they pulled me in. A seaman named Doyle and another called Hooper were good strokes. They rowed all eighteen of us away out when the cruiser went down.

About a hundred yards from us was a boat full of our officers. It was decidin' to follow them we were, when the submarine came to surface again. She was after knowin' which boat held officers, too--no doubt about that, because she trained her machine gun on the lot of them without wastin' time, and opened fire. Yes, by G.o.d! shootin' on men adrift in a lifeboat!

That's a sample of Hun fightin' I won't forget in a hurry! I'd have given me life and that of all me dear ones just then for a chance to cut the throats of those cool devils on her deck, pumpin' death into that boat load of helpless youngsters... .

We expected to get it next and it's ready for them we were. I hoped with all me heart and soul that they'd come close enough to hear the names I was callin' them. But they didn't honor us--not them. They figured that we were all enlisted men, not worth wastin' a shot on, for they submerged.

It was growin' dark, but there was still light enough for us to take stock of our fodder. All lifeboats are well equipped--provided with ten gallon barrels of water, and with tins of bacon and crackers. It's glad to find the food and water we were. The chances were pretty fair of our bein' rescued in a day or two. That was good, seein' we hadn't a compa.s.s and most of us was green. We couldn't even pick the stars and none of us knew seamans.h.i.+p.

We could do nothin' but wait until mornin' and pray for the sight of a sail. Mornin' came. We were stiff, 'part from wet clothes and 'part from the hard boards on which we'd been lyin'.

There were four boys aboard--just kids, not more than eighteen or nineteen. It's game they were, all right. They were the life of that gang. It's ”Cheer up, they'll find us to-day,” they'd tell us.

One of them was bubblin' over with spirits. He was a big, blond kid called Terry. He was one of the gun's crew and I'd liked him from the start. He appointed himself C. P. O. in charge of the chow and dished out the crackers and bacon to us, jokin' about our table de hote and sayin' he'd try to do better next meal.

Some of the older men aboard shook their heads over the way we was eatin'.

”Better hold back on the rations and water,” they warned us. ”We ain't rescued yet.”

But we laughed them down. We felt sure some s.h.i.+p must have caught our S.

O. S. the night before. It stood to reason help was hurryin' toward us.

We took turns scannin' the horizon. It wasn't hard, because the sky was cloudy. We didn't say so, but it's hopin' we were that there wouldn't be a squall. It wasn't long before the water grew choppy and a mist came up. Some of the men were glooms for fair.

”Fog risin'. We couldn't see a s.h.i.+p if she was alongside of us,” they growled.

The boys wouldn't be downed.

”We'll shout just to show them we're here,” they said, and, at intervals all that long night, their voices rang out, but no answer did we get.