Chapter 3


Those were anxious days, during which I had but little opportunity
to associate with Lys. I had given her the commander's room,
Bradley and I taking that of the deck-officer, while Olson and
two of our best men occupied the room ordinarily allotted to
petty officers. I made Nobs' bed down in Lys' room, for I knew
she would feel less alone.

Nothing of much moment occurred for a while after we left British
waters behind us. We ran steadily along upon the surface, making
good time. The first two boats we sighted made off as fast as they
could go; and the third, a huge freighter, fired on us, forcing us
to submerge. It was after this that our troubles commenced.
One of the Diesel engines broke down in the morning, and while
we were working on it, the forward port diving-tank commenced
to fill. I was on deck at the time and noted the gradual list.
Guessing at once what was happening, I leaped for the hatch and
slamming it closed above my head, dropped to the centrale. By this
time the craft was going down by the head with a most unpleasant
list to port, and I didn't wait to transmit orders to some one
else but ran as fast as I could for the valve that let the sea
into the forward port diving-tank. It was wide open. To close
it and to have the pump started that would empty it were the work
of but a minute; but we had had a close call.

I knew that the valve had never opened itself. Some one had
opened it--some one who was willing to die himself if he might at
the same time encompass the death of all of us.

After that I kept a guard pacing the length of the narrow craft.
We worked upon the engine all that day and night and half the
following day. Most of the time we drifted idly upon the
surface, but toward noon we sighted smoke due west, and having
found that only enemies inhabited the world for us, I ordered
that the other engine be started so that we could move out of the
path of the oncoming steamer. The moment the engine started to
turn, however, there was a grinding sound of tortured steel, and
when it had been stopped, we found that some one had placed a
cold-chisel in one of the gears.

It was another two days before we were ready to limp along,
half repaired. The night before the repairs were completed,
the sentry came to my room and awoke me. He was rather an
intelligent fellow of the English middle class, in whom I had
much confidence.

"Well, Wilson," I asked. "What's the matter now?"

He raised his finger to his lips and came closer to me. "I think
I've found out who's doin' the mischief," he whispered, and
nodded his head toward the girl's room. "I seen her sneakin'
from the crew's room just now," he went on. "She'd been in
gassin' wit' the boche commander. Benson seen her in there las'
night, too, but he never said nothin' till I goes on watch tonight.
Benson's sorter slow in the head, an' he never puts two an' two
together till some one else has made four out of it."

If the man had come in and struck me suddenly in the face, I
could have been no more surprised.

"Say nothing of this to anyone," I ordered. "Keep your eyes and
ears open and report every suspicious thing you see or hear."

The man saluted and left me; but for an hour or more I tossed,
restless, upon my hard bunk in an agony of jealousy and fear.
Finally I fell into a troubled sleep. It was daylight when I awoke.
We were steaming along slowly upon the surface, my orders having
been to proceed at half speed until we could take an observation
and determine our position. The sky had been overcast all the
previous day and all night; but as I stepped into the centrale
that morning I was delighted to see that the sun was again shining.
The spirits of the men seemed improved; everything seemed propitious.
I forgot at once the cruel misgivings of the past night as I set
to work to take my observations.

What a blow awaited me! The sextant and chronometer had both
been broken beyond repair, and they had been broken just this
very night. They had been broken upon the night that Lys had been
seen talking with von Schoenvorts. I think that it was this last
thought which hurt me the worst. I could look the other disaster
in the face with equanimity; but the bald fact that Lys might be
a traitor appalled me.

I called Bradley and Olson on deck and told them what had
happened, but for the life of me I couldn't bring myself to
repeat what Wilson had reported to me the previous night.
In fact, as I had given the matter thought, it seemed incredible
that the girl could have passed through my room, in which Bradley
and I slept, and then carried on a conversation in the crew's
room, in which Von Schoenvorts was kept, without having been seen
by more than a single man.

Bradley shook his head. "I can't make it out," he said. "One of
those boches must be pretty clever to come it over us all like
this; but they haven't harmed us as much as they think; there are
still the extra instruments."

It was my turn now to shake a doleful head. "There are no extra
instruments," I told them. "They too have disappeared as did the
wireless apparatus."

Both men looked at me in amazement. "We still have the compass
and the sun," said Olson. "They may be after getting the compass
some night; but they's too many of us around in the daytime fer
'em to get the sun."

It was then that one of the men stuck his head up through the
hatchway and seeing me, asked permission to come on deck and get
a breath of fresh air. I recognized him as Benson, the man who,
Wilson had said, reported having seen Lys with von Schoenvorts two
nights before. I motioned him on deck and then called him to one
side, asking if he had seen anything out of the way or unusual
during his trick on watch the night before. The fellow scratched
his head a moment and said, "No," and then as though it was an
afterthought, he told me that he had seen the girl in the crew's
room about midnight talking with the German commander, but as
there hadn't seemed to him to be any harm in that, he hadn't said
anything about it. Telling him never to fail to report to me
anything in the slightest out of the ordinary routine of the ship,
I dismissed him.

Several of the other men now asked permission to come on deck, and
soon all but those actually engaged in some necessary duty were
standing around smoking and talking, all in the best of spirits.
I took advantage of the absence of the men upon the deck to go
below for my breakfast, which the cook was already preparing
upon the electric stove. Lys, followed by Nobs, appeared as I
entered the centrale. She met me with a pleasant "Good morning!"
which I am afraid I replied to in a tone that was rather constrained
and surly.

"Will you breakfast with me?" I suddenly asked the girl,
determined to commence a probe of my own along the lines which
duty demanded.

She nodded a sweet acceptance of my invitation, and together we
sat down at the little table of the officers' mess.
"You slept well last night?" I asked.

"All night," she replied. "I am a splendid sleeper."

Her manner was so straightforward and honest that I could not
bring myself to believe in her duplicity; yet--Thinking to
surprise her into a betrayal of her guilt, I blurted out: "The
chronometer and sextant were both destroyed last night; there is
a traitor among us." But she never turned a hair by way of
evidencing guilty knowledge of the catastrophe.

"Who could it have been?" she cried. "The Germans would be crazy
to do it, for their lives are as much at stake as ours."

"Men are often glad to die for an ideal--an ideal of patriotism,
perhaps," I replied; "and a willingness to martyr themselves
includes a willingness to sacrifice others, even those who
love them. Women are much the same, except that they will go
even further than most men--they will sacrifice everything, even
honor, for love."

I watched her face carefully as I spoke, and I thought that I
detected a very faint flush mounting her cheek. Seeing an
opening and an advantage, I sought to follow it up.

"Take von Schoenvorts, for instance," I continued: "he would
doubtless be glad to die and take us all with him, could he
prevent in no other way the falling of his vessel into enemy hands.
He would sacrifice anyone, even you; and if you still love him,
you might be his ready tool. Do you understand me?"

She looked at me in wide-eyed consternation for a moment, and
then she went very white and rose from her seat. "I do," she
replied, and turning her back upon me, she walked quickly toward
her room. I started to follow, for even believing what I did, I
was sorry that I had hurt her. I reached the door to the crew's
room just behind her and in time to see von Schoenvorts lean
forward and whisper something to her as she passed; but she must
have guessed that she might be watched, for she passed on.

That afternoon it clouded over; the wind mounted to a gale, and
the sea rose until the craft was wallowing and rolling frightfully.
Nearly everyone aboard was sick; the air became foul and oppressive.
For twenty-four hours I did not leave my post in the conning tower,
as both Olson and Bradley were sick. Finally I found that I must
get a little rest, and so I looked about for some one to relieve me.
Benson volunteered. He had not been sick, and assured me that he
was a former R.N. man and had been detailed for submarine duty
for over two years. I was glad that it was he, for I had
considerable confidence in his loyalty, and so it was with a
feeling of security that I went below and lay down.

I slept twelve hours straight, and when I awoke and discovered
what I had done, I lost no time in getting to the conning tower.
There sat Benson as wide awake as could be, and the compass
showed that we were heading straight into the west. The storm
was still raging; nor did it abate its fury until the fourth day.
We were all pretty well done up and looked forward to the time
when we could go on deck and fill our lungs with fresh air.
During the whole four days I had not seen the girl, as she
evidently kept closely to her room; and during this time no
untoward incident had occurred aboard the boat--a fact which
seemed to strengthen the web of circumstantial evidence about her.

For six more days after the storm lessened we still had fairly
rough weather; nor did the sun once show himself during all
that time. For the season--it was now the middle of June--the
storm was unusual; but being from southern California, I was
accustomed to unusual weather. In fact, I have discovered that
the world over, unusual weather prevails at all times of the year.

We kept steadily to our westward course, and as the U-33 was one
of the fastest submersibles we had ever turned out, I knew that we
must be pretty close to the North American coast. What puzzled
me most was the fact that for six days we had not sighted a
single ship. It seemed remarkable that we could cross the
Atlantic almost to the coast of the American continent without
glimpsing smoke or sail, and at last I came to the conclusion
that we were way off our course, but whether to the north or to
the south of it I could not determine.

On the seventh day the sea lay comparatively calm at early dawn.
There was a slight haze upon the ocean which had cut off our view
of the stars; but conditions all pointed toward a clear morrow, and
I was on deck anxiously awaiting the rising of the sun. My eyes
were glued upon the impenetrable mist astern, for there in the east
I should see the first glow of the rising sun that would assure me
we were still upon the right course. Gradually the heavens
lightened; but astern I could see no intenser glow that would
indicate the rising sun behind the mist. Bradley was standing
at my side. Presently he touched my arm.

"Look, captain," he said, and pointed south.

I looked and gasped, for there directly to port I saw outlined
through the haze the red top of the rising sun. Hurrying to the
tower, I looked at the compass. It showed that we were holding
steadily upon our westward course. Either the sun was rising in
the south, or the compass had been tampered with. The conclusion
was obvious.

I went back to Bradley and told him what I had discovered.
"And," I concluded, "we can't make another five hundred knots
without oil; our provisions are running low and so is our water.
God only knows how far south we have run."

"There is nothing to do," he replied, "other than to alter our
course once more toward the west; we must raise land soon or we
shall all be lost."

I told him to do so; and then I set to work improvising a crude
sextant with which we finally took our bearings in a rough and
most unsatisfactory manner; for when the work was done, we did
not know how far from the truth the result might be. It showed
us to be about 20' north and 30' west-- nearly twenty-five
hundred miles off our course. In short, if our reading was
anywhere near correct, we must have been traveling due south for
six days. Bradley now relieved Benson, for we had arranged our
shifts so that the latter and Olson now divided the nights,
while Bradley and I alternated with one another during the days.

I questioned both Olson and Benson closely in the matter of the
compass; but each stoutly maintained that no one had tampered
with it during his tour of duty. Benson gave me a knowing smile,
as much as to say: "Well, you and I know who did this." Yet I
could not believe that it was the girl.

We kept to our westerly course for several hours when the
lookout's cry announced a sail. I ordered the U-33's course
altered, and we bore down upon the stranger, for I had come to
a decision which was the result of necessity. We could not lie
there in the middle of the Atlantic and starve to death if there
was any way out of it. The sailing ship saw us while we were
still a long way off, as was evidenced by her efforts to escape.
There was scarcely any wind, however, and her case was hopeless;
so when we drew near and signaled her to stop, she came into the
wind and lay there with her sails flapping idly. We moved in
quite close to her. She was the Balmen of Halmstad, Sweden, with
a general cargo from Brazil for Spain.

I explained our circumstances to her skipper and asked for food,
water and oil; but when he found that we were not German, he
became very angry and abusive and started to draw away from us;
but I was in no mood for any such business. Turning toward
Bradley, who was in the conning-tower, I snapped out:
"Gun-service on deck! To the diving stations!" We had no
opportunity for drill; but every man had been posted as to
his duties, and the German members of the crew understood that
it was obedience or death for them, as each was accompanied by
a man with a pistol. Most of them, though, were only too glad
to obey me.

Bradley passed the order down into the ship and a moment later
the gun-crew clambered up the narrow ladder and at my direction
trained their piece upon the slow-moving Swede. "Fire a shot
across her bow," I instructed the gun-captain.

Accept it from me, it didn't take that Swede long to see the
error of his way and get the red and white pennant signifying
"I understand" to the masthead. Once again the sails flapped
idly, and then I ordered him to lower a boat and come after me.
With Olson and a couple of the Englishmen I boarded the ship,
and from her cargo selected what we needed--oil, provisions
and water. I gave the master of the Balmen a receipt for what
we took, together with an affidavit signed by Bradley, Olson, and
myself, stating briefly how we had come into possession of the
U-33 and the urgency of our need for what we took. We addressed
both to any British agent with the request that the owners of the
Balmen be reimbursed; but whether or not they were, I do not know. [1]


[1] Late in July, 1916, an item in the shipping news mentioned a
Swedish sailing vessel, Balmen, Rio de Janiero to Barcelona, sunk
by a German raider sometime in June. A single survivor in an open
boat was picked up off the Cape Verde Islands, in a dying condition.
He expired without giving any details.


With water, food, and oil aboard, we felt that we had obtained
a new lease of life. Now, too, we knew definitely where we were,
and I determined to make for Georgetown, British Guiana--but I
was destined to again suffer bitter disappointment.

Six of us of the loyal crew had come on deck either to serve the
gun or board the Swede during our set-to with her; and now, one
by one, we descended the ladder into the centrale. I was the
last to come, and when I reached the bottom, I found myself
looking into the muzzle of a pistol in the hands of Baron
Friedrich von Schoenvorts--I saw all my men lined up at one
side with the remaining eight Germans standing guard over them.


I couldn't imagine how it had happened; but it had. Later I
learned that they had first overpowered Benson, who was asleep
in his bunk, and taken his pistol from him, and then had found
it an easy matter to disarm the cook and the remaining two
Englishmen below. After that it had been comparatively simple
to stand at the foot of the ladder and arrest each individual as
he descended.

The first thing von Schoenvorts did was to send for me and
announce that as a pirate I was to be shot early the next morning.
Then he explained that the U-33 would cruise in these waters for
a time, sinking neutral and enemy shipping indiscriminately, and
looking for one of the German raiders that was supposed to be in
these parts.

He didn't shoot me the next morning as he had promised, and it
has never been clear to me why he postponed the execution of
my sentence. Instead he kept me ironed just as he had been;
then he kicked Bradley out of my room and took it all to himself.

We cruised for a long time, sinking many vessels, all but one by
gunfire, but we did not come across a German raider. I was
surprised to note that von Schoenvorts often permitted Benson to
take command; but I reconciled this by the fact that Benson
appeared to know more of the duties of a submarine commander than
did any of the Stupid Germans.

Once or twice Lys passed me; but for the most part she kept to
her room. The first time she hesitated as though she wished to
speak to me; but I did not raise my head, and finally she passed on.
Then one day came the word that we were about to round the Horn and
that von Schoenvorts had taken it into his fool head to cruise up
along the Pacific coast of North America and prey upon all sorts
and conditions of merchantmen.

"I'll put the fear of God and the Kaiser into them," he said.

The very first day we entered the South Pacific we had an adventure.
It turned out to be quite the most exciting adventure I had
ever encountered. It fell about this way. About eight bells of
the forenoon watch I heard a hail from the deck, and presently
the footsteps of the entire ship's company, from the amount of
noise I heard at the ladder. Some one yelled back to those who
had not yet reached the level of the deck: "It's the raider,
the German raider Geier!"

I saw that we had reached the end of our rope. Below all was
quiet--not a man remained. A door opened at the end of the
narrow hull, and presently Nobs came trotting up to me. He licked
my face and rolled over on his back, reaching for me with his big,
awkward paws. Then other footsteps sounded, approaching me.
I knew whose they were, and I looked straight down at the flooring.
The girl was coming almost at a run--she was at my side immediately.
"Here!" she cried. "Quick!" And she slipped something into my hand.
It was a key--the key to my irons. At my side she also laid a
pistol, and then she went on into the centrale. As she passed me,
I saw that she carried another pistol for herself. It did not
take me long to liberate myself, and then I was at her side.
"How can I thank you?" I started; but she shut me up with a word.

"Do not thank me," she said coldly. "I do not care to hear your
thanks or any other expression from you. Do not stand there
looking at me. I have given you a chance to do something--now
do it!" The last was a peremptory command that made me jump.

Glancing up, I saw that the tower was empty, and I lost no time
in clambering up, looking about me. About a hundred yards off
lay a small, swift cruiser-raider, and above her floated the
German man-of-war's flag. A boat had just been lowered, and I
could see it moving toward us filled with officers and men.
The cruiser lay dead ahead. "My," I thought, "what a wonderful targ--"
I stopped even thinking, so surprised and shocked was I by the
boldness of my imagery. The girl was just below me. I looked
down on her wistfully. Could I trust her? Why had she released
me at this moment? I must! I must! There was no other way.
I dropped back below. "Ask Olson to step down here, please,"
I requested; "and don't let anyone see you ask him."

She looked at me with a puzzled expression on her face for the
barest fraction of a second, and then she turned and went up
the ladder. A moment later Olson returned, and the girl
followed him. "Quick!" I whispered to the big Irishman, and
made for the bow compartment where the torpedo-tubes are built
into the boat; here, too, were the torpedoes. The girl
accompanied us, and when she saw the thing I had in mind,
she stepped forward and lent a hand to the swinging of the
great cylinder of death and destruction into the mouth of
its tube. With oil and main strength we shoved the torpedo
home and shut the tube; then I ran back to the conning-tower,
praying in my heart of hearts that the U-33 had not swung her
bow away from the prey. No, thank God!

Never could aim have been truer. I signaled back to Olson:
"Let 'er go!" The U-33 trembled from stem to stern as the torpedo
shot from its tube. I saw the white wake leap from her bow straight
toward the enemy cruiser. A chorus of hoarse yells arose from the
deck of our own craft: I saw the officers stand suddenly erect in
the boat that was approaching us, and I heard loud cries and
curses from the raider. Then I turned my attention to my
own business. Most of the men on the submarine's deck were
standing in paralyzed fascination, staring at the torpedo.
Bradley happened to be looking toward the conning-tower and
saw me. I sprang on deck and ran toward him. "Quick!" I whispered.
"While they are stunned, we must overcome them."

A German was standing near Bradley--just in front of him.
The Englishman struck the fellow a frantic blow upon the neck
and at the same time snatched his pistol from its holster.
Von Schoenvorts had recovered from his first surprise quickly
and had turned toward the main hatch to investigate. I covered
him with my revolver, and at the same instant the torpedo struck
the raider, the terrific explosion drowning the German's command
to his men.

Bradley was now running from one to another of our men, and
though some of the Germans saw and heard him, they seemed too
stunned for action.

Olson was below, so that there were only nine of us against eight
Germans, for the man Bradley had struck still lay upon the deck.
Only two of us were armed; but the heart seemed to have gone out
of the boches, and they put up but half-hearted resistance.
Von Schoenvorts was the worst--he was fairly frenzied with rage
and chagrin, and he came charging for me like a mad bull, and as
he came he discharged his pistol. If he'd stopped long enough to
take aim, he might have gotten me; but his pace made him wild,
so that not a shot touched me, and then we clinched and went to
the deck. This left two pistols, which two of my own men were
quick to appropriate. The Baron was no match for me in a
hand-to-hand encounter, and I soon had him pinned to the deck
and the life almost choked out of him.

A half-hour later things had quieted down, and all was much the
same as before the prisoners had revolted--only we kept a much
closer watch on von Schoenvorts. The Geier had sunk while we
were still battling upon our deck, and afterward we had drawn
away toward the north, leaving the survivors to the attention of
the single boat which had been making its way toward us when
Olson launched the torpedo. I suppose the poor devils never
reached land, and if they did, they most probably perished on
that cold and unhospitable shore; but I couldn't permit them
aboard the U-33. We had all the Germans we could take care of.

That evening the girl asked permission to go on deck. She said
that she felt the effects of long confinement below, and I
readily granted her request. I could not understand her, and I
craved an opportunity to talk with her again in an effort to
fathom her and her intentions, and so I made it a point to
follow her up the ladder. It was a clear, cold, beautiful night.
The sea was calm except for the white water at our bows and the
two long radiating swells running far off into the distance upon
either hand astern, forming a great V which our propellers filled
with choppy waves. Benson was in the tower, we were bound for
San Diego and all looked well.

Lys stood with a heavy blanket wrapped around her slender figure,
and as I approached her, she half turned toward me to see who it was.
When she recognized me, she immediately turned away.

"I want to thank you," I said, "for your bravery and loyalty--you
were magnificent. I am sorry that you had reason before to think
that I doubted you."

"You did doubt me," she replied in a level voice. "You practically
accused me of aiding Baron von Schoenvorts. I can never forgive you."

There was a great deal of finality in both her words and tone.

"I could not believe it," I said; "and yet two of my men reported
having seen you in conversation with von Schoenvorts late at
night upon two separate occasions--after each of which some great
damage was found done us in the morning. I didn't want to doubt
you; but I carried all the responsibility of the lives of these
men, of the safety of the ship, of your life and mine. I had to
watch you, and I had to put you on your guard against a repetition
of your madness."

She was looking at me now with those great eyes of hers, very
wide and round.

"Who told you that I spoke with Baron von Schoenvorts at night,
or any other time?" she asked.

"I cannot tell you, Lys," I replied, "but it came to me from two
different sources."

"Then two men have lied," she asserted without heat. "I have not
spoken to Baron von Schoenvorts other than in your presence when
first we came aboard the U-33. And please, when you address me,
remember that to others than my intimates I am Miss La Rue."

Did you ever get slapped in the face when you least expected it?
No? Well, then you do not know how I felt at that moment.
I could feel the hot, red flush surging up my neck, across my
cheeks, over my ears, clear to my scalp. And it made me love her
all the more; it made me swear inwardly a thousand solemn oaths
that I would win her.

****

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