diff options
Diffstat (limited to '36748-h/36748-h.htm')
| -rw-r--r-- | 36748-h/36748-h.htm | 8859 |
1 files changed, 8859 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/36748-h/36748-h.htm b/36748-h/36748-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0fb786a --- /dev/null +++ b/36748-h/36748-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8859 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" > +<head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> + <meta content="Ruth Fielding Homeward Bound" name="DC.Title"/> + <meta content="Alice B. Emerson" name="DC.Creator"/> + <meta content="en" name="DC.Language"/> + <meta content="1919" name="DC.Created"/> + <meta name="generator" content="ppgen (1.13) generated Jul 15, 2011 06:00 PM" /> + <title>Ruth Fielding Homeward Bound</title> + <style type="text/css"> + body {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%;} + p {margin-top:1ex; margin-bottom:0; text-align:justify;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size:x-small; text-align:right; text-indent:0; + position:absolute; right:2%; padding:1px 3px; font-style:normal; + font-variant:normal; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:none; + background-color:inherit; border:1px solid #eee;} + .pncolor {color:silver;} + h1 {text-align:center; font-weight:normal;} + h2 {text-align:left; font-weight:normal;} + h1 {font-size:1.4em; margin-top:4em; margin-bottom:2em;} + h2 {font-size:1.2em; margin-top:4em; margin-bottom:2em;} + hr.pb {margin:30px 0; width:100%; border:none; border-top:thin dashed silver; clear:both;} + .sc {font-variant: small-caps;} + .center {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; text-align:center;} + .larger {font-size:larger;} + .smaller {font-size:smaller;} + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + table.c {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + .caption {font-size: 80%;} + .sc {font-variant:small-caps} + div.center>:first-child {margin: .5em auto 0 auto;text-align:center;} + div.center p {margin: 0 auto; text-align:center;} + hr.tb {border:none; border-bottom: 1px solid black; margin: 20px auto; width:35%} + </style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Ruth Fielding Homeward Bound, by Alice B. Emerson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ruth Fielding Homeward Bound + A Red Cross Worker's Ocean Perils + +Author: Alice B. Emerson + +Release Date: July 16, 2011 [EBook #36748] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUTH FIELDING HOMEWARD BOUND *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank, David Edwards and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i001' id='i001'></a> +<img src='images/dust.jpg' alt='' title=''/><br /> +</div> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i002' id='i002'></a> +<img src="images/frontis.jpg" alt="THERE WAS A GRAY, SWIFTLY STEAMING SHIP BEARING DOWN UPON THE ADMIRAL PEKHARD." title=""/><br /> +<span class='caption'>THERE WAS A GRAY, SWIFTLY STEAMING SHIP<br/>BEARING DOWN UPON THE ADMIRAL PEKHARD.</span> +</div> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<div class='center'> +<p><span style='font-size:1.4em;font-weight:bold;'>Ruth Fielding</span></p> +<p><span style='font-size:1.4em;font-weight:bold;'>Homeward Bound</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p>OR</p> +<p> </p> +<p>A RED CROSS WORKER’S</p> +<p>OCEAN PERILS</p> +<p> </p> +<p>BY</p> +<p> </p> +<p><span style='font-size:larger;'>ALICE B. EMERSON</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p><span style='font-size:smaller;'>Author of “Ruth Fielding of the Red Mill,” “Ruth</span></p> +<p><span style='font-size:smaller;'>Fielding in the Saddle,” Etc.</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p><em>ILLUSTRATED</em></p> +</div> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i003' id='i003'></a> +<img src='images/title.jpg' alt='' title=''/><br /> +</div> +<div class='center'> +<p><span style='font-size:smaller;'>NEW YORK</span></p> +<p>CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY</p> +<p><span style='font-size:smaller;'>PUBLISHERS</span></p> +</div> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<div class='center'> +<p>Books for Girls</p> +<p>BY ALICE B. EMERSON</p> +<p> </p> +<p><span style='font-size:larger;'>RUTH FIELDING SERIES</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p>12mo. Cloth. Illustrated.</p> +</div> +<table class='c' summary='centered block'><tr><td> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING OF THE RED MILL</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING AT BRIARWOOD HALL</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING AT SNOW CAMP</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING AT LIGHTHOUSE POINT</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING AT SILVER RANCH</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING ON CLIFF ISLAND</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING AT SUNRISE FARM</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING IN MOVING PICTURES</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING DOWN IN DIXIE</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING AT COLLEGE</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING IN THE SADDLE</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING IN THE RED CROSS</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING AT THE WAR FRONT</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING HOMEWARD BOUND</p> +</td></tr></table> +<div class='center'> +<p>Cupples & Leon Co., Publishers, New York.</p> +<p> </p> +<p>Copyright, 1919, by</p> +<p>Cupples & Leon Company</p> +<p> </p> +<p><span class='sc'>Ruth Fielding Homeward Bound</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p>Printed in U. S. A.</p> +</div> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<div class='center'> +<p><span style='font-size:larger;'>CONTENTS</span></p> +</div> +<table class='c' summary='table of contents'> +<tr><td style='font-size:smaller'>CHAPTER</td><td></td><td style='font-size:smaller'>PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>I.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Tea and a Toast</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chI'>1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>II.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Such a Dream!</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chII'>10</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>III.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>It’s All Over!</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chIII'>20</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>IV.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Two Exciting Things</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chIV'>29</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>V.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Secret</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chV'>38</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>VI.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>A New Experience</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chVI'>45</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>VII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Zeppelin</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chVII'>52</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>VIII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Afloat</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chVIII'>60</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>IX.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Queer Folks</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chIX'>68</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>X.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>What Will Happen?</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chX'>76</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XI.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Developments</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXI'>84</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Man in the Motor Boat</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXII'>93</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XIII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>It Comes to a Head</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXIII'>101</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XIV.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>A Battle in the Air</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXIV'>111</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XV.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Abandoned</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXV'>121</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XVI.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>On the Edge of Tragedy</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXVI'>131</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XVII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Boarded</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXVII'>140</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XVIII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Conspiracy Laid Bare</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXVIII'>149</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XIX.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Tom Cameron Takes a Hand</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXIX'>159</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XX.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Storm Breaks</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXX'>166</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XXI.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Wreck</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXXI'>172</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XXII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Adrift</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXXII'>180</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XXIII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>At the Moment of Need</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXXIII'>186</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XXIV.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Counterplot</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXXIV'>196</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XXV.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Home as Found</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXXV'>205</a></td></tr> +</table> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<h1><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_1'></a>1</span>Ruth Fielding Homeward Bound</h1> +<h2><a name='chI' id='chI'></a>CHAPTER I—TEA AND A TOAST</h2> +<p> +“And you once said, Heavy Stone, that you +did not believe a poilu <em>could</em> love a fat girl!” +</p> +<p> +Helen said it in something like awe. While +Ruth’s tea-urn bubbled cozily three pair of very +bright eyes were bent above a tiny, iridescent +spark which adorned the “heart finger” of the +plumper girl’s left hand. +</p> +<p> +There is something about an engagement diamond +that makes it sparkle and twinkle more than +any other diamond. You do not believe that? +Wait until you wear one on the third finger of +your left hand yourself! +</p> +<p> +These three girls, who owned all the rings and +other jewelry that was good for them, continued +to adore this newest of Jennie Stone’s possessions +until the tea water boiled over. Ruth Fielding +arose with an exclamation of vexation, and corrected +the height of the alcohol blaze and dropped +in the “pinch” of tea. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_2'></a>2</span> +</p> +<p> +It was mid-afternoon, the hour when a cup of +tea comforts the fagged nerves and inspires the +waning spirit of womankind almost the world over. +These three girls crowded into Ruth Fielding’s +little cell, even gave up the worship of the ring, +to sip the tea which the hostess soon poured into +the cups. +</p> +<p> +“The cups are nicked; no wonder,” sighed +Ruth. “They have traveled many hundreds of +miles with me, girls. Think! I got them at +Briarwood——” +</p> +<p> +“Dear old Briarwood Hall,” murmured Jennie +Stone. +</p> +<p> +“You’re in a dreadfully sentimental mood, +Jennie,” declared Helen Cameron with some +scorn. “Is that the way a diamond ring affects +all engaged girls?” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, how fat I was in those days, girls! And +how I did eat!” groaned the girl who had been +known at boarding school as “Heavy Stone,” and +seldom by any other name among her mates. +</p> +<p> +“And you still continue to eat!” ejaculated +Helen, the slimmest of the three, and a very black-eyed +girl with blue-black hair and a perfect complexion. +She removed the tin wafer box from +Jennie’s reach. +</p> +<p> +“Those are not real eats,” complained the girl +with the diamond ring. “A million would not +add a thousandth part of an ounce to my pounds.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_3'></a>3</span> +</p> +<p> +“Listen to her!” gasped Helen. “If Major +Henri Marchand could hear her now!” +</p> +<p> +“He is a full colonel, I’d have you know,” declared +Jennie Stone. “And in charge of his section. +In <em>our</em> army it is the Intelligence Department—Secret +Service.” +</p> +<p> +“That is what Tom calls the ‘Camouflage Bureau.’ +<em>Colonel</em> Marchand has a nice, sitting-down +job,” scoffed Helen. +</p> +<p> +“Colonel Marchand,” said Ruth Fielding, +gravely, “has been through the enemy’s lines, and +with his brother, the Count Allaire, has obtained +more information for the French Army, I am +sure, than most of the brave men belonging to the +Intelligence Department. Nobody can question +his courage with justice, Jennie.” +</p> +<p> +“<em>You</em> ought to know!” pouted the plumper girl. +“You and my colonel have tramped all over the +French front together.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, no! There were some places we did not +go to,” laughed Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“And just think,” cried Helen, “of her leaving +us here in this hospital, Heavy, while she +went off with your Frenchman to look for +Tom, my own brother! And she would not +tell me a word about it till she was back with +him, safe and sound. This Ruthie Fielding +of ours——” +</p> +<p> +“Tut, tut!” said Ruth, shaking her chum a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_4'></a>4</span> +little, and then kissing her. “Don’t be jealous, +Helen.” +</p> +<p> +“It’s not I that should be jealous. It is +Heavy’s friend with whom you went over to the +Germans,” declared Helen, tossing her head. +</p> +<p> +“And Jennie had not even met Major Marchand—<em>that +was</em>! ‘Colonel,’ I should say,” said +Ruth. “Oh, girls! so much has happened to us all +during these past few months.” +</p> +<p> +“During the past few years,” said the plump +girl sepulchrally. “Talking about your cracked +and chipped china,” and she held up her empty +cup to look through it. “<em>I</em> remember when you +got this tea set, Ruthie. Remember the Fox, and +all her chums at Briarwood, and how mean we +treated you, Ruthie?” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, <em>don’t</em>!” exclaimed Helen. “I treated my +Ruthie mean in those days, too—sometimes.” +</p> +<p> +“Goodness!” drawled their friend, who was in +the uniform of the Red Cross worker and was a +very practical looking, as well as pretty, girl. +“Don’t bring up such sad and sorrowful remembrances. +This tea is positively going to your +heads and making you maudlin. Come! I will +give you a toast. You must drink your cup to it—and +to the very dregs!” +</p> +<p> +“‘Dregs’ is right, Ruth,” complained Jennie, +peering into her cup. “You never will strain tea +properly.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_5'></a>5</span> +</p> +<p> +“Pooh! If you do,” scoffed Helen, “you never +have any leaves left with which to tell your fortune.” +</p> +<p> +“‘Fortune!’ Superstitious child!” Then Jennie +added in a whisper: “Do you know, Madame +Picolet knows how to tell fortunes splendidly with +tea-grounds. She positively told me I was going +to marry a tall, dark, military man, of noble +blood, and who had recently been advanced in +the service.” +</p> +<p> +“Goodness! And who could not have told you +the same after having seen your Henri following +you about the last time he had leave in Paris?” +laughed Helen. Then she added: “The toast, +Ruthie! Let us have it, now the cups are filled +again.” +</p> +<p> +Ruth stood up, smiling down upon them. She +was not a large girl, but in her uniform and cap +she seemed very womanly and not a little impressive. +</p> +<p> +“Here’s to the sweetest words the exile ever +hears,” said she softly, her eyes suddenly soft and +her color rising: “‘Homeward bound!’ Oh, +girls, when shall we see America and all our +friends and the familiar scenes again? Cheslow, +Helen! And the dear, dear old Red +Mill!” +</p> +<p> +She drank her own toast to the last drop. +Then she shrugged her pretty shoulders and put +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_6'></a>6</span> +her serious air aside. Her eyes sparkled once +more as she exclaimed: +</p> +<p> +“On my own part, I was only reminiscing upon +the travels of this old tea set. Back and forth +from the dear old Red Mill to Briarwood Hall, +and all around the country on our vacations. To +your Lighthouse Point place, Jennie. To your +father’s winter camp, Helen. And out West to +Jane’s uncle’s ranch, and down South and all! +And then across the ocean and all about France! +No wonder the teacups are nicked and the saucers +cracked.” +</p> +<p> +“What busy times we’ve had, girls,” agreed +Helen. +</p> +<p> +“What busy times Ruth has had,” grumbled +Jennie. “You and I, Nell, come up here from +Paris to visit her now and then. Otherwise we +would never hear a Boche shell burst, unless there +is an air raid over Paris, or the Germans work +their super-gun and smash a church!” +</p> +<p> +“Ruth is so brave,” sighed Helen. +</p> +<p> +“Cat’s foot!” snapped Ruth. “I’m just as +scared as you are every time I hear a gun. Oh!” +</p> +<p> +To prove her statement, that cry burst from +her lips involuntarily. There was an explosion +in the distance—whether of gun or bomb, it was +impossible to say. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, Ruth!” cried Helen, clasping her hands. +“I thought you wrote us that our boys had pushed +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_7'></a>7</span> +the Germans back so far that the guns could +scarcely be heard from here?” +</p> +<p> +“Must be some mistake about that,” muttered +Jennie, with her mouth full of tea-wafers. “There +goes another!” +</p> +<p> +Ruth Fielding had risen and went to the narrow +window. After the second explosion a heavy +siren began to blow a raucous alarm. Nearer +aerial defense guns spoke. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, girls!” exclaimed Ruth, “it is an air raid. +We have not had one before for weeks—and +never before in broad day!” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, dear me! I wish we hadn’t come,” Helen +said, trembling. “Let us find a <em>cave voûtée</em>. I +saw signs along the main street of this village as +we drove through.” +</p> +<p> +“There is a bomb proof just back of the hospital,” +said Ruth, and then another heavy explosion +drowned what else she might have said. +</p> +<p> +Her two visitors dropped their teacups and +started for the door. But Ruth did not turn +from the window. She was trying to see—to +mark the direction of the Boche bombing machine +that was deliberately seeking to hit the hospital +of Clair. +</p> +<p> +“Come, Ruthie!” cried Helen, looking back. +</p> +<p> +“I don’t know that I should,” the other girl +said slowly. “I am in charge of the supplies. I +may be wanted at any moment. The nurses do +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_8'></a>8</span> +not run away from the wards and leave their poor +<em>blessés</em> at such a time——” +</p> +<p> +Another thundering explosion fairly shook the +walls of the hospital. Jennie and Helen shrieked +aloud. They were not used to anything like this. +Their months of war experience had been gained +mostly in Paris, not so near the front trenches. +A bombing raid was a tragedy to them. To Ruth +Fielding it was an incident. +</p> +<p> +“Do come, Ruthie!” cried her chum. “I am +frightened to death.” +</p> +<p> +“I will go downstairs with you——” +</p> +<p> +The sentence was never finished. Out of the +air, almost over their heads, fell a great, whining +shell. The noise of it before it exploded was +like a knife-thrust to the hearts of the frightened +girls. Jennie and Helen clung to each other in +the open doorway of Ruth’s cell. Their braver +companion had not left the window. +</p> +<p> +Then came the shuddering crash which rocked +the hospital and all the taller buildings about it! +</p> +<p> +Clair had been bombed many times since the +Boche hordes had poured down into France. But +never like this, and previous bombardments had +been for the most part at night. The aerial defense +guns were popping away at the enemy; the +airplanes kept up a clatter of machine-gun fire; +the alarm siren added to the din. +</p> +<p> +But that exploding shell drowned every other +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_9'></a>9</span> +sound for the moment. The whole world seemed +to rock. A crash of falling stones and shattered +glass finally rose above the dying roar of the explosion. +</p> +<p> +And then the window at which Ruth Fielding +stood sprang inward, glass and frame together, +the latter in a grotesque twisted pattern of steel +rods, the former in a million shivered pieces. +</p> +<p> +Smoke, or steam, or something, filled the cell +for a minute and blinded Helen Cameron and +Jennie Stone. This cloud cleared, and struggling +up from the floor just outside the doorway, where +the shock had flung them, the two terrified girls +uttered a simultaneous cry. +</p> +<p> +Ruth Fielding lay on her face upon the floor of +her cell. A great, jagged tear in her apron and +dress revealed her bared shoulder, all blood-smeared. +And half across her body lay a slab +of gray stone that had been the sill of the +window! +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_10'></a>10</span><a name='chII' id='chII'></a>CHAPTER II—SUCH A DREAM!</h2> +<p> +The lights in the day coach had just been lit +and she was looking out into the gathering darkness +as the train rolled slowly into Cheslow, the +New England town to which her fare had been +paid when her friends back in the town where she +was born had decided that little Ruth Fielding +should be sent to her single living relative, Uncle +Jabez Potter. +</p> +<p> +He was her mother’s uncle, really, and a “great +uncle” was a relative that Ruth could not quite +visualize at that time. It was not until she had +come to the old Red Mill on the bank of the +Lumano River that the child found out that a +great uncle was a tall, craggy kind of man, who +wore clothing from which the mill dust rose in +little clouds when he moved hurriedly, and with +the same dust seemingly ground into every +wrinkle and line of his harsh countenance. +</p> +<p> +Jabez Potter had accepted the duty of the +child’s support without one softening thought of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_11'></a>11</span> +love or kindness. She was a “charity child”; and +she was made to feel this fact continually in a +hundred ways. +</p> +<p> +Had it not been for Aunt Alvirah Boggs, who +had likewise been taken in by the miller to keep +house for him—the little, crippled old woman +would otherwise have completed her years in the +poorhouse. Had it not been for Aunt Alvirah +Boggs, Ruth Fielding’s first months at the Red +Mill would have been a most somber experience, +although the child was naturally of a cheerful and +sanguine temperament. +</p> +<p> +The miserly miller considered Ruth Fielding a +liability; she proved herself in time to be an asset. +And as she grew older the warped nature and +acid temper of the miller both changed toward +his grand-niece. But to bring this about took several +years—years filled with more adventure and +wider experiences than most girls obtain. +</p> +<p> +Beginning with her acquaintance with Helen +and Tom Cameron, the twins, who lived near the +Red Mill, and were the children of a wealthy +merchant, Ruth’s life led upward in successive +steps into education and fortune. As “Ruth +Fielding of the Red Mill”—the title of the first +book of this series—the little girl had never +dreamed that she would arrive at any eminence. +She was just a loving, sympathetic, cheerful soul, +whose influence upon those about her was remarkable +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_12'></a>12</span> +only because she was so much in earnest +and was of honest purpose in all things. +</p> +<p> +Uncle Jabez could appreciate her honesty, for +that was one virtue he himself possessed. He +always paid his bills, and paid them when they +came due. He considered that because Ruth discovered +a sum of money that he lost he owed her +a reward. That reward took the form of payment +for tuition and board for her first year at +Briarwood Hall, where she went with Helen +Cameron. At the same time Helen’s brother +went to Seven Oaks, a military school for +boys. +</p> +<p> +In this way began the series of adventures +which had checkered Ruth Fielding’s career, and +as related in the fourteen successive volumes of +the series, the girl of the Red Mill is to be met +at Briarwood Hall, at Snow Camp, at Lighthouse +Point, at Silver Ranch, on Cliff Island, at Sunrise +Farm, with the Gypsies, in Moving Pictures, +down in Dixie, at College, in the Saddle, in the +Red Cross, at the War Front. In this present volume +she is introduced, with her chum Helen Cameron +and with their friend, Jennie Stone, at the +French evacuation Hospital at Clair, not many +miles behind a sector of the Western Front held +by the brave fighting men of the United States. +</p> +<p> +Ruth had been there in charge of the supply +department of the hospital for some months, and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_13'></a>13</span> +that after some considerable experience at other +points in France. As everywhere else she had +been, the girl of the Red Mill had made friends +around her. +</p> +<p> +Back of the old-world village of Clair, the one +modern touch in which was this hospital, lay upon +a wooded height an old château belonging to the +ancient family of the Marchands. With the +Countess Marchand, a very simple and lovely +lady, Ruth had maintained a friendship since soon +after arriving at Clair to take up her Red Cross +work. +</p> +<p> +When Tom Cameron, who was at work with +his regiment on this very sector of the battle-front, +got into trouble while on special duty beyond +the German lines, it was by grace of Henri +Marchand’s influence, and in his company, that +Ruth Fielding was able to get into the German +lines and by posing as Tom’s sister, “Fraulein +Mina von Brenner,” helped Tom to escape from +the military governor of the district. +</p> +<p> +Aided by Count Allaire Marchand, the Countess’ +oldest son, and the then Major Henri Marchand, +the girl of the Red Mill and Helen +Cameron’s twin brother had returned in safety +through the German lines. The adventure had +knitted a stronger cord of friendship between +Ruth and Tom; although heretofore the young +man had quite plainly showed that he considered +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_14'></a>14</span> +Ruth much the nicest girl of any of his sister’s +acquaintances. +</p> +<p> +Other than a strong sisterly feeling for Tom +Cameron, Ruth had not really revealed. Perhaps +that was as deep as her interest in the young man +lay. And, in any case, she was not the girl to +wear her heart on her sleeve. +</p> +<p> +The girls who had gone through Briarwood +Hall together, and later had entered Ardmore +College and were near to finishing their sophomore +year when America got into the World +War, were not the kind who put “the boys” before +every other thought. +</p> +<p> +Marriage was something very far ahead in the +future, if Ruth or Helen thought of it at all. And +it was quite a surprise to them that Jennie Stone +should have so suddenly become engaged. Indeed, +the plump girl was one of “the old crowd” +that the girl of the Red Mill had not supposed +would become early engaged. “Heavy” Stone +was not openly of a sentimental character. +</p> +<p> +But when, through Ruth, the plump girl had +become acquainted with the Countess Marchand’s +younger son, Jennie Stone had been carried quite +off her feet by the young Frenchman’s precipitous +courtship. +</p> +<p> +“Talk about the American boys being ‘sudden’! +Theirs is nothing to the whirlwind work +of Henri Marchand!” exclaimed Helen. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_15'></a>15</span> +</p> +<p> +Jennie and Helen Cameron had been going +back and forth to Clair as affairs permitted during +the past few months; therefore Jennie had +become acquainted with the Countess and was +now more often a visitor at the old château than +at the hospital. +</p> +<p> +The country about Clair had quieted down +during the past two months; and for a long time +previous to this fateful day when our story opens, +the war had touched the town but slightly save +as the ambulances rolled in now and then with +wounded from the field hospitals. +</p> +<p> +Gradually the roar of the cannon had retreated. +The Yankees were forcing the fighting on this +front and had pressed the Germans back, slowly +but surely. The last and greatest German offensive +had broken down, and now Marshal Foch +had started his great drive which was to shatter +utterly the foe’s western front. +</p> +<p> +By some foul chance the German bombing plane +had escaped the watchful French and American +airplanes at the front, had crossed the fighting +lines, and had reached Clair with its single building +of mark—the hospital. The Hun raider deliberately +dropped his cargo of explosives on and +around this building of mercy. +</p> +<p> +In broad daylight the red crosses painted upon +the roofs of the several departments of the institution +were too plainly seen from the air for +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_16'></a>16</span> +the Hun to have made a mistake. It was a deliberate +expression of German “frightfulness.” +</p> +<p> +But the bomb, which in exploding had crushed +inward the window of Ruth Fielding’s little sleeping +cell, was the final one dropped from the +enemy plane. The machine droned away, pursued +by the two or three airplanes that had +spiraled up to attack it. +</p> +<p> +Enough damage had been done, however. As +Helen Cameron and Jennie Stone scrambled up +from the floor of the corridor outside Ruth’s +door their united screams brought the little +<em>Madame la Directrice</em> of the hospital to their aid. +</p> +<p> +“She is killed!” gasped Jennie, gazing in horror +at their fallen comrade and friend. +</p> +<p> +“Murdered!” shrieked Helen, and covered her +face with her hands. +</p> +<p> +The Frenchwoman swept them both aside and +entered the chamber. She was not more practical +than the two American girls, but her experience +of four years of war had made her used to +such sights as this. She knelt beside the fallen +girl, discovered that the wound upon her shoulder +was not deep, and instantly heaved the heavy +stone off the girl’s back. +</p> +<p> +“La, la, la!” she murmured. “It is sad! That +so-heavy stone! Ah, the bone must be broken! +Poor child!” +</p> +<p> +“Isn’t she dead?” gasped Helen. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_17'></a>17</span> +“No, no! She is very bad wounded-perhaps. +See—let us turn her over—” +</p> +<p> +She spoke in English. It was Jennie who came +to her aid. Between them they turned Ruth Fielding +over. Plainly she was not dead. She breathed +lightly and she was unconscious. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, Ruthie! Ruthie!” begged Helen. “Speak +to me!” +</p> +<p> +“No!” exclaimed the matron. “Do not attempt +to rouse her, Mademoiselle. It is better +that the shoulder should be set and properly bandaged +before she comes to consciousness again. +Push that button yonder for the orderly—twice! +That is it. We will lay her on her cot—poor +child!” +</p> +<p> +The woman was strong as well as tender. With +Jennie’s aid she lifted the wounded girl and +placed her on her narrow bed. A man came running +along the corridor. The matron instructed +him in such rapid French that neither of Ruth’s +friends could understand all that she said. The +orderly departed on the run. +</p> +<p> +“To the operating room!” commanded the +matron, when the <em>brancardiers</em> appeared with the +stretcher. +</p> +<p> +They lifted Ruth, who remained unconscious, +from the bed to the stretcher. They descended +with her to the ground floor, Jennie and Helen +following in the wake. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_18'></a>18</span> +On both of the main floors of the hospital nurses +came to the doors of the wards to learn what had +happened. Although the whole hospital had been +shaken by the bombs, there had been no casualty +within its precincts save this. +</p> +<p> +“Why should it have to be Ruth?” groaned +Helen. “To think of our Ruthie being wounded—the +only one!” +</p> +<p> +They shut the two American girls out of the +operating room, of course. <em>The Médecin Chef</em> +himself came hurriedly to see what was needed +for the injured girl. <em>Mademoiselle Americaine</em>, +as Ruth was called about the hospital by the +grateful French people, was very popular and +much beloved. +</p> +<p> +Her two girl friends waited in great anxiety +outside the operating room. At last <em>Madame la +Directrice</em> came out. She smiled at the anxious +girls. That was the most glorious smile—so Jennie +Stone said afterward—that was ever beheld. +</p> +<p> +“A fracture of the shoulder bone; her sweet +flesh cut and bruised, but not deeply, Mesdemoiselles. +No scar will be left, the surgeon assures +me. And when she recovers from the anesthetic——Oh, +la, la! she will have nothing to +do but get well. It means a long furlough, however, +for <em>Mademoiselle Americaine</em>.” +</p> +<p> +It was two hours later that Helen and Jennie +sat, one on either side of Ruth’s couch, in the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_19'></a>19</span> +private room that had been given to the wounded +Red Cross worker. Ruth’s eyes opened heavily, +she blinked at the light, and then her vision swept +first Helen and then Jennie. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, such a dream!” she murmured. “I +dreamed about coming to Cheslow and the Red +Mill again, when I was a little girl. And I +dreamed all about Briarwood, and our trips about +the country, and our adventures in school and +out. I dreamed even of coming here to France, +and all that has happened. Such a dream! +</p> +<p> +“Mercy’s sake, girls! What has happened to +me? I’m all bandaged up like a <em>grand blessé!</em>” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_20'></a>20</span><a name='chIII' id='chIII'></a>CHAPTER III—IT’S ALL OVER!</h2> +<p> +The shoulder had to be put in a cast; but the +healing of the cuts and bruises on Ruth Fielding’s +back was a small matter. Only—— +</p> +<p> +“It’s all over for me, girls,” she groaned, as +her two friends commiserated with her. “The +war might just as well end to-morrow, as far as +I am concerned. I can help no longer.” +</p> +<p> +For Major Soutre, the head surgeon, had said: +</p> +<p> +“After the plaster comes off it will be then +eight weeks, Mademoiselle, before it will be safe +for you to use your arm and shoulder in any way +whatsoever.” +</p> +<p> +“So my work is finished,” she repeated, wagging +a doleful head upon her pillow. +</p> +<p> +“Poor dear!” sighed Jennie. “Don’t you want +me to make you something nice to eat?” +</p> +<p> +“Mercy on us, Heavy!” expostulated Helen, +“just because you work in a diet kitchen, don’t +think that the only thing people want when they +are sick is something to eat.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_21'></a>21</span> +“It’s the principal thing,” declared the plump +girl stubbornly. “And Colonel Marchand says I +make <em>heavenly</em> broth!” +</p> +<p> +Helen sniffed disdainfully. +</p> +<p> +Ruth laughed weakly; but she only said: +</p> +<p> +“Tom says the war will be over by Christmas. +I don’t know whether it is he or General Pershing +that has planned out the finish of the Germans. +However, if it is over by the holidays, I shall be +unable to do anything more for the Red Cross. +They will send me home. I have done my little, +girls.” +</p> +<p> +“‘Little!” exclaimed Helen. “You have done +much more than Jennie and I, I am sure. We +have done little or nothing compared with your +services, Ruthie.” +</p> +<p> +“Hold on! Hold on!” exclaimed Jennie Stone +gruffly, pulling a paper out of her handbag. +“Wait just a minute, young lady. I will not take +a back seat for anybody when it comes to statistics +of work. Just listen here. These are some +of the things <em>I</em> have done since I joined up with +that diet kitchen outfit. I have tasted soup and +broth thirty-seven thousand eight hundred and +three times. I have tasted ten thousand, one hundred +and eleven separate custards. I have tasted +twenty thousand ragouts—many of them of rabbit, +and I am always suspicious that the rabbit +may have had a long tail—ugh! Baked cabbage +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_22'></a>22</span> +and cheese, nine thousand, seven hundred and +six——” +</p> +<p> +“Jennie! Do stop! How <em>could</em> you eat so +much?” demanded Helen in horror. +</p> +<p> +“Bless you! the poilus did the eating; I only +did the seasoning and tasting. It’s <em>that</em> keeps me +so fat, I do believe. And then, I have served one +million cups of cocoa.” +</p> +<p> +“Why don’t you say a billion? You might as +well.” +</p> +<p> +“Because I can’t count up to a billion. I never +could,” declared the fleshy girl. “I never was top-hole +at mathematics. You know that.” +</p> +<p> +They tried to cheer Ruth in her affliction; but +the girl of the Red Mill was really much depressed. +She had always been physically, as well +as mentally, active. And at first she must remain +in bed and pose as a regular invalid. +</p> +<p> +She was thus posing when Tom Cameron got a +four-days’ leave and came back as far as Clair, as +he always did when he was free. It was so much +nearer than Paris; and Helen could always run +up here and meet him, where Ruth had been at +work. The chums spent Tom’s vacations from +the front together as much as possible. +</p> +<p> +When Mr. Cameron, who had been in Europe +with a Government commission, had returned to +the United States, he had laughingly left Helen +and Tom in Ruth’s care. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_23'></a>23</span> +</p> +<p> +“But he never would have entrusted you children +to my care,” sighed the girl of the Red Mill, +“if he had supposed I would be so foolish as to +get a broken shoulder.” +</p> +<p> +“Quite,” said Tom, nodding a wise head. +“One might have supposed that if an aerial shell +hit your shoulder the shell would be damaged, not +the shoulder.” +</p> +<p> +“It was the stone window-sill, they say,” murmured +Ruth contritely. +</p> +<p> +“Sure. Dad never supposed you were such +a weak little thing. Heigh-ho! We never know +what’s going to happen in this world. Oh, I say!” +he suddenly added. “I know what’s going to happen +to me, girls.” +</p> +<p> +“What is it, Captain Tom?” his sister asked, +gazing at him proudly. “They are not going to +make you a colonel right away, are they, like Jennie’s +beau?” +</p> +<p> +“Not yet,” admitted her brother, laughing. +“I’m the youngest captain in our division right +now. Some of ’em call me ‘the infant,’ as it is. +But what is going to happen to me, I’m going up +in the air!” +</p> +<p> +“Oh!” exclaimed Jennie Stone. “I should say +that was a rise in the world.” +</p> +<p> +“You are never going into aviation, Tom?” +screamed Helen. +</p> +<p> +“Not exactly. But an old Harvard chum of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_24'></a>24</span> +mine, Ralph Stillinger, is going to take me up. +You know Stillinger. Why, he’s an ace!” +</p> +<p> +“And you are crazy!” exclaimed his sister, +rather tartly. “Why do you want to risk your life +so carelessly?” +</p> +<p> +Tom chuckled; and even Ruth laughed weakly. +As though Tom had not risked his life a hundred +times already on the battle front! If he were not +exactly reckless, Tom Cameron possessed that +brand of courage owned only by those who do not +feel fear. +</p> +<p> +“I don’t blame Tommy,” said Jennie Stone. +“I’d like to try ‘aviating’ myself; only I suppose +nothing smaller than a Zeppelin could take me +up.” +</p> +<p> +“Will you really fly, Tom?” Ruth asked. +</p> +<p> +“Ralph has promised me a regular circus—looping +the loop, and spiraling, and all the tricks +of flying.” +</p> +<p> +“But you won’t fly into battle?” questioned +Helen anxiously. “Of course he won’t take you +over the German lines?” +</p> +<p> +“Probably not. They don’t much fancy carrying +amateurs into a fight. You see, only two men +can ride in even those big fighting planes with the +liberty motors; and both of them should be trained +pilots, so that if anything happens to the man driving +the machine, the other can jump in and take his +place.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_25'></a>25</span> +</p> +<p> +“Ugh!” shuddered his sister. “Don’t talk +about it any more. I don’t want to know when +you go up, Tommy. I should be beside myself +all the time you were in the air.” +</p> +<p> +So they talked about Ruth’s chances of going +home instead. After all, as she could be of no +more use in Red Cross work for so long a time, +the girl of the Red Mill began to look forward +with some confidence to the home going. +</p> +<p> +As she had told her girl friends that very day +when the hospital had been bombed and she had +been hurt, the sweetest words in the ears of the +exile are “homeward bound!” And she expected +to be bound for home—for Cheslow and the Red +Mill—in a very few weeks. +</p> +<p> +Her case had been reported to Paris headquarters; +and whether she wished it or not, a furlough +had been ordered and she would be obliged to sail +from Brest on or about a certain date. The sea +voyage would help her to recuperate; and by that +time her shoulder would be out of the plaster cast +in which Dr. Soutre had fixed it. Whether she +desired to be so treated or not, the Red Cross considered +her an invalid—a “<em>grande blessée</em>.” +</p> +<p> +So, as the days passed, Ruth Fielding gradually +found that she suffered the idea of return to America +with a better mind. The more she thought +of going home, the more the desire grew in her +soul to be there. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_26'></a>26</span> +</p> +<p> +It was about this time that the letter came from +Uncle Jabez Potter. A letter from Uncle Jabez +seemed almost as infrequent as the blooming of a +century plant. +</p> +<p> +It was delayed in the post as usual (sometimes +it did seem as though the post-office department +had almost stopped functioning!) and the writing +was just as crabbed-looking as the old miller’s +speech usually was. Aunt Alvirah Boggs managed +to communicate with “her pretty,” as she +always called Ruth, quite frequently; for although +Aunt Alvirah suffered much in “her back and her +bones”—as she expressed herself dolefully—her +hands were not too crippled to hold a pen. +</p> +<p> +But Uncle Jabez Potter! Well, the letter itself +will show what kind of correspondent the old +miller was: +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +“<span class='sc'>My Dear Niece Ruth</span>: +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +“It does not seem as though you was near +enough to the Red Mill to ever get this letter; +and mebbe you won’t want to read it when you do +get it. But I take my pen in hand just the same +to tell you such news as there is and perticly of +the fact that we have shut down. This war is +terrible and that is a fact. I wish often that I +could have shouldered a gun—old Betsy is all +right now, me having cleaned the cement out of +her muzzle what your Aunt Alvirah put in it—and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_27'></a>27</span> +marched off to fight them Germans myself. +It would have been money in my pocket if I had +done that instead of trying to grind wheat and +corn in this dratted old water-mill. Wheat is so +high and flour is so low that I can’t make no profit +and so I have had to shut down the mill. First +time since my great grandfather built it back in +them prosperous times right after we licked the +British that first time. This is an awful mean +world we live in anyway. Folks are always making +trouble. If it was not for them Germans +you’d be home right now that your Aunt Alvirah +needs you. You see, she has took to her bed, and +Ben, the hired man, and me, don’t know much +what to do for her. Ain’t no use trying to get +a woman to come in to help, for all the women +and girls have gone to work in the munitions factory +down the river. Whole families have gone +to work there and earn so much money that they +ride back and forth to work in their own automobiles. +It’s a cussed shame. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +“Your Aunt Alvirah talks about you nearly all +the time. She’s breaking up fast I shouldn’t wonder +and by the time this war is done I reckon she’ll +be laid away. Me not making any money now, we +are likely to be pretty average poor in the future. +When it is all outgo and no come-in the meal tub +pretty soon gets empty. I reckon I would better +sell the mules and I hope Ben will find him a job +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_28'></a>28</span> +somewhere else pretty soon. He won’t be discharged. +Says he promised you he would stick +to the old Red Mill till you come back from the +war. But he’s a eating me out of house and home +and that’s a fact. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +“If it is so you can get away from that war +long enough, I wish you’d come home and take a +look at your Aunt Alvirah. It seems to me if she +was perked up some she might get a new hold on +life. As it is, even Doc Davidson says there ain’t +much chance for her. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +“Hoping this finds you the same, and wishing +very much to see you back at the Red Mill, I remain, +</p> +<p style='text-align:right; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-right:2em;;'>“Yr. Obedient Servant,</p> +<p style='text-align:right; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-right:2em;;'>“J. <span class='sc'>Potter</span>.”</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_29'></a>29</span><a name='chIV' id='chIV'></a>CHAPTER IV—TWO EXCITING THINGS</h2> +<p> +Uncle Jabez’s letter and Tom Cameron arrived +at the hospital at Clair on the very same +day. This was the second visit the captain had +made to see Ruth since her injury. At this time +Helen and Jennie had returned to Paris and Ruth +was almost ready to follow them. +</p> +<p> +“It reads just like the old fellow,” Tom said, +smiling, after having perused the letter. “Of +course, as usual he has made a mountain of trouble +out of a molehill of vexation. But I am sorry for +Aunt Alvirah.” +</p> +<p> +“The dear old soul!” sighed Ruth. “I begin to +feel that my being bombed by the Hun may not +have been an unmixed evil. Perhaps Aunt Alvirah—and +Uncle Jabez, too—very much need +me at home. And without the excuse of my +broken shoulder I don’t see how I could have got +away from here.” +</p> +<p> +“I wish I were going with you.” +</p> +<p> +“What! To leave your regiment and all?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_30'></a>30</span> +</p> +<p> +“No, I do not want to leave until this war is finished. +But I hate to think of your crossing the +ocean alone.” +</p> +<p> +“Pooh! I shall not be alone. Lots of other +people will be on the boat with me, Tommy.” +</p> +<p> +“But nobody who would have your safety at +heart as I should,” he told her earnestly. “You +cannot help yourself very well if—if anything +should happen.” +</p> +<p> +“What will happen, do you suppose?” she demanded. +</p> +<p> +“There are still submarines in the sea,” he said, +grimly enough. “In fact, they are more prevalent +just now than they were when you came over.” +</p> +<p> +“You bother about my chances of meeting a +submarine when you are planning to go up into +the air with that Mr. Stillinger! You will be +more likely to meet the Hun in the air than I +shall in the water.” +</p> +<p> +“Pooh! I am just going on a joy ride in an +airplane. While you——” +</p> +<p> +“It is not just a joy ride I shall take, I admit, +Tom,” Ruth said, more seriously. “I do hate to +give up my work here and go home. Yet this letter,” +and she tapped the missive from Uncle Jabez, +“makes me feel that perhaps I have duties +near the Red Mill.” +</p> +<p> +“Uh-huh!” he grunted understandingly. +</p> +<p> +“You know I have been running around and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_31'></a>31</span> +having good times for a good many years. Aunt +Alvirah is getting old. And perhaps Uncle Jabez +should be considered, too.” +</p> +<p> +“He’s an awful old grouch, Ruth,” said Tom +Cameron, shaking his head. +</p> +<p> +“I know. But he really has been kind to me—in +his way. And if he has had to close down the +mill, and is making no money, he will surely feel +pretty bad. Somebody must be there to cheer +him up.” +</p> +<p> +“He don’t need to run that mill,” said Tom +shortly. “He has plenty of money invested in one +way or another.” +</p> +<p> +“But he doesn’t think he is earning anything +unless the mill runs and he sees the dollars increasing +in his strong box. You know, he counts +his ready cash every night before he goes to bed. +It is almost all the enjoyment he has.” +</p> +<p> +“He’s a blessed old miser!” exclaimed her +friend, “I don’t see how you have stood him all +these years, Ruthie.” +</p> +<p> +“I really believe he loves me—in his way,” returned +the girl thoughtfully. “Poor Uncle Jabez! +Well, I am beginning to feel that it was meant +that I should go home to him and to Aunt Alvirah.” +</p> +<p> +“Don’t!” he exclaimed. “You’ll make me wish +to go home, too. And the way this war is now,” +said Tom, smiling grimly, “they really need all +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_32'></a>32</span> +us fellows. The British and the French have +fought Fritz so long and at such odds that I almost +believe they are half scared of him. But +you can’t make our Buddies feel scared of a German. +They have seen too many of them running +delicatessen stores and saloons. +</p> +<p> +“Why, they have already sent some of their +great shock troops against us in this sector. All +the ‘shock’ they have given us you could put in +your eye and still see from here to the Goddess +of Liberty in New York Harbor!” +</p> +<p> +“That’s a bit of ‘swank,’ you know, Tom,” said +Ruth slyly. +</p> +<p> +“Wait! You’ll see! Why, it’s got to be a +habit for the French and the British to retreat +a little when the Germans pour in on top of them. +They think they lose fewer troops and get more +of the Huns that way. But that isn’t the way we +Yankees have been taught to fight. If we once +get the Huns in the open we’ll start them on the +run for the Rhine, and they won’t stop much short +of there.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, my dear boy, I hope so!” Ruth said. +“But what will you be doing meanwhile? Getting +into more and more danger?” +</p> +<p> +“Not a bit!” +</p> +<p> +“But you mean right now to take an air trip,” +Ruth said hastily. “Oh, my dear! I don’t want +to urge you not to; but do take care, if you go up +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_33'></a>33</span> +with Ralph Stillinger. They say he is a most +reckless flier.” +</p> +<p> +“That is why he’s never had a mishap. It’s the +airmen who are unafraid who seem to pull through +all the tight places. It is when they lose their dash +that something is sure to happen to them.” +</p> +<p> +“We will hope,” said Ruth, smiling with trembling +lips, “that Mr. Stillinger will lose none of his +courage while you are up in the air with him.” +</p> +<p> +“Pshaw! I shall be all right,” Tom declared. +“The only thing is, I am sorry that he has made +the date for me so that I can’t go down to Paris +with you, and later see you aboard the ship at +Brest. But this has been arranged a long time; +and I must be with my boys when they go back +from the rest camp to the front again.” +</p> +<p> +Ruth recovered herself quickly. She gave him +her good hand and squeezed his in a hearty fashion. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t mind, Tom,” she said. “If this war is +pretty near over, as you believe, you will not be +long behind me in taking ship for home.” +</p> +<p> +“Right you are, Ruthie Fielding,” he agreed +cheerfully. +</p> +<p> +But neither of them—and both were imaginative +enough, in all good conscience!—dreamed +how soon nor in what manner Tom Cameron +would follow Ruth to sea when she was homeward +bound. Nor did the girl consider how much of a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_34'></a>34</span> +thrilling nature might happen to them both before +they would see each other again. +</p> +<p> +Tom Cameron left the hospital at Clair that +afternoon to make all haste to the aviation camp +where he was to meet his friend and college-mate, +Ralph Stillinger, the American ace. Ruth was +helped by the hospital matron herself to prepare +for an automobile trip to Lyse, from which town +she could entrain for Paris. +</p> +<p> +It was at Lyse that Ruth had first been stationed +in her Red Cross work; so she had friends there. +And it was a very dear little friend of hers who +came to drive the automobile for Ruth when she +left Clair. Henriette Dupay, the daughter of a +French farmer on the outskirts of the village, had +begged the privilege of taking “Mademoiselle +Americaine” to Lyse. +</p> +<p> +“<em>Ma foi!</em>” gasped plump little Henriette, or +“Hetty” as almost everybody called her, “how +pale you are, Mademoiselle Ruth. The bad, bad +Boches, that they should have caused you this annoyance.” +</p> +<p> +“I am only glad that the Germans did no more +harm around the hospital than to injure me,” Ruth +said. “It was providential, I think.” +</p> +<p> +“But no, Mademoiselle!” cried the French girl, +letting in her clutch carefully when the engine of +the motor began to purr smoothly, “it cannot be +called ‘providential.’ This is a serious loss for +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_35'></a>35</span> +us all. Oh, we feel it! Your going away from +Clair is a sorrow for all.” +</p> +<p> +And, indeed, it seemed true. As the car rolled +slowly through the village, children ran beside the +wheels, women waved their hands from the doorways +of the little cottages, and wounded poilus +saluted the passage of the Red Cross worker who +was known and beloved by everybody. +</p> +<p> +The tears stung Ruth’s eyelids. She remembered +how, the night before, the patients in the +convalescent wards—the boys and men she had +written letters for before her injury, and whom +she had tried to comfort in other ways during the +hours she was off duty—had insisted upon coming +to her cell, one by one, to bid her good-bye. They +had kissed her hands, those brave, grateful fellows! +Their gratitude had spilled over in tears, +for the Frenchman is never ashamed of emotion. +</p> +<p> +As she had come down from her chamber every +nurse and orderly in the hospital, as well as the +surgical staff and even the porters and <em>brancardiers</em>, +had gathered to bid her God-speed. +</p> +<p> +“The dear, dear people!” Ruth murmured, as +the car reached the end of the village street. She +turned to throw kisses with her one useful hand +to the crowd gathered in the street. +</p> +<p> +“The dear, dear people!” she repeated, smiling +through her happy tears at Hetty. +</p> +<p> +“Ah, they know you, Mademoiselle,” said the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_36'></a>36</span> +girl with a practical nod. “And they know they +will seldom see your like again.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, la, la!” responded Ruth, using an expression +of Henriette’s, and laughed. Then suddenly: +“You are not taking the shortest road, Henriette +Dupay!” +</p> +<p> +“What! do you expect to get away from Clair +without seeing Madame the Countess?” laughed +the younger girl. “I would not so dare—no, no! +I have promised to take you past the château. +And at the corner of the road beyond my whole +family will await you. Papa Dupay has declared +a holiday on the farm till we go past.” +</p> +<p> +Ruth was really very happy, despite the fact that +she was leaving these friends. It made for happiness, +the thought that everybody about Clair +wished her well. +</p> +<p> +The car mounted the gentle slope of the highway +that passed the château gates. It was a beautiful +road with great trees over-arching it—trees +that had sprung from the soil at least two hundred +years before. With all the air raids there +had been about Clair, the Hun had not worked +his wrath upon this old forest, nor upon the château +almost hidden behind the high wall. +</p> +<p> +The graceful, slim figure of the lady of the +château, holding a big greyhound in leash, appeared +at the small postern when the car came +purring up the hill. Henriette brought the machine +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_37'></a>37</span> +to a stop where the Countess Marchand +could give Ruth her hand. +</p> +<p> +“Good-bye, dear child!” she said, smiling cheerfully +at Ruth. “We shall miss you; but we know +that wherever you go you will find some way of +helping others. Mademoiselle Jeannie,” (it was +thus she spoke of her son, Henri’s, sweetheart) +“has told us much of you, Ruth Fielding. And we +know you well, <em>n’est-ce pas</em>, Hetty? We shall +never forget her, shall we?” +</p> +<p> +“<em>Ma foi</em>, no!” rejoined the practical French +girl. “She leaves her mark upon our neighborhood, +does she not, Madame la Countesse?” +</p> +<p> +On they rolled, past the end of the farm lane +where stood the whole Dupay household, even to +Aunt Abelard who had never quite forgiven the +Americans for driving her back from her old home +north of Clair when the Germans made their +spring advance. But Aunt Abelard found she +could forgive the military authorities now, because +of Ruth Fielding. +</p> +<p> +They all waved aprons and caps until the motorcar +was out of sight. It dipped into a swale, and +the last picture of the people she had learned to +love faded from Ruth Fielding’s sight—but not +to be forgotten! +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_38'></a>38</span><a name='chV' id='chV'></a>CHAPTER V—THE SECRET</h2> +<p> +Ruth spent one night in Lyse, where she went +to the pension patronized by a girl friend from +Kansas City, Clare Biggars. She was obliged to +have somebody assist her in dressing and disrobing, +but she was in no pain. Merely she was +warned to keep her shoulder in one position and +she wore her arm in a black silk sling. +</p> +<p> +“It is quite the fashion to ‘sling’ an arm,” said +Clare, laughing. “They should pin the <em>Croix de +Guerre</em> on you, anyway, Ruth Fielding. After +what you have been through!” +</p> +<p> +“Deliver us from our friends!” groaned Ruth. +“Why should you wish to embarrass me? How +could I explain a war cross?” +</p> +<p> +“I don’t know. One of the Kansas City boys +was here on leave a few weeks ago and he wore a +French war cross. I tried to find out why, but +all he would tell me was that it was given him +for a reward for killing his first ten thousand cooties!” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_39'></a>39</span> +</p> +<p> +“That is all right,” laughed Ruth. “They make +fun of them, but the boys are proud of being cited +and allowed to wear such a mark of distinction, +just the same. Only, you know how it is with +American boys; they hate to be made conspicuous.” +</p> +<p> +“How about American girls?” returned Clare +slyly. +</p> +<p> +That evening Ruth held a reception in the parlor +of the pension. And among those who came to +see her was a little, stiff-backed, white-haired and +moustached old gentleman, with a row of orders +across his chest. He was the prefect of police of +the town, and he thought he had good reason for +considering the “<em>Mademoiselle Americaine</em>” quite +a wonderful young woman. It was by her aid +that the police had captured three international +crooks of notorious character. +</p> +<p> +Off again in the morning, this time by rail. In +the best of times the ordinary train in France is +not the most comfortable traveling equipage in the +world. In war time Ruth found the journey most +abominable. Troop trains going forward, many +of them filled with khaki-uniformed fighters from +the States, and supply trains as well, forced the +ordinary passenger trains on to side tracks. But +at length they rolled into the Gare du Nord, and +there Helen and Jennie were waiting for the girl +of the Red Mill. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_40'></a>40</span> +</p> +<p> +“Oh! She looks completely done up!” gasped +Helen, as greeting. +</p> +<p> +“Come over to the canteen and get some nice +soup,” begged Jennie. “I have just tasted it. It +is fine.” +</p> +<p> +“‘Tasted it!’” repeated Helen scornfully. +“Ruthie, she ate two plates of it. She is beginning +to put on flesh again. What do you suppose +Colonel Henri will say?” +</p> +<p> +“As though <em>he</em> would care!” smiled Jennie +Stone. “If I weighed a ton he would continue to +call me <em>petite poulet</em>.” +</p> +<p> +“‘Chicken Little!’ No less!” exclaimed Helen. +“Honest, Ruthie, I don’t know how I bear this +fat and sentimental girl. I—I wish I was engaged +myself so I could be just as silly as she +is!” +</p> +<p> +“How about you, Ruthie?” asked Jennie, suspiciously. +“Let me see your left hand. What! +Has he not put anything on that third finger yet?” +</p> +<p> +“Have a care! A broken shoulderbone is +enough,” gasped Ruth. “I am looking for no +other ornament at present, thank you.” +</p> +<p> +“We are going to take you to Madame Picolet’s,” +Helen declared the next minute, as they +left the great train shed and found a taxicab. +“You would not disappoint her, would you? She +so wants you with her while you remain in Paris.” +</p> +<p> +“Of course,” said Ruth, who had a warm feeling for +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_41'></a>41</span> +the French teacher with whom she had +been so friendly at Briarwood Hall. “And she +has such a cosy and quiet little place.” +</p> +<p> +But after Ruth had rested from her train journey, +Madame Picolet’s apartment did not prove to +be so quiet a place. Besides Helen Cameron and +Jennie Stone, there were a lot of other young +women whom Ruth knew in Paris, working for +the Red Cross or for other war institutions. +</p> +<p> +Of all their clique, Ruth had been the only girl +who had worked right up on the battleline and +had really seen much of the war. The visitors +wanted to know all about it. And that Ruth had +been injured by a Hun bomb made her all the +more interesting to these young American women +who, if they were not all of the calibre of the girl +of the Red Mill, were certainly in earnest and +interested in their own part of the work. +</p> +<p> +The surgeons had been wise, perhaps, in advising +Ruth to take boat as soon as possible for the +American side of the Atlantic. The Red Cross +authorities gave her but a few days in Paris before +she had to go on to Brest—that great port +which the United States had built over for its war +needs. +</p> +<p> +Helen and Jennie insisted on going with her to +Brest. Indeed, Ruth found herself so weak that +she was glad to have friends with her. She knew, +however, that there would be those aboard the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_42'></a>42</span> +<em>Admiral Pekhard</em>, the British transport ship to +which she was assigned, who would give her any +needed attention during the voyage. +</p> +<p> +Up to the hour of sailing, Ruth received messages +and presents—especially flowers—from +friends she was leaving behind in France. Down +to the ship came a boy from a famous florist in +Paris—having traveled all the way by mail train +carrying a huge bunch of roses. +</p> +<p> +“It’s from Tom,” cried Helen excitedly, “I bet +a penny!” +</p> +<p> +“What a spendthrift you are, Helen,” drawled +Jennie. But she watched Ruth narrowly as the +latter opened the sealed letter accompanying the +flowers. +</p> +<p> +“You lose,” said Ruth cheerfully, the moment +she saw the card. “But somebody at the front +has remembered me just the same, even if Tom +did not.” +</p> +<p> +“Well!” exclaimed Tom’s sister, “what do you +know about <em>that</em>?” +</p> +<p> +“Who is the gallant, Ruthie?” demanded Jennie. +</p> +<p> +“Charlie Bragg. The dear boy! And a +steamer letter, too!” +</p> +<p> +Helen Cameron was evidently amazed that +Tom was not heard from at this time. Ruth had +kept to herself the knowledge that Tom was going +to the aviation camp and expected to make his +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_43'></a>43</span> +first trip into the air in the company of his friend, +the American ace. This was a secret she thought +Helen would better not share with her. +</p> +<p> +After she had opened Charlie Bragg’s letter on +the ship she was very glad indeed she had said +nothing to Helen about this. For along with other +news the young ambulance driver wrote the following: +</p> +<hr class='tb' /> +<p> +“Hard luck for one of our best flying men. +Ralph Stillinger. You’ve heard of him? The +French call him an ace, for he has brought down +more than five Hun machines. +</p> +<p> +“I hear that he took up a passenger the other +day. An army captain, I understand, but I did +not catch the name. There was a sudden raid +from the German side, and Stillinger’s machine +was seen to fly off toward the sea in an endeavor +to get around the flank of the Hun squadron. +</p> +<p> +“Forced so far away from the French and +American planes, it was thought Stillinger must +have got into serious trouble. At least, it is reported +here that an American airplane was seen +fighting one of those sea-going-Zeppelins—the +kind the Hun uses to bomb London and the English +coast, you know. +</p> +<p> +“Hard luck for Stillinger and his passenger, +sure enough. The American airplane was seen +to fall, and, although a searching party discovered +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_44'></a>44</span> +the wrecked machine, neither its pilot nor +the passenger was found.” +</p> +<hr class='tb' /> +<p> +Charlie Bragg had no idea when he wrote this +that he was causing Ruth Fielding, homeward +bound, heartache and anxiety. She dared tell +Helen nothing about this, although she read the +letter before the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em> drew away +from the pier and Helen and Jennie went ashore. +</p> +<p> +Of course, Stillinger’s passenger might not have +been Tom Cameron. Yet Tom had been going +to the aviation field expecting to fly with the American +ace. And the fact that Tom had allowed her, +Ruth, to sail without a word of remembrance almost +convinced the girl of the Red Mill that something +untoward had happened to him. +</p> +<p> +It was a secret which she felt she could share +with nobody. She set sail upon the venturesome +voyage to America with this added weight of sorrow +on her heart. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_45'></a>45</span><a name='chVI' id='chVI'></a>CHAPTER VI—A NEW EXPERIENCE</h2> +<p> +Tom landed from a slowly crawling military +train at a place some miles behind the actual battleline +and far west of the sector in which his +division had been fighting for a month. This division +was in a great rest camp; but Tom did not +want rest. He craved excitement—something +new. +</p> +<p> +In a few hours an automobile which he shared +with a free-lance newspaper man brought him to +a town which had been already bombarded half a +dozen times since Von Kluck’s forced retreat after +the first advance on Paris. +</p> +<p> +As Tom walked out to the aviation field, where +Ralph Stillinger’s letter had advised his friend +he was to be found, all along the streets the American +captain saw posters announcing <em>Cave Voûteé</em> +with the number of persons to be accommodated +in these places of refuge, such number ranging +from fifteen to sixty. +</p> +<p> +The bomb-proof cellars were protected by sandbags and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_46'></a>46</span> +were conveniently located so that people +might easily find shelter whenever the German +Fokkers or <em>Tauben</em> appeared. Naturally, as the +town was so near the aviation field, it was bound +to be a mark for the Hun bombing planes. +</p> +<p> +Sentinels were posted at every street corner. +There were three of the anti-aircraft .75‘s set up +in the town. Just outside the place were the camps +of three flying escadrilles, side by side. One of +these was the American squadron to which Ralph +Stillinger, Tom’s friend, was attached. +</p> +<p> +Each camp of the airmen looked to Tom, when +he drew near, like the “pitch” of a road show. +With each camp were ten or twelve covered motor-trucks +with their tentlike trailers, and three +automobiles for the use of the officers and pilots. +</p> +<p> +Tom had not realized before what the personnel +of each <em>équipé</em> was like. There were a dozen artillery +observers; seven pilots; two mechanicians +to take care of each airplane, besides others for +general repair work; and chauffeurs, orderlies, +servants, wireless operators, photographers and +other attachés—one hundred and twenty-five men +in all. +</p> +<p> +Tom Cameron’s appearance was hailed with +delight by several men who had known him at +college. Not all of his class had gone to the +Plattsburg officer’s training camp. Several were +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_47'></a>47</span> +here with Ralph Stillinger, the one ace in this +squadron. +</p> +<p> +“You may see some real stuff if you can stay a +day or two,” they told the young captain of infantry. +</p> +<p> +“I suppose if there is a fight I’ll see it from +the ground,” returned Tom. “Thanks! I’ve +seen plenty of air-fights from the trenches. I +want something better than that. Ralph said +he’d take me up.” +</p> +<p> +“Don’t grouch too soon, young fellow,” said +Stillinger, laughing. “We’re thirty miles or so +from the present front. But in this new, swift +machine of mine (it’s one of the first from home, +with a liberty motor) we can jump into any ruction +Fritzie starts over the lines in something like +fifteen minutes. I’ll joyride you, Tommy, if nothing +happens, to-morrow.” +</p> +<p> +It was not altogether as easily arranged as +that. Permission had to be obtained for Ralph +to take his friend up. The commander of the +squadron had no special orders for the next day. +He agreed that Ralph might go up with his passenger +early in the morning, unless something interfered. +</p> +<p> +The young men were rather late turning in, +for “the crowd” got together to swap experiences; +it seemed to Tom as though he had scarcely closed +his eyes when an orderly shook him and told him +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_48'></a>48</span> +that Lieutenant Stillinger was waiting for him out +by Number Four hangar—wherever that might +be. +</p> +<p> +Tom crept out, yawning. He dressed, and as +he passed the kitchen a bare-armed cook thrust a +huge mug of coffee and a sandwich into his hands. +</p> +<p> +“If you’re going up in the air, Captain, you’ll +be peckish,” the man said. “Get around that, sir.” +</p> +<p> +Tom did so, gratefully. Then he stumbled out +into the dark field, for there were no lights allowed +because of the possibility of lurking Huns +in the sky. He ran into the orderly, the man who +had awakened him, who was coming back to see +where he was. The orderly led Tom to the spot +where Stillinger and the mechanician were tuning +up the machine. +</p> +<p> +“Didn’t know but you’d backed out,” chuckled +the flying man. +</p> +<p> +“Your grandmother!” retorted Tom cheerfully. +“I stopped for a bite and a mug of coffee.” +</p> +<p> +“You haven’t been eating enough to overload +the machine, have you?” asked Stillinger. “I +don’t want to zoom the old girl. The motor +shakes her bad enough, as it is.” +</p> +<p> +“Come again!” exclaimed Tom. “What’s the +meaning of ‘zoom’?” +</p> +<p> +“Overstrain. Putting too much on her. Oh, +there is a new language to learn if you are going +to be a flying man.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_49'></a>49</span> +</p> +<p> +“I’m not sure I want to be a flying man,” said +Tom. “This is merely a try-out. Just tell me +what to look out for and when to jump.” +</p> +<p> +“Don’t jump,” warned Stillinger. “Nothing +doing that way. Loss of speed—<em>perte de vitesse</em> +the French call it—is the most common accident +that can happen when one is up in the air in one of +these planes. But even if that occurs, old man, +take my advice and <em>stick</em>. You’ll be altogether too +high up for a safe jump, believe me!” +</p> +<p> +They got under way with scarcely any jar, and +with tail properly elevated the airplane was aimed +by Ralph Stillinger for the upper reaches of the +air. They went up rather steeply; but the ace was +not “zooming”; he knew his machine. +</p> +<p> +There is too much noise in an airship to favor +conversation. Gestures between the pilot and the +observation man, or the photographer, usually +have to do duty for speech. Nor is there much +happening to breed discussion. The pilot’s mind +must be strictly on the business of guiding his +machine. +</p> +<p> +With a wave of his hand Stillinger called Tom’s +attention to the far-flung horizon. Trees at their +feet were like weeds and the roads and waterways +like streamers of crinkled tape. The earth +was just a blur of colors—browns and grays, with +misty blues in the distance. The human eye unaided +could not distinguish many objects as far as +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_50'></a>50</span> +the prospect spread before their vision. But of a +sudden Tom Cameron realized that that mass of +blurred blue so far to the westward, and toward +which they were darting, must be the sea. +</p> +<p> +The airplane mounted, and mounted higher. +The recording barometer which Tom could easily +read from where he sat, reached the two-thousand +mark. His eyes were shining now through +the mask which he wore. His first perturbation +had passed and he began actually to enjoy himself. +</p> +<p> +This time of dawn was as safe as any hour for a +flight. It is near mid-day when the heat of the +sun causes those disturbances in the upper atmosphere +strata that the French pilots call <em>remous</em>, +meaning actually “whirlpools.” Yet these phenomena +can be met at almost any hour. +</p> +<p> +The machine had gathered speed now. She +shook terrifically under the throbbing of the heavy +motor—a motor which was later found to be too +powerful for the two-seated airplanes. +</p> +<p> +At fifty miles an hour they rushed westward. +Tom was cool now. He was enjoying the new experience. +This would be something to tell the girls +about. He would wire Ruth that he had made the +trip in safety, and she would get the message before +she went aboard the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em>, at +Brest. +</p> +<p> +Why, Brest was right over there—somewhere! +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_51'></a>51</span> +Vaguely he could mark the curve of miles upon +miles of the French coast. What a height this +was! +</p> +<p> +And then suddenly the airplane struck a whirlpool +and dropped about fifty feet with all the unexpectedness +of a similar fall in an express elevator. +She halted abruptly and with an awful +shock that set her to shivering and rolling like +a ship in a heavy sea. +</p> +<p> +Tom was all but jolted out of his seat; but the +belt held him. He turned, open-mouthed, upon +his friend the pilot. But before he could yell a +question the airplane shot up again till it struck +the solid air. +</p> +<p> +“My heavens!” shouted Tom at last. “What +do you call <em>that</em>?” +</p> +<p> +“Real flying!” shouted Stillinger in return. +“How do you like it?” +</p> +<p> +Tom had no ready reply. He was not sure that +he liked it at all! But it certainly was a new experience. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_52'></a>52</span><a name='chVII' id='chVII'></a>CHAPTER VII—THE ZEPPELIN</h2> +<p> +Stillinger was giving his full attention to managing +his aircraft now. They were circling in a +great curve toward the north. This route would +bring them nearer to the lines of battle. The pilot +turned to his passenger and tried to warn him of +what he was about to do. But Tom had recovered +his self-possession and was staring straight ahead +with steady intensity. +</p> +<p> +So Stillinger shut off the motor and the airplane +pitched downward. A fifty-mile drive is a +swift pace anywhere—on the ground or in the +air; but as the airplane fell the air fairly roared +past their ears and the pace must have been nearer +eighty miles an hour. +</p> +<p> +The machine was pointing down so straight that +the full weight of the two young men was upon +their feet. They were literally standing erect. +Stillinger shot another glance at his passenger. +Tom’s lips were parted again and, although he +could not hear it, the pilot knew Tom had emitted +another shout of excitement. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_53'></a>53</span> +</p> +<p> +The earth, so far below, seemed rushing up to +meet them. To volplane from such a height and +at such speed is almost the keenest test of courage +that can be put upon a man who for the first +time seeks to emulate the bird. +</p> +<p> +Nor is real danger lacking. If the pilot does +not redress his plane at exactly the right moment +he will surely dash it and himself into the earth. +</p> +<p> +While still some hundreds of feet from the +earth, Stillinger leveled his airplane and started +the motor once more. They skimmed the earth’s +surface for some distance and then began to spiral +upward. +</p> +<p> +It was just then that a black speck appeared +against the clouded sky over the not-far-distant +battleline. They had not been near enough to see +the trenches even from the upper strata of air to +which the airplane had first risen. There was +a haze hanging over the fighting battalions of +friend and foe alike. This black speck was something +that shot out of the cloud and upward, being +small, but clearly defined at this distance. +</p> +<p> +The morning light was growing. The sun’s red +upper rim was just showing over the rugged line +of the Vosges. Had they been nearer to the earth +it would have been possible to hear the reveille +from the various camps. +</p> +<p> +The whole sector had been quiet. Suddenly +there were several puffs of smoke, and then, high +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_54'></a>54</span> +in the air, and notably near to that black speck +against the cloud, other bursts of smoke betrayed +aerial shells. Stillinger’s lips mouthed the word, +“Hun!” and Tom Cameron knew that he referred +to the flying machine that hung poised over No +Man’s Land, between the lines. +</p> +<p> +The aerial gunners were trying to pot the +enemy flying machine. But of a sudden a group +of similar machines, flying like wild geese, appeared +out of the fog-bank. There must have +been a score of them. +</p> +<p> +Taking advantage of the morning fog, which +was thicker to the north and east than it was behind +the Allied lines, the Germans had sent their +machines into the air in squadrons. A great raid +was on! +</p> +<p> +Out of the fog-bank at a dozen points winged +the Fokkers and the smaller fighting airplanes. +It was a surprise attack, and had been excellently +planned. The Allies were ready for no such +move. +</p> +<p> +Yet the gunners became instantly active for +miles and miles along the lines. In the back areas, +too, a barrage of aerial shells was thrown up. +While from the various aviation camps the French +and British flying men began to mount, singly and +in small groups, to meet the enemy attack. +</p> +<p> +The raid was not aimed against the American +sectors to the east. They were a long way from +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_55'></a>55</span> +this point. Stillinger had flown far and was now +nowhere near his own unit, if that should come +into the fight. +</p> +<p> +Nor was he prepared to fight. He would not +be allowed to—unless attacked. He had been permitted +to take up a passenger, and after winging +his way along the battle front to the sea, was expected +to return to the aviation field from which +he had risen. +</p> +<p> +Nevertheless, the machine gun in the nose of +the airplane needed but to have the canvas cover +stripped off to be ready for action. Tom Cameron’s +flashing glance caught the pilot’s attention. +</p> +<p> +“Are we going to get into it?” questioned Tom. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t unhook that belt!” commanded Stillinger. +“We can do nothing yet.” +</p> +<p> +“It’s a surprise,” said Tom. “We must help.” +</p> +<p> +“You sit still!” returned his friend. “I presume +you can handle that make of gat?” +</p> +<p> +Tom nodded with confidence. Stillinger shot +the airplane to an upper level and headed to the +north of west, endeavoring to turn the flank of +the farthest Hun squadron. Over the lines the +yellow smoke now rolled and billowed. An intense +air barrage was being sent up. They saw a +German machine stagger, swoop downward, and +burst into flames before it disappeared into the +smoke cloud over No Man’s Land. +</p> +<p> +Stillinger knew he was disobeying orders; but +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_56'></a>56</span> +his high courage and the plain determination of +his passenger to help in the fight if need arose, +caused him to take a chance. It was taking just +such chances that had made him an ace. +</p> +<p> +Yet, as the airplane swung higher and higher, +yet nearer and nearer to the group of enemy machines +nearest the sea, and as the bursts of artillery +fire grew louder, it was plain that this was +going to be a “hot corner.” +</p> +<p> +The rolling smoke and the fog hid a good deal +of the battle. Suddenly there burst out of the +murk a squadron of flying machines with the German +cross painted on the under side of their wings. +With them rose three French attacking airplanes, +and the chatter of the machine guns became incessant. +</p> +<p> +There were eight of the enemy planes; eight +to three was greater odds than Americans could +observe without wishing to take a hand in the +fight. +</p> +<p> +Stillinger shot his airplane up at a sharp +angle, striving to get above the German machines. +Once above them, by pitching the nose of his machine, +the enemy would be brought under the muzzle +of the machine gun which already Tom Cameron +had stripped of its canvas covering. +</p> +<p> +They were between six and seven thousand feet +in the air now. Without the mask, the passenger +would never have been able to endure the rarified +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_57'></a>57</span> +atmosphere at this altitude. Unused as he was to +aviation, however, he showed the ace that he was +an asset, not a liability. +</p> +<p> +The free-lance airplane was observed by the +Germans, however, and three of the eight machines +sprang upward to over-reach the American. +It was a race in speed and endurance for +the upper reaches of the air. +</p> +<p> +The fog-bank hung thickest over the sea, and +the racing American airplane was close to the +coastline. But so high were they, and so shrouded +was the coast in fog, that Tom, looking down, +could see little or nothing of the shore. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly swerving his airplane, Stillinger +darted into the clammy fog-cloud. It offered refuge +from the Germans and gave him a chance to +manoeuvre in a way to take the enemy unaware. +</p> +<p> +The moment they were wrapped about by the +cloud the American pilot shot the airplane downward. +He no longer strove to meet the three German +machines on the high levels. If he could get +under them, and slant the nose of his machine +sharply upward, the machine gun would do quite +as much damage to the underside of the German +airplane as could be done from above. Indeed, +the underside of the tail of a flying machine is +quite as vulnerable a part as any. +</p> +<p> +But flying in the fog was an uncertain and trying +experience. Where the German airplanes +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_58'></a>58</span> +were, Stillinger could only guess. He shut off his +engine for a moment that they might listen for the +sputtering reports of the Hun motors. +</p> +<p> +It was then, to his, as well as to Tom Cameron’s, +amazement, that they heard the stuttering +reports of an engine—a much heavier engine than +that of even a Fokker or Gotha—an engine that +shook the air all about them. And the noise rose +from beneath! +</p> +<p> +Stillinger could keep his engine shut off but a +few seconds. As the popping of its exhaust began +once more a bulky object was thrust up +through the fog below. That is, it seemed thrust +up to meet them, because the American plane was +falling. +</p> +<p> +In half a minute, however, their machine was +steadied. Tom uttered a great shout. He was +looking down through the wire stays at the enormous +bulk of an airship, the like of which he had +never before seen close to. +</p> +<p> +Once he had examined the wreck of a Zeppelin +after it had been brought down behind the +French lines. These mammoth ships were being +used by the Hun only to cross the North Sea and +the Channel to bomb English cities. This present +one must have strayed from its direct course, +for it was headed seaward and in a southwest direction. +</p> +<p> +Taking advantage of the fog, it was putting to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_59'></a>59</span> +sea, having flown directly over the British or Belgian +lines. While the fighting planes attacked +the Allied squadrons of the air, thus making a diversion, +this big Zeppelin endeavored to get by +and carry on out to sea, its objective point perhaps +being a distant part of the Channel coast of +England. +</p> +<p> +Where it was going, or the reason therefore, did +not much interest Ralph Stillinger and Tom Cameron. +The fact that the great airship was beneath +their airplane was sufficiently startling to fill the +excited minds of the two young Americans. +</p> +<p> +Were they observed by the Huns? Could they +wreak some serious damage upon the Zeppelin +before their own presence—and their own peril—was +apprehended by the crew of the great airship? +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_60'></a>60</span><a name='chVIII' id='chVIII'></a>CHAPTER VIII—AFLOAT</h2> +<p> +The <em>Admiral Pekhard</em> nosed her way out of +the port just as dusk fell. She dropped her pilot +off the masked light at the end of the last great +American dock—a dock big enough to hold the +<em>Leviathan</em>—and thereafter followed the stern +lights of a destroyer. Thus she got into the roadstead, +and thence into the open sea. +</p> +<p> +The work of the Allied and American navies at +this time was such that not all ships returning to +America could be convoyed through the submarine +zone. This ship on which Ruth Fielding had +taken passage for home was accompanied by the +destroyer only for a few miles off Brest Harbor. +</p> +<p> +The passengers, however, did not know this. +They were kept off the open decks during the +night, and before morning the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em> +was entirely out of sight of land, and out of sight +of every other vessel as well. Therefore neither +Ruth nor any other of the passengers was additionally +worried by the fact that the craft was +quite unguarded. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_61'></a>61</span> +</p> +<p> +The <em>Admiral Pekhard</em> mounted a gun fore and +aft, and the crews of these guns were under strict +naval discipline. They were on watch, turn and +turn about, all through the day and night for the +submarines which, of course, were somewhere in +these waters. +</p> +<p> +The <em>Admiral Pekhard</em> was not a fast ship; but +she was very comfortably furnished, well manned, +and was said to be an even sailing vessel in stormy +weather. She had been bearing wounded men back +to England for months, but was now being sent +to America to bring troops over to take the place +of the wounded English fighters. +</p> +<p> +Ruth learned these few facts and some others +at dinner that night. There were some wounded +American and Canadian officers going home; but +for the most part the passengers in the first cabin +were Red Cross workers, returning commissioners +both military and civil, a group of Congressmen +who had been getting first-hand information +of war conditions. +</p> +<p> +Then there were a few people whom the girl +could not exactly place. For instance, there was +the woman who sat next to her at the dinner table. +</p> +<p> +She was not an old woman, but her short hair, +brushed straight back over her ears like an Americanized +Chinaman’s, was streaked with gray. She +was sallow, pale-lipped, and with a pair of very +bright black eyes—snapping eyes, indeed. She +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_62'></a>62</span> +wore her clothes as carelessly as she might have +worn a suit of gunnysacking on a desert island. +Her eyeglasses were prominent, astride a more +prominent nose. She was not uninteresting looking. +</p> +<p> +“As aggressive as a gargoyle,” Ruth thought. +“And almost as homely! Yet she surely possesses +brains.” +</p> +<p> +On her other hand at table Ruth found a kindly +faced Red Cross officer of more than middle age, +who offered her aid at a moment when a friend +was appreciated. Ruth did very well with the +oysters and soup; and she made out with the fish +course. But when meat and vegetables and a salad +came on, the girl had to be helped in preparing +the food on her plate. +</p> +<p> +The black-eyed woman watched the girl of the +Red Mill curiously, seeing her left arm bandaged. +</p> +<p> +“Hurt yourself?” she asked shortly, in rather a +gruff tone. +</p> +<p> +“No,” said Ruth simply. “I was hurt. I did +not do it myself.” +</p> +<p> +“Ah-ha!” ejaculated the strange woman. “Are +you literal, or merely smart?” +</p> +<p> +“I am only exact,” Ruth told her. +</p> +<p> +“So! You did <em>not</em> hurt yourself? How, +then?” and she glanced significantly at the girl’s +bandaged arm. +</p> +<p> +“Why, do you know,” the girl of the Red Mill +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_63'></a>63</span> +said, flushing a little, “there is a country called +Germany, in Central Europe, and the German +Kaiser and his people are attacking France and +other countries. And one of the cheerful little +tricks those Germans play is to send over bombing +machines to bomb our hospitals. I happened +to be working in a hospital they bombed.” +</p> +<p> +“Ah-ha!” said the woman coolly. “Then you +are merely smart, after all.” +</p> +<p> +“No!” said Ruth, suddenly losing her vexation, +for this person she decided was not quite responsible. +“No. For, if I were really smart, I should +have been so far behind the lines that the Hun +would never have found me.” +</p> +<p> +The black-eyed woman seemed to feel Ruth’s +implied scorn after all. +</p> +<p> +“Oh!” she said, resetting her eyeglasses with +both hands, “I have been in Paris all through the +war.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, then you’d heard about it?” Ruth intimated. +“Well!” +</p> +<p> +“I certainly know all about the war,” said the +woman shortly. +</p> +<p> +The girl of the Red Mill seldom felt antagonism +toward people—even unpleasant people. +But there was something about this woman that +she found very annoying. She turned her bandaged +shoulder to her, and gave her attention to +the Red Cross officer. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_64'></a>64</span> +</p> +<p> +Strangely enough, the queer-looking woman continued +to put herself in Ruth’s way. After dinner +she sought her out in a corner of the saloon +where Ruth was listening to the music. The windows +of the saloon were shaded so that no light +could get out; but it was quite cozy and cheerful +therein. +</p> +<p> +“You are Miss Fielding, I see by the purser’s +list,” said the curious person, staring at Ruth +through her glasses. +</p> +<p> +“I have not the pleasure of knowing you,” returned +the girl of the Red Mill. “Can I do anything +for you?” +</p> +<p> +“I am Irma Lentz. I have been studying in +Paris. This war is a hateful thing. It has almost +ruined my career. It has got so now that one cannot +work in peace even in the Latin Quarter of +the town. War, war, war! That is all one hears. +I am going back to New York to see if I can find +peace and quietness—where one may work without +being bothered.” +</p> +<p> +“You are——?” +</p> +<p> +“An artist. I have studied with some of the +best painters in France. But I declare! even those +teachers have closed their <em>ateliers</em> and gone to +war. I must, perforce, close my own studio and +go back to America. And America is crude.” +</p> +<p> +“Seems to me I have heard that said before,” +sniffed Ruth. “Although my acquaintance among +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_65'></a>65</span> +artists has been small. Do you expect to find perfect +peace and quietness in the United States?” +</p> +<p> +“I do not expect to find the disturbance that is +rife in Paris,” said Irma Lentz shortly. “This +war is too unpopular in the United States for +more than a certain class of the people to be +greatly disturbed over what is going on so far +away from home.” +</p> +<p> +Ruth looked at her amazedly. The artist +seemed quite to believe what she said. Aside from +some few pro-Germans whom she had heard talk +before Ruth Fielding had left the United States, +she had heard nothing like this. It was what the +Germans themselves had believed—and wished to +believe. +</p> +<p> +“I wonder where you got that, Miss Lentz,” +Ruth allowed herself to say in amazement. +</p> +<p> +“Got what?” +</p> +<p> +“The idea that the war—at least now we are +in it—is unpopular at home. You will discover +your mistake. I understand that even in Washington +Square they know we are fighting a war +for democracy. You will find your friends of +Greenwich Village—is that not the locality of +New York you mean?—are very well aware that +we are at war.” +</p> +<p> +“Perfect nonsense!” snapped Irma Lentz, and +she got up and flounced away. +</p> +<p> +“Now,” thought the girl of the Red Mill, very +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_66'></a>66</span> +much puzzled, “I wonder just what and who she +is? And has she been in Paris all through the +war and has not yet awakened to the seriousness +of the situation? Then there is something fundamentally +wrong with Irma Lentz.” +</p> +<p> +She might not have given the strange woman +much of her attention during the voyage, however, +for Ruth did not like unpleasant people and +there were so many others who were interesting, +to say the least, on board the ship, if a little incident +had not occurred early the next morning +which both surprised Ruth and made her deeply +suspicious of Irma Lentz. +</p> +<p> +The girl could not sleep very well because of +pain in her shoulder and arm. Perhaps she had +tried to use the arm more than she should. However, +being unable to sleep, she rose at dawn and +rang for the night stewardess. She had already +won this woman’s interest, and she helped Ruth +dress. The girl left her stateroom and went on +deck, which was free to the passengers now. +</p> +<p> +As she passed through a narrow way behind +the forward deck-house on the main deck, she +heard a sudden explosion of voices—a sharp, high +voice and one deeper and more guttural. But the +point that held Ruth Fielding’s attention so quickly +was that the language used was German! There +was no doubting that fact. +</p> +<p> +There certainly should be nobody using that +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_67'></a>67</span> +language on this British ship carrying Americans +to the United States! That was Ruth’s first +thought. +</p> +<p> +She walked quietly to the corner of the house +and peered around it. The morning was still +misty and there were few persons on deck save +the gangs of cleaners. Backed against a backstay, +and facing the point where the girl of the +Red Mill stood, was Irma Lentz, in mackintosh +and veil. +</p> +<p> +The strange woman was talking angrily with a +barefooted sailor in working clothes. He was +bareheaded as well as barefooted, and his coarse +shirt was open at the throat displaying a hairy +chest. He possessed a mop of flaxen hair, and +his countenance was too Teutonic of cast to be +mistaken. +</p> +<p> +Besides, like the woman, he was speaking German +in a most excited and angry fashion. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_68'></a>68</span><a name='chIX' id='chIX'></a>CHAPTER IX—QUEER FOLKS</h2> +<p> +In school Ruth Fielding and her classmates had +taken German just as they had French. Jennie +Stone often said she had forgotten the former +language just as fast as she could and had felt +much better after it was out of her system. +</p> +<p> +But the girl of the Red Mill seldom forgot +anything she learned well. She had not used the +German language as much as she had French. +Nevertheless she remembered quite clearly what +she had learned of it. +</p> +<p> +The seaman who was talking so excitedly to +Irma Lentz, and whom Ruth overheard on the +deck of the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em>, used Low German +instead of the High German taught in the educational +institutions. Ruth, however, understood +quite a little of what was said. +</p> +<p> +“Stop talking to me!” Miss Lentz commanded, +breaking in upon what the man was saying. +</p> +<p> +“I must tell you, Fraulein——” +</p> +<p> +“Go tell Boldig. Not me. How dare you +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_69'></a>69</span> +speak to a passenger? You know it is against all +ship rules.” +</p> +<p> +“Undt am <em>I</em> de goat yedt?” growled the man, +in anger and in atrocious English, as the young +woman swept past him. Then in his own tongue—and +this time Ruth understood him clearly—he +added: “Am I to work in that fireroom while you +and Boldig live softly? What would become of +me if anything should happen?” +</p> +<p> +Fortunately the woman did not come Ruth’s +way. She whisked out of sight just as the tramp +of a smart footstep was heard along the deck. +An officer came into sight. +</p> +<p> +“Here, my man, this is no part of the deck for +you,” he said sharply. “Stoker, aren’t you? Get +back to your quarters.” +</p> +<p> +The flaxen-haired man stumbled away. He almost +ran, it seemed, to get out of sight. The +officer passed Ruth Fielding, bowing to her politely, +but did not halt. +</p> +<p> +The girl of the Red Mill was greatly disturbed +by what she had seen and overheard. Yet she was +not sure that she should speak to anybody about +the incident. She let the officer go on without a +word. She found a chair on a part of the deck +that had already been swabbed down, and she sat +there to think and to watch the first sunbeams play +upon the wire rigging of the ship and upon the +dancing waves. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_70'></a>70</span> +</p> +<p> +The ocean was no novelty to Ruth; but it is ever +changeable. No two sunrises can ever be alike +at sea. She watched with glowing cheeks and +wide eyes the blossoming of the new day. +</p> +<p> +She was not a person to fly off at a tangent. +No little thing disturbed her usual calm. Had +Helen been there, Ruth realized that her black-eyed +girl chum would have insisted upon running +right away to somebody in authority and repeating +what had been overheard. +</p> +<p> +There was just one circumstance which kept +Ruth from putting the matter quite aside and considering +it nothing remarkable that two people +should be speaking German on this British ship. +That was her conversation the evening before +with Irma Lentz, the artist. +</p> +<p> +The woman had made a very unfavorable impression +on Ruth Fielding. Any person who could +speak so callously of the war and wartime conditions +in Paris, Ruth did not consider trustworthy. +Such a woman might easily be connected with people +who favored Germany and her cause. Then—her +name! +</p> +<p> +Ruth realized that one of the greatest difficulties +that Americans, especially, have to meet in +this war is the German name. Many, many people +with such names are truly patriots—are American +to the very marrow of their bones. On the +other hand, there are those of German name who +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_71'></a>71</span> +are as dangerous and deadly as the moccasin. +They strike without warning. +</p> +<p> +In this case, however, Irma Lentz, it seemed +to Ruth, had given warning. She had frankly displayed +the fact that her heart was not with her +country in the war. After what Ruth had been +through it annoyed her very much to meet anybody +who was not whole-heartedly for the cause +of America and the Allies. +</p> +<p> +She thought the matter over most seriously until +first breakfast call. By that time there had appeared +quite a number of the passengers. The +more seriously wounded had all the second cabin, +so those passengers who could get on deck were +like one big family in the first cabin. +</p> +<p> +As the sea remained smooth, the party gathered +at breakfast was almost as numerous as that at +dinner the night before. Irma Lentz did not appear, +however; but Ruth’s Red Cross friend was +there to give her such aid at table as she +needed. +</p> +<p> +“What would you do,” she asked him in the +course of the meal, “if you heard two people +speaking German together on this ship?” +</p> +<p> +He eyed her for a moment curiously, then replied: +“You cannot keep these stewards from talking +their own language. Some of them are German-Swiss, +I presume.” +</p> +<p> +“Not stewards,” Ruth said softly. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_72'></a>72</span> +</p> +<p> +“Do you mean passengers? Well, I speak German +myself.” +</p> +<p> +“And so do I. At least, I can speak it,” laughed +the girl of the Red Mill. “But I don’t.” +</p> +<p> +“No. Ordinarily I never speak it myself—now,” +admitted the man. “But just what do you +mean, Miss Fielding?” +</p> +<p> +“I heard two people early this morning speaking +German in secret on deck.” +</p> +<p> +“Some of the deckhands?” +</p> +<p> +“One was a stoker. The other was one of our +first cabin passengers.” +</p> +<p> +The Red Cross man’s amazement was plain. +He stared at the girl in some perturbation, at the +same time neglecting his breakfast. +</p> +<p> +“You tell me this for a fact, Miss Fielding?” +</p> +<p> +“Quite.” +</p> +<p> +“Have you spoken to the captain—to any of +the officers?” +</p> +<p> +“To nobody but you,” said Ruth gravely. “I—I +shrink from making anybody unnecessary +trouble. Of course, there may be nothing wrong +in what I overheard.” +</p> +<p> +“But a passenger talking German with a stoker! +What were they saying?” +</p> +<p> +“They appeared to be quarreling.” +</p> +<p> +“Quarreling! Who was the passenger? Is +he here at table?” the Red Cross man asked +quickly. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_73'></a>73</span> +</p> +<p> +“Do you think I ought to point him out?” Ruth +asked slowly. “If it is really serious—and I asked +for your opinion, you know—wouldn’t it be better +if I spoke to the captain or the first officer +about it?” +</p> +<p> +“Perhaps you are right. If it was a merely +harmless incident you observed it would not be +right to discuss it promiscuously,” said the man, +smiling. “Don’t tell me who he is, but I do advise +your speaking to Mr. Dowd.” +</p> +<p> +Mr. Dowd was the first officer, and he presided +at the table on this morning as it was now the +captain’s watch below. Ruth had been careful +to say nothing which would lead her friend to suspect +that the passenger she mentioned was a +woman. +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” went on the Red Cross officer firmly, +“you speak to Mr. Dowd.” +</p> +<p> +But Ruth did not wish to do that in a way that +might attract the attention of any suspicious person. +The woman, Irma Lentz, had mentioned +another person who seemed to be one of the +queer folks. “Boldig.” Who Boldig was the +girl of the Red Mill had no idea. He might +be passenger, officer, or one of the crew. She had +glanced through the purser’s list and knew that +there was no passenger using that name on the +<em>Admiral Pekhard</em>. +</p> +<p> +Even if Miss Lentz was out of sight, this other +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_74'></a>74</span> +person, or another, might be watching the movements +of the passengers. Ruth did not, therefore, +speak to the ship’s first officer in the saloon. She +waited until she could meet him quite casually on +deck, and later in the forenoon watch. +</p> +<p> +Dowd was a man not too old to be influenced +and flattered by the attentions of a bright young +woman like Ruth Fielding. He was interested in +her story, too, for the Red Cross officer had not +been chary of spreading the tale of Ruth’s courage +and her work in the first cabin. +</p> +<p> +“May I hope the shoulder and arm are mending +nicely, Miss Fielding?” Mr. Dowd said, smiling +at her as she met him face to face near the +starboard bridge ladder. +</p> +<p> +“Hope just as hard as you can, Mr. Dowd,” +she replied merrily. “Yes, I want all my friends +to <em>will</em> that the shoulder will get well in quick time. +I haven’t the natural patience of the born invalid.” +</p> +<p> +He laughed in return, and turned to get into +step with her as she walked the deck. +</p> +<p> +“You lack the air of the invalid, that is true. +Remember, I have had much to do with invalids +in the time past. Although now we do not see +many of the people who used to think there was +something the matter with them, and whose physicians +sent them on a sea voyage to get rid of them +for a while.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_75'></a>75</span> +</p> +<p> +“Yet you do have some queer folks aboard, +even in war time, don’t you?” she asked. +</p> +<p> +“Why, bless you!” said the Englishman, +“everybody is more or less queer—‘save thee and +me.’ You know the story of the Quaker?” +</p> +<p> +“Surely,” rejoined Ruth. “But now I suppose +most of your queer passengers may be spies, or +something like that.” +</p> +<p> +She said it in so low a tone that nobody but the +first officer could possibly hear. He gave her a +quick glance. +</p> +<p> +“Meaning?” he asked. +</p> +<p> +“That I am afraid I am going to make you +place me right in the catalogue of ‘queer folks.’” +</p> +<p> +“Yes?” +</p> +<p> +His gravity and evident interest encouraged her +to go on. Briefly she told him of what she had +overheard that morning at daybreak. And this +time she did not refuse to identify clearly the +woman passenger who had talked so familiarly +with the flaxen-haired stoker on the afterdeck. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_76'></a>76</span><a name='chX' id='chX'></a>CHAPTER X—WHAT WILL HAPPEN?</h2> +<p> +Ruth Fielding was not a busybody, but the +peculiar attitude of the woman, Irma Lentz, toward +America’s cause in the World War and what +she had overheard on deck that morning, as well +as the advice the Red Cross officer had given her, +urged the girl to take Mr. Dowd, first officer of +the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em>, fully into her confidence. +</p> +<p> +He listened with keen interest to what the girl +had to say. He was sure Ruth was not a person +to be easily frightened or one to spread ill-advised +and unfounded tales. Useless suspicions were not +likely to be born in her mind. She was too sane +and sensible. +</p> +<p> +The chance that there were actually spies +aboard the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em> was by no means an +idle one. In those days of desperate warfare between +the democratic governments of the world +and the autocratic Central Powers, no effort was +neglected by the latter to thwart the war aims of +the former. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_77'></a>77</span> +</p> +<p> +To deliberately plan the destruction of this ship, +although it was not, strictly speaking, a war ship, +was quite in line with the frightfulness of Germany +and her allies. Similar plotting, however, +had usually to do with submarine activities and +mines. +</p> +<p> +That German agents were aboard the <em>Admiral +Pekhard</em> with the intention of bringing about the +wrecking of the ship was, however, scarcely within +the bounds of probability. Notably because by +carrying through such a conspiracy the plotters +must of necessity put their own lives in jeopardy. +</p> +<p> +No group of German plotters had thus far +shown themselves to be so utterly unregardful of +their own safety. +</p> +<p> +Ruth believed Irma Lentz to be quite bitter +against the United States and its war aims; but +she could not imagine the self-styled “artist” to +be on the point of risking her personal safety on +behalf of America’s enemies. +</p> +<p> +These same beliefs influenced Mr. Dowd’s +mind; and he said frankly: +</p> +<p> +“It may be well for us to take up the matter +with Captain Hastings. However, I cannot +really believe that German spies would try to sink +the ship, and so endanger their own safety.” +</p> +<p> +“It does not seem reasonable,” Ruth admitted. +“Nor do I mean to say I believe anything like +that is on foot. I do think, however, that the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_78'></a>78</span> +woman and that seaman, or stoker, or whatever +and whoever he is, should be watched. They may +purpose to do some damage to the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em> +after she docks at New York.” +</p> +<p> +“True. And you say there is a third person—a +man named Boldig? His name is not on the +passenger list.” +</p> +<p> +“That is so,” admitted Ruth, who had read the +purser’s list. +</p> +<p> +“I’ll scrutinize the crew list as well,” said Mr. +Dowd, thoughtfully. “Of course, he may not use +that name. I remember nothing like it. Well, we +shall see. Thank you, Miss Fielding. I know +Captain Hastings will wish to thank you in person, +as well.” +</p> +<p> +Ruth did not expect to be immediately called to +the captain’s chartroom or office. Nor was her +mind entirely filled with thoughts regarding German +spies. +</p> +<p> +She had, indeed, one topic of thought that harrowed +her mind continually. It was that which +kept her awake on this first night at sea, as much +as did the dull ache in her injured shoulder. +</p> +<p> +Had she expressed the desire for her companionship, +Ruth knew that Helen Cameron would +have broken all her engagements in France and +sailed on the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em>. Her chum was +torn, Ruth knew, between a desire to go home +with the girl of the Red Mill and to stay near +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_79'></a>79</span> +Tom. As long as Tom Cameron was in active +service Helen would be anxious. +</p> +<p> +And did Helen know now what Ruth feared +was the truth—that Tom had got into serious +trouble with the flying ace, Ralph Stillinger—she +would be utterly despairing on her brother’s +account. +</p> +<p> +Ruth read over and over again her letter from +the ambulance driver, Charlie Bragg, in which the +latter had spoken of the tragic happening on the +battle front—the accident to Ralph Stillinger and +his passenger. Of course Ruth had no means of +proving to herself that the passenger was Tom +Cameron, but she knew Tom had been intending +to take a flight with the American ace and that +the active flying men were not in the habit of taking +up passengers daily. +</p> +<p> +The American captain who had been lost with +Ralph Stillinger was more than likely Tom Cameron. +Ruth’s anxiety might have thrown her into +a fever had it not been for this new line of trouble +connected with the artist, Irma Lentz. Or, was +she an artist? +</p> +<p> +The news that had reached Ruth just as she +boarded the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em> had been most disquieting. +Had her passage not been already arranged +for and her physical health not been what +it was, the girl surely would have gone ashore +again and postponed her voyage home. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_80'></a>80</span> +</p> +<p> +This would have necessitated Tom’s sister +learning the news in Charlie Bragg’s letter. But +better that, Ruth thought now, than that her own +mind should be so troubled about Tom Cameron’s +fate. +</p> +<p> +All manner of possibilities trooped through her +brain regarding what had happened, or might +have happened, to Tom. He might not, of course, +have been the passenger-captain of whom Charlie +Bragg wrote. But this faint doubt did not serve +to cheer Ruth at all. +</p> +<p> +It was more than likely that Tom had shared +Ralph Stillinger’s fate—whatever that fate was. +The American ace’s airplane had been seen in +battle with a Zeppelin. It had been seen to fall. +Afterward the wreck of the airplane was found, +but neither of the men—either dead or alive—was +discovered. +</p> +<p> +That was the mystery—the unknown fate of +the flying man and his passenger. The amazing +fact of their disappearance caused Ruth Fielding +anxiety and depression of mind. +</p> +<p> +She even thought of trying to get news by wireless +of the tragic happening to the flying man and +his companion. But when she made inquiry she +learned that because of war measures no private +message could be sent or received by radio. Such +wireless news as the naval authorities considered +well to distribute to the passengers of the <em>Admiral +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_81'></a>81</span> +Pekhard</em> was bulletined by the radio room +door. +</p> +<p> +Later Ruth was sent for to attend the captain +in his office. She found the commander of the ship +to be a tight, little, side-whiskered Englishman +with a large opinion of his own importance and +an insular suspicion of Americans in general. This +type of British subject was growing happily less—especially +since the United States entered the +war; but Captain Hastings was not so favorably +impressed by Ruth Fielding and her story as his +first officer had been. +</p> +<p> +“You know, Miss Fielding, I don’t wish to have +any hard feelings among my passengers,” he said. +He verged toward a slight cockney accent now and +then, and he squinted rather unpleasantly. +</p> +<p> +“This is a serious accusation you bring against +Miss Irma Lentz. I have seen her passport and +other papers. She is quite beyond suspicion, +don’t you know. I should not wish to insult her +by accusing her of being an enemy agent. Really, +Miss Fielding,” he concluded bluntly, “she seems +to be much better known by people aboard than +yourself.” +</p> +<p> +Ruth stiffened at the implied doubt cast upon +her character. Here was a man who lacked all +the tact a ship’s captain is supposed to possess. +He was nothing at all like Mr. Dowd. +</p> +<p> +“I have not asked to have my status aboard +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_82'></a>82</span> +your ship tested, nor my reputation established, +Captain Hastings,” she said quietly but firmly. +“Had I not thought it my duty to say what I did +to Mr. Dowd, I assure you I should not have put +myself out to do so. But as you have—either +justly or unjustly—judged the character of my information, +you cannot by any possibility wish to +know my opinion in this. There was scarcely +need of calling me here, was there?” +</p> +<p> +She arose and turned toward the door of the +chartroom, and her manner as well as her words +showed him plainly that she was offended. +</p> +<p> +“Hoighty-toighty!” exclaimed the little man, +growing very red in the face. “You take much +for granted, Miss Fielding.” +</p> +<p> +“I make no mistake, I believe, in understanding +that you do not consider my information to Mr. +Dowd of importance.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, Dowd is a young fool!” snapped the commander +of the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em>. “He is trying +to stir up a mare’s nest.” +</p> +<p> +“Your opinion of me must be even worse than +that you have expressed of your first officer,” +tartly rejoined the girl. “If you will excuse me, +Captain Hastings, I will withdraw. Really our +opinions I feel sure would never coincide.” +</p> +<p> +“Wait!” exclaimed the captain. “I am willing +to put one thing to the test.” +</p> +<p> +“You need do nothing to placate me, Captain +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_83'></a>83</span> +Hastings,” declared Ruth. “I am quite, quite satisfied +to drop the whole affair, I assure you.” +</p> +<p> +“It has gone too far, as it is, Miss Fielding,” +declared Captain Hastings. “Dowd will not be +satisfied if you do not have the opportunity of +identifying the stoker you say you saw talking with +Miss Lentz. And that, in itself, is no crime.” +</p> +<p> +“Then why trouble yourself—and me—about +the matter any further?” asked Ruth, with a +shrug, and her hand still on the knob of the door. +</p> +<p> +“Confound it, you know!” burst forth the captain, +“it has to go on my report—on the log, you +know. That fool, Dowd, insists. I want you to +see the stokers together, Miss Fielding, as the +watches are being changed at eight bells. If you +can pick out the man you say you saw on the after +deck, I will examine him. Though it’s all bally +foolishness, you know,” added the captain in a +tone that did not fail to reach Ruth Fielding’s ear +and increased her feeling of disgust for the pompous +little man, as well as her vexation with the +whole situation. +</p> +<p> +She wished very much just then that she had +not spoken at all to the <em>Admiral Pekhard’s</em> first +officer. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_84'></a>84</span><a name='chXI' id='chXI'></a>CHAPTER XI—DEVELOPMENTS</h2> +<p> +At ten minutes or so before noon a smart little +sub-officer came to Ruth’s stateroom and asked +her to accompany him to the engine-room, amidships. +As a last thought the girl took a chiffon +veil with her, and before she stepped into the quarters +where all the shiny machinery was, she threw +the veil over her head and face. It had suddenly +been impressed on her mind that she did not care +to have the man she had taken for a German +identify her, even if she did him. +</p> +<p> +She found both Mr. Dowd and the commander +of the steamship on this deck. The first officer +came to Ruth in rather an apologetic way. +</p> +<p> +“I did not know,” he said gently, “that I was +getting you into any trouble when I repeated what +you told me to Captain Hastings. This is my very +first voyage with him—and, believe me, it shall +be my last!” +</p> +<p> +His eyes sparkled, and it was evident that he +had found the pompous little commander much +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_85'></a>85</span> +to his distaste. The captain did not seek to speak +to Ruth at all. He stood at one side as the stokers +filed in from forward, ready to relieve those +working in the fireroom below. +</p> +<p> +“Do you see him in that line, Miss Fielding?” +whispered the first officer. +</p> +<p> +She scrutinized the men carefully. Early that +morning she had had plenty of opportunity to get +the appearance of the German who spoke to Irma +Lentz photographed on her mind, and she knew +at first glance that he was not in this group. +</p> +<p> +However, she took her time and scrutinized +them all carefully. There was not a single flaxen-haired +man among them, and nobody that in the +least seemed like the man she had in mind. +</p> +<p> +“No,” she said to Mr. Dowd. “He is not +here.” +</p> +<p> +“Wait till the others come up. There! The +boatswain pipes.” +</p> +<p> +The shrill whistle started the waiting stokers +down the ladder into the stoke-hole. In a minute +or two a red, sweating, ashes-streaked face +appeared as the first of the watch relieved came +up into the engine room. This was not the man +Ruth looked for. +</p> +<p> +One after another the men appeared—Irish, +Swede, Dane, negro, and nondescript; but never +a German. And not one of the fellows looked +at all like the man Ruth expected to see. Dowd +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_86'></a>86</span> +gazed upon her questioningly. Ruth slowly shook +her head. +</p> +<p> +“Any more firemen or coal passers down there, +boy?” Dowd asked the negro stoker. +</p> +<p> +“No, suh! Ain’t none of de watch lef’ behind,” +declared the man, as he followed his mates forward. +</p> +<p> +“Well, are you satisfied?” snapped the thin +voice of Captain Hastings. +</p> +<p> +“Not altogether,” Ruth bravely retorted. “It +might be that the man was not a stoker. I only +thought so because the officer who interrupted the +conversation I overheard seemed to consider him +a stoker. He sent the man off that part of the +deck.” +</p> +<p> +“What officer?” demanded the captain, doubtfully. +“An officer of the ship? One of my officers?” +</p> +<p> +“Yes, sir.” +</p> +<p> +“Ha, you want to examine my officers, then, I +presume?” +</p> +<p> +“Not at all,” Ruth said coldly. “I am not +taking any pleasure in this investigation, I assure +you.” +</p> +<p> +“It will be easy enough to find the officer whom +Miss Fielding refers to,” said Mr. Dowd, interposing +before Captain Hastings could speak +again. “I know who was on duty at that hour +this morning. It will be easily discovered who +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_87'></a>87</span> +the officer is. And if he remembers the man on +deck——” +</p> +<p> +“Ah—yes—if he <em>does</em>,” said Captain Hastings +in his very nastiest way. +</p> +<p> +Ruth’s cheeks flamed again. Mr. Dowd placed +a gentle hand upon her sleeve. +</p> +<p> +“Never mind that oaf,” he whispered. “He +doesn’t know how to behave himself. How he +ever got command of a ship like this—well, it +shows to what straits we have come in this wartime. +Do you mind meeting me later abaft the +stacks on deck? I will bring the men, one of +whom I think may be the chap we are looking +for. Of course he will remember if he drove a +seaman or a stoker off the after deck this morning.” +</p> +<p> +Ruth did not see how she could refuse the respectful +and sensible first officer, but she certainly +was angry with Captain Hastings and she swept +by him to the stairway without giving him another +glance. +</p> +<p> +“It’s all bosh!” she heard him say to Mr. +Dowd, as she started for the open deck. +</p> +<p> +Her dignity was hurt, as well as her indignation +aroused. She was not in the habit of having +her word doubted; and it seemed that Captain +Hastings certainly did consider that there was +reason for thinking her untruthful. She was more +than sorry that she had taken the Red Cross man’s +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_88'></a>88</span> +advice and brought this matter to the attention +of Mr. Dowd in the first place. +</p> +<p> +Yet the first officer was her friend. She could +see that. He did not intend to let the matter +rest at a point where Captain Hastings would +have any reason for intimating that Ruth had not +been exact in her statements of fact. +</p> +<p> +Of course, the girl of the Red Mill had not +taken so close a look at the ship’s officer who had +driven the stoker off the deck, as she had at the +stoker himself. But she was quite confident she +would know him. She had not seen him since, +that was sure. +</p> +<p> +After half an hour or so Mr. Dowd came to +the place where she sat sheltered from the stiff +breeze that was blowing, with a uniformed man +in toll. It was not the officer whom she had seen +early in the morning. +</p> +<p> +“I quite remember seeing Miss Fielding on deck +at dawn,” said the young fellow politely. “But I +do not remember seeing any of the crew except +those at work scrubbing down.” +</p> +<p> +“This was on the starboard run, Miss Fielding?” +suggested Mr. Dowd. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, sir. It was right yonder,” and she +pointed to the spot in question. +</p> +<p> +“It must be Dykman, then, you wish to see, Mr. +Dowd,” said the under officer, saluting. “Shall +I send him here, sir?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_89'></a>89</span> +</p> +<p> +“If you will,” Dowd said, and remained himself +to talk pleasantly to the American girl. +</p> +<p> +After a time another man in uniform approached +the spot. He was not a young man; yet +he was smooth-faced, ruddy, and had a smart way +about him. But his countenance was lined and +there was a small scar just below his eye on one +cheek. +</p> +<p> +“Mr. Dykman, Miss Fielding,” Dowd said. +“Is Mr. Dykman the officer whom you saw, Miss +Fielding?” +</p> +<p> +Dykman bowed with a military manner. Ruth +eyed him quietly. He did not look like an Englishman, +that was sure. +</p> +<p> +“This is the officer I saw this morning,” she +said, confidently. She felt that she could not be +mistaken, although she had not noted his manner +and countenance so directly at the time indicated. +He looked surprised but said nothing in rejoinder, +glancing at Mr. Dowd, instead, for an explanation. +</p> +<p> +“We are trying,” said the first officer, “to identify +a man—one of the crew—who was out of +place on the deck here this morning during your +watch, Mr. Dykman. About what time was it, +Miss Fielding?” +</p> +<p> +“The sun was just coming up,” she said, watching +Dykman’s face. +</p> +<p> +“There were various members of the deck +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_90'></a>90</span> +watch here then, sir,” Dykman said respectfully. +“We were washing decks.” +</p> +<p> +“You came past here,” Ruth said quietly, “and +admonished the man for standing here. You told +him he had no business aft.” +</p> +<p> +The man wagged his head slowly and showed +no remembrance of the incident by his expression +of countenance. His eyes, she saw, were hard, +and round, and blue. +</p> +<p> +“You intimated that he was a stoker,” Ruth +continued, with quite as much confidence as before. +</p> +<p> +Indeed, the more doubt seemed cast upon her +statement the more confident she became. She +could not understand why this man denied knowledge +of the incident, unless—— +</p> +<p> +She glanced at Dowd. He was frowning and +had reddened. But he was not looking at her. +He was looking at Dykman. +</p> +<p> +“Well, sir?” he snapped suddenly. +</p> +<p> +“No, sir. I do not remember the occurrence,” +the sub-officer said respectfully but with a finality +there could be no mistaking. +</p> +<p> +“That will do, then,” said Mr. Dowd, and +waved his hand in dismissal. +</p> +<p> +Dykman bowed again and marched away. +Ruth watched the face of the first officer closely. +Had he shown the least suspicion of her she would +have said no more. But, instead, he looked at +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_91'></a>91</span> +her frankly now that the sub-officer had gone, and +demanded angrily: +</p> +<p> +“Now, what do you suppose that means? Are +you positive you have identified Dykman?” +</p> +<p> +“He was the man who spoke to the stoker—yes.” +</p> +<p> +“Then why the—ahem! Well! Why should +he deny it?” +</p> +<p> +“It seems to clinch my argument,” Ruth said. +“There is something underhanded going on—some +plot—some mystery. This Dykman must be in +it.” +</p> +<p> +“By Jove!” +</p> +<p> +“Have you known the man long?” +</p> +<p> +“He is a new member of the ship’s company—as +I am,” admitted Dowd. +</p> +<p> +“He may be ‘Boldig,’” said Ruth, smiling +faintly. +</p> +<p> +“I will find out what is known of him,” the first +officer promised. “Meanwhile do you think you +would like to look over the seamen and other +members of the crew?” +</p> +<p> +“I do not think there would be any use in my +doing so—not at present. They probably know +what we are after and the flaxen-haired man will +remain hidden. The boat is large.” +</p> +<p> +“True,” Dowd agreed thoughtfully. “And as +we do not know his name it would be difficult to +find him on the ship’s roster. Besides, I do not +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_92'></a>92</span> +believe that Captain Hastings would allow further +search. You see what kind of a man he is, Miss +Fielding.” +</p> +<p> +“Make no excuse, Mr. Dowd,” she said hastily. +“You have done all you can. I am sorry I started +this in the first place. I merely considered it my +duty to do so.” +</p> +<p> +“I quite appreciate your attitude,” he said, bowing +over her hand. “And I think you did right. +There is something on foot that must be investigated, +Captain Hastings, or no Captain Hastings!” +</p> +<p> +He went away abruptly, and Ruth had time to +think it over. She did not fancy the situation at +all. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_93'></a>93</span><a name='chXII' id='chXII'></a>CHAPTER XII—THE MAN IN THE MOTOR BOAT</h2> +<p> +She felt that she had taken hold of something +bigger than she could handle just at this time. +Ruth really wanted to remain quiet—on deck or +in her stateroom—and nurse her injured shoulder +and fix her mind on the troubles that seemed of +late to have assailed her. +</p> +<p> +There was trouble awaiting her at home at the +Red Mill. Aunt Alvirah must be very ill, or +Uncle Jabez Potter would never have written as +he had. The miserly old miller was in a greatly +perturbed state of mind. He and Aunt Alvirah +would need Ruth’s help and comfort. She looked +forward to a very inactive and dull life at the Red +Mill for a while. +</p> +<p> +After her activities in France, and in other +places before she sailed as a Red Cross worker, +home would indeed be dull. She loved Aunt Alvirah—even +the old miller himself; but Ruth +Fielding was not a stay-at-home body by nature +and training. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_94'></a>94</span> +</p> +<p> +She might have mental exercise in writing scenarios +for the Alectrion Film Corporation. She +had had good success in that work—and there +was money in it. But it did not attract her now. +Her work at the Clair hospital seemed to have +unfitted her for her old interests and duties. In +fact, she was not satisfied to be out of touch with +active affairs while a state of war continued +abroad. +</p> +<p> +The trouble at home, and the anxiety she felt +for Tom’s safety, served to put her in a most unhappy +frame of mind. She surely would have +given her mind to unpleasant reveries had not this +matter which began with Irma Lentz come up. +</p> +<p> +This racked her mind instead of more serious +troubles. Perhaps it was as well. Ruth disliked +having been considered unwarrantably interfering, +as Captain Hastings undoubtedly considered +she had been. +</p> +<p> +She answered the second luncheon call and +passed Irma Lentz coming out of the saloon-cabin. +The woman with the eyeglasses looked her +up and down, haughtily tossed her head, and +passed on. Ruth was aware that several other +first cabin passengers looked at her oddly. It +was plain that some tale of Ruth’s “mare’s nest” +had been circulated. +</p> +<p> +And this must be through Captain Hastings. +Nobody else, she was sure, could have been tactless +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_95'></a>95</span> +enough to tell Miss Lentz what Ruth had +said. Had the short-haired “artist” taken others +of the passengers into her confidence, or was that, +too, the work of the steamship’s commander? +</p> +<p> +At about this time there probably was not a +steamship crossing the Atlantic of the character +of the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em>, and with the number +and variety of passengers she carried, on which +there was not some kind of spy scare. So many +dreadful things were happening at sea, and the +Germans seemed so far-reaching and ruthless in +their plots, that there was little wonder that this +should be so. +</p> +<p> +It would have been the part of wisdom had +Captain Hastings kept the matter quiet. Instead, +the pompous little skipper had evidently revealed +Ruth’s suspicions to the very person most concerned—Miss +Lentz. Through her, word must +have been passed to the flaxen-haired man Ruth +had seen talking with her, and likewise to the officer, +Dykman, who must likewise be in the plot. +</p> +<p> +What would be the outcome? If there really +was a conspiracy to harm the ship, either on the +sea or after she docked at New York, had it been +nipped in the bud? Or would it be carried +through, whether or no? +</p> +<p> +There was so little but suspicion to bolster up +Ruth Fielding’s belief that she had no foundation +upon which to build an actual accusation against +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_96'></a>96</span> +Miss Lentz and her associates, whoever they +might be. +</p> +<p> +She felt the weakness of her case. There was, +perhaps, some reason for Captain Hastings to +doubt her word. But he should not have revealed +her private information to the passengers. That +not only was unfair to Ruth but made it almost +impossible for her to prove her case. +</p> +<p> +She ate her lunch with the help of the steward, +for her Red Cross friend had eaten and gone. +When she returned to the open deck she saw Miss +Lentz the center of a group of eagerly talking +passengers. There were two wounded army officers +in the group. They all stared curiously at +Ruth Fielding as she passed. Nobody spoke to +her. There was evidently being formed a cabal +against her among the first cabin passengers. +</p> +<p> +Not that she particularly cared. There was +really nobody she wished to be friendly with, and +in ten days or so the ship would reach New York +and the incident would be closed. That is, if +nothing happened to retard the voyage. +</p> +<p> +She sought her own chair, which had been +placed in a favored spot by the deck steward, and +wrapped herself as well as she could in her rug, +having only one hand to use. Nobody came to +offer aid. She was being quite ostracized. +</p> +<p> +From where she sat she had a good view of the +main deck and of all the ship forward of the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_97'></a>97</span> +smoke stacks. The sea remained calm and the +<em>Admiral Pekhard</em> plowed through it with some +speed. Not a sail nor a banner of smoke was +visible. They were a good way from land by now, +and it was evident, too, that they were in no very +popular steamship lane. With the submarines as +active as they were, unconvoyed ships steered clear +of well-known routes, where the German sea-monsters +were most likely to lie in wait. +</p> +<p> +With nobody to distract her attention, Ruth +took considerable present interest in the conning +of the ship and the work of the seamen about the +deck. She looked, too, for some figure that would +suggest the flaxen-haired man she had seen talking +with Miss Lentz at dawn. +</p> +<p> +Dykman was on duty as watch officer now. +Ruth felt that he must be one of the conspirators. +Otherwise he could not have so blandly denied +knowledge of the flaxen-haired man who talked +German. +</p> +<p> +The <em>Admiral Pekhard</em> was a well-furnished +boat, as has been said. Besides the lifeboats +swung at her davits, there were nests of smaller +boats forward. And just in front of where Ruth +Fielding sat there was a canvas-covered motor +craft of small size. There was a larger motor +launch lashed on the main deck astern of where +Ruth’s chair was established. +</p> +<p> +She noted, after a time, that some of the points +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_98'></a>98</span> +lashing the canvas cover of the small launch forward +of her station were unfastened. Everything +else about the covered craft was taut and shipshape. +Ruth wondered at the displacement of the +loosened cords. +</p> +<p> +And then, vastly to her surprise, she saw the +canvas stir. Something, or somebody, was beneath +it. Whatever it was under the canvas cover, +its movements were made with extreme caution. +</p> +<p> +Ruth was more puzzled than alarmed. She +had heard of people stowing themselves away +upon steamships, and she wondered at first if +such were the explanation of the unknown, lying +in the motor launch. +</p> +<p> +Should she speak to Mr. Dowd about this? +Then, considering what had followed her interference +in circumstances that happened at dawn +here on the deck of the steamship, she hesitated +to do so. She did not wish to get into further +trouble. +</p> +<p> +But she watched the opening in the canvas +cover. More than once within the next hour she +observed the boat cover wrinkle and move, as +whatever was beneath it squirmed and crept +about. +</p> +<p> +Then, quite expectedly, she saw a face at the +opening. The canvas was lifted slightly and a +forehead and pair of eyes were visible for a moment. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_99'></a>99</span> +</p> +<p> +The fact that somebody was hiding in the launch +could not be denied. Yet it really was none of +Ruth Fielding’s business. This might have nothing +at all to do with Miss Lentz, the flaxen-haired +man, and Dykman. +</p> +<p> +She watched the place warily. If the man under +the canvas saw her watching he would be warned, +of course, that his presence was discovered. She +must speak to Mr. Dowd most casually if she desired +to inform the first officer of this mysterious +circumstance. +</p> +<p> +Nor could she get up and look for the first +officer. While she was gone the man in the motor +boat might slip out and escape. Ruth did not +propose to put herself a second time in a position +where her word might be doubted. +</p> +<p> +While she remained in her chair the person hiding +in the boat would surely not come out. She +did not wish to send a message to Mr. Dowd in +such a way that her motive for bringing him here +would be suspected. +</p> +<p> +The first officer was not on the bridge; so it +was not his watch on duty. Ruth beckoned a deck +steward, tipped him, and requested him to bring +her a pencil, a sheet of paper, and envelope from +the ship’s writing room. She was taking no +chances with a verbal message. +</p> +<p> +The man fulfilled her request. Meanwhile nobody +else seemed to notice the man peering out +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_100'></a>100</span> +from the canvas cover of the motor boat. Indeed, +the fellow had disappeared now and was +lying quiet. +</p> +<p> +Ruth penciled the following sentences on the +paper: “There is a stowaway in the small motor +boat forward of where I am sitting. I will not +move until you can come and investigate. R. F.” +</p> +<p> +She sealed this in the envelope, doing it all in +her lap so that she could not be observed from the +boat. Then she wrote Mr. Dowd’s name upon +the envelope. +</p> +<p> +The steward came back and she whispered to +him to take the note to Mr. Dowd and deliver it +into the first officer’s own hand—to nobody else. +As the man started away Ruth for some reason +turned her head. +</p> +<p> +Across the deck stood Irma Lentz. Her black +eyes flashed into Ruth’s, and the woman seemed +about to start toward her. Then she wheeled and +swiftly went forward. +</p> +<p> +Had she seen the letter Ruth had sent to the +chief officer? Did she suspect to whom Ruth had +written—and the object of the note? And, above +all, did she suspect that Ruth had discovered the +man hiding in the motor boat? +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_101'></a>101</span><a name='chXIII' id='chXIII'></a>CHAPTER XIII—IT COMES TO A HEAD</h2> +<p> +As the minutes passed, lengthening into first +the quarter and then the half hour, Ruth Fielding’s +impatience grew. The steward did not come +back to the deck. Nor did Chief Officer Dowd +return any reply to her note. +</p> +<p> +The situation became more and more irksome +for the girl of the Red Mill. She believed that +Irma Lentz considered her a personal enemy. +Perhaps the woman had influence over the steward +with whom the note to Mr. Dowd had been +entrusted. Ruth began to feel that she was surrounded +by spies, and that serious trouble would +break out upon the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em> within a +short time. +</p> +<p> +If she left her seat to search for Mr. Dowd, +or to confer with anybody else, the man she believed +was hiding in the motor boat not ten yards +from her chair might escape. Who he was she +could only suspect. Why he was hiding there +was quite beyond her imagination. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_102'></a>102</span> +</p> +<p> +It was Captain Hastings who appeared first +upon the open deck. He did not go immediately +to the bridge, nor did he bow right and left to +the ladies as was usually his custom. He came +directly past Ruth and stared at her through his +little squinting eyes in no friendly fashion. Ruth +did not speak to him. +</p> +<p> +Captain Hastings took up a position by the rail +not twenty yards from the girl’s chair. Several +passengers gathered about him; but she saw that +the commander of the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em> did not +lose sight of her. He was there for a purpose—that +was sure. +</p> +<p> +She wondered if the steward, playing her false, +had given her note addressed to Mr. Dowd to +Captain Hastings? She felt that apprehension +nearly all feel when “something is about to happen.” +In fact, she had never felt more uncomfortable +mentally in her life than at that moment. +</p> +<p> +The sun was going down now, for she had spent +most of the afternoon since luncheon in her chair. +The watches had been changed long since and she +knew that on a sailing vessel this would be the +second dog watch. Some of the crew were at +supper. The bugle for the first-cabin call to dinner +would soon sound. +</p> +<p> +She desired to go to her stateroom to freshen +her toilet for dinner; yet, should she desert her +post? Was Mr. Dowd merely delayed in coming +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_103'></a>103</span> +to answer her note? Should she take the bull by +the horns and tell Captain Hastings himself of +the presence of the stowaway in the motor boat? +</p> +<p> +In this hesitating frame of mind she lingered +for some time. Although the sea was calm, there +was a haze being drawn over the sky as the sun +disappeared below the western rim of the ocean, +and it bade fair to be a dark evening. The wind +whistled shrilly through the wire stays. There +was a foreboding atmosphere, it seemed to Ruth +Fielding, about the great steamship. +</p> +<p> +A dull explosion sounded from somewhere deep +in the hold of the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em>. The ship +trembled from truck to keelson. Screams of +frightened passengers instantly broke out. Captain +Hastings, at the rail, whirled to look toward +the engine-room companionway. +</p> +<p> +Out of this door, just ahead of a volume of +smoke or steam, dashed one of his officers. Ruth, +who had got out of the reclining chair as quickly +as her injured shoulder would allow, saw that this +excited man was Dykman. +</p> +<p> +“An explosion in the boiler room, sir!” he +cried, loud enough for everybody in the vicinity +to hear him. “The engines are out of commission +and I think the ship is sinking.” +</p> +<p> +It seemed as though any ship’s officer with good +sense would have told the commander privately +of the catastrophe. But immediately the full +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_104'></a>104</span> +nature of the disaster was made known to the excited +and terrified passengers. +</p> +<p> +“My heavens, Dykman!” squealed Captain +Hastings, “you don’t mean to say it is a torpedo? +We’ve seen no periscope.” +</p> +<p> +“I don’t know what it is; but the whole place +is full of steam and boiling water. We could not +see the entire extent of the damage; but the +water——” +</p> +<p> +He intimated that the water was coming in +from the outside. Then, suddenly, the bugles and +bells began, all over the ship, to signal the command +for “stations.” The engines had stopped +and the steamship began to rock a little, for there +was quite a swell on. Some of the passengers began +screaming again. They thought the <em>Admiral +Pekhard</em> was already going down. +</p> +<p> +The tramp of men running along the decks, the +shouts of the officers, and the continued screaming +of some of the passengers created such a pandemonium +that Ruth was confused. She knew that +Captain Hastings had leaped to the bridge ladder +and was now giving orders through a trumpet +regarding the preparation of the boats for lowering. +</p> +<p> +One gang of men was unlashing the large +motor boat and carrying davit ropes to it. That +was the captain’s boat, and it would hold at least +forty of the ship’s company. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_105'></a>105</span> +</p> +<p> +Ruth began to wonder what boat she would go +in. She realized that she was quite alone—that +there was nobody to aid her. Tom had foreseen +this. He had wished to accompany her across the +ocean to be able to aid her if necessity arose. +</p> +<p> +And here was necessity! +</p> +<p> +Ruth saw some of the passengers running below, +and was reminded that she was not at all prepared +to get into an open boat and drift about +the sea until rescued. There were several important +papers and valuables in her stateroom, +too. She moved toward the first cabin entrance. +</p> +<p> +Stewards were bringing the helpless wounded +up to the deck on stretchers. No matter how +small Ruth’s opinion might be of Captain Hastings +as a man, he seemed neglecting no essential +matter now that his ship was in danger. +</p> +<p> +From the bridge he directed the filling and lowering +of the first boats. He ordered the crew +and stokers who came pouring from below, to +stand by their respective boats, but not to lower +them until word was given. Each officer was in +his place. The stewards were evacuating the +wounded as fast as possible and were to see that +every passenger came on deck. +</p> +<p> +But Ruth did not see Mr. Dowd. The Chief +Officer, who should have had a prominent part in +this work, had not appeared. The girl went below, +wondering about this. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_106'></a>106</span> +</p> +<p> +As she approached her stateroom, Irma Lentz, +well-coated and bearing two handbags, appeared +from her stateroom. The black-eyed woman did +not seem very much disturbed by the situation. +She even stopped to speak to Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Ah-h!” she exclaimed in a low tone. “Your +friend, Mr. Dowd, fell down the after companionway +and is hurt. They took him to his +room. Perhaps you would like to know,” and she +laughed as she passed swiftly on toward the open +deck. +</p> +<p> +The information terrified Ruth. For the first +time since the explosion in the boiler room, the +girl of the Red Mill considered the possibility of +this all being a plot to wreck the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em>—a +plot among some of the ship’s company, +both passengers and crew! +</p> +<p> +The mystery of which she had caught a single +thread that morning at dawn when she had observed +this black-eyed woman talking with the +German-looking seaman, or stoker, was now divulged. +</p> +<p> +These people—Irma Lentz, the flaxen-haired +man, Dykman (if he was one of the plotters) and +perhaps others, had brought them all to this perilous +situation. The German conspirators had, +after all, been willing to risk their own lives in +an attempt to sink the British ship. +</p> +<p> +She was but one day from port; it was not improbable +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_107'></a>107</span> +that the ship’s company would reach land +in comparative safety. The two motor boats +could tow the lifeboats, and if a storm did not arise +they might all reach either the English or the +French coast in safety. +</p> +<p> +Ruth was so disturbed by Irma Lentz’s statement +that she did not immediately turn toward +her own room. She knew where Mr. Dowd’s +cabin was, and she hurried toward it. +</p> +<p> +It seemed sinister that the chief officer should +have been injured just as she had sent word to +him about the stowaway in the small motor boat. +Ruth was convinced, without further evidence, that +her discovery and attempt to reach Mr. Dowd +with the information had caused his injury and +had hastened the explosion. +</p> +<p> +She did not believe the latter was caused by a +torpedo from a lurking submarine. The conspirators +aboard the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em> had deliberately +brought about the catastrophe. +</p> +<p> +And it smote her, too, that Mr. Dowd might +now be neglected in his cabin. When the passengers +and crew left in the small boats, the first +officer would, perhaps, be lying helpless in his +berth. +</p> +<p> +She reached the door of the officer’s cabin, and +knocked upon the panel. There was nobody in +sight in this passage and she heard no movement +inside the first officer’s room. Again she knocked. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_108'></a>108</span> +</p> +<p> +At last there was a stirring inside. A voice +mumbled: +</p> +<p> +“Yes? Yes? Eight bells? I will be right +up.” +</p> +<p> +“Mr. Dowd! Mr. Dowd!” Ruth called. +“Wake up! The ship is sinking!” +</p> +<p> +“I’ll be right with you, boy,” said the officer, +more briskly, but evidently not altogether himself. +</p> +<p> +“This is Ruth Fielding, Mr. Dowd!” cried the +girl, hammering again on the door. “Do you need +help? Come on deck quickly. The ship is sinking!” +</p> +<p> +“What’s <em>that</em>?” +</p> +<p> +He was evidently aroused now. The door was +snapped open and he appeared at the aperture +just as he had risen from his berth—in shirt and +trousers. His head was bandaged as though he +wore a turban. +</p> +<p> +“What is that you say, Miss Fielding?” he repeated. +</p> +<p> +“Come quickly, Mr. Dowd!” she begged. +“The ship is sinking. Those people have blown +it up.” +</p> +<p> +“Then there was something wrong!” cried the +officer. “Did—did Captain Hastings come to +you? I—I gave him your note after I fell——” +</p> +<p> +“He did nothing but wait until those people +did their worst,” declared Ruth angrily. “It is +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_109'></a>109</span> +too late to talk about it now. Hurry!” and she +turned away to seek her own stateroom. +</p> +<p> +It was fast growing dark outside. There were +no lights turned on along the saloon deck. She +saw not a soul as she hurried to her room. Everybody—even +the stewards and officers—seemed to +have got out upon the upper deck. She heard +much noise there and believed some of the boats +were being lowered. +</p> +<p> +She unlocked her stateroom door and entered. +When she tried to turn on the electric light, she +found that the wires were dead. Of course, if the +boilers were blown up, the electric generating motors +would stop as well as the steam engines. The +ship would be in darkness. +</p> +<p> +She hastily scrambled such valuables as she +could find into her toilet bag. Her money and papers +she stowed away inside her dress. They +were wrapped in oilskin, if she should be wet. +Ruth was cool enough. She considered all possibilities +at this time of emergency. +</p> +<p> +At least she considered all possibilities but one. +That never for a moment entered her mind. +</p> +<p> +It was true that while she dressed more warmly +and secured a blanket from her berth to wrap +around herself over her coat, she was aware that +the noise on the upper deck had ceased. But she +did not realize the significance of this. +</p> +<p> +Being all alone, she had much difficulty in arraying +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_110'></a>110</span> +herself as she wished. Her shoulder was +stiff and she could not use her left arm very much +without causing the shoulder to hurt excruciatingly. +So she was long in getting out of the room +again. +</p> +<p> +Just as she did so she heard a man shouting up +the passage: +</p> +<p> +“Anybody here? Get out on deck! Last call! +The boats are leaving!” +</p> +<p> +The shout really startled Ruth. She had no +idea there was any chance of her being left behind. +She left her stateroom door open and +started to run through the narrow corridor. +</p> +<p> +Not six feet from the door she tripped over +something. It was a cord stretched taut across the +passage, fastened at a height of about a foot +from the deck! +</p> +<p> +Helplessly, with her hands full and the blanket +over her right arm, Ruth pitched forward on her +face. She struck her head on the deck with sufficient +force to cause unconsciousness. With a +single groan she rolled over on her back and lay +still. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_111'></a>111</span><a name='chXIV' id='chXIV'></a>CHAPTER XIV—A BATTLE IN THE AIR</h2> +<p> +The first few seconds which passed after Ralph +Stillinger and Tom Cameron descried the huge +envelope of the Zeppelin beneath their airplane +in the fog were sufficient to allow the American +ace to regain his self-possession. If his passenger +was frightened by the nearness of the German airship +he did not betray that fact. +</p> +<p> +The thundering of the motors of the great airship, +as well as the clatter of their own engine, +made speech between the two Americans quite impossible. +But the meaning of Stillinger’s gestures +was not lost on Tom. +</p> +<p> +Immediately the latter sprang to the machine +gun. The three pursuit planes with which they +had been skirmishing were now out of mind, as +well as out of sight. If they could cripple the +Zeppelin the victory would be far greater than +bringing disaster to one of the <em>Tauben</em>. +</p> +<p> +The Zeppelin was aimed seaward. She doubtless +had started upon a coast raid along the English shore. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_112'></a>112</span> +If the Americans could bring her +down they would achieve something that would +count gloriously in this great work of fighting the +Hun in the air. +</p> +<p> +To pitch down upon the envelope of the great +machine and empty a clip of cartridges into it +might do the Zeppelin a deal of harm, but it +would not wreck it. A complete wreck was what +Stillinger and Tom wished to make of the German +airship. +</p> +<p> +The American pilot’s intention was immediately +plain to Tom. He shut down on the speed and +allowed the airplane to fall behind the German +ship. The object was to trail the Zeppelin and +pour the machine-gun bullets into the steering +gear of the great airship—even, perhaps, to sweep +her deck of the crew. +</p> +<p> +The fog was thinning—No! they were shooting +out of the cloud. The sunlight suddenly illuminated +both Zeppelin and airplane. Both must +have been revealed to observers on the ground +and in the air. +</p> +<p> +The presence of the American airplane, if unsuspected +before by the crew of the Zeppelin, was +now revealed to them. Tom, bending sideways to +look down past the machine gun, saw the entire +afterdeck of the Zeppelin. There were at least a +dozen men standing there, staring up at the darting +airplane. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_113'></a>113</span> +</p> +<p> +Tom shot a glance back at Stillinger. The +machine tipped at that instant. The pilot waved +an admonishing hand. Tom seized the crank of +the gun and turned to look down upon the German +airship. +</p> +<p> +In that instant the crew of the latter had sprung +to action. Their surprise at the nearness of the +airplane was past. Their commander stood, +hanging to a stay with one hand and shouting orders +through a trumpet held in the other hand. +At least, Tom Cameron presumed he was shouting. +</p> +<p> +All he could hear was the thuttering roar of +the Zeppelin’s motors and the clash of their own +engine. These noises, with the shrieking of the +rushing wind made every other sound inaudible. +</p> +<p> +The American machine was tipping. She was +not far behind the Zeppelin, nor far above it. +The muzzle of the machine gun would soon come +into line with the after deck of the Zeppelin. +Then—— +</p> +<p> +Suddenly a flash of flame and a balloon of +smoke was spouted from a small mortar amidships +of that deck. Instantly a shell burst almost +in Tom’s face and eyes. +</p> +<p> +If the young fellow cringed as he crouched behind +the machine gun, it was no wonder. That +was a very narrow escape. +</p> +<p> +He glanced back at Stillinger. The pilot had +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_114'></a>114</span> +dropped one of the levers and was holding his left +wrist tightly. Tom could see something red running +through Stillinger’s fingers—blood! +</p> +<p> +Shrapnel was flying all about the airplane. +There was a second puff of smoke and flame from +the mortar on the Zeppelin. Tom heard the +twang of a cut stay. The airplane rolled sideways +with a sickening dip—but then righted itself. +</p> +<p> +This was a kind of fighting Tom Cameron knew +nothing about. He did not know what to do. +Pivoted as the machine gun was, he could not depress +the muzzle sufficiently to bring the Zeppelin’s +deck into range. Was the machine out of +control? If the nose of it dipped a bit more he +could do something. +</p> +<p> +Another burst of shrapnel, and he felt something +like a red-hot iron searing his right cheek. +He put up his gloved hand and brought it away +spotted with crimson. The Hun certainly was +getting them! +</p> +<p> +He looked back at Stillinger. To his horror +he saw that the man was slumped down in his seat, +held there by his belt. Tom Cameron did not +know the first thing about driving an airplane! +</p> +<p> +Again a shell burst near the rocking machine. +It did no harm; but it showed that the Germans +were getting an almost perfect range. +</p> +<p> +Tom Cameron was not a coward. He gripped +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_115'></a>115</span> +his even upper teeth on his full lower lip, and +by that sign only showed that he knew disaster +was coming. Indeed, it had come the +next second! +</p> +<p> +The tail of the airplane shot up and the nose +pitched to a sharp angle. He heard the explosion +of the shell even as he started the chatter of the +machine gun. In that short breath of time the +muzzle of his weapon was pitched to the right +angle, and a swarm of bullets swept the afterdeck +of the Zeppelin. +</p> +<p> +He knew the tail of the airplane had been +splintered and that the machine was bound to +fall. But as it poised on its wings for a few moments, +he poured in the shot—indeed, he finished +the clip of cartridges. +</p> +<p> +The man at the Zeppelin shell-thrower fell +back and rolled into the scuppers. Another—plainly +an officer from his dress—crashed to the +deck. He saw the other members of the crew +running to try to escape the hail of bullets. Ah, +if he could only have accomplished this before the +airplane was wrecked! +</p> +<p> +And that it was wrecked, he could see. He +glanced over his shoulder. Stillinger was no +longer in his seat. Indeed, the seat itself was not +there! The entire rear part of the airplane was +torn away, and his friend and college-mate had +fallen. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_116'></a>116</span> +</p> +<p> +Those next few seconds were to be the most +thrilling of all Tom Cameron’s life. +</p> +<p> +The airplane was plunging downward, seemingly +right on top of the Zeppelin. Then intuitively +he realized that it would just about clear +the German airship. +</p> +<p> +He held no more guarantee for his life if he +clung to the airplane than poor Stillinger had +in falling free. It was a swift spin and a crash +to the earth—death beyond peradventure! +</p> +<p> +The spread wings of the airplane still held the +wrecked machine poised. But in a moment it +would slip forward, nose down, and “take the +spin.” Tom scrambled over the gun and over +the armored nose of the airplane. He swung +himself through the stays. The airplane plunged—and +so did he! +</p> +<p> +But he flung himself free of the stays. Like a +frog diving from the bank of a pool, the American +cast himself from the airplane, full thirty feet, +to the deck of the German airship! +</p> +<p> +A taut stay of the Zeppelin broke his fall. He +landed on all fours. Before he could rise two of +the Germans leaped upon him and he was crushed, +face-downward, on the deck. +</p> +<p> +The fellows who had seized him seemed of a +mind to cast him over the rail. They dragged +him to his feet, forcing him that way. He expected +the next minute to be spinning in the track +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_117'></a>117</span> +of the airplane toward the earth, five thousand +feet or more below. +</p> +<p> +But suddenly there appeared out of the cabin, +or “dog-house” slung amidships of the great envelope, +the officer that Tom had first seen with +the trumpet. Through that instrument he now +roared an order in German that the American did +not understand. +</p> +<p> +The latter was released. He staggered to the +middle of the deck, panting and with scarcely +strength remaining to hold him on his feet. He +saw the officer beckoning him forward. +</p> +<p> +He could not see what any of these fellows +looked like, for they were all masked, as he was +himself. They were dressed in garments of skin, +with the hair left on the hide—a queer-looking +company indeed. Tom staggered toward the officer. +</p> +<p> +He was motioned to go into the cabin. The +officer came after him and closed the door. At +once the American realized that the place was—to +a degree—soundproof. +</p> +<p> +The German removed his helmet and Tom was +glad to unbuckle the straps of his own. The first +words he heard were in good English: +</p> +<p> +“This is the first time I have taken a prisoner. +It is a notable event. Will you drink this cordial, +<em>Mein Herr</em>? It is an occasion worthy of a +libation.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_118'></a>118</span> +</p> +<p> +His captor had opened a small cabinet fastened +to the wall and produced a screw-topped decanter. +He poured a colorless liquid into two tiny +glasses, and presented one to Tom. The latter +would have taken almost anything just then. The +stuff was warming and smelled strongly of anise. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, you are the first prisoner I have heard of +taken in this way. And, oddly enough, I may be +bearing you homeward, only I shall be unable to +allow you to land upon the ‘tight little isle’—you +so call it, no?” +</p> +<p> +“You are making one mistake,” Tom said, finally +finding his voice. “I am not an Englishman. +I am American.” +</p> +<p> +“Indeed? But it matters not,” and the German +shrugged his shoulders. “You will go back with +us to Germany as a prisoner. But first you will +accompany us on our bomb-dropping expedition. +London is doomed to suffer again.” +</p> +<p> +Tom said no more. This <em>ober-leutnant</em> was a +fresh-faced, rather dandy-like appearing person—typical +of the Prussian officer-caste. His cheerful +statement that he purposed dropping his cargo of +bombs over the city of London brought a sharp +retort to Tom’s tongue—which he was wise +enough not to utter. +</p> +<p> +A subordinate officer looked in at the forward +entrance to the cabin, and asked a question. The +<em>leutnant</em> arose. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_119'></a>119</span> +</p> +<p> +“I go to con the ship. We shall soon be over +the sea. You, <em>Mein Herr</em>, must be placed in durance, +I fear. Come this way.” +</p> +<p> +He did not even take the automatic pistol from +Tom’s holster. Really, he knew, as did Tom, that +to make any attempt against the lives of his captors +would have been too ridiculous to contemplate. +Tom Cameron arose quietly to follow the +<em>leutnant</em>. +</p> +<p> +At the forward end of this cabin, or car, there +was a door beside the one which gave exit to the +forward deck. The German opened this narrow +door, and Tom saw a small closet with a barred +window. There was a cushioned seat, which might +even serve as a berth, but very little else in the +compartment. +</p> +<p> +He was ordered into this place, and entered. +The door was closed behind him and bolted. He +was left to his own devices and to thoughts which +were, to say the least, disheartening. +</p> +<p> +He pitched the padded helmet and goggles he +had taken off into a corner and pressed his face +close to the glass of the barred window. Again +they were smothered in fog. He could not see +to the prow of the great ship. He wondered +how the officer could steer the Zeppelin save by +compass. This fog was a thick curtain. +</p> +<p> +Yet the Germans would cross the sea, of course, +and find their way over London. He had heard +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_120'></a>120</span> +Englishmen talk of the damage done and the lives +sacrificed—mostly those of women and children—in +these dreadful raids. And he was to be a passenger +while the Zeppelin performed its horrid +task! +</p> +<p> +Tom Cameron had recovered quickly from his +fright and the shock of his landing on the airship. +He was convinced that nobody had ever before +done just what he had done. And as he had been +successful in performing this hazardous venture, +he began to believe that he might do more—perform +other wonders. +</p> +<p> +It was not his vanity that suggested this +thought. Tom Cameron was quite as free of the +foible of conceit as could be imagined. He was +earnestly desirous of doing something to balk +these Germans in their determination to get to +the English shore and bomb London and its vicinity. +</p> +<p> +Gradually his eyes grew blind to what was going +on upon the forward deck of the Zeppelin. +He was thinking—he was scheming. His whole +thought was given to the desire of his heart: How +might he thwart the wicked plans of the Hun? +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_121'></a>121</span><a name='chXV' id='chXV'></a>CHAPTER XV—ABANDONED</h2> +<p> +Ruth Fielding came to consciousness with an +instantly keen physical, as well as mental, perception +of where she was, what had happened, and +all that the accident she had suffered meant. Indeed, +it had been no accident that cast her to the +deck outside her stateroom door. +</p> +<p> +It was the result of premeditated evil. The +man shouting the warning that all boats were leaving +the supposedly sinking <em>Admiral Pekhard</em>, had +intended to bring her running from her room. +The cord stretched across the passage was there +to trip her. +</p> +<p> +As she struggled to her knees, picked up her +bag, and gained her feet, Ruth realized, as in a +flash of light, that the man who had shouted was +Dykman, the under officer whom she had previously +suspected. He was in the conspiracy with +Irma Lentz and the flaxen-haired man—the latter, +she was sure, having hidden in the small motor +boat. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_122'></a>122</span> +</p> +<p> +And what was now ahead? She had no idea +how long she had lain unconscious. Nor did she +hear a sound from the deck above. +</p> +<p> +Had she been abandoned on the sinking ship, +even by Mr. Dowd, the first officer? That Captain +Hastings had neglected to see that all the passengers +were taken off the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em> did +not greatly surprise Ruth. She had a very poor +opinion of the pompous little skipper. +</p> +<p> +But Mr. Dowd! +</p> +<p> +She stumbled out of the dark passage and found +the saloon stairway. The door at the top was +closed. She had to put down her bag to open it. +Her shoulder pained like a toothache, and she +could not use her left hand at all. +</p> +<p> +She finally stumbled out upon the open deck. +Darkness had shut down on the ship. There was +not a light anywhere aboard that she could see. +The ship was rocking gently to the swell. It did +not seem to her as though it was any deeper in +the sea than it had been when last she was above +deck. +</p> +<p> +But one certain fact could not be denied. The +davits were stripped of boats. Every lifeboat was +gone! She looked aft and saw that the big motor +launch had likewise been put off. Forward the +deck was clear, too. The boat in which she had +observed the stowaway had disappeared. +</p> +<p> +She was trapped. She believed herself alone +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_123'></a>123</span> +on a deserted ship in a trackless ocean. She had +no means of leaving the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em>; surely +had the steamship not been about to go down, it +would not have been abandoned by all—passengers, +crew, and officers. +</p> +<p> +Captain Hastings, the Red Cross officer, even +Mr. Dowd, had all quite forgotten her. Her enemies +(she must consider Irma Lentz and Dykman +personal foes) had made it impossible for her to +escape in any of the boats. Perhaps they feared +that she knew much more of the plot than she +really did know. Therefore their determination +to make her escape impossible. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly she saw a flash of light far out over +the sea. It bobbed up and down for several minutes. +Then it disappeared. She believed it must +be one of the small boats that had got safely away +from the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em>. The disappearance +of the light seemed to close all communication between +the abandoned girl and humankind. +</p> +<p> +She had dropped her bag. As the steamship +rolled gently the bag slid toward the rail. This +brought her to sudden activity again. She went +to recover the bag. And then she peered over the +high rail, down at the phosphorescent surface of +the sea. +</p> +<p> +It did not seem to Ruth as though the <em>Admiral +Pekhard</em> had sunk a foot lower than before she +left the deck to obtain her possessions. There +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_124'></a>124</span> +was something wrong somewhere! Rather, there +was something right. The ship was not about to +sink. Why, hours had passed since she had fallen +and struck her head below near her stateroom! If +the ship had been in such danger of sinking when +the alarm to take to the boats was given, why was +it not already awash by the waves that lapped the +sides? +</p> +<p> +There was some great error. Captain Hastings +must have been terribly misled by his officers +regarding the condition of the ship. Much as she +disliked the pompous little man, she was sure that +he would not have knowingly deserted the steamship +unless he had been convinced she was going +down—and that quickly. +</p> +<p> +“But Mr. Dowd knew better,” murmured Ruth. +“Or he must have suspected there was something +wrong. And Mr. Dowd—I do not believe he +would have left the ship without making sure that +I was safe.” +</p> +<p> +The thought was so convincing that it bred in +her mind another and, she realized, perhaps a +ridiculous one. Yet she was so impressed by it +that she turned back to the open companionway. +She started down into the saloon-cabin. But it +was so dark there that she hesitated. +</p> +<p> +Then, of a sudden, she remembered the pocketlamp +that must be in this very toilet-bag she carried. +She always tried to have such a thing by +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_125'></a>125</span> +her, especially when she traveled. She opened +the bag and searched among its contents. +</p> +<p> +Her hand touched and then brought forth the +electric torch. She pressed the switch and the +spotlight of the bulb shot right into the face of +the great chronometer in its glass case, hanging +above the companionway steps. +</p> +<p> +It was half after nine, and she heard the faint +chime of the clock on the instant—three bells. +Why! she must have been more than two hours +unconscious below. Of course the boats, if they +had been rowed at once away from the supposedly +sinking ship, would be now quite out of sight. +Their lamps were hidden from her sight; and as +there were no outside lights on the ship, she +would, of course, be invisible to the crews of the +small boats. +</p> +<p> +If the order had been given to make for the +nearest point of land, the people who had abandoned +the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em> might easily believe +the steamship under the sea long since. +</p> +<p> +This thought was but a flash through her +troubled mind. The keener supposition that had +urged her below still inspired her. By aid of the +hand lamp she could make her path through the +cabins. She crossed the dining room and the writing +room and library. This way was the opening +of the passage on which were the doors of the officers’ +cabins. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_126'></a>126</span> +</p> +<p> +She reached Dowd’s door. She had been here +before; it was she, indeed, who had roused him to +the knowledge that the ship was being abandoned. +Could it be possible—— +</p> +<p> +She pushed open the door without opposition, +for it was unlatched. She shot the spotlight of +the hand lamp into the small room. The bed +was empty. +</p> +<p> +Of course, it could not be possible that Mr. +Dowd, chief officer of the ship, had been left behind +as she had been. +</p> +<p> +Yet, she could open the door only half way. +There was something behind it that acted as a +stopper. Ruth peered around the door and at +the floor. Her lamp shone upon the unbooted feet +of a man. She shot the ray of light along his +limbs and body. At the far end, almost against +the outside wall of the stateroom, was the turbanned +head of First Officer Dowd! +</p> +<p> +Ruth could scarcely gasp the officer’s name, and +in her amazement she removed her thumb from +the switch. Her lamp went out. In the darkness +she heard Mr. Dowd breathing stertorously. He +was, then, not dead! +</p> +<p> +Ruth Fielding was far too sensible and acute +in understanding to be long overwhelmed by any +such discovery. Indeed, she felt a certain satisfaction +in finding the man here. Even Mr. Dowd, +ill and helpless, was better than no companion at +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_127'></a>127</span> +all upon the steamship. One fear, at least, immediately +rolled off her mind. +</p> +<p> +Used as she had become to hospital work, she +went at once to work upon the victim of this outrage. +For at first she thought he must have been +injured a second time. Perhaps the man who had +stretched that cord to trip her and had shouted +to her down the passage, had first overpowered +Mr. Dowd. +</p> +<p> +It proved to be that the man was merely asleep. +But he was sleeping very heavily, very unnaturally. +Ruth had seen people under the effect of opiates +before, and she knew what this meant. The chief +officer of the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em> had been drugged. +</p> +<p> +When she had previously spoken to him and +roused him after he was hurt, she remembered +now that he had not seemed himself. It was +something besides the blow on his head that +troubled him. Ruth wondered who had given him +the opiate, and in what form. +</p> +<p> +But of a surety, both the chief officer and she +had been deliberately placed in such condition that +they could not answer the call to abandon ship! +Evil people had been at work here. The conspirators +feared that Ruth and Mr. Dowd knew +more than they really did know, and they had +planned that the two should sink with the <em>Admiral +Pekhard</em>. +</p> +<p> +Only, by the mercy of Providence, or by a vital +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_128'></a>128</span> +mistake on the part of the plotters, the steamship +did not seem to be on the point of sinking. Ruth +believed that that danger was not immediate. +</p> +<p> +She gave her attention to Mr. Dowd while she +was thinking of these facts. She bathed his head +and face, slapped his hands, and finally put to his +nose strong smelling-salts which she found in her +bag. The man stirred, and groaned, and finally +opened his eyes. +</p> +<p> +He seemed to recognize Ruth at once. But the +power of the opiate was still upon his brain. He +could not quickly shake it off. He struggled to his +feet by her aid and by clinging to his berth. He +stared at her, groping in his mind for the reason +for his situation. +</p> +<p> +“Miss Fielding!” he muttered. “Yes, yes. I +am coming at once. The ship is sinking, you +say?” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, Mr. Dowd! everybody has gone now and +left us. We are too late to go in any of the boats. +But I do not believe the ship is sinking, after +all.” +</p> +<p> +“They—did they blow it up?” questioned the +man, striving to pull himself together. “I—I——Why, +Miss Fielding, what is the matter with me? +I must have neglected my duty shamefully. Captain +Hastings——” +</p> +<p> +“He has gone without us. Certainly he did not +strive to be sure that everybody was off the ship +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_129'></a>129</span> +before he left. He evidently must have left it to +his subordinates to do that. And I am sure they +were not all trustworthy.” +</p> +<p> +She swiftly repeated her own experience. The +bruise gained by her fall over the taut cord was +quite visible on her forehead. But the smart of +it Ruth did not mind now. There were many +other things of more importance. +</p> +<p> +“It looks like treachery all the way through,” +groaned Mr. Dowd. “I remember now. I fell +down the companionway—and I could not understand +why, for the ship was not rolling. You say +you suspect Dykman? So do I. He was right +there when I fell, and it seemed to me afterward +that I was tripped by something at the top of the +steps. +</p> +<p> +“But I was so confused—why, yes, you came +and aroused me once, did you not, Miss Fielding?” +</p> +<p> +“Yes. Somebody must have given you an opiate. +Who bandaged your head, Mr. Dowd?” +she asked. +</p> +<p> +“The surgeon. He was here and fixed me up. +He—he gave me a drink that he said would fix +me all right.” +</p> +<p> +“It did,” the girl returned grimly. “It may +have been he meant you no harm. Possibly he +thought a long sleep was what you needed. But, +then, why did he not remember you when the ship +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_130'></a>130</span> +was abandoned? He must have known you would +be helpless.” +</p> +<p> +“It seems strange,” admitted Mr. Dowd. +“Kreuger is the surgeon’s name. Of course, the +name smacks of Germany. But—but if we are +going to distrust everybody with a German name, +where shall we be?” +</p> +<p> +“Safer, perhaps,” Ruth said, with rather grim +lips. “In this case, at least, the doctor seems to +have done quite as the conspirators would have +had him. They plainly feared that both you and +I suspected too much, and they did not intend that +we should escape from this ship.” +</p> +<p> +“Come!” he said, having struggled into his +vest and coat and seized his uniform cap. “Let +us go up on deck and see what the promise is. +Here! I will light this lantern; that will give us +a steadier light than your torch. +</p> +<p> +“I am glad you are such a plucky young woman, +Miss Fielding,” he added, as he lit his lantern. +“One need not be afraid of being wrecked in mid-ocean +with you. We’ll find some way of escape +from this old barge, never fear.” +</p> +<p> +Thus speaking cheerfully, he led the way out +of the room and into the open cabins of the saloon +deck. Ruth followed, glad enough to give up +the leadership to him. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_131'></a>131</span><a name='chXVI' id='chXVI'></a>CHAPTER XVI—ON THE EDGE OF TRAGEDY</h2> +<p> +They went up to the open deck to meet the +blackest night Ruth Fielding ever remembered +to have seen. The impenetrable clouds seemed +to hover just above the masts of the abandoned +steamship. +</p> +<p> +The night air aided Mr. Dowd to recover his +poise. It was plain that the narcotic influence of +the drink the doctor had given him still affected +his brain more than did the blow he had suffered +in falling. Soon his mind was quite clear and his +manner the same as usual. +</p> +<p> +“I am afraid, as you say, Miss Fielding, that +we are alone on the ship. I do not hear a sound,” +he said. +</p> +<p> +“But you do not think the ship is sinking, do +you, Mr. Dowd?” Ruth asked. +</p> +<p> +“She does not roll as though she was waterlogged +in any degree. Nor can I see that she has +any pitch, either to bow or stern. If the explosion +was amidships—and you say it was in the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_132'></a>132</span> +fireroom—I doubt if a hole torn in the outside of +the ship would sink her. +</p> +<p> +“You see, the engine room and boilers are shut +off from the rest of the ship, both fore and aft, +by water-tight bulkheads. If these were closed +when the accident occurred, or soon after, that +middle compartment might fill—up to a certain +point—and that would be all. She could not take +in enough water to sink her by such means.” +</p> +<p> +“But one would think Captain Hastings—or +the engineer—or somebody—would have discovered +the truth,” Ruth said, in doubt. +</p> +<p> +“You’d think so,” admitted Mr. Dowd. “But +there was a great deal of excitement, without +doubt. If the water rushed in and put out the +fires, and the place filled with steam, until that +steam cleared the situation must have looked much +worse than it really was. +</p> +<p> +“You see the ship was abandoned so quickly, +that I doubt if the engineers could have learned +just how serious the danger was. They must all +have been panic-stricken.” +</p> +<p> +“Your Captain Hastings as well,” said Ruth +scornfully. +</p> +<p> +“I am afraid so,” admitted the chief officer. +“But the captain must have been misled by the +under officers. I do not believe he showed the +white feather. He had the responsibility of the +passengers—especially of those wounded—on his +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_133'></a>133</span> +mind. We must give him credit for making a +clean get-away,” and in the lantern-light Ruth saw +that he smiled. +</p> +<p> +“I hope they are all safe,” she responded reflectively. +“The poor things! To have to drift +about in open boats all night!” +</p> +<p> +“We are not far from land, of course,” said +Mr. Dowd. “And it is a wonder that one of the +patrol boats has not crossed our track. Hold +on!” +</p> +<p> +“Yes?” said the startled young woman. +</p> +<p> +“What about the radio? Didn’t they send a +wireless? Couldn’t they have called for help?” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, I never thought of the wireless at all,” +Ruth confessed. “And I am sure it was not used +at first—not while I was on deck.” +</p> +<p> +“Strange! With two operators—Rollife and +an assistant—how could they neglect such a +chance?” +</p> +<p> +“I heard nothing about it,” repeated Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Come on. Let’s look and see,” said the chief +officer of the steamship. “Something is dead +wrong here. Sparks surely would not have +left his post unless the radio had completely +broken down. Why, if we could manipulate the +radio we’d call for help now—you and I, Miss +Fielding.” +</p> +<p> +He led the way swiftly along the deck. The +radio station had been built into the forward +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_134'></a>134</span> +house, for the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em> was an old steamship, +her keel having been laid long before Marconi +made his dream come true. +</p> +<p> +The staff from which the antennae were strung +shot up into the darkness farther than they could +well see. There was a single small window far +up on either side of the house for circulation of +air only. There seemed to be no life about the +radio room. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Dowd tried the door. It did not yield. +He shook it—or tried to—crying: +</p> +<p> +“Sparks! Sparks! Hey! Where are you?” +</p> +<p> +He was answered by a voice from inside the +radio room. It was not a pleasant voice, and the +words it first uttered were not polite, to say the +least. The man inside ended by demanding: +</p> +<p> +“What in the name of Mike was meant by locking +me into this room?” +</p> +<p> +“Great Land!” gasped Dowd. “It’s Rollife +himself.” +</p> +<p> +“And you know darned well it’s Rollife,” pursued +the radio man. “Let me come out!” and he +went on to roll out threats that certainly were +not meant for Ruth’s ears. +</p> +<p> +But to let the man out of his prison was not +easy. Dowd found that two long spikes had been +driven through the door and frame above and +below the doorknob. He was some time in getting +Rollife to listen to this explanation. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_135'></a>135</span> +</p> +<p> +“Who is it? Dowd?” demanded the angry +radio man at last. +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” replied the first officer. “Who did +this?” +</p> +<p> +Whoever it was who pinned the man into the +room was threatened with a good many unpleasant +happenings during the next few moments. Finally +Dowd’s voice penetrated to the operator’s +ears again. +</p> +<p> +“Hold your horses! There’s a lady here. +How shall I get you out, Sparks?” +</p> +<p> +“I don’t give a hang <em>how</em> you do it,” snarled +the other. “But I want you to do it mighty +quick—and then lead me to the man who nailed +me up.” +</p> +<p> +“Wait,” said Dowd. “I’ll get a screwdriver +and take off the hinges of the door. Then you +can push outwards.” +</p> +<p> +“What the deuce has happened, anyway?” demanded +Rollife, as the first officer of the <em>Admiral +Pekhard</em> started away. +</p> +<p> +Ruth thought she would better answer before +the imprisoned radio man broke out afresh. She +told him simply what had happened, and why it +had happened, as she presumed. +</p> +<p> +“It was Dykman nailed me up—the cur!” +growled the radio man. “Then he monkeyed +with the wires outside there. He put the radio +out of commission, all right. That was before +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_136'></a>136</span> +the explosion. My door was nailed almost on +the very minute the old ship was hit. But why +doesn’t she sink?” +</p> +<p> +“I do not believe she is going to sink, Mr. +Rollife,” said Ruth. “Oh, if you could only +repair your aerial wires, you might call for +help!” +</p> +<p> +“Let me out of here,” growled the radio operator, +“and I’ll find some way of sending an S O S—don’t +fear!” +</p> +<p> +Mr. Dowd came back from the engine room +where he had secured a screwdriver. He set to +work removing the screws from the hinges of the +radio room door. +</p> +<p> +“I do not believe that the explosion caused any +serious damage to the ship itself,” said he. “The +fireroom is full of water; but it looks to me as +though a seacock had been opened. I think the +explosion was on the inside—a bomb thrown into +one of the fires, perhaps.” +</p> +<p> +“What’s that you say?” demanded Rollife, +from inside the room. “No likelihood of the +old tub sinking?” +</p> +<p> +“Not at all! Not at all!” +</p> +<p> +“Well, I certainly am relieved,” said the radio +man. “I’ve been conjuring up all kinds of horrors +in here.” +</p> +<p> +“Huh!” exploded Dowd. “You were asleep +till I pounded on the door.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_137'></a>137</span> +</p> +<p> +“Oh, well, maybe I lost myself for a moment,” +confessed Rollife. “Anyhow, I made up my mind +I was done for when I could make nobody listen +to me after my door was nailed. They certainly +had it in for me.” +</p> +<p> +“Where was your assistant?” Dowd asked. +</p> +<p> +“That fellow is a squarehead,” growled the +radio man. “I suspected him from the start. +Why, he couldn’t talk American without saying +‘already yet.’ A Hun, sure as shooting.” +</p> +<p> +That Rollife himself came from the United +States there could be no doubt. His speech fully +betrayed his nationality. +</p> +<p> +“He never came near me,” he went on, speaking +of his assistant. “He was some ‘ham,’ anyway! +Graduate of one of these correspondence +schools of telegraphy, I guess. His Morse was +enough to drive one mad. Let me out, Dowd. +I’ll fix up those aerials and call somebody to our +help in short order.” +</p> +<p> +The first officer had accomplished his purpose. +The screws were out of the hinges. Rollife was a +big, strong fellow, and he drove his shoulder +against the door with sufficient force the first +time to push it outward at the back. +</p> +<p> +Then Mr. Dowd took hold of the edge of the +door, and together they worked out the long nails +and threw the useless door on the deck. Rollife +came out into the light of the lantern which Ruth +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_138'></a>138</span> +held at one side. He was a big, fresh-faced man +with a square jaw and a direct glance. +</p> +<p> +Ruth was glad to see him. He was such another +man as the first officer of the steamship. +If she had to be aboard an abandoned craft in +such an emergency as this, she was glad that her +companions were just such men as these two. She +felt that they were resourceful and trustworthy. +</p> +<p> +Her mind, however, was by no means at ease. +Mr. Dowd and Mr. Rollife were much more +cheerful than Ruth. And it was not because they +were any more courageous than the girl of the +Red Mill. But Ruth thought of something that +did not seem to have made any impression on the +men’s minds. +</p> +<p> +What had been the intention of the conspirators +in abandoning the ship with the innocent members +of her company? What would naturally be their +expectation regarding the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em>, if +she had not been put in condition to sink? If it +was a German plot, surely the plotters did not intend +to leave the steamship to drift, unharmed, +until some patrol boat picked her up. +</p> +<p> +And the plotters knew the three castaways were +on the vessel. What of the chief officer, the radio +man, and Ruth herself? They had all been left +for some purpose, that was sure. What was it? +</p> +<p> +Mr. Dowd and she had been allowed their freedom. +Only Rollife had been locked up. And the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_139'></a>139</span> +plotters must have known that in time Ruth or +Dowd would have found means of releasing the +radio man. Once released, it was more than probable +Rollife would be able to discover what had +been done to the aerials and repair them. It was +quite sure that, before morning, those abandoned +on the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em> would be able to send +into the air an S O S for help. +</p> +<p> +There was something that she could not understand—something +back of, and deeper, than the +surface-work of the plotters. Perhaps that explosion +in the fireroom had not been meant to injure +the ship seriously. It was merely meant (as +it did) to create panic. +</p> +<p> +It caused a situation serious enough to alarm +the captain and all aboard. It seemed that all they +could do was to flee from a ship that threatened to +sink. +</p> +<p> +This situation might have been just what the +plotters intended to create; because they would +not wish to remain on the steamship when actual +destruction was coming upon her! +</p> +<p> +They had escaped with the other members of +the ship’s company. Yet the steamship drifted +in apparent safety. Was there something much +more tragic threatening the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em>? +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_140'></a>140</span><a name='chXVII' id='chXVII'></a>CHAPTER XVII—BOARDED</h2> +<p> +Rollife was busy with his repairs on the aerials. +Dowd was down in the engine room, or so +Ruth supposed, and neither seemed suspicious of +any further happening that would injure them. +Rather, they considered themselves in full charge +of a steamship that was in no actual or present +danger. +</p> +<p> +Ruth Fielding’s mental vision saw more clearly. +There was something else coming—something far +more tragic than anything that had thus far occurred. +</p> +<p> +There might be, hidden somewhere in the +cargo-holds, time-bombs set to explode at a given +moment. Her imagination was by no means running +away with her when she visioned such a possibility. +</p> +<p> +Surely there was something still to happen to +the <em>Admiral Pekhard.</em> If not, why then all the +scurry to get away from the ship, the conspirators +themselves included in the stampede? +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_141'></a>141</span> +</p> +<p> +Or had the ship’s position been made known +to a German submarine and would the U-boat +soon appear to torpedo the British craft? This +was not so far-fetched an idea. Only, the young +woman was pretty sure that the explosion aboard +the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em> had been advanced in time +because of her own suspicions and the attempt +she had made to get Mr. Dowd to investigate +matters which the conspirators did not wish revealed. +</p> +<p> +Rollife had taken the lantern and Dowd had +gone in search of another, Ruth presumed. By +and by she began to wonder what was engaging +the first officer’s attention for so long, and she +went to the engine-room hatch. Her small electric +torch showed her the way. +</p> +<p> +To her amazement—and not a little to her fear +at first—Ruth found the first officer lying upon +the engine-room ladder. He was wet from head +to foot, his turban of bandages had come off, displaying +a bleeding scalp wound, and he was panting +for breath. +</p> +<p> +“What has happened to you, Mr. Dowd?” she +cried. “Did you fall into the water?” +</p> +<p> +“I dived into it,” explained Dowd, grinning +faintly. “That water in the fireroom didn’t look +right to me. I found the seacocks below, there. +Two were open, as I suspected.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh!” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_142'></a>142</span> +</p> +<p> +“It was a deliberate attempt to scare us—and +it succeeded. I shut off the cocks. This compartment +could be pumped out if we had the men. +Of course, the steam pumps can’t be used. We +have no donkey engine on deck. All the machinery +is down there, half under water. +</p> +<p> +“There must have been more than Dykman +and that man you saw talking to Miss Lentz, in +the plot. Another man in the stoker-crew, perhaps. +He flung a bomb into one of the furnaces +after opening the seacocks. It was a well laid +plot, Miss Fielding.” +</p> +<p> +“Yes, I know,” she said hastily. “But to what +end?” +</p> +<p> +“How’s that?” +</p> +<p> +“What was the final consideration? Why was +this done? They must have known the ship would +not sink. Then, what did they do all this for?” +</p> +<p> +“Why—by Jove!” gasped Dowd, “I had not +thought of that, Miss Fielding.” +</p> +<p> +He crept up the ladder and stood upon the deck, +the water running from the garments that clung +closely to his limbs and body. +</p> +<p> +“Doesn’t it seem reasonable,” she asked, “that +the conspirators, whoever they were, should have +some object rather than the simple desertion of a +vessel that was not likely to sink?” +</p> +<p> +“It would seem so,” he admitted, and his tone +betrayed as much anxiety as she felt herself. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_143'></a>143</span> +</p> +<p> +At the moment a shout from Rollife, the radio +man, aroused them. +</p> +<p> +“I’ve found it!” he cried. +</p> +<p> +They went toward the radio room. He was +busy in the light of the lantern on the roof of +the house. He had tools and a small plumber’s +stove that he had found. He turned on the blast +of the stove and began to weld certain wires. +</p> +<p> +“Can you fix it?” Dowd asked quietly. +</p> +<p> +“You bet I can, Mr. Dowd!” declared Rollife. +“In half an hour I’ll have the sparks shooting +from those points up there. You watch.” +</p> +<p> +Ruth looked at Mr. Dowd. Her unspoken +question was: “Shall we take him into our confidence? +Shall we tell him our fears?” +</p> +<p> +Before the first officer could answer her unspoken +inquiry Ruth’s sharp eyes glimpsed a light +over his shoulder. It was an intermittent sparkle, +and it was low down on the water. She remembered +then the light she had seen for a moment +when she had first come on deck after learning +that the ship was abandoned. +</p> +<p> +“What is that?” she whispered, pointing. +</p> +<p> +Dowd wheeled to look. Instantly she saw by +the light of her torch that he stiffened and his +head came up. He gazed off across the water for +quite two minutes. Then he said: +</p> +<p> +“It is a light in a small boat I believe. At first +I thought it might be a submarine. But I do not +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_144'></a>144</span> +believe a submarine would show anything less +than a searchlight in traveling on the surface at +night.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh! Who can it be?” murmured Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“You put a hard question, Miss Fielding. +Surely it cannot be our friends coming back.” +</p> +<p> +“What do you mean?” +</p> +<p> +“I mean a boat sent by Captain Hastings to +make sure that nobody was left on the steamship.” +</p> +<p> +“Do you consider that likely?” she asked. +</p> +<p> +“Well—no, I do not,” he admitted. +</p> +<p> +“Then you think it may be people who have not +our interest at heart?” was her quick demand. +</p> +<p> +“I am afraid I can give you no encouragement. +I cannot imagine Captain Hastings abandoning +the ship without believing she would sink. In the +darkness he must have got so far away that he +would think she had gone down. He would be +anxious, you understand, to get his crew and passengers +to land.” +</p> +<p> +“Of course. I give him credit for being fairly +sane,” she said. +</p> +<p> +“On the other hand, who would have any suspicion +that the ship would not sink save those who +had brought about the panic?” +</p> +<p> +“The Germans!” exclaimed the girl. +</p> +<p> +“Exactly. I believe,” said Dowd quietly, “that +here come the men who caused the explosion in +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_145'></a>145</span> +the fire room and opened the seacocks. They +purpose to take charge of the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em>, +of course. If they get aboard we shall be at their +mercy.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, can we stop them? Can we hold them +off?” murmured Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“I do not know. I am not sure that it would be +wise to offer fight. You see, we shall finally be +at their mercy.” +</p> +<p> +“If we can’t beat them off!” Ruth exclaimed. +“Haven’t you arms aboard?” +</p> +<p> +“My dear young lady——” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, don’t think of me!” Ruth cried. “Do just +what you would do if I were not here. Wouldn’t +you and the radio man fight them?” +</p> +<p> +“I think we could put up a pretty good fight,” +admitted Dowd thoughtfully. “There are automatic +pistols.” +</p> +<p> +“Bring one for me,” commanded Ruth. “I can +shoot a pistol. Three of us might hold off a small +boarding party, I should think.” +</p> +<p> +“If they mean us harm,” added Dowd. +</p> +<p> +“Make them lie off there and wait till morning +so that we can see what they look like,” begged +Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“That might be attempted.” +</p> +<p> +His lack of certainty rankled in the girl’s quick +mind. She ejaculated: +</p> +<p> +“Surely we can try, Mr. Dowd! There is another thing: +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_146'></a>146</span> +the deck guns! Had you thought of +them?” +</p> +<p> +“My goodness, no!” admitted the first officer. +</p> +<p> +“If we could slue around one of those guns, a +single shot might sink the boat off there. If they +are enemies, I mean.” +</p> +<p> +“Now you have suggested something, Miss +Fielding! Wait! Let me have your torch. I +will take a look at the guns.” +</p> +<p> +He ran along the deck to the forward gun. +After a minute there he ran back to the stern, but +kept to the runway on the opposite side of the deck +as he passed the girl of the Red Mill. She waited +in great impatience for his return. +</p> +<p> +And when he came she saw that something was +decidedly wrong. He wagged his head despairingly. +</p> +<p> +“No use,” he said. “Those fellows were +sharper than one would think. The breech-block +of each gun is missing.” +</p> +<p> +“That light is drawing close, Mr. Dowd!” Ruth +exclaimed. “Get the pistols you spoke of—do!” +</p> +<p> +But first Dowd called to the radio man up above +them: “Hi, Sparks, see that boat coming?” +</p> +<p> +“What boat?” demanded the other, stopping +his work for the moment. Then he saw the light. +“Holy heavens! what’s that?” +</p> +<p> +“One of the boats coming back—and not with +friends,” said Dowd. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_147'></a>147</span> +</p> +<p> +“Let me get these wires welded and I’ll show +’em!” rejoined Rollife. “I’ll send a call——” +</p> +<p> +At the moment the sudden explosion of a motor +engine exhaust startled them. It was no rowboat +advancing toward the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em>. Probably +its crew had been rowing quietly so as not to +startle those left aboard the ship. +</p> +<p> +“The pistols, Mr. Dowd!” begged Ruth again. +</p> +<p> +The first officer departed on a run. Rollife +kept at his work with a running commentary of +his opinion of the scoundrels who were approaching. +Suddenly a rifle rang out from the coming +launch. +</p> +<p> +“Ahoy! Ahoy the steamer!” shouted a voice. +“We see your light, and we’ll shoot at it if you +don’t douse it. Quick, now!” +</p> +<p> +Another rifle bullet whistled over the head of +the radio man. Ruth removed her thumb from +the electric torch switch instantly. But Rollife refused +at first to be driven. +</p> +<p> +The next moment, however, a bullet crashed +into the lantern on the roof of the radio house. +The flame was snuffed out and the radio man was +feign to slide down from his exposed position. +</p> +<p> +Dowd came running from the cabin with the +pistols. He gave one to Ruth and another to +Rollife. The latter stepped out from the shelter +of the house and drew bead on the lamp in the +approaching launch. Ruth heard the chatter of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_148'></a>148</span> +the weapon’s hammer—but not a shot was fired! +</p> +<p> +“Great guns, Dowd!” shouted the radio man, +exasperated. “This gat isn’t loaded.” +</p> +<p> +“Neither is mine!” exclaimed Ruth, who had +made a quick examination in the darkness. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, my soul!” groaned the first officer. “I +got the wrong weapons!” +</p> +<p> +“And no more clips of cartridges? Well, +you——” +</p> +<p> +There was no use finishing his opinion of +Dowd’s uselessness. The motor boat shot alongside +under increased speed. There was a slanting +bump, a grappling iron flew over the rail and +caught, and the next moment a man swarmed up +the rope, threw his leg over the rail, and then his +head and face appeared. +</p> +<p> +Ruth in her excitement pressed the switch of her +electric torch. The ray of light shot almost directly +into the eyes of the first boarder. He was +the flaxen-haired man—the man she believed she +had seen hiding in the small motor boat before the +explosion in the steamer’s fire room. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_149'></a>149</span><a name='chXVIII' id='chXVIII'></a>CHAPTER XVIII—THE CONSPIRACY LAID BARE</h2> +<p> +It was too late then for Mr. Dowd to correct +his mistake. In the dark he had gone to the +wrong closet in the captain’s chart room. There +were loaded small arms of several kinds in one +closet, while in the other were stored spare arms +that were not oiled and loaded and ready for +use. +</p> +<p> +The flaxen-haired man swarmed over the rail. +He had a pistol in his hand. A moment later another +man came up the ladder that had been put +over the rail when the captain’s launch was +manned for departure. This second man bore a +powerful electric lamp. +</p> +<p> +“Drop that torch and your guns!” he commanded +sharply. “Put up your hands!” +</p> +<p> +“It’s Dykman!” muttered Mr. Dowd. “The +cut-throat villain!” +</p> +<p> +But he obeyed the command. So did Rollife. +And could Ruth Fielding do otherwise? They +stood in line with their hands in the air, palms +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_150'></a>150</span> +outward. Dykman crossed the deck with his lamp +warily, while the flaxen-haired man held the three +under the muzzle of his pistol. +</p> +<p> +“What do you mean by such actions, Dykman?” +demanded Dowd angrily. +</p> +<p> +“I’ll let you guess that, old man,” said the +other. “But I advise you to do your guessing to +yourself. We are in no mood to listen to you.” +</p> +<p> +Then he shot a question at the radio man: +“Did you get those wires fixed?” +</p> +<p> +“Hanged if I don’t wish I hadn’t touched ’em,” +growled the radio man. +</p> +<p> +“You’ve sent no message, then?” +</p> +<p> +Rollife shook his head. +</p> +<p> +“All right. Krueger!” shouted Dykman, who +seemed to be in command of the traitors. +</p> +<p> +“I thought so!” muttered Rollife. “That +squarehead never did look right to me.” +</p> +<p> +Several other men as well as Krueger came up +the ladder. Their dress proclaimed them seamen +or stokers. Ruth wondered if Miss Lentz was +with them. +</p> +<p> +She began to feel fearful for herself. What +would these rough men do, now they had possession +of the ship? And what would they do to +her? That was the principal query in her mind. +Dykman merely patted the pockets of Dowd and +Rollife to make sure they had no other arms. He +gave Ruth slight attention at the moment. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_151'></a>151</span> +</p> +<p> +“I’ll have to lock you fellows in a stateroom,” +Dykman said coolly. “Can’t have you fooling +around the ship. You’ll both be taken home in +time and held as war prisoners.” +</p> +<p> +“By ‘home’ I suppose you mean Germany!” +snorted Rollife. +</p> +<p> +“That is exactly what I mean.” +</p> +<p> +“But man!” exclaimed Dowd, “you don’t expect +to get this ship through the blockade? And you’ve +got to repair the damage your explosion did, too.” +</p> +<p> +“Don’t worry,” grinned Dykman. “She’s not +damaged much. We opened seacocks——” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, yes, I found that out,” admitted Dowd. +“And I closed them.” +</p> +<p> +“Thanks,” said the other coolly. “So much +trouble saved us. We’ll get to work at the pumps. +We ought to be clear of the water by morning. +Only one boiler is injured. We can hobble along +with the use of the other boilers, I think.” +</p> +<p> +“Man, but you have the brass!” exclaimed +Dowd. “Some of these destroyers will catch you, +sure.” +</p> +<p> +“We’ll see about that,” grumbled Dykman. +“We’ll put you two men where you will be able +to do no harm, at least.” +</p> +<p> +“And Miss Fielding?” questioned Dowd +quickly. “You will see that she comes to no harm, +Mr. Dykman?” +</p> +<p> +“She is rather an awkward prisoner, considering the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_152'></a>152</span> +use we intend to make of the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em>. +Women will be much in the way, I assure +you.” +</p> +<p> +“But there is Miss Lentz,” murmured Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Miss Lentz? She is not here. She went in +the captain’s boat,” the sub-officer said shortly. +“I wish you had gone with her.” +</p> +<p> +“It was your fault I did not,” said Ruth boldly. +</p> +<p> +“Perhaps,” admitted the German. “But necessity +knows no law, Miss Fielding. It was said +you knew too much—or suspected too much. I +dislike making a military prisoner of a woman. +But, as I said before, necessity knows no law. +You and Dowd and Rollife had to be separated +from Captain Hastings and the rest of them. +There are only a few of us—at present,” he +added. +</p> +<p> +“And how the deuce do you expect to augment +your crew?” demanded the chief officer. “You +can’t work this ship with so few hands. And +you’ve got none of the engineer’s crew.” +</p> +<p> +“I am something of an engineer myself, Mr. +Dowd,” returned the other, smiling with a satisfied +air. “We shall have proper assistance before +long.” He hailed Krueger, who had climbed +to the roof of the radio house. “Is everything all +right?” +</p> +<p> +“Will be shortly, Mr. Boldig,” said the assistant +radio man. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_153'></a>153</span> +</p> +<p> +Ruth started. Then “Dykman” was “Boldig,” +whose name she had formerly heard mentioned +between Irma Lentz and the flaxen-haired man. +The man with two names turned upon Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“You had better go immediately to your own +room, Miss Fielding,” he said respectfully. “I +shall be obliged to lock you in, as I shall Mr. +Dowd and Rollife here. I assure you all,” he +added significantly, “that it is much against my +will that you remain prisoners. I would much +rather you had all three gone with the captain. +</p> +<p> +“By the way, Dowd, Captain Hastings was told +you were in command of this small motor launch. +I am afraid you will have much to explain, later. +And you, too, Rollife.” +</p> +<p> +Rollife only growled in reply and Dowd said +nothing. When they started aft with Boldig, +Ruth followed. She knew it was useless to object +to any plan the German might have in mind. +</p> +<p> +Before they left the deck she heard the spark +sputtering at the top of the radio mast. Krueger +was at the instrument, and without doubt he was +sending a call to friends somewhere on the ocean. +It would be no S O S for help in the Continental +code, but in a German code, she was sure. +</p> +<p> +The jar and thump of the pumps already resounded +through the ship. By the light of Boldig’s +electric lamp they went below to the cabin. +Ruth again produced her own torch and found +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_154'></a>154</span> +her way to her stateroom, while Dowd and Rollife +went the other way. +</p> +<p> +Alone once again, the girl of the Red Mill gave +her mind up to a thorough and searching examination +of the situation, and especially her own position. +</p> +<p> +She was the single woman with and in the +power of a gang of men who were not only desperate, +but who were of a race whose treatment +of women prisoners had filled the whole civilized +world with scorn and loathing. Ruth wished +heartily that Irma Lentz had come back with the +motor boat. She would have felt safer if Miss +Lentz had been of the party. +</p> +<p> +Ruth realized that neither Dowd or Rollife +could come to her help if she had need of them. +They would be locked in their rooms at so great +a distance from hers that they could not even +hear her if she screamed! +</p> +<p> +One thing she might do. She hastily secured the +key that was in the outside of the stateroom lock +and locked the door from the inside. Scarcely +had she done this when Boldig came along the +corridor. He rapped on her door; then coolly +tried the knob. +</p> +<p> +“Unlock the door and give me the key, Miss +Fielding,” he commanded. “I will lock you in +from outside and carry the key myself. Nobody +will disturb you.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_155'></a>155</span> +</p> +<p> +“No, Mr. Boldig. I shall feel safer if I keep +the key,” said Ruth firmly. +</p> +<p> +“Come, now! No foolishness!” he said angrily. +“Do as you are told.” +</p> +<p> +“No. I shall keep the key,” she repeated. +</p> +<p> +“Why, you—well,” and he laughed shortly, +“I will make sure that you stay in there, my lady.” +</p> +<p> +He went hastily away. Ruth waited in some +trepidation. She did not know what would next +happen. She wished heartily that she had a +loaded weapon. She certainly would have used it +had need arisen. +</p> +<p> +Soon Boldig was back, and he proceeded without +another word to her to nail fast the stateroom +door as he had nailed the radio room door. When +this was completed to his satisfaction, he said bitterly: +</p> +<p> +“If we feed you at all, Miss Fielding, it will +have to be through the port. <em>Au revoir</em>!” +</p> +<p> +It was with vast relief that Ruth heard him depart. +The thought of food—or the lack of it—did +not at present trouble her mind. +</p> +<p> +The steady thump and rattle of the pumps by +which the fireroom was being cleared of water continued +to sound in her ears. She laid aside her +coat and hat, for the night was warm. She flashed +the pocket lamp upon the face of her traveling +clock. It was already nearly midnight. +</p> +<p> +The thought of sleep was repugnant to her. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_156'></a>156</span> +How could she close her eyes when she did not +know what the morning might bring forth? It +was not wholly that she feared personal harm. +Not that so much. But there was, she felt, a +conspiracy on foot that might do much harm to +the Allied cause. +</p> +<p> +These Germans had played a shrewd game to +get possession of the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em>. It was +not for the purpose of sinking the transport ship +that they had brought about her abandonment. +No, indeed! +</p> +<p> +As Boldig—the erstwhile “Dykman”—had intimated, +nothing like destroying the steamship +was the intention of the plotters. The rascals +had been very careful not to injure seriously the +engines or any other part of the ship’s mechanism. +</p> +<p> +With the fireroom suddenly filling with water +after the explosion, the dampened fires caused +such a volume of steam that it was no wonder the +engineer and his force were driven from their +stations. As long as the panic-stricken passengers +and terrified crew remained aboard the <em>Admiral +Pekhard</em>, undoubtedly it appeared that a hole had +been blown through the outer skin of the ship and +that she was on the verge of sinking. +</p> +<p> +Had Mr. Dowd been on deck and in possession +of his senses, Ruth was quite sure that the +panic would have been stayed. Captain Hastings +was not a big enough man to handle such a situation +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_157'></a>157</span> +as the German plotters had brought about. +He lost his head completely, although he doubtless +had remained on the ship’s deck until every +other soul (as he supposed) was in the small +boats. +</p> +<p> +The very character of the pompous little skipper +had made the success of the Hun plot possible. +All that was passed now, however. Nothing +could be done to avert the successful termination +of the conspiracy. Or so it seemed to the +girl of the Red Mill, sitting alone and in the darkness +of her small stateroom. +</p> +<p> +After a time she rose and pushed back the +blind at her port. She opened the thick, oval +glass window, which was pivoted. She saw the +phosphorescent waves slowly marching past the +rolling steamship. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly she heard voices. They were of two +men talking near the rail and near her window as +well. One was Boldig. He said in German: +</p> +<p> +“You have shown yourself to be a good deal +of a coward, Guelph. Always fearful of disaster! +Look you: If you <em>will</em> that nothing shall +balk us, no disaster will arrive. It is the <em>will</em> of +the German people that will make them in the +end the victors in this war. Remember that, +Guelph.” +</p> +<p> +The other muttered something about taking +unnecessary chances. Boldig at once declared: +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_158'></a>158</span> +</p> +<p> +“No chances. Krueger will pick up the U-714. +Have no fear. She is one of the newest +type of cruiser-submarines. She carries the crew +arranged to man this <em>Admiral Pekhard</em>. Ha, +we will make the Englanders gnash their teeth in +rage!” +</p> +<p> +“We shall hope so,” said the other man. Ruth +thought it must be the flaxen-haired fellow; but +of this she could not be sure. +</p> +<p> +“This will be one of our greatest coups,” +went on Boldig. “The cargo awaits us in a +friendly port—you know where. We will sail +from thence to carry supplies to the submarines +that will be sent from time to time from the Belgian +bases. She shall be a ‘mother ship’ indeed, +and, lurking out of the lanes of travel, will make +long submarine voyages possible. +</p> +<p> +“Ah, we will do much with this old tub of a +steamer to increase the despair of the enemy. Rejoice, +Guelph! We shall receive honor and much +gold for this.” +</p> +<p> +“Huh!” growled the other, “gold is good, I +grant you.” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_159'></a>159</span><a name='chXIX' id='chXIX'></a>CHAPTER XIX—TOM CAMERON TAKES A HAND</h2> +<p> +Aside from the two men he had seen shot down +upon the after deck of the Zeppelin, Tom Cameron +soon made out that the airplane attack +upon the larger airship must have done other damage. +He was glad if this was so. The regrettable +fact that he had killed two men would be offset, +in his mind, if the bullets of the machine gun had +made difficult the sailing of the Zeppelin to London. +</p> +<p> +He had seen the chipped and dented rail and +deck across which the hail of machine-gun bullets +had swept. He hoped that there had been done +some injury of greater moment than these marks +betrayed. And he believed that there was such +injury. +</p> +<p> +If not, why was the Zeppelin limping along the +airways so slowly through the fog? The commander +of the great machine had been called to +the forward deck, and that not merely for the +conning of the ship on its course, Tom was sure. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_160'></a>160</span> +Suppose he had been the means, after all, of +crippling the Zeppelin? +</p> +<p> +The thought filled the young American’s heart +with delight. Much as he was depressed by the +death of Ralph Stillinger, the American ace, Tom +could not fail to be overjoyed at the thought of +setting the Zeppelin back in this attempt to reach +England. +</p> +<p> +The Germans might have to return to their base +for repairs. Of course, Tom was a prisoner, and +there was not a chance of his getting away; still, +he could feel delight because of this possibility +that roweled his mind. +</p> +<p> +He tried to peer through the thick glass of the +window in the forward closet of the Zeppelin +cabin. Mistily he saw the hairy-coated Germans +moving about on the forward deck. He could not +recognize the <em>ober-leutnant</em> who seemed to be in +command of the ship; but he saw that several of +the men were at work repairing some of the wire +stays that had been broken. +</p> +<p> +As the fog partially cleared for a moment, he +was enabled to make out a box of a house far forward +on this first deck. It was probably where +the steering gear was located. Just where the +motors and engines were boxed he did not know. +A fellow in that pilot-house—if such it was—might +do something of moment, he told himself. +If he could once get there, Tom Cameron thought, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_161'></a>161</span> +he would make it impossible for the Zeppelin ever +to reach England, unless it drifted there by accident. +</p> +<p> +It was a rather dispiriting situation, however, +to be locked in this narrow closet. He had already +tried the door and found that it was secure. +Besides, anybody on the deck, by coming close to +the window, could look in and see if he was still +imprisoned. +</p> +<p> +An hour passed, then another. The Zeppelin’s +speed was not increased, nor did he see the commander +in all the time. +</p> +<p> +He believed the airship must have drifted out +over the sea. +</p> +<p> +Although the cabin arrangements on the Zeppelin +made the place where Tom Cameron was +confined almost soundproof, the jar and rumble +of the ship’s powerful motors were audible. +Now there grew upon his hearing another sound. +It was a note deeper than that of the motors, and +of an organ-like timber. A continuous current of +noise, rather pleasant than otherwise, was this +new sound. He could not at first understand what +it meant. +</p> +<p> +The fog was still thick about the airship. He +believed they had descended several thousand +feet. It was now close to mid-forenoon, and as +a usual thing the fog would have disappeared by +this hour over the land. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_162'></a>162</span> +</p> +<p> +It must be that the Zeppelin had reached the +sea. Whatever material injury she had suffered, +the commander had by no means given up his intention +of following out his orders to reach the +English coast. +</p> +<p> +It was at this point in his ruminations that Tom +suddenly became possessed of a new idea—an explanation +of the organ-like sound he heard. It +was the surf on the coast! The ship must be +drifting over the French coastline, and the sound +of the surf breaking on the rocks was the sound he +heard. +</p> +<p> +Tom possessed a good memory, and he had not +been studying maps of the Western Front daily +for nothing. He knew, very well indeed, the country +over which he had flown with poor Ralph Stillinger. +</p> +<p> +He had located to a nicety the spot where they +mounted into the fog-cloud to escape the German +pursuit-planes. Then had come the discovery of +the Zeppelin beneath, and the catastrophe that +had followed. +</p> +<p> +The Zeppelin had been sailing seaward, and +was near the coast at the time Tom had so thrillingly +boarded it; and he was sure that if it had +changed its course, this change had been to the +southwestward. It was following the French +coast, rather than drifting over Belgium. +</p> +<p> +These ruminations were scarcely to the point, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_163'></a>163</span> +however; Tom desired to do something, not to +remain inactive. +</p> +<p> +But the time did not seem propitious. He +dared not attempt breaking out of his prison. +And although he still had his automatic pistol, he +would be foolish to try to fight this whole German +crew. +</p> +<p> +He was startled from his reverie by the unlocking +of the door and the odor of warm food. +Nor was it “bully beef” or beans, the two staples +that gladden the hearts of the American soldier. +</p> +<p> +A meek-looking German private entered with +a steaming tureen of ragout, or stew, a plate of +dark bread, and a mug of hot drink. He bowed +to Tom very ceremoniously and placed the tray +on the couch. +</p> +<p> +“Der gomblements of der commander,” he said, +gutturally, and backed out of the narrow doorway. +</p> +<p> +“He’s all right, your commander!” exclaimed +Tom impulsively, making for the fare with all the +zest of good appetite. +</p> +<p> +The German grinned, and faded out. He +closed the door softly. Tom had already dipped +into the stew and found it excellent (and of rabbit) +before it crossed his mind that he had not +heard the key click in the lock of the door. +</p> +<p> +He stopped eating to listen. He heard nothing +from the outer cabin. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_164'></a>164</span> +</p> +<p> +“But that grinning, simple-looking Heinie may +not be as foolish as he appears. The fellow may +have left the door unlocked to trap me,” Tom +muttered. +</p> +<p> +He continued to eat the plentiful meal furnished +him, while he tried to think the situation +out to a reasonable conclusion. Had the German +forgotten to lock the door? Or was it a scheme +to trap him? It already mystified Tom why he +had not been deprived of his pistol. He could not +understand such carelessness. Was the commander +of the Zeppelin so confident that he was +both harmless and helpless? +</p> +<p> +He remembered that when he was first seized, +upon leaping aboard the aircraft, his captors had +shown a strong desire to throw him off the ship. +The commander’s opportune arrival had undoubtedly +saved him. +</p> +<p> +And here they were feeding him, and treating +him very nicely indeed! It puzzled Tom, if it +did not actually breed suspicion in his mind. +</p> +<p> +“But then you can’t trust these Huns,” he told +himself. “Maybe that chap is out there now waiting +to shoot me if I try to slip out of this little office.” +</p> +<p> +He was not contented to let this question remain +in the air. Tom was of that type of young +American who dares. He was ready to take a +chance. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_165'></a>165</span> +</p> +<p> +Besides, he had in his heart that desire, already +set forth, to do something to halt the Zeppelin +raid over London. And he was serious in this +belief that it was possible for him to do something +for the Allied cause in memory of the brave +American ace who had been killed almost at his +side. +</p> +<p> +When he had finished the meal he glanced forward +through the narrow window. At the moment +there was nobody in sight on the forward +deck. Tom slid along the couch to the door. He +put a tentative hand on the knob. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_166'></a>166</span><a name='chXX' id='chXX'></a>CHAPTER XX—THE STORM BREAKS</h2> +<p> +He turned the knob very slowly with his left +hand. As Tom sat upon the end of the couch he +would be behind the door when he opened it. The +weapon the commander of the Zeppelin had neglected +to take from him was in his right hand, and +ready for use. +</p> +<p> +He gently drew the door toward him. As he +had supposed, it was not locked. When it was +ajar he waited for what might follow. +</p> +<p> +Then, through the aperture at the back of the +door, he had a view of the narrow cabin to its +very end. Sufficient light entered through the +several windows of clouded glass to show him that +there was nobody in sight. Not even the private +who had brought his lunch had lingered here. +</p> +<p> +Rising swiftly and with the pistol ready in his +hand, the young American stepped out of the +closet in which he had been confined. There was +a small German clock screwed to the wall. It was +now almost noon. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_167'></a>167</span> +</p> +<p> +Crouching, ready to leap or run as the case +might need, Tom approached the other end of +the cabin. There he could see through the dim +pane of the door, gaining a view of the afterdeck. +</p> +<p> +The mystery of the absence of all life forward +was instantly explained. More than a dozen of +the crew and officers were gathered on the afterdeck. +They stood in a row along the deck, their +heads bared, while the <em>ober-leutnant</em> read from a +book. +</p> +<p> +Tom realized almost at once what the scene +meant, and he shrank back from the door. The +crew could not hear, of course, the words the officer +pronounced; but they were all probably familiar +with the service for the dead in the Prayer +Book. +</p> +<p> +Somehow the ceremony affected Tom Cameron +strongly. At the feet of the row of men were +laid two bodies lashed in a covering, or shroud. +They were the men mowed down by the machine +gun which Tom himself had manipulated from the +American airplane. +</p> +<p> +The Germans are sentimentalists, it must be +confessed. They would take time on their way +to raid an enemy city from the air in a most cowardly +fashion, to read the burial service over their +comrades. +</p> +<p> +For the airship was over the sea now, and, as +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_168'></a>168</span> +though from the deck of a sailing ship, the dead +bodies could be slid into the water. But the +height from which they would fall was much +greater than on any ocean vessel. +</p> +<p> +The book was closed. Two bearers at the +head and two at the feet of each corpse raised +them on narrow stretchers, the foot-ends of which +were rested upon the rail. A gesture from the +officer, and the stretchers were tipped. The bodies +slid quietly over the rail and disappeared. +</p> +<p> +The officer put the Prayer Book in his pocket +and adjusted his helmet and goggles. The men +with him followed suit. He dismissed them, and +almost at once the throbbing of the motors was +increased. +</p> +<p> +Tom Cameron ran back to the closet and shut +himself in. He felt sure the commander would +come through the cabin to the forward deck. +However, the German did not try the knob of the +closet door. +</p> +<p> +Tom saw him pass along the deck to the pilot +house, facing the stiff gale. His garments blew +about him furiously, and it seemed that the wind +had suddenly increased in violence. +</p> +<p> +The course of the airship was changed. Tom +knew that, for the next time a German passed +along the deck he saw that his coat-tails flapped +sideways. The Zeppelin was being steered across +the course of the gale. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_169'></a>169</span> +</p> +<p> +If he could only get to the steering gear and do +something to it—wreck it in some way, at least, +put it out of commission for a while. What would +happen to him did not matter. Tom Cameron +had been taking chances for some time. +</p> +<p> +He could feel the Zeppelin stagger under the +beating of the fierce gale. There was a black +cloud just ahead of the flying craft. Suddenly +this cloud was striped again and again with yellow +lightning. +</p> +<p> +Then how it did rain! The downpour slanted +across the airship, beating in waves, like those of +a troubled sea, against the cabin framework. +Tom felt the whole structure rock and tremble. +</p> +<p> +He felt that the ship was rising. The commander +purposed to get above this electric storm. +Again and again the lightning flashed. It ran +along the wires, limning each stay luridly. +</p> +<p> +In addition Tom began to feel the creeping +cold of the higher atmosphere searching through +his clothing. He buttoned his leather coat and +looked about for something of additional warmth. +The cold was seeping right into the closet around +the window frame. +</p> +<p> +Then it was that Tom found the blanket. He +lifted the cushion on the bench by chance, and +there it was, neatly folded. This closet must be +used at times for a sleeping place. +</p> +<p> +He could barely see what he was about, for it +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_170'></a>170</span> +had grown black outside. Only the recurrent +flashes of lightning illuminated the scene. And +that scene, when he stared through the window, +was wild indeed. +</p> +<p> +Tom put on his helmet and the goggles fastened +thereto and wrapped himself in the blanket. +He lay down with his head close to the window. +Slowly the Zeppelin was rising above the tempest. +By and by the last whisps of the storm-cloud disappeared; +but the gale still thundered through the +wire stays of the ship and buffeted the great envelope +above the swinging cabin and bridges. +</p> +<p> +“Such a craft might be easily torn to pieces by +the wind!” The thought was not cheering, and +Tom put it aside as he did all other depressing +ideas. +</p> +<p> +It seemed to him that he had already gone +through so much that his life was charmed. At +least, he never felt less fear than he did at the +present time. +</p> +<p> +The sharp gale continued. The Zeppelin had +risen much higher, but it could not get above the +wind-storm. Although it may have been steering +to a nicety, he was sure that the huge craft was +drifting off her course to a considerable degree. +</p> +<p> +After a couple of hours the commander of the +Zeppelin came back from the pilot-house. He +saw Tom’s face pressed close to the window and +waved his hand. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_171'></a>171</span> +</p> +<p> +When he entered the cabin Tom slipped back +to the door and opened it a narrow crack. The +<em>ober-leutnant</em> went right through the cabin and +disappeared. +</p> +<p> +Was the time ripe for Tom to carry out the +scheme which had been slowly forming in his +mind? Was the moment propitious? +</p> +<p> +The young American hesitated. It meant peril—perhaps +death—for him, whether he succeeded +or failed. He knew that well enough. Such an +attempt as he purposed might only be bred of +desperation. +</p> +<p> +He tore off the helmet and goggles which had +masked him. He rolled the blanket and laid it +along the bench as his own body had lain. On to +the end of the roll next the window he pulled the +helmet and arranged the goggles so that a glance +through the window would show a man lying apparently +asleep on the cushioned bench. +</p> +<p> +Then he tied a handkerchief of khaki color +over his head and prepared to steal out of the +closet, his pistol in his hand. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_172'></a>172</span><a name='chXXI' id='chXXI'></a>CHAPTER XXI—THE WRECK</h2> +<p> +Youth is fain to be reckless, but there was no +lack of reasoning behind Tom Cameron’s intention. +</p> +<p> +He was a prisoner on this airship which was +bound on a raid over London. If the Zeppelin +was not brought down and wrecked on English +soil, she would return to her base and Tom would +be sent to a German internment camp for the +duration of the war. +</p> +<p> +Imprisonment by the Hun was not a desirable +fate to contemplate. If the Zeppelin was brought +down during the raid over London, he would very +likely be killed in its fall. He might as well risk +death now, and perhaps in doing so deliver a +stroke that would make this raid impossible. +</p> +<p> +He slipped out of the closet in which he had +been confined and closed the door behind him. He +ran quickly to the after door of the long cabin, +which he had previously seen could be fastened +upon the inside by a bolt. He shot this bolt, and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_173'></a>173</span> +then ran forward again and opened the door to +the deck. +</p> +<p> +The wind almost took his breath. He was +obliged to force the door shut again with his +shoulder, and stood panting to recover himself. +There was some considerable risk in facing the +gale outside there. +</p> +<p> +It was impressed upon his mind more clearly +now what it would mean if the Zeppelin could no +longer be steered. This gale would sweep the +airship down the English Channel and directly out +into the Atlantic! +</p> +<p> +As this thought smoldered in his mind, others +took fire from it. He faced a desperate venture. +</p> +<p> +If he carried through his purpose, with the Germans +manning this airship he would be swept to +a lingering but almost certain death. +</p> +<p> +The airship could not keep afloat for many +hours. It took a deal of petrol to drive the huge +machine from its base to England and back again. +The store of fuel must be exhausted in a comparatively +short time, and the Zeppelin would +slowly settle to the surface of the sea. +</p> +<p> +Under these conditions he was pretty sure to +be drowned, even if the Germans did not kill him +immediately. He thought of his sister Helen—of +his father—of Ruth Fielding. Already, perhaps, +the loss of Ralph Stillinger and the airplane +was known behind the French and British +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_174'></a>174</span> +lines. Helen must learn of the catastrophe in +time. Ruth might hear of the wreck of the airplane +before she sailed for home. +</p> +<p> +Thought of the girl of the Red Mill well nigh +unmanned Tom Cameron for a moment. To attempt +to carry through the scheme he had plotted +in his mind was, very likely, hastening his own +death. Had he a right to do this? +</p> +<p> +It was a hard question to decide. Personal fear +did not enter into the matter at all. The question +was whether he owed his first duty to his family +and Ruth or to the cause which he and every other +right-thinking American had subscribed to when +the United States got into this World War. +</p> +<p> +That was the point! Tom Cameron sighed, +shrugged his shoulders, and again opened the +door which gave egress to the forward deck of the +German airship. +</p> +<p> +He pulled the door shut and breasted the cutting +wind that rocked the airship as though she +were in a heavy sea. He scrambled somehow +along the deck to the pilot-house. There was a +square of the same clouded glass in the door of +this room. Through it he saw the shadow of a +man with a row of instruments before him as well +as several levers under his hand. +</p> +<p> +Tom had very little idea regarding the exact +use of either the levers or the instruments. But +he knew that he could put the Zeppelin out of commission +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_175'></a>175</span> +with a few smashing blows if once he +could get this man out of the way. +</p> +<p> +This whole forward part of the ship seemed deserted +save for the man inside the room. Of +course, the helmsman, or whatever he was called, +must be in communication with all other parts of +the great aircraft. If Tom would put his determination +into practice he must overcome this man—and +that quickly. +</p> +<p> +He opened the door. The man was aware of +his presence, for the roar of the wind and the +throbbing of the motors immediately reached the +German’s ears more acutely. Tom saw him turn +his head to look over his shoulder. +</p> +<p> +The young American had gripped his pistol +by the barrel. He raised it and with all his force +brought the weapon’s butt down on the padded +helmet the man wore. Again and again he struck, +while the fellow wheeled about and tried to grapple +with him. +</p> +<p> +Tom broke the German’s goggles and the face +before him was at once bathed in blood. Again +and again he struck. The man sunk to his knees—then +supinely to the deck, lying across the +threshold of the room. +</p> +<p> +The American strode over him and looked +swiftly about the hut. In a corner was fastened +an iron bar. He seized it, and with repeated +blows smashed the clock-faces and more delicate +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_176'></a>176</span> +instruments, as well as beating the levers into a +twisted wreck. +</p> +<p> +The Zeppelin lurched sideways, rolled, and +then righted itself. But it lost headway and Tom +felt sure that it would drift now at the mercy of +the furious gale. He had accomplished his purpose. +</p> +<p> +But he had the result of his act to face. The +other members of the crew of the Zeppelin would +be warned of the catastrophe almost immediately. +They would soon break through the door of the +cabin and reach the forward deck. +</p> +<p> +He stepped out of the wrecked hut and glanced +back. Already the roar of the motors was subsiding. +He surely had put the whole works out +of commission. +</p> +<p> +Tom scrambled around the pilot-house into the +extreme bow of the craft. Here was a waist-high +bin, or storage box, with a hinged cover. He +opened it and looked in. It seemed roomy, and +there were only some cans and boxes in the receptacle. +In a flash he jumped in, lowered the cover, +and crouched there in the darkness. +</p> +<p> +What went on after that he could neither see +nor hear. But he could feel the pitching and rolling +of the damaged Zeppelin! He knew, too, by +that peculiar sinking feeling at the pit of the stomach +that attends such a swift passage downward, +that the ship was rapidly falling. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_177'></a>177</span> +</p> +<p> +This lasted only for a few moments. Then the +airship found a steadier keel. It had not begun +to spin as a biplane or a monoplane would have +done. In some way her descent had been stopped +and her balance recovered. But her motors had +stopped entirely, and that meant that the wind +was driving her as it pleased. +</p> +<p> +With the cessation of the motors his ear became +tuned to other sounds—the shrieking of the wind +through the stays and the thumping of its blasts +upon the elephant-like envelope. Nor was the +passage the craft made a smooth one. +</p> +<p> +Now and again it pitched as though about to +dive into the sea. This sea was roaring, too—a +monotone of sound that could not be mistaken. +The aircraft was at the mercy of the elements. +</p> +<p> +He crouched in the box, quite ready to spring up +and empty his pistol into the faces of any of his +enemies who lifted the cover. But for some reason +they did not track him here. +</p> +<p> +It could not be possible that they were long +mystified as to who had done the deed. The figure +he had laid upon the bench in the little room at +the end of the closet would not have long led them +astray. He had brought about the disaster and +the thought of it delighted him. +</p> +<p> +No matter what finally became of him, he had +stopped this Zeppelin from ever reaching the English +shore! There was one cruel raid over London halted +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_178'></a>178</span> +in the very beginning. He could have +shouted aloud in his delight. +</p> +<p> +He thrust up the heavy cover of the box and +cocked his ear to listen for near-by sounds. There +was considerable hammering and boisterous talk +going on, the sound of which he caught from moment +to moment. But it was mostly smothered in +the roar of the waves and the shrieking of the +wind. +</p> +<p> +They were very near the surface of the boisterous +sea. He heard the bursting of a wave below +the airship and the spray of it, tossed high in the +air, swept across the structure and showered him +as he crouched under the open box lid. In a minute +or two now, the Zeppelin would be a hopeless +wreck. +</p> +<p> +It came, indeed, more quickly than he had apprehended. +There was a sudden dip, and the +craft was swerved half around with a mighty +wrench of parting stays and superstructure. A +wave dashed completely over the platform. He +shut the cover of the box to keep out the water. +</p> +<p> +The next few minutes were indeed disastrous +ones. He was in a sorry situation. He did not +know what was happening to the other castaways, +but he felt and heard the frame of the great airship +being wrenched to pieces by the ravenous +sea. +</p> +<p> +The envelope boomed and tore at the frame for +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_179'></a>179</span> +freedom. At last it must have been wrenched free +by the wind, and the sound of its booming and +clashing gradually drifted away. The box he was +in rocked and pitched like a small boat in the sea. +He ventured to look out again, clearing his eyes +of the salt spray. +</p> +<p> +It was already evening. There was a lurid +light upon the tossing waves. Near him was a +mass of twisted framework and a barge-like hulk +that rode high. Upon it he saw clinging several +wind-swept figures. +</p> +<p> +Then the sea tore the bow of the forward deck +of the Zeppelin entirely free from the rest of the +structure. Tom Cameron went drifting off to +leeward in his uncertain refuge. +</p> +<p> +The tumbling sea separated him from the Germans. +Perhaps it was as well. +</p> +<p> +As his raft rose upon a wave he looked back +into the deep trough and saw the remains of the +airship turning slowly, around and around, as +though being drawn down into the vortex of a +whirlpool. His lighter craft shot downward into +the next valley, and that was the last glimpse Tom +had of the wrecked Zeppelin and its crew. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_180'></a>180</span><a name='chXXII' id='chXXII'></a>CHAPTER XXII—ADRIFT</h2> +<p> +Ruth Fielding did not close her eyes all that +trying night. Morning found her as wakeful in +her stateroom as when she had been nailed into it +by Boldig, the leader of the German mutineers. +</p> +<p> +The situation of the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em> was not +difficult; and although she was without steerage-way +she was in no danger. There was a heavy +swell on from a storm that had passed somewhere +to the northward; but the night remained quite +calm, if dark. +</p> +<p> +The thumping of the pumps continued until +dawn. Then the water was evidently cleared from +the fireroom, and the men could go to work cleaning +the grates and making ready to lay new fires +in all but the damaged boiler. +</p> +<p> +There was much to do about the engine, however, +to delay the putting of the ship under steam. +The water, rising as high as it had, had seeped +into the machinery and must be wiped out and the +parts thoroughly oiled. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_181'></a>181</span> +</p> +<p> +Thus far the signals by radio had not been answered +by the approach of the submarine that +Boldig had reason to expect. As Ruth had heard +him boast, the big German submarine, No. 714, +must be lurking near, awaiting news of the British +steamship from Brest. +</p> +<p> +The Germans had taken a big chance. Of +course, the ship and the submersible might not +meet at all. Instead, a patrol boat might hail the +<em>Admiral Pekhard</em>, or catch her wireless calls. The +Germans would be in trouble then without +doubt. +</p> +<p> +Of course they had the motor boat in which +they had got away from the ship in the first place. +They could pile into that and make for some port +where they knew they had friends. There were +such ports to the south, for Spain was not as successfully +neutral as her government would have +liked to be. German propaganda was active in +that country. +</p> +<p> +Ruth was not in much fear at present as to her +own treatment. The mutineers had their hands +full. What would finally happen to her if the +Germans carried their plans to fulfilment, was a +question she dared not contemplate. +</p> +<p> +Dowd and Rollife she presumed would be removed +to the submarine and taken back to Germany—if +the submarine ever reached her base +again. But there were no provisions on submarines, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_182'></a>182</span> +she very well knew, for women—prisoners +or otherwise. +</p> +<p> +This uncertainty, although she tried to crowd +the thought down, brought her to the verge of +despair when she allowed the topic to get possession +of her mind. And she despaired of Tom +Cameron, as well. What had become of him—if +he was the passenger the unfortunate Ralph Stillinger +had taken up into the air with him on his +last flight? +</p> +<p> +Had Tom really been killed? Had Helen +learned his fate by this time? Ruth wished she +was back in Paris with her chum that they might +institute a search for Tom Cameron. +</p> +<p> +Nor was the girl of the Red Mill free from +worry regarding those at home. Uncle Jabez’s +letter, which she had received before leaving the +hospital, had filled her heart with forebodings. +She had written at once to assure him and Aunt Alvirah +that she was returning soon. +</p> +<p> +But now the time of that return seemed very +doubtful indeed. If she was sent to Germany as +a prisoner—or kept aboard this steamship which +the Germans intended to make into a “mother +ship” for U-boats—it might be long months, even +years, before she reached home. +</p> +<p> +Tom had said the war would soon be over; but +there was no surety of that. It was only a hope. +Ruth might never again see the dear little old +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_183'></a>183</span> +woman whose murmured complaint of, “Oh, my +back! and oh, my bones!” had become the familiar +quotation of Ruth and her young friends. +</p> +<p> +Aunt Alvirah was dear to Ruth. The girl desired +more strongly than ever before in her life +to be with the poor old woman again. +</p> +<p> +She could no longer hear the snapping of the +radio, now that daylight had come. Either Krueger, +the assistant and traitorous radio operator, +had managed to communicate with the commander +of the German U-boat 714, or further effort +to this end was considered useless now. Another +attempt might be made again when night +came. Ruth knew it to be a fact that the German +submersibles seldom rose to the surface of the +sea and put up their radio masts except at night. +</p> +<p> +It was during the dark hours that those sharks +of the sea received orders from Nauen, the great +German radio station, and communicated with +each other, as well as with such supply ships as +might be working in conjunction with the submarines. +</p> +<p> +If these mutineers were successful in carrying +out their plan, and made a junction with the U-boat +that carried a crew to supplement those +Germans already aboard the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em>, +the enemy might succeed in putting into commission +a craft that would greatly aid in the submarine +warfare. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_184'></a>184</span> +</p> +<p> +Thus far it had been so daringly conceived and +well carried through that the conspiracy promised +to rise to one of the very greatest German +intrigues of the war. Its final success, however, +rested on time and place. The submarine and the +stolen steamer must come together soon, or the +latter would surely run across one of the innumerable +patrol ships with which the Allies were +scouring this part of the Atlantic. +</p> +<p> +It was noon before the beat of the <em>Admiral Pekhard’s</em> +propellers announced that she was again +under control. The rolling motion that had +finally become nauseating to even as good a sailor +as Ruth, was now overcome. The ship plowed +through the sea steadily, if slowly. +</p> +<p> +Occasionally the girl heard a footstep pass her +stateroom window; but she kept the port nearly +closed so that nobody could peer in. Some time +after the screw had started a man came and +knocked on the pane. +</p> +<p> +She smelled coffee and heard the rattle of +dishes; so she opened the window. +</p> +<p> +The man thrust in to her a pot of coffee and a +platter of ham and eggs—coarse fare, but welcome, +for Ruth found she had a robust appetite. +She placed a piece of silver in the man’s palm and +heard a muttered “Thank you!” in German. +</p> +<p> +She felt that it might be well to make a friend +among the mutineers if she could do so. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_185'></a>185</span> +</p> +<p> +It was not long after she was fed that another +footstep halted at her open port. The voice of +Boldig, the recreant officer of the ship came to +her ear. +</p> +<p> +“Do you want anything, Miss Fielding?” he +asked. +</p> +<p> +At first she would not speak; but when he repeated +his question, adding: +</p> +<p> +“You know, I can draw those nails in your door +as well as I could hammer them in,” she hastened +to reply: +</p> +<p> +“I want nothing.” +</p> +<p> +He laughed most disagreeably. “You might +as well be good natured about it, my dear,” he +said. “No knowing how long we shall be shipmates. +I am quite sure the commander of the +submersible will not take <em>you</em> aboard his craft; +so I fear you are apt to remain with us.” +</p> +<p> +She said nothing. The threat was only what +she had feared. What could she do or say? She +was adrift on a sea of circumstances more terrifying +than the ocean itself. +</p> +<p> +Boldig went away laughing; she threw herself +upon her berth, trembling and weeping. All her +spirit was broken now; she could not control the +fears that possessed her. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_186'></a>186</span><a name='chXXIII' id='chXXIII'></a>CHAPTER XXIII—AT THE MOMENT OF NEED</h2> +<p> +The bravest and most cheerful person will +come after a time to a point where he or she can +bear no more with high courage. Nerves and +will had both given way in Ruth Fielding’s case. +For an hour or more she was merely a very ill, +very much frightened young woman. +</p> +<p> +The injury she had suffered when the Clair +hospital was bombed—that injury which still +troubled her physically—had naturally helped +undermine her wonderful courage and self-possession. +The news from Charlie Bragg of Tom +Cameron’s possible disaster had likewise shaken +her. What had happened aboard this steamship +during the past twenty-four hours had completed +her undoing. +</p> +<p> +Ruth Fielding had an unwavering trust in a +Higher Power that guides and guards; but she +was no supine believer in what one preacher of a +robust doctrine has termed “leaving and loafing.” +She considered it eminently fit, while leaving results +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_187'></a>187</span> +with the Almighty, to do all that she could +to bring things out right herself. +</p> +<p> +Therefore she did not wholly give way to either +aches or pains or to the feeling of helplessness +that had come over her. Not for long did she +lose courage. +</p> +<p> +She got off her bed, closed the window, and +proceeded to make a fresh toilet. Meanwhile +she considered how she might barricade her door +if Boldig removed the nails and attempted to enter +the stateroom against her will. Of course, the +lock could easily be smashed. +</p> +<p> +She finally saw how she might move the bed between +the door and the washstand, so that the +latter would brace the bed in such a way that the +door could not be forced inward. She could sleep +in the bed in that position, and she decided to take +this precaution. +</p> +<p> +That was in case Boldig removed the spikes +holding fast her door. Now that she had considered +the matter from every side, she was not +sure but she desired to have the German officer +release her—no matter what his reason might be +for so doing. +</p> +<p> +She must, however, gain something else first. +Her wit must win what her physical force might +not. She bided her time till evening. +</p> +<p> +Again the man came to her window with food. +It proved to be another platter of ham and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_188'></a>188</span> +eggs, flanked this time with a pot of wretched +tea. +</p> +<p> +“Goodness!” exclaimed Ruth, “is ham and eggs +all you know how to cook? I shall be squealing, +or clucking pretty soon. Is there nothing else to +eat aboard?” +</p> +<p> +“Ain’t no cook, Miss,” the man said. “We’re +all so busy, anyway, that we just have to get what +we can quickly. I’m sorry,” for she had dropped +another half-dollar into his palm. +</p> +<p> +“Is there nobody to cook for you hard-working +men?” repeated Ruth briskly. “How many of +you are there?” +</p> +<p> +“Eleven, Miss, counting Mr. Boldig.” +</p> +<p> +“Why, that’s not so many. And you feed Mr. +Dowd and Mr. Rollife, of course?” +</p> +<p> +“They haven’t had as much as you, Miss. Mr. +Boldig said they could stand a little fasting, anyway. +We haven’t had any decent grub ourselves.” +</p> +<p> +“I could cook for you!” Ruth cried eagerly. +“I’ll do it, too, if you men want me to. I’d rather +do that than be shut up here all the time. And—then—I’d +like a change from ham and eggs,” +and she laughed. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, ma’am. I s’pected you would. But I +don’t see——” +</p> +<p> +“You tell the other men what I say—that I +would cook for you all if I were let out of here. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_189'></a>189</span> +But I must be guaranteed that you will not harm +me if I do this.” +</p> +<p> +“Who’d want to harm you, Miss?” returned +the man, with some sharpness. +</p> +<p> +“I don’t know that anybody would. I am sure +if I worked for you, and cooked for you, you +would not see any of your mates hurt me?” +</p> +<p> +“No, indeed, Miss,” said the fellow warmly. +“Nor anybody else. I’ll tell the other boys. And +I’ll speak to Mr. Boldig——” +</p> +<p> +“Send him here,” interrupted Ruth quickly. +“Tell him I want to speak to him. But you speak +to your mates and tell them what I am willing to +do. If I cook for you I want ‘safe conduct.’” +</p> +<p> +“Of course, ma’am. Nobody shall hurt you. +And I’ll tell Mr. Boldig to come.” +</p> +<p> +Within half an hour she heard Boldig’s quick +step upon the deck. He barked in at the open +window: +</p> +<p> +“What’s this you are up to, Miss Fielding? +You’ll set my men all by the ears. You are a dangerous +character, I believe. What do you mean +by telling them you will cook for them if I let +you out of your room?” +</p> +<p> +Ruth thought he was not so angry as he made +out to be. She said boldly: +</p> +<p> +“I am willing to earn the good will of the men +in that way, Mr. Boldig. You know why I do it. +I shall appeal to them if you undertake to treat +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_190'></a>190</span> +me in any way unbecoming your position as a +gentleman and an officer.” +</p> +<p> +“You have a small opinion of me, Miss Fielding!” +he exclaimed. +</p> +<p> +“That is your fault, not mine,” she told him +coolly. “And I hope you will show me that I am +wrong.” +</p> +<p> +He went away without further word, and in a +little while she heard somebody drawing the nails +from the doorframe. +</p> +<p> +“Who is that?” she asked before she unlocked +the door. +</p> +<p> +“It’s me, ma’am,” said the rather drawling +voice of the man Boldig called “Fritz.” +</p> +<p> +He did not seem to be a typical German at +least. When Ruth opened her door she found the +man to be rather a simple-looking fellow. He +grinned and touched his forelock. +</p> +<p> +“I’m to show you where they cook, Miss, and +how to find the mess tins and all. There’s a good +fire in one of the galley ranges. The boys is all +your friends, Miss. You needn’t be afraid of +us.” +</p> +<p> +“I am not at all afraid of you, Fritz,” she said, +smiling at him. “I count you as my friend aboard +here, if nobody else is.” +</p> +<p> +“Sure you can count on me, Miss. You know,” +he added confidentially, “I ain’t a reg’lar German. +Not like Mr. Boldig and these other fellers. I was +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_191'></a>191</span> +born in Boston, and I’d rather be +right there now than over on this side of the pond. +But you needn’t tell anybody I said so.” +</p> +<p> +“I won’t say anything about it,” she told him, +following him through the passages toward the +steward’s and cook’s quarters. “But why, then, +if your heart is not in this business, why did you +join in the expedition to take charge of the <em>Admiral +Pekhard?</em>” +</p> +<p> +“Their money, Miss,” Fritz told her. “There’s +a heap of money in it. When I finish the voyage, +though, I’m going to get back to the States. I’m +through with all this then. I’ll have money +enough to open a shop of my own.” +</p> +<p> +“And do you suppose you will be welcome at +home, when people know of your treachery?” +asked Ruth indignantly. +</p> +<p> +“No, Miss. I won’t be welcome if they know +it. But they won’t. I ain’t fool enough to tell +’em.” +</p> +<p> +In ten minutes Ruth had learned all that was +necessary for her to know about the cooking quarters +and the tools she had to work with. There +was a good fire, as Fritz had said, and she at once +went to work on baking powder biscuit—and she +made a heap of them. She knew that thirteen +men (counting the two prisoners aft) could eat a +lot of bread. In the cold storage room was fresh +meat and plenty of bacon and ham. She had to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_192'></a>192</span> +work alone, for the Germans had all they could +do to steer the ship, keep lookout, stoke the fires +and run the engines properly. She wondered that +they got any sleep at all, and Fritz admitted to +her that they were only allowed two hours’ relief +at a time. +</p> +<p> +Boldig was a driver; but he was just the sort +of man to head such a piratical expedition as this. +He worked hard himself, and knew how to get +every ounce of work possible out of those under +him. +</p> +<p> +He looked in at Ruth working in the kitchen, +and spoke quite nicely to her. Perhaps the great +plate of biscuits, pork chops, and French fried potatoes +she gave him to take up to the wheelhouse, +caused him to consider her wishes to a degree. +</p> +<p> +Later she insisted that Mr. Dowd and Rollife, +the radio man, should have their share. She made +one of the men go to Boldig for the keys to their +rooms, and she piled a tray high with good things +for the prisoners to eat. Boldig would not let +her go herself to the men in durance. He would +not trust her to talk with them. +</p> +<p> +She washed her dishes, banked her fire, and +laid out what she purposed to cook for breakfast. +Then, very tired indeed and with the lame shoulder +fairly “jumping,” she retired to her stateroom. +It was then ten o’clock, and having had no +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_193'></a>193</span> +sleep at all the night before Ruth was desperately +tired. +</p> +<p> +She entered her room, locked the door, and +pushed the bed as she had planned between the +door and the stationary washstand. Then she +went to bed, feeling that she would be safe. +</p> +<p> +But nobody had to wake her in the morning. +The sea had become rough over night, and at the +slow pace she was traveling the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em> +rolled a good deal in the roughening waves. +</p> +<p> +Ruth awoke with a bright idea in her head, and +she proceeded to put it into execution as soon as +she got the men’s breakfast out of the way. For +Boldig and the chief officer and radio man, as +well as herself, she had some of Aunt Alvirah’s +griddle cakes with eggs and bacon. Between two +of the cakes she put on one of the plates for the +imprisoned men, she slipped a paper on which she +had written before leaving her stateroom: +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +“I am free while I do the cooking. I can get +to your rooms if I only had keys to free you. Tell +me what to do. R. F.” +</p> +<p> +She had given her word to Boldig to do no +harm; but she did not think this was breaking her +word. It might be possible for Mr. Dowd, Rollife +and herself to get free—even free of the ship. +The motor boat was still trailing the steamship, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_194'></a>194</span> +although if the sea became much rougher she presumed +the mutineers would have to find some +means of getting the launch inboard. +</p> +<p> +Half an hour later Boldig came into the galley, +his face aflame. He slapped down the piece of +paper she had written her note on before Ruth, +and glared at her. +</p> +<p> +“It is impossible to trust a woman!” he +growled. “Did you suppose I would let you send +food to those fellows without examining it myself? +I am not so foolish. Now, my lady, you +shall keep on cooking; but your friends aft there +can go without anything fancy. I’ll take them +what I please hereafter.” +</p> +<p> +He turned on his heel and whipped out of the +place. Ruth was almost in tears. And they were +not inspired by terror, although she had been +startled by the man’s words and look. It seemed +that she was not to be able to aid her friends—or +herself—to escape. +</p> +<p> +Yet, even in her grief and in the midst of her +worry, a gleam of amusement came to her at Boldig’s, +“It is impossible to trust a woman.” This +from a traitor—a person impossible to trust! +</p> +<p> +But even Fritz had not much to say to her when +he came to help peel vegetables for the men’s +dinner. He admitted to her that thus far Krueger +had not been able to pick up any word from +the submersible that had been engaged to meet +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_195'></a>195</span> +the pirates if they accomplished their part of the +plot—which they had. The radio was crackling +most of the day, showing that the leaders of the +mutineers were getting anxious. +</p> +<p> +After she had cleared up the dinner dishes +(and that was no easy work, because of her lame +shoulder) Ruth went and lay down. She took +the trouble to brace the bedstead against the washstand +as before. Some time after she had fallen +asleep she was awakened by a noise at the door. +She awoke with her gaze fastened on the knob, +and was sure it was being turned. But the door +was locked as well as barricaded. +</p> +<p> +Before she could be positive that anybody was +there who meant her harm, there was a sudden +hail from the open deck. She heard several men +running. Then a shout in German: +</p> +<p> +“Mr. Boldig! It is a man afloat! Man overboard!” +</p> +<p> +Ruth thought she heard somebody run from +her door. +</p> +<p> +She arose and tremblingly put on her dress. +Then she hastened to pull aside the bed and open +her door. She felt that she was safer out upon +deck. Besides, she was curious to know what the +cry had meant. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_196'></a>196</span><a name='chXXIV' id='chXXIV'></a>CHAPTER XXIV—COUNTERPLOT</h2> +<p> +To one who had been more than forty-eight +hours drifting in a scuttle-butt in mid-Atlantic, the +sight of almost any kind of craft would have +been welcome. Tom Cameron hailed first the +plume of drifting smoke, then the mast and stacks, +and then the high, camouflaged bow of the <em>Admiral +Pekhard</em> with a joy that increased deliriously +as he became assured that the ship was +steaming head-on to his poor raft. +</p> +<p> +The steamship was moving very slowly, and it +was hours before, waving his coat frantically as +he stood in his bobbing craft, he knew he had +been sighted by the lookout. The latter had not +expected to see anything like Tom and the remains +of the wrecked Zeppelin in these waters. +The lookout had been straining his eyes to catch +sight of a periscope. +</p> +<p> +It was providential that the course of the <em>Admiral +Pekhard</em> was bringing her almost directly +toward the drifting bit of wreckage. She was +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_197'></a>197</span> +almost on top of Tom before the lookout hailed +and Boldig ran up to the bridge to get a better +look at the object which had caused the excitement. +</p> +<p> +“That is no part of an underseas boat!” cried +Boldig to the lookout. “What is it?” +</p> +<p> +“There is a man in it—see! He waves his +coat. It looks like a boat—no! It is one mystery, +Herr Boldig.” +</p> +<p> +But the latter now had his glasses fixed on the +drifting raft. He saw the broken stays, the slipper-shaped +bow of the Zeppelin, and he suddenly +understood. It was not the first wreck of a Zeppelin’s +frame work that he had seen floating in +the sea; but it was the first in which he had seen +a living man. +</p> +<p> +Boldig himself hailed—hailed in German. +And fortunately for Tom Cameron he replied in +the same language. His accent was irreproachable. +Had it not been, the German officer might +have thought twice about attempting to rescue the +lone castaway. +</p> +<p> +The young American had no idea at first that +this was a German-manned steamship—that she +had been boldly taken over on the high seas by a +gang of German pirates. Yet he was sharp +enough to realize almost at once that there was +something wrong with her. +</p> +<p> +No passengers on her decks, no officers on her +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_198'></a>198</span> +bridge until this one hailed him, and no crew along +her waist watching him. Besides she was coming +along at such a crippled gait. +</p> +<p> +He knew she must be a passenger ship, and the +Union Jack at her masthead showed her nationality. +But where was she going and why was she +not convoyed? +</p> +<p> +Tom had already seen the smoke of several destroyers +or converted trawlers, but had not been +himself sighted by their lookouts. This was his +first chance of rescue, and he was not at all particular +just then who the people were aboard the +<em>Admiral Pekhard</em>, as he saw she was named. +With that name and under that flag she must be a +British ship. As he was drifting in a part of a +German Zeppelin, he naturally expected to be +taken aboard as a prisoner. Yet he did or said +nothing to reveal his true identity for the time being. +If they wished to think him a German at +first, all right; explanations could come later. +</p> +<p> +Boldig called three men to man the motor boat +that trailed astern. He had to stop the ship’s engines +to do this, for steam could not be kept up +without the small force of stokers at his command +working at top speed through their entire watch. +The whole crew were almost exhausted. Those +whose watch it was below at this time must be allowed +to sleep to recover their strength. It was a +ticklish situation in more ways than one. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_199'></a>199</span> +</p> +<p> +The <em>Admiral Pekhard</em> began to roll in the +trough of the sea. As she rolled toward him Tom +could better see her deck and upperworks. He +marked a woman’s figure come out of the after +companion on the upper deck. She stood there +alone and shaded her eyes with her hand as she +looked off at him. +</p> +<p> +The siege Tom Cameron had been through +since the Zeppelin was wrecked had racked his +body a good deal, but by no means had it weakened +his mind. He was sure there was something +wrong with this craft. The three men were an +hour in tuning up the motor-boat engine and getting +that craft near enough to his raft to take Tom +aboard. +</p> +<p> +The latter saw that neither of the three men +was an officer. One was Fritz, and he spoke to +the castaway in English. But Tom was wary. +There was a flaxen-haired, big-bodied fellow who +glowered at him and spoke nothing but German. +</p> +<p> +“You fell with an airship—yes?” this man +asked, and Tom nodded. +</p> +<p> +The American had done secret service work behind +the German lines on one occasion. There +he had assumed the character of a Prussian military +officer, and gradually he took on the attitude +that he had used familiarly at that time. His +speech and appearance bore out the claim he meant +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_200'></a>200</span> +to make if these people proved to be Germans, +as he more than half suspected. How the Germans +ever got control of a British ship was a mystery! +</p> +<p> +Boldig met Tom Cameron at the rail when he +came up the captain’s ladder. He offered a hand +that the American was forced to accept. +</p> +<p> +“You have the good fortune to escape both +peril by air and sea, <em>Mein Herr?</em>” said Boldig. +“Your companions?” +</p> +<p> +“Are gone,” Tom replied in German, shaking +his head. “I am of all, the lone fortunate. ‘The +survival of the fit’—is it not so? We were bound +for London. Because I had lived there much, I +was to pilot <em>Herr Leutnant-Commander</em> over the +city!” +</p> +<p> +“Ah!” said Boldig. “I thought you did not +seem entirely German.” +</p> +<p> +“It is the heart that counts, is it not?” Tom returned. +</p> +<p> +He knew this arrogant-looking man must be a +German through and through. The British flag +flying over the ship did not reassure him. He had +ventured his story of being the Zeppelin pilot as +a bit of camouflage. If he was mistaken—if this +was an honest vessel and crew—he carried papers +in his money belt that would explain who he +really was. +</p> +<p> +“And you, <em>Mein Herr?</em>” Tom asked with a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_201'></a>201</span> +gesture indicating the <em>Admiral Pekhard’s</em> empty +decks. +</p> +<p> +“Our story you shall learn later,” said Boldig. +“But rest assured. You are among friends.” +</p> +<p> +He hastened to show the flaxen-haired man and +Fritz how properly to pay off the line holding the +motor boat in trail. The engines started again, +and the ship began to pull ahead. +</p> +<p> +Tom, standing upon the after deck, gazed +quietly around him. He felt that the situation was +strained. There was something threatening in +the pose of Boldig after all. This was no tramp +steam freighter with half a crew. No, indeed! +She was a well found and well furnished passenger +craft. Where were the crew and passengers +that should be aboard of her? +</p> +<p> +And just then he saw a white hand beckoning +at the after cabin companionway. He remembered +the woman he had observed from the wreck +of the Zeppelin standing at that doorway. Swiftly +Tom crossed the deck behind Boldig’s back and +reached the door which was open more than a +crack. +</p> +<p> +The hand seized his own. The touch thrilled +him before he heard her voice or caught a glimpse +of Ruth Fielding’s face. +</p> +<p> +“Tom! Tom Cameron!” she murmured. +“You are saved and have been sent to me.” +</p> +<p> +“Ruth!” He almost fell down the stairway +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_202'></a>202</span> +to reach her. He took her in his arms with such +ardor that she could not escape. In that moment +of reunion and relief she met his lips with as +frank and warm a kiss as though she had really +been his sister. +</p> +<p> +“Tom! Dear Tom!” she murmured. +</p> +<p> +“Great heavens, Ruth! how did you come here? +What is the meaning of this business? Those +Germans out there——?” +</p> +<p> +“And there are only two faithful men aboard—the +first officer and the radio chief. Both +locked in their rooms, Tom. We are four against +eleven of these pirates!” +</p> +<p> +“Pirates!” +</p> +<p> +“No less,” the girl hastened to say. “I cannot +tell you all now. The others escaped in the +small boats; but Mr. Dowd, Mr. Rollife, and I +were left. Then the German members of the +crew, and this officer, Boldig, came back and took +the ship. They expect a big submarine with an +extra crew to pick them up.” +</p> +<p> +“What under the sun——” +</p> +<p> +“Oh!” gasped Ruth, hearing Boldig outside. +“Here he comes! He has been so brutal—so disgusting! +Oh, Tom!” +</p> +<p> +Her friend wheeled and leaped up the stair +again. As he went he drew the automatic pistol +from his bosom where he had hidden it and kept +it dry. As Boldig thrust back the door Tom +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_203'></a>203</span> +pushed the muzzle of his weapon against the +man’s breast. +</p> +<p> +“Up with your hands!” Tom commanded. +“Quick!” +</p> +<p> +Boldig fell back a pace. Tom followed him +out on the open deck. He reached quickly and +snatched the pistol from the German’s holster +with his left hand. +</p> +<p> +Then, his eye flickering to the men at the rail +and seeing the flaxen-haired man trying to draw +his pistol, Tom sent one bullet in that direction. +The man, Guelph, sank, groaning, to the deck. +</p> +<p> +“Pick up that pistol, muzzle first, and bring it +here!” commanded Tom to Fritz, and the latter +obeyed quite meekly. Neither he nor the third +seaman was armed. After all, Boldig did not +trust his underlings. +</p> +<p> +“How shall we get your two friends out of +their rooms?” Tom asked Ruth without looking +around at her, for he kept his gaze upon Boldig +and the others. +</p> +<p> +“That man has the keys to their staterooms.” +</p> +<p> +“Come and search his pockets,” said Tom. +“Don’t stand between me and him. Understand?” +he added to Boldig. “I will shoot to kill +if you try any tricks. Keep your hands up!” +</p> +<p> +Was this Tom Cameron, Ruth thought? She +had never seen Tom assume such a character before. +She had forgotten what army training had +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_204'></a>204</span> +done for her childhood’s friend. When he had +come to see her on his leaves-of-absence from the +front he had seemed all boy as usual. But now! +</p> +<p> +She found the keys, and in five minutes Mr. +Dowd and Mr. Rollife, armed from the right collection +of weapons in the captain’s room this time, +joined the wonderfully arrived castaway on the +open deck. +</p> +<p> +Dowd had handcuffs, too, and Boldig, Fritz, +and the other unwounded seamen were quickly +manacled and shut into separate rooms below. +</p> +<p> +Ruth tried to make the wounded Guelph more +comfortable, although he was not seriously hurt. +While she was doing this, and her three friends +were searching the rest of the crew for arms and +separating them so that they could do no harm, +the girl chanced to glance over the rail and saw a +sight that called forth a cry of rejoicing from her +very heart. +</p> +<p> +There was a gray, swiftly steaming ship, a +warship, bearing down upon the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em>, +and the Stars and Stripes was at her masthead! +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_205'></a>205</span><a name='chXXV' id='chXXV'></a>CHAPTER XXV—HOME AS FOUND</h2> +<p> +To clear up all the mysteries about their adventures—about +Tom’s wonderful flight in the +airplane, his capture by the Zeppelin’s commander, +his wrecking of the Hun machine, his +providential escape from the sea; as well, the trials +and dangers through which Ruth had passed—to +clear up all these things certainly took much time. +It was not until the excitement was over that they +really could talk it all out. +</p> +<p> +For at first came happenings almost as exciting +as those that had already taken place. The <em>Seattle</em> +had more to do than merely to take the Germans +aboard as prisoners and Ruth and her +friends as honored passengers, while they put a +prize crew on the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em>. +</p> +<p> +For the German plot had been so far-reaching, +and it had come so near being carried through to +a successful finish, that the commander of the +<em>Seattle</em>, of the fast cruiser type, bound home for +orders, felt an attempt must be made to punish the +Germans connected with the plot. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_206'></a>206</span> +</p> +<p> +That U-boat 714 must be caught. They made +the assistant wireless operator, Krueger, admit +that within the hour he had caught a message from +the U-boat and had sent one in reply. The submarine +would arrive about nightfall, Krueger said. +</p> +<p> +The commander of the American cruiser made +his plans quickly. He sent a large crew aboard +the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em>. Then the cruiser steamed +away to a distance. But she was a very fast ship +and she did not remain far out of sight of the +British steamship. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Rollife had insisted on remaining at his +post. The chatter of the <em>Admiral Pekhard’s</em> +radio kept the American commander in touch with +all that went on. When the submarine appeared +on the surface, not many hundred yards away +from the ship that was supposed to be in the hands +of German plotters, the <em>Seattle</em> started for the +spot at top-speed. +</p> +<p> +It was a great race! Tom was as excited as +any sailor aboard, and until it was all over he was +not content to remain with Ruth below decks. +</p> +<p> +Four of the cruiser’s prize crew, masquerading +as Germans, manned the motor boat and shot over +to the gray side of the huge submarine. They +could all speak German. They fooled the U-boat +commander, <em>Herr Kapitan-Leutnant</em> Scheiner, +nicely. He sent his first in command and the special +crew brought from the submarine base at +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_207'></a>207</span> +Kiel to the passenger ship, crowding the small +launch to the very guards. +</p> +<p> +When these men went, one by one, up the ladder, +they were met behind the shelter of the rail +by a number of determined American blue jackets, +who disarmed them and knocked them down +promptly if they ventured to offer resistance. +</p> +<p> +Before the smoke of the <em>Seattle</em> was sighted the +two deck guns of the <em>Admiral Pekhard</em>, their +breechlocks replaced, were trained upon the open +hatch of the U-714. Through a trumpet the officer +in command of the crew from the <em>Seattle</em> +ordered <em>Kapitan-Leutnant</em> Scheiner to surrender +his boat and crew. +</p> +<p> +When he made a dive for the open hatch, the +forward gun of the British ship, manned by American +gunners, put a shell right down that hatchway—and +Scheiner was instantly killed. +</p> +<p> +The <em>Admiral Pekhard</em> was sent to Plymouth, +as that port was nearer than Brest. Besides, the +<em>Seattle’s</em> commander had learned already by radio +that the entire ship’s company of the British ship +had safely reached that port. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Dowd and Rollife went with the <em>Admiral +Pekhard</em>; but after due consideration, and listening +to the pleadings of Ruth Fielding and Tom +Cameron, the latter pair were allowed to remain +aboard the American cruiser. +</p> +<p> +“You are due to reach New York anyway, Miss +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_208'></a>208</span> +Fielding,” said the commander. “And from what +he tells me of his experience, I believe Captain +Cameron has earned a furlough. Although I presume +he will first have to be reported as being +absent without leave.” +</p> +<hr class='tb' /> +<p> +All this is in the past, now. It seemed to Ruth +Fielding, standing on the porch of the old farmhouse +attached to the Red Mill and looking down +the rutted highway, that many, many of her experiences +during the months of war must have been +dreams. +</p> +<p> +Even the injured shoulder troubled her no +more. She was her old vigorous, cheerful self +again. Yet there was a difference. There was +a poise of mind and a seriousness about the girl +of the Red Mill that would never again wear off. +No soul that has been seared in any way by the +awful flame of the Great War will ever recover +from it. The scar must remain till death. +</p> +<p> +The war was well nigh over. Tom’s prophecy +was to be fulfilled. The Hun, driven to madness +by his own sins, could fight no more. The actual +fighting might end any day. On a ship coming +homeward were Helen and Jennie—the latter +with a tall and handsome French colonel at her +side, who had been given special leave of absence +from the French Intelligence Department. +</p> +<p> +Ruth saw an automobile swing into the road a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_209'></a>209</span> +couple of miles away and grow larger and larger +very rapidly as it rushed down toward her. She +wound a chiffon veil about her head as she called +back into the open doorway of the farmhouse +kitchen: +</p> +<p> +“Tom is coming, Aunty. I sha’n’t be long +away.” +</p> +<p> +“All right, my pretty! All right!” returned the +voice of Aunt Alvirah, quite strong and cheerful +again. “Oh, my back! and oh, my bones! All +right!” +</p> +<p> +She hobbled to the door on her cane. Her +apple-withered cheeks had a little color after all. +The little old woman began to mend the moment +she set eyes on “her pretty” again. +</p> +<p> +When the automobile pulled down at the gate +for Ruth to step in beside the begoggled Tom and +the engine was shut off, they could hear the grinding +of the mill-stones. Times had improved. +Uncle Jabez, as dusty and solemn of visage as +ever, but with a springier step than was his wont, +came to the door and waved a be-floured hand to +them. +</p> +<p> +“All right, Ruthie?” asked Tom, smiling at +her. +</p> +<p> +“Quite all right, Tom.” +</p> +<p> +“Got the whole day free, have you?” +</p> +<p> +“Until supper time. We can take a nice, long +jaunt.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_210'></a>210</span> +</p> +<p> +“I wish it was going to continue forever—just +for you and me, Ruth!” he murmured longingly, +as he slipped in the clutch and the engine began +to purr. “A life trip, dear!” +</p> +<p> +“Well,” returned Ruth Fielding, looking at him +with shining eyes, “who knows?” +</p> +<div class='center'> +<p> </p> +<p>THE END</p> +</div> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<img src='images/z221.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width:100%; max-width:525px;' /><br /> +</div> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<p> +<span style='font-size:larger;font-weight:bold;'>THE RUTH FIELDING SERIES</span> +</p> +<p> +By ALICE B. EMERSON +</p> +<div class='figleft' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i004' id='i004'></a> +<img src='images/z222.jpg' alt='' title=''/><br /> +</div> +<p> +<i>12mo. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors.</i> +</p> +<p> +<i>Price 50 cents per volume. Postage 10 cents additional.</i> +</p> +<p> +Ruth Fielding was an orphan and came to live with her miserly +uncle. Her adventures and travels make stories that will hold the +interest of every reader. +</p> +<p> +Ruth Fielding is a character that will live in juvenile fiction. +</p> +<p> + 1. RUTH FIELDING OF THE RED MILL<br /> + 2. RUTH FIELDING AT BRIARWOOD HALL<br /> + 3. RUTH FIELDING AT SNOW CAMP<br /> + 4. RUTH FIELDING AT LIGHTHOUSE POINT<br /> + 5. RUTH FIELDING AT SILVER RANCH<br /> + 6. RUTH FIELDING ON CLIFF ISLAND<br /> + 7. RUTH FIELDING AT SUNRISE FARM<br /> + 8. RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES<br /> + 9. RUTH FIELDING IN MOVING PICTURES<br /> + 10. RUTH FIELDING DOWN IN DIXIE<br /> + 11. RUTH FIELDING AT COLLEGE<br /> + 12. RUTH FIELDING IN THE SADDLE<br /> + 13. RUTH FIELDING IN THE RED CROSS<br /> + 14. RUTH FIELDING AT THE WAR FRONT<br /> + 15. RUTH FIELDING HOMEWARD BOUND<br /> + 16. RUTH FIELDING DOWN EAST<br /> + 17. RUTH FIELDING IN THE GREAT NORTHWEST<br /> + 18. RUTH FIELDING ON THE ST. LAWRENCE<br /> + 19. RUTH FIELDING TREASURE HUNTING<br /> + 20. RUTH FIELDING IN THE FAR NORTH<br /> + 21. RUTH FIELDING AT GOLDEN PASS<br /> + 22. RUTH FIELDING IN ALASKA<br /> +</p> +<p> +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, <em>Publishers</em> NEW YORK +</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Ruth Fielding Homeward Bound, by Alice B. Emerson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUTH FIELDING HOMEWARD BOUND *** + +***** This file should be named 36748-h.htm or 36748-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/7/4/36748/ + +Produced by Roger Frank, David Edwards and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> |