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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75394 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+                       THE YOUNG NAVAL CAPTAIN;
+
+                                  OR
+
+                        THE WAR OF ALL NATIONS
+
+                       BY Captain Ralph Bonehill
+
+              Author of "WITH TAYLOR ON THE RIO GRANDE,"
+                          "BOYS OF THE FORT,"
+                   "THE TOUR OF THE ZERO CLUB," etc.
+
+                           THOMPSON & THOMAS
+                                CHICAGO
+
+                           Copyrighted 1902
+                         By THOMPSON & THOMAS
+
+
+
+
+                               CONTENTS.
+
+
+                 CHAPTER I. The United States Against the World
+
+                CHAPTER II. First Battle on the Ocean
+
+               CHAPTER III. An Interview with the Secretary of the Navy
+
+                CHAPTER IV. Blowing Up of the Tien-Tsin
+
+                 CHAPTER V. Prisoners of the Sea
+
+                CHAPTER VI. Out of a Living Tomb
+
+               CHAPTER VII. An Attack on the Japanese Troops
+
+              CHAPTER VIII. The Act of a Madman
+
+                CHAPTER IX. Another Blowing Up
+
+                 CHAPTER X. The Fraudulent Message
+
+                CHAPTER XI. An Urgent Call for the Holland XI
+
+               CHAPTER XII. Defeat Turned Into Victory
+
+              CHAPTER XIII. The Central American Canal
+
+               CHAPTER XIV. Cast Upon the Shore
+
+                CHAPTER XV. Tidal Waves and Whales
+
+               CHAPTER XVI. Saving the Merchantman
+
+              CHAPTER XVII. Playing the Spy
+
+             CHAPTER XVIII. The Capture of Hang Chang
+
+               CHAPTER XIX. News of the President's Daughter
+
+                CHAPTER XX. The Cave Under the Ocean
+
+               CHAPTER XXI. Out of One Danger Into Another
+
+              CHAPTER XXII. A Run Not Wanted
+
+             CHAPTER XXIII. The Fight off Cape Nome
+
+              CHAPTER XXIV. Sinking of the Ivan II
+
+               CHAPTER XXV. In Which the Holland XI is Captured
+
+              CHAPTER XXVI. Prisoners on the Holland XI
+
+             CHAPTER XXVII. The Defeat of the Enemy
+
+            CHAPTER XXVIII. An Underwater Earthquake
+
+              CHAPTER XXIX. The Rescue of Jean Fevre
+
+               CHAPTER XXX. The Last Battle--Conclusion
+
+
+
+
+                               PREFACE.
+
+
+My object in writing this imaginary tale of a war of all nations in
+years to come has been two-fold.
+
+In the first place, I wished to draw the attention of my young readers
+to the fact that naval science, as well as science in all other
+branches, is making wonderful strides, and that for the future hardly
+anything seems impossible. In years gone by electric lights, the
+telephone and telegraph, not to mention wireless telegraphy, navigable
+balloons, and even our railroad trains would have been laughed at as
+impossibilities. Yet to-day we have all these things, and many others
+equally wonderful, and each day we look forward to something even more
+startling.
+
+In the second place, I wished to draw attention to the fact that our
+country is growing with marvelous rapidity. From thirteen States we
+have multiplied to several times that number, and our flag waves from
+the coast of Maine in the East to the coast of Luzon in the West, and
+from Alaska in the North to Texas and Porto Rico in the South. What
+a truly great country it is, and what glorious freedom it grants to
+millions upon millions of people! In these days it is truly worth while
+to be an American, and in the days to come the honor will probably be
+even greater.
+
+There is an important lesson to be learned from all this, and I would
+that every lad who reads these lines would take that lesson to heart.
+The opportunities for boys and young men were never greater than they
+are to-day. The future lies with you, and you can make of it, and of
+our grand country, what you will. The path to success is open to rich
+and to poor alike, and even the humble rail-splitter or the canal-boat
+boy can become President. Will you take hold of that opportunity or
+will you let it slip by?
+
+                                                CAPTAIN RALPH BONEHILL.
+
+
+
+
+                       THE YOUNG NAVAL CAPTAIN.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER I.
+
+                 THE UNITED STATES AGAINST THE WORLD.
+
+
+"War is declared!"
+
+"Impossible!"
+
+"It is true. The news has just come by telephone from the cabinet
+chamber at Washington."
+
+"And against whom?"
+
+"Against the world!"
+
+"Are you joking, Andy?"
+
+"Oscar, I was never more serious in my life. The War Department has
+just sent the news to the office. The three new warships we are
+building must be completed without delay. The firm is offered a bonus
+of fifty thousand dollars if we can float them complete by the first of
+July."
+
+"That is just six weeks off."
+
+"Exactly, and it means that four months' work must be accomplished in
+that time. We can't do it," and Andy Greggs shook his head doubtfully.
+
+He was a tall, well-built fellow of eighteen, with blue eyes and
+curly brown hair. He was a machinist, employed in the great Standard
+Shipyard of Bridgeport.
+
+"We can do it and we will," answered Oscar Pelham decidedly. "We can
+work nights."
+
+"It won't be enough."
+
+"Then the firm will have to double the force."
+
+"Where are you going to get the men?"
+
+"Advertise for them--hunt for them--take them from other shipyards if
+necessary. If Uncle Sam wants those ships he is going to have them. But
+a war against the world! It's enough to stagger a fellow, Andy."
+
+"So it is, Oscar, but it was bound to come, sooner or later. Foreign
+nations have been watching the United States with great envy since we
+whipped the Spaniards and gathered in Porto Rico and the Philippines,
+and when Cuba became a new state and Canada broke loose from England, I
+reckon they thought we were getting too big for our boots."
+
+"No, the real trouble started in China," was the answer from Oscar
+Pelham. "England, France, Germany, Russia and Japan wanted to carve up
+poor China to suit themselves during the Yellow War of 1925 and Uncle
+Sam wouldn't allow it. Then South Africa tried for liberty again, and
+that put England's nose out of joint worse than ever when we helped the
+Boers to freedom. Then came the old quarrel about that money Turkey is
+owing us, and when we turned the Turkish kingdom inside out in 1928
+that set all the rest of Europe in a rage."
+
+"Well, we were justified in going for the Turks. They are the worst
+heathens on the face of the globe, outside of the Chinese."
+
+"The Chinese ought to be our friends in this war, for we did so much
+for them when the other nations were after them. But England, Russia
+and the Japanese have bought her, body and soul, and now she is against
+us with all the rest."
+
+"But we'll win out--we must win out!"
+
+"Right you are! The Stars and Stripes forever!"
+
+The conversation recorded above took place one spring morning of the
+year 1936.
+
+For two years the United States--that vast territory which now embraces
+all of North America, from the Isthmus of Panama to Hudson Bay, and
+takes in all of the West Indies, Hawaii, the Philippines, and half
+a dozen other islands of the sea, as well as a corner of China and
+another corner of Japan--had been at peace with the world. We say
+peace. What we mean is, there was no war, but war talk was on every
+tongue.
+
+In the past twenty-five years the country had prospered immensely. We
+now numbered over a hundred million of inhabitants, and nearly all of
+these were well-to-do and had money in the bank.
+
+Jefferson McKinley Adams was President, and had been for six years,
+and under him were a standing army of five hundred thousand men, and a
+navy of five hundred of the best warships which human ingenuity could
+devise.
+
+Many of the best of the warships had been turned out at the Standard
+Ship Yard at Bridgeport, which, up to a year before, had been under the
+personal supervision of Commodore David Pelham, the father of Oscar
+Pelham, just introduced. David Pelham had been a retired veteran of the
+Civil and the Spanish-American wars, and had followed his beloved wife
+to her grave, leaving Oscar alone in the world.
+
+Oscar Pelham was a young man of nearly twenty, well-built and strong,
+with piercing black eyes and curly black hair.
+
+At first he thought to follow his father into the navy, but he had a
+strong taste for electricity and mechanics generally, and he ended by
+entering the services of the ship building company, after spending
+three years at Edison's Electrical University at Llewellyn Park.
+
+Oscar was a smart young man, and already many of his electric and
+other devices were beginning to attract attention. When the improved
+submarine torpedo-boat destroyer, Holland X., was building at
+Elizabethport he had gone to see her, and had come away much impressed
+by the novel construction of the craft.
+
+"I'll build such a boat myself some day," he said to his boy friends,
+"only I'll make her better than anything afloat."
+
+Some of his friends laughed at this, but others only smiled faintly.
+"Perhaps the boy is right," said one old machinist. "He had a smart
+father and a smart grandfather. Blood ought to tell."
+
+And blood did tell, for, although only twenty years old, Oscar now
+had the whole run of the extensive shipyard and hardly any plan went
+through but what somebody came to him for his opinion on it.
+
+Once Oscar disapproved of the plan of a new submarine boat, invented by
+an old war captain from Vermont.
+
+"That boat will sink fast enough," he said. "But she won't come up."
+
+The experts laughed at him and said he was mistaken. Then the boat was
+built. She sank on her first trial and blew up in her effort to raise
+herself.
+
+After that Oscar Pelham's opinion counted for a good deal in all
+matters under consideration, so far as ship structure and the use of
+electricity went.
+
+"Can't git around him," said George Dross, the oldest engineer in the
+yard. "He's got it all down on his finger tips. Him as tries ter corner
+him will git bit sure!"
+
+The visit to the Holland X. had never left Oscar's mind. He remembered
+exactly how the submarine destroyer had been built and just how she was
+worked.
+
+Once, when some of the naval vessels were at Newport, the Holland X.
+took a midnight trip among them, and Oscar was allowed on board.
+
+The destroyer sank almost out of sight, and unknown to those on the big
+warships, passed completely around and under, first one vessel and then
+another.
+
+"We could have blown every warship sky high!" said the inventor, but
+of this Oscar was doubtful. Yet he realized that the Holland X. was a
+grand boat and one calculated to do some terrific damage in a naval
+contest.
+
+"But I'll build a better--wait and see," he said, over and over again,
+and when he was nineteen years of age he began to perfect the plans
+which had rested so long in his brain.
+
+His boat was to be built of aluminum and steel--aluminum on account
+of its lightness and steel because of its strength. The craft was to
+be one hundred and fifteen feet long, sixteen feet wide, and eight
+to eleven feet six inches high. She was to be shaped like a stubby
+cigar and have three windows of glass on each side and one in front,
+and another in the stern. She was to have two small but exceedingly
+powerful screws, operated by an electric engine. She was to carry
+both natural and manufactured air, and had ample space for provisions
+and water, as well as ammunition, the latter to consist principally of
+torpedo tubes and dynamite bombs. She was to attain, under favorable
+circumstances, a speed of twenty-three knots an hour, and must work
+absolutely without noise, both while under water and while sailing over
+the surface.
+
+Luckily for Oscar Pelham, his father had been rich, and upon the
+commodore's death, all the wealth went to the young inventor, to do
+with exactly as the young man saw fit. Several thousands of dollars
+were immediately spent upon a model of the Holland XI., as Oscar
+christened his craft, and this model was, one dark night, taken out on
+Long Island Sound for a trial.
+
+No one was in the secret but Oscar and his particular friend, Andy
+Greggs, and it must be confessed that Andy was almost as anxious for
+success as the young inventor himself.
+
+"If she runs all right, she'll be the biggest thing on the water," he
+declared.
+
+"You ought to say, under the water," said Oscar.
+
+The trial took the best part of the night and when it proved a perfect
+success Oscar Pelham could hardly contain himself.
+
+"She'll be the submarine terror," he observed. "No warship, no matter
+how big she is, will be able to stand up against her secret attacks."
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER II.
+
+                      FIRST BATTLE ON THE OCEAN.
+
+
+The news that war had been declared against practically the whole
+civilized world was correct.
+
+In a thousand ways Uncle Sam tried to settle the many existing troubles
+without an appeal to arms, and had failed in each and every instance.
+
+Other nations looked with keen envy upon our growth and development.
+
+"We must cut that nation down," they said. "If we do not it will,
+sooner or later, rule us all, commercially and otherwise."
+
+Yet the United States had no intention of ruling any nation without the
+people's consent.
+
+Freedom had been given to Cuba and the Philippines, and some years
+later these islands had begged to be admitted, first as territories and
+then as states.
+
+They saw how much it would be to their advantage to form part of our
+glorious Union. They saw that the United States was destined to become
+the one great world power.
+
+Even when this great war broke out--the like of which the world had
+never before witnessed--several large countries of South America, as
+well as several smaller countries of Central America, were knocking for
+admission into the Union. Brazil, Chili, Peru and Honduras were among
+those who wished to enter.
+
+Mexico had come in through the solicitation of the people of Texas, and
+after her admission the bitter Mexican war of 1848 was forgotten.
+
+And nothing was now heard of the contest against the Filipinos.
+Aguinaldo was dead, yet in the main square of Manila an imposing
+monument had been erected to this remarkable military personage who had
+done so much and yet so little for his countrymen.
+
+The appeal to arms created a tremendous excitement, both in the cities
+and in the country places.
+
+In New York the whole population went wild, and a grand "war march," as
+it was termed, took place. The city at that time was built up solid as
+far as Yonkers, and the marchers proceeded as far as that, while some
+of the columns went over the four bridges uniting New York and Brooklyn
+and the two bridges reaching from Manhattan Island to the New Jersey
+shore.
+
+The decorations were magnificent, and Oscar Pelham and Andy Greggs came
+down from Bridgeport to see them. Banners were flung from the tops
+of all the big buildings, including the Empire, which was fifty-six
+stories high, and balloons were anchored a mile in the air, each ablaze
+with electric lights, turning night into day.
+
+It was felt that the war would be carried on principally on the ocean,
+or rather, on the oceans, and for that purpose every available warship
+was put into service with all possible speed.
+
+Enlistments in the navy were followed by enlistments in the army, until
+our soldiers and sailors numbered over a million men.
+
+The soldiers were armed with the Miles-Gilford electric repeating
+rifles, which were known to shoot with great accuracy up to two
+thousand yards.
+
+The rifles of the sharpshooters were fitted with telescopes, and many
+of the sharpshooters could pick off an enemy at a mile distance with
+ease.
+
+It was felt that the combined navies of the world would come first
+to our Eastern seacoast, and the coast defenses were put in the best
+possible condition without delay.
+
+The forts at Sandy Hook and on Long Island were armed with the latest
+improved Hotchkiss bomb guns, which could carry projectiles weighing a
+thousand pounds a distance of sixteen to eighteen miles.
+
+But it was felt that these fortifications were not sufficient, and
+others were speedily projected, taking in the whole coast from Nova
+Scotia to Florida, as well as Cuba, Porto Rico and other islands in
+that vicinity.
+
+Our naval vessels, as said before, were as good as any on the face of
+the globe, and included the submarine boat, Holland, the one first
+accepted by the government in 1900, and also the Hollands III., V.,
+VI., IX. and X., the II., IV., VII. and VIII. having been destroyed or
+condemned.
+
+Much was expected of the Holland boats, especially in night work, when
+they might run out to any foreign warship and wreck her with one or
+more powerful torpedoes attached to her hull.
+
+Those who managed the submarine vessels were enthusiastic about them,
+and had good reason to be.
+
+One day Andy Greggs came into the shipyard wild with excitement.
+
+"Something awful has happened!" he cried, as soon as he met Oscar.
+
+"What is it?" demanded the young inventor.
+
+"The Holland I. has been blown up into a million pieces!"
+
+"Andy, you can't mean it."
+
+"It's true."
+
+"Who did it, some of the foreign warships?"
+
+"No, one mean, miserable skunk of a man did it all."
+
+"And who was he?"
+
+"An Italian named Gabretti. He was employed on the boat as an engineer.
+The foreign governments bought him up, it's said, for a hundred
+thousand dollars, and he blew her up by connecting an electric battery
+with the torpedoes she was carrying."
+
+"And were the crew killed?"
+
+"To a man. Gabretti had just time enough to get into a steam launch
+when the Holland sailed skyward. The steam launch was followed by the
+cruiser Massachusetts, but escaped in the darkness, and it is surmised
+that the Italian went on board one of the foreign warships cruising
+around the Atlantic Ocean."
+
+This news, startling as it was, was true.
+
+Bitter was the denunciation of the Italian engineer, who was a
+naturalized citizen, and who had thus proved a traitor to his country,
+and the government immediately offered a reward of fifty thousand
+dollars for his capture, dead or alive.
+
+"I'd like to earn that reward," said Andy Greggs.
+
+"I would like to capture him," returned Oscar Pelham. "The traitor!
+He ought to be tortured to death!" Oscar came from a long line of
+true-blue patriots, and to his mind a traitor was the worst thing to be
+imagined.
+
+The loss of the Holland I was a sore one for the United States, for
+during the past year England, Germany and France had constructed
+submarine boats of more or less efficacy, and it was now felt that we
+were at a disadvantage so far as this class of vessel was concerned.
+
+But worse news followed. In two days came word that all the other
+submarine craft were either blown up or seriously damaged.
+
+Soon came the news that a great fleet of foreign warships had been
+sighted off the coast of Nova Scotia. The guns at the forts in this
+vicinity had tried to reach the flotilla, but failed, for the foreign
+vessels had kept well out to sea.
+
+The foreigners were headed southward, and it was felt that they would
+probably attack Boston or New York.
+
+The foreign vessels numbered at least fifteen and to combat them the
+United States sent out twelve of their best warships, including the new
+Columbia, an armored cruiser of eighteen thousand tons displacement and
+carrying a battery of twelve twenty-pounders and sixteen twenty-inch
+guns.
+
+The foreign fleet was sighted off Montauk Point and it was seen to head
+directly for New York Harbor.
+
+It was on a rainy Saturday that the two fleets met, twenty miles off
+Sandy Hook.
+
+The foreign ships had tried to enter New York Harbor under cover of the
+darkness the night before, but the powerful searchlights at Sandy Hook
+had exposed them, and one ship had been sunk by the guns from the forts
+and another had struck a submerged mine and been literally split in
+twain.
+
+It was thirteen vessels to twelve, and the fight opened with a
+terrific bombardment from both sides which lasted for nearly an hour.
+The din could be plainly heard in New York, where it sounded like
+rolling thunder, and the top of every tall building was covered with
+spectators, with first-class telescopes, watching the magnificent
+contest.
+
+At the end of an hour it looked as if the Americans had the better of
+the fight and those on shore were jubilant in consequence.
+
+"We'll lick 'em out of their boots!" shouted more than one old veteran.
+"It's America against the world, and we are bound to come out on top!"
+
+At this time but one American vessel, the Chicago, had sunk. Of the
+foreigners, a German and a French vessel were blown up, while a large
+Russian man-of-war and an Italian cruiser were in flames from stem to
+stern.
+
+But now the fortunes of war turned swiftly.
+
+For some unknown reason, the French and the German submarine boats
+which had accompanied the expedition had been delayed in getting to the
+battle ground, having run foul of some wreckage off the coast of Long
+Island.
+
+Now they came up, and after some minute directions from the admiral in
+command of the Allies, as the foreigners were termed, both boats sank
+promptly out of sight.
+
+It was afterward learned that the French submarine vessel could do next
+to nothing. She tried to sink the Indiana, but was promptly discovered
+and two fifteen-inch shells soon put her out of existence forever.
+
+Not so, however, with the German craft, a boat fully the equal of any
+of the ill-fated Hollands. She came up silently under three of the
+American warships, and half an hour later every one of those gallant
+cruisers was wrecked and hundreds of those on board were killed.
+
+The shock was so unexpected that the Americans for the moment knew
+not what to do. Then another ship was blown up, and the few which
+remained had to withdraw to New York Harbor, where they were under the
+protection of the guns of the numerous forts.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER III.
+
+             AN INTERVIEW WITH THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY.
+
+
+"Andy, I am going to see the Secretary of the Navy, and at once."
+
+"About your submarine boat, Oscar?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I thought you had written to him about it."
+
+"So I have, but the Old Harry knows what has become of the letter."
+
+"More than likely they thought your scheme that of a wild-brained
+inventor and cast the letter aside."
+
+"So I've been thinking. I start for Washington to-morrow."
+
+"Want me to go along?"
+
+"No, I want you to remain here and take charge of that model, which is
+in the storeroom at my boarding-house. If I telegraph to you, you come
+on with the model, at once."
+
+So it was agreed, and that night saw Oscar Pelham whirling toward the
+capital at the rate of eighty-five miles an hour, on what was known as
+the Congressional Limited.
+
+This train was a great favorite with politicians and on the cars Oscar
+met many men who had known his father.
+
+One in particular, Senator Forbish, from New York, became interested in
+the young inventor, and asked him why he was making the trip.
+
+"Going to try for a position in the navy, to follow in the footsteps of
+your father?" he questioned.
+
+"Yes and no," answered Oscar. "I will enter the navy if they will allow
+me to do so in my own way."
+
+"Then you are particular. Perhaps you wish the command of a ship." And
+the senator smiled pleasantly.
+
+"I do wish the command of a ship--but the ship must be of my own
+designing."
+
+Senator Forbish could readily see that Oscar was not joking, and he
+asked the young man to explain himself, which Oscar did readily, for he
+knew the senator was a power, both in military and in naval circles.
+
+"And you say this boat will really work?" he questioned.
+
+"Yes. The model worked perfectly when we tried her in Long Island
+Sound."
+
+"Such a submarine boat would be far in advance of the others which we
+have lost."
+
+"She would be, and that would mean that she would also be superior to
+the submarine boats owned by our foreign foes."
+
+"Then you must press this matter upon Secretary Short by all means."
+
+"I shall do my best. But he may not be willing to listen to me. I
+understand he is very busy."
+
+"He is busy, but I will give you a letter to him which will insure you
+an audience."
+
+The senator was as good as his word. There was a stenographer and
+typewriter on the train and he dictated a letter and signed it without
+delay.
+
+When Oscar reached Washington he found the entire city in a state of
+suppressed excitement. The destruction of the American warships off New
+York Harbor was on everybody's lips, and many predicted that the United
+States would soon be at the mercy of her foreign foes.
+
+"And they will show us no mercy," they declared. "They are too anxious
+to see us broken to pieces. England will retake Canada, Mexico will go
+to Spain, Russia will cry for Alaska, with its gold, while France and
+Germany will want a slice of the Eastern coast and China and Japan a
+slice of the Western."
+
+When Oscar arrived at the office of the Secretary of the Navy he found
+the cabinet officials busy in the extreme. Naval officers, politicians
+and citizens looking after contracts filled the rooms and corridors,
+and clerks and messengers were coming and going constantly.
+
+"What is it you want?" demanded a clerk, as he met the young inventor
+at the inquiry desk.
+
+"I wish to see Secretary Short," was the answer.
+
+"On what business?"
+
+"That is a private matter."
+
+"The secretary is very busy to-day; better call to-morrow."
+
+"I think he will see me." And Oscar handed out his card.
+
+"Hum! Does he know you?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then I think you are mistaken. Nearly all strangers must first go and
+see one or the other of his assistants."
+
+"Here is a letter of introduction from Senator Forbish," continued
+Oscar, with a quiet smile.
+
+The face of the clerk immediately changed color.
+
+"Oh--er--of course that makes a difference, Mr. Pelham. I will take
+your card and the letter to the secretary at once."
+
+The clerk dove through a swinging door and was gone the best part of
+ten minutes.
+
+"Secretary Short will see you at half-past three," he announced. "Be on
+time if you want to make sure of your interview, and boil your business
+down."
+
+"I'll be on time, never fear."
+
+Promptly at half-past three Oscar was admitted to the private office
+of the Secretary of the United States navy.
+
+It was a large apartment, handsomely fitted up, and on the walls hung
+numerous charts of our coast defenses and pictures of war vessels.
+In one corner rested several models of ships, including one of the
+ill-fated Holland X.
+
+"Well, young man, what can I do for you?" asked the secretary, as he
+motioned the young inventor to a chair.
+
+"Secretary Short, you can give me the opportunity to destroy some of
+the foreign warships which are battling against us," answered Oscar.
+
+"Eh? Er--what's that?" said the secretary, who feared he had not heard
+aright.
+
+"To be brief, sir, I am the son of the late Commodore David Pelham,
+whom you, I think, knew fairly well. I am a practical electrician and
+inventor. I have worked around shipyards for a number of years. I have
+invented a submarine torpedo-boat, somewhat on the lines of the late
+Holland, but with numerous changes, which I know will be beneficial. I
+want to build this ship for the government and I want to be placed in
+command of her when she is built."
+
+The Secretary of the Navy stared at Oscar in amazement. "What, you!
+Why, really you are--a very young man to talk in this fashion."
+
+"That is true, sir. But if I prove that I have a boat superior to any
+of the Hollands, will you take me up?"
+
+"Certainly; we want the best ships, submarine and otherwise, that money
+can buy. Expense is no object. But I have no time to waste now on
+experiments. The war is on; we have already suffered a tremendous loss,
+as you must know."
+
+"I have a working model. At this time to-morrow, if you'll say the
+word, I'll have that model at the government experimental station and I
+will show you how perfectly it works."
+
+"You are positive you have a good thing?" And the secretary looked
+sharply at the young inventor, as if to read his innermost thoughts.
+
+"I am, sir."
+
+"Then I will be at the station to see your model work, at five o'clock,
+to-morrow."
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IV.
+
+                     BLOWING UP OF THE TIEN-TSIN.
+
+
+The Secretary of the Navy was as good as his word. He was on hand five
+minutes before five, and Oscar arrived ten minutes earlier, accompanied
+by Andy Greggs, who had had the model shipped on by express, in a stout
+coffin-like box.
+
+The government experiment station boasted of a large pond of water,
+where all sorts of models were tried and experiments made.
+
+In the presence of the secretary and two of his assistants the model
+was produced.
+
+At this moment the President of the United States, Jefferson McKinley
+Adams, a descendant of John Adams, the second President, came in to see
+what was going on, having heard that something unusual was in the air.
+
+"We need such a boat, if it will work, now the Hollands are no more,"
+he murmured to the Secretary of the Navy.
+
+"Wait--we will see if this is all right or a humbug," answered
+Secretary Short.
+
+The model was placed on a stand and Oscar gave a little lecture
+concerning the working parts and what the craft was designed to do.
+
+The model went to the bottom of the basin and arose without an effort.
+Then it went down as far as desired, ran forward, backward, and then
+turned in circles right and left. The screws were next shifted slightly
+and the model went forward in saw-tooth fashion, first up and then
+down, but all under water.
+
+"Wonderful!" murmured the President. "The old Hollands could not do
+that."
+
+"He has certainly solved the science of under-water navigation,"
+answered the Secretary of the Navy.
+
+A model of a warship was now placed in the basin, at one end. Then the
+model of the submarine craft was set in motion to place a torpedo under
+the warship's keel. The work was performed with great accuracy and it
+was shown how easily the warship could be destroyed and how quickly the
+other boat could get away without being discovered.
+
+"Good! It is perfect!" cried the Secretary of the Navy. "But how about
+air for your crew while under water?"
+
+Oscar then went into the details of his scheme for storing air and for
+manufacturing it as well. Everybody listened with close attention.
+
+"How much will your craft cost to build?" was the next question asked.
+
+"Two hundred thousand dollars," was the answer. "For into that
+construction must go the best of everything."
+
+Those who had witnessed the exhibition consulted together for a few
+minutes.
+
+"How long will she take to build?"
+
+"Give me that sum and I will build her in three months; give me a
+hundred thousand dollars more and I will have her ready for service in
+two months."
+
+"You shall have your answer to-morrow noon," said the Secretary of the
+Navy.
+
+The night to follow was an anxious one, both for Oscar Pelham and his
+faithful friend, Andy Greggs.
+
+Would the government accept the offer?
+
+At ten the next morning came a telephone message from the Navy
+Department.
+
+"We are willing to appropriate half a million dollars if that submarine
+boat, to be called the new Holland, can be built inside of one month."
+
+Even Oscar was staggered at this.
+
+"A month!" he gasped. "But I'll do it if I have to set every shipyard
+and every steel plant at work to push it through."
+
+For thirty days Oscar Pelham hardly ate, drank or slept.
+
+He was here, there and everywhere, now inspecting this work done, now
+that work done, and anon sending telegrams and telephone messages in
+every direction.
+
+Some refused to do any work for him, thinking him mad. But when his
+orders were indorsed by the Navy Department, owners of shipyards and
+steel plants quickly changed their minds.
+
+Work went on night and day, without interruption, and on the afternoon
+of the twenty-ninth day the new Holland was slid into the waters of New
+York bay and a telegram was sent to Secretary Short that the vessel was
+ready for service.
+
+In the meantime the war had gone on and another naval battle had been
+fought in Cuban waters. Here an Italian cruiser had been sunk by
+the gunboat Yankee Doodle, but the Americans had lost four of their
+old-fashioned types of war vessel.
+
+It was reported that a flotilla of sixteen foreign warships was in the
+vicinity of Cuba, and that soon there would be an active bombardment of
+the whole Cuban coast.
+
+"If they capture Cuba they will use the island as a base of supplies,"
+said the Secretary of the Navy, "and they will be able to land millions
+of soldiers there. We must stop this movement."
+
+Ten first-class warships had been dispatched to the seat of trouble,
+and now the new Holland was ordered thither, after a trial off the New
+Jersey coast to see that the new vessel worked perfectly.
+
+The crew of the new Holland, or Holland XI., as she was officially
+registered, consisted of ten all told. Oscar was placed in supreme
+command, with a rank in the navy as captain. Next to him came Andy
+Greggs, as first lieutenant. The head engineer was George Dross, the
+old shipbuilder, who had stood by Oscar when he was building his model
+at Bridgeport.
+
+The Holland was stored with provisions and fresh air and a number of
+powerful torpedoes, along with a large amount of other explosives.
+
+"Good-bye to land," said Oscar, as he stepped on board. "We are running
+a great risk, Andy. Perhaps we will never see home again."
+
+"I don't care. Hurrah for Uncle Sam!" responded the first lieutenant,
+recklessly.
+
+Soon the Holland--we shall at all times call her by her simple
+name--was moving southward at a lively rate of speed.
+
+As there was no need to draw on the air in the reservoirs the boat was
+kept on the surface of the ocean, skimming along like some monster
+sea-fowl.
+
+Four days later Captain Oscar Pelham was able to report to Commodore
+Garrison, in command of the fleet in Cuban waters.
+
+Another great naval battle was expected daily and Commodore Garrison
+was glad to see the Holland put in an appearance.
+
+"I have heard that there is one monster Chinese armored cruiser coming
+up here from the coast of Brazil," said the commodore. "She is one of
+the swiftest and most dangerous craft in the world. She is named the
+Tien-Tsin. If you can blow her up it will be a great work accomplished."
+
+"We shall do our best," replied Captain Oscar promptly.
+
+He passed the word around and the Holland ran along the Eastern coast
+of Cuba, on the lookout for the Tien-Tsin.
+
+Soon several warships were sighted and two days later the Tien-Tsin
+hove in sight and began to bombard the Cuban city of Baracoa.
+
+It was the intention of the Chinese commander to make the city
+surrender and then land an army of three thousand Celestials in Cuba,
+as the beginning of a great command of invasion.
+
+"The Tien-Tsin is in sight," cried Andy, who was the first to sight the
+craft.
+
+Captain Oscar waited long enough to confirm the news, then gave orders
+that the Holland XI. be sunk immediately.
+
+Down went the torpedo-boat destroyer until fully twenty-five feet of
+water floated over her.
+
+The Chinese cruiser had stopped her powerful engines and lay motionless
+on the ocean, while she poured shot and shell into the city, four miles
+away, to the terror of the Cubans, who were fleeing in all directions.
+
+Swiftly but silently the new Holland crept up until almost under the
+keel of the Celestials' warship.
+
+Then a large torpedo was sent forth and fastened to the warship's broad
+bottom.
+
+To the torpedo was attached a clock-like arrangement, and this was set
+at the five-minute limit.
+
+"Now, away!" cried Captain Oscar, when the work was done. "Dross, crowd
+on all speed!"
+
+And, like a thing of life, the Holland darted off in the direction
+where the American fleet lay, miles off.
+
+One minute passed--two--three--four--and those on the Holland watched
+their watches anxiously.
+
+"We will ascend!" cried Captain Oscar, and up shot the boat to the
+surface.
+
+Four minutes and a half--three-quarters--fifty seconds--fifty-five
+seconds--six--seven--eight--nine----
+
+Crash! Bang! Boom!
+
+It was as if heaven and earth were split in twain. First there came a
+flash as of lightning out of the depths of the ocean, followed by a
+grinding, ripping, sucking noise, and then up went the monster Chinese
+cruiser, blown into millions of fragments. With the wreckage went
+soldiers and sailors, guns, ammunition, spars, everything, straight
+into the sky! It was a sight as awful as it was amusing.
+
+"She's gone forever!" cried Captain Oscar, hoarsely. "Our work has
+proved a perfect success. The new Holland is the most dangerous warship
+ever constructed."
+
+"You are right," answered his first lieutenant. "Those Chinese----"
+
+He got no further, for he had glanced up in the sky, and now saw
+something strange and uncanny approaching. It was a gigantic dynamite
+shell, thrown by a French cruiser, which had crept up behind them
+unawares.
+
+The shell was aimed straight for the Holland, and if it struck the
+submarine boat it would blow her up as effectively as she had blown up
+the Tien-Tsin!
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER V.
+
+                         PRISONERS OF THE SEA.
+
+
+"We are lost!"
+
+"That shell will blow us to atoms!"
+
+Such were some of the cries which arose from those on the new Holland
+when they saw the shell thrown by the French cruiser whirling swiftly
+toward them.
+
+In an instant all was wild excitement and the face of Andy Greggs grew
+pale as death.
+
+But one person on the submarine craft was cool, and that was Oscar
+Pelham.
+
+As he saw the shell approaching he stepped to the rear end of the tiny
+enclosed deck of which the Holland boasted.
+
+Here was a hidden keyboard, connected by electricity with the moving
+power of the strange craft.
+
+He touched one of the tiny steel buttons.
+
+"Hold fast!" he cried, and as everybody clutched the railing or threw
+himself flat, the Holland fairly jerked forward, rising two feet higher
+than she had been lying, by the action of the sudden spurt. Then she
+continued to go ahead.
+
+_Zip! Bang!_
+
+Down came the shell from the French cruiser in the exact spot where the
+Holland had been lying. It sent the water flying in all directions,
+while the noise of the explosion was deafening.
+
+The submarine torpedo-boat destroyer had gotten away a distance of a
+hundred yards, and some of the fragments of the shell rained down upon
+the deck like hail.
+
+The forward rush had made the Holland ship considerable water, and for
+the instant it looked as if the submarine craft would be swamped.
+
+The French cruiser was coming closer, and now another shell was hurled
+forth, but this flew wide of the mark.
+
+"We must go down," said Captain Oscar, and at once those on deck
+tumbled into the interior of the submarine boat. Then the steel hatch
+was closed, the railing sank out of sight, and the new Holland sunk
+beneath the surface of the ocean.
+
+By examination it was found that the boat contained six inches of
+water, and this was immediately forced out by the electric pump. Then
+Oscar entered the engine room and held a consultation with George Dross.
+
+"Are we safe in descending twenty-five feet in these waters?" he asked.
+
+A chart was examined and it was found that they might descend forty
+feet without danger of running aground, providing they kept in the old
+channel.
+
+"Then put on all speed, descend thirty feet, and bring up behind that
+French cruiser," was the young captain's order.
+
+"You will sink her?" questioned Andy.
+
+"If we can."
+
+"But the commodore's orders----"
+
+"Orders from the Secretary of the Navy are to sink any foreign vessel
+that opens fire on us. The government has half a million dollars locked
+up in this vessel, and Uncle Sam doesn't intend to lose her."
+
+No more was said, and soon the new Holland was gliding through the
+ocean with the rapidity and silence of some monstrous sea serpent.
+
+While she was thus moving Oscar had the crew arrange another torpedo,
+similar to that which had blown up the Tien-Tsin.
+
+He remained at the side window nearest to the front of the submarine
+boat, watching for anything unusual which might occur.
+
+As they moved on in a large semi-circle a sight met his gaze which was
+truly horrible.
+
+They passed through the wreckage of the big Chinese cruiser, and on
+every side he saw the torn and mutilated bodies of the Chinese sailors
+and soldiers, some dead and some drowning, sinking slowly to the
+bottom of the ocean.
+
+One poor wretch made a mad clutch at the glass window as it passed him
+and glared fiercely into Oscar's face.
+
+The sight made Oscar shudder and brought to him a sense of how horrible
+this fearful war was to be.
+
+But now was no time to think of these things.
+
+The French cruiser had noted the disappearance of the submarine boat
+and her commander was doing his best to get out of danger.
+
+He had crowded on all steam and felt that it would be impossible for
+any submarine boat to catch the Republique, as his craft was named.
+
+He did not know that the new Holland was one of the fastest ships
+afloat--much faster, in fact, than any submarine craft built up to that
+time.
+
+Although it was daylight, he kept a powerful searchlight at work,
+trying in vain to locate the Holland XI. under that rolling cover of
+greenish-blue waves.
+
+But here he again failed, for the Holland kept too far below the
+surface to be thus located.
+
+At last Captain Oscar saw that they were less than fifty yards behind
+the Republique.
+
+Both vessels were going at their topmost speed, and thus the pursuit
+was a highly dangerous one.
+
+The new Holland was up on a level with the Frenchman's keel, and should
+the speed of the cruiser slacken suddenly the submarine craft would
+surely crash into her with disastrous effect.
+
+"Get ready to throw out that torpedo," ordered the young captain of the
+submarine destroyer, and his crew obeyed without delay.
+
+In a few seconds more they were directly under the Frenchman's keel,
+and then the torpedo was brought out, ready to be adjusted.
+
+At that moment something unlooked for occurred, something which nearly
+brought the new Holland to an end then and there.
+
+In her anxiety to get away from the torpedo destroyer those on the
+Republique had run close to a stretch of land on the Cuban coast which
+hid from view a bay half a mile in diameter.
+
+In this bay were located three American men-of-war, of the old style,
+but fitted up with modern dynamite guns.
+
+As the Republique came in sight of the Yankee warships, all three
+opened fire on her.
+
+The aim of the American gunners was perfect, and five ten-inch shells
+crashed through the side of the French cruiser.
+
+Three of the shots went below the water-mark, while a fourth struck
+into the magazine.
+
+There was a deafening explosion, which tore away the middle deck of
+the cruiser, and then the huge mass of iron and steel began to sink
+like one vast lump of lead.
+
+She came down directly on top of the new Holland, at the very moment
+that the time fuse had been set in motion by which the torpedo was to
+be blown up.
+
+"By ginger! Something's wrong!" came from old George Dross. "She's
+a-comin' down on top o' us!"
+
+"Back her!" ordered Captain Oscar. "Back, quick!"
+
+But it was too late to back. Down came that monstrous weight, settling
+directly on top of the new Holland and quickly burying the submarine
+craft in several feet of sand!
+
+Luckily the French cruiser rested, fore and aft, upon two slight hills,
+forming something of a hollow in the middle, otherwise the Holland XI.
+must have been totally crushed.
+
+As the submarine craft was pinned fast, Andy Greggs clutched Oscar by
+the arm.
+
+"We are lost, Oscar!" he gasped. "That fuse--it is ready to go off!"
+
+The young captain nodded, for words failed him. The fuse was set for
+three minutes. Two minutes had already passed. A minute more--and then?
+
+One of the crew--ordinarily a brave man--fell upon his knees, the
+tears streaming down his cheeks.
+
+"Nothing can save us!" he moaned. "That torpedo will crush us into a
+million pieces!"
+
+Thirty seconds passed--forty-five. Everybody on board held his breath.
+Captain Oscar felt as if his head was on the block and the axe of the
+executioner ready to fall.
+
+And then the full minute passed--swiftly, silently--and then another
+minute. One and another straightened up and each looked at his comrades
+as if doubting that he was not dreaming.
+
+The torpedo had failed to explode!
+
+"The shock of the wreck must have torn the fuse from its place," said
+Captain Oscar.
+
+"Pray heaven such is a fact!" murmured his lieutenant.
+
+The wrecked Republique was still settling, and through one of the
+windows which was not buried in the sand they saw numerous dark objects
+floating about, including the bodies of some French sailors.
+
+But now was no time to look upon such sights.
+
+"We must get out of this," said the young captain. "The longer we
+remain here the deeper we will be buried in the sand and the harder it
+will be for us to get away."
+
+"Right you are," answered his lieutenant. "But how shall we move?"
+
+That was a difficult question to answer just then, for nothing could
+be seen excepting out of one window on the left side and out of one
+window in the rear.
+
+"I think we had better try to back first," said Captain Oscar. "Dross,
+put on all power."
+
+"Aye! aye!" responded the old engineer, and soon the dynamos on board
+were working as never before. But though the screws revolved with
+lightning-like rapidity, the new Holland scarcely budged. The screws
+whirled the sand in every direction, sending it against the rear window
+like, a sheet of hail.
+
+"We don't move," said Andy Greggs.
+
+"Try to go ahead," suggested Captain Oscar, "Have we reached the limit
+of our power?"
+
+"We have," answered the old engineer.
+
+Again the screws were set in motion. The submarine boat strained and
+quivered, as if to pull in twain every bolt that held her together. But
+move from her resting place she did not.
+
+They were prisoners at the bottom of the ocean.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VI.
+
+                         OUT OF A LIVING TOMB.
+
+
+Everybody on board looked to the young captain regarding what move was
+to be attempted next.
+
+"We are stuck," muttered Andy Greggs.
+
+"We must get out," returned Captain Oscar. He turned to one of the men.
+"How much air in the reservoir, Marney?"
+
+"Two hundred and fifteen feet, captain."
+
+"Humph! Enough for two hours."
+
+"And after that?" put in Andy Greggs.
+
+Oscar shrugged his shoulders. "We must get out before that time, old
+chum."
+
+And this meant that if they did not they would all die of suffocation!
+
+Truly their peril was extreme.
+
+The weight of the wrecked French cruiser was so great that she was
+slowly but surely sinking deeper and deeper, sending down the Holland
+under her.
+
+In another hour the windows would be buried in the sand so that nothing
+of the outer world could be seen.
+
+"We'll be in a living tomb," muttered old George Dross.
+
+"If I could get outside I would inspect the situation," said the young
+captain.
+
+"If we could get out we might all save ourselves," muttered one of the
+men.
+
+"And leave the Holland XI.?" returned the inventor. "Never! I'll never
+desert her!" Oscar would no more have thought of leaving his treasure
+than would a young mother her child.
+
+"The torpedo hole," suggested Andy Greggs.
+
+"Right!" ejaculated Oscar Pelham. "I'll do it, if it costs me my life."
+
+With all speed he donned one of the diver's suits with which the
+submarine craft was provided.
+
+What he intended to do, or rather try to do, was indeed perilous.
+
+This was nothing more than to leave the Holland through the chamber in
+which were stored the torpedoes the craft carried.
+
+He would have to pass through two trap-doors, and then to the outer
+sea, providing he could get out.
+
+His preparations were carefully made and he went out provided with
+several instruments by which he might measure the hollow and figure out
+how best to start the submarine craft.
+
+It was with great difficulty that he squeezed himself out into the
+water, which here represented a pressure of many pounds to the square
+inch.
+
+The first thing that his eyes rested upon was the torpedo which had
+failed to go off.
+
+The clockwork was still in position, and what had caused it to cease
+moving was a mystery.
+
+"But it's a good thing it didn't go off," he mused, as he began his
+inspection of the situation.
+
+He soon found out why the Holland could not move from her position.
+
+In coming down the keel of the French cruiser had split into two parts,
+and these now held the top of the Holland fast, as a pair of ice tongs
+holds fast a cake of ice.
+
+Had the ends of the cruiser been allowed to settle a foot more, the two
+grips of the keel must have crushed in the sides of the Holland like
+the shell of an egg.
+
+Oscar examined the ends of the keel with interest and soon felt certain
+that the Holland could be moved only after great labor to liberate her.
+
+"And that will take time," he muttered sadly. "And time is what we
+cannot afford."
+
+Slowly and painfully he made his way back to the hole through which he
+had emerged into the ocean.
+
+The bow of the submarine craft was just gained, when suddenly a
+concussion occurred which hurled him flat on his back and for some time
+to come deprived him of all sense of hearing.
+
+One of the powder magazines which had not been touched by water on the
+Republique had blown up, creating something like an earthquake under
+the sea.
+
+Sand and wreckage flew in all directions, and when Captain Oscar
+recovered he found his body covered with a mass of stuff difficult to
+remove.
+
+As soon as able he stared about him, and to his utter amazement saw
+that the Holland had disappeared!
+
+"What can it mean?" he asked himself. "Is it possible she has been
+blown up?"
+
+The vicinity of the wreck was now dangerous, with so much loose matter
+still floating about, and as soon as able he left the spot, mounting a
+sand hill several hundred feet away.
+
+The Holland was nowhere to be seen, nor was any wreckage belonging to
+her about. This gave him a little comfort, for he concluded that she
+must have escaped.
+
+But he must now pay attention to his own safety, for his supply of
+fresh air was limited, and with the weight of the diver's outfit it was
+impossible to ascend to the surface of the ocean.
+
+What should he do?
+
+He knew the coast of Cuba was near, but in what direction?
+
+"I must move," he told himself. "Anything is better than staying here."
+
+He moved on, slowly and painfully, to where he thought the bottom of
+the ocean ascended gradually. Soon it grew lighter, telling him that he
+was getting closer to the surface.
+
+But now the fresh air was almost gone and a sleepy sensation stole over
+him. But he must not sleep, or it would be the slumber of death!
+
+On and on he went, now climbing a rugged hill, covered with sand, rocks
+and moss, the home of innumerable fish and strange looking crabs.
+
+The fish rushed past him, hitting him often with their tails, while
+the crabs spit at them spitefully, their beady eyes bulging from their
+heads.
+
+He was almost to the top now, but his air was gone, and with it his
+strength. There was a strange flicker before his eyes and a roaring in
+his head.
+
+Once he stumbled headlong, but quickly picked himself up again.
+
+Half a dozen steps more and his head came out of the water. Then he
+dragged himself to a higher point and with nervous hands unscrewed his
+air-and-water-tight helmet.
+
+Oh, how good the fresh air tasted! It was fairly intoxicating, and he
+filled his lungs repeatedly.
+
+He was saved!
+
+Looking around, he found a small jut of land not a dozen yards distant,
+fringed with a series of overhanging bushes and trees.
+
+It was on the Cuban coast, two miles west of the city which the
+Tien-Tsin had been bombarding.
+
+He dragged himself to the shore, and finding a safe place in the
+bushes, threw himself down to rest.
+
+From a distance he heard the booming of cannon, telling that the Cuban
+city was being bombarded still by other vessels of the foreign foe.
+
+But to this booming he gave no attention, for he was dead tired.
+
+Soon he dropped into a doze in spite of himself, from which he did not
+awaken until early the next morning.
+
+He awoke with a start, and then a noise in the bushes beside him caused
+him to leap to his feet.
+
+He gave a cry of dismay, for, looking inland, he beheld at least a
+thousand Japanese troops marching in his direction!
+
+The advance guard was on him and in a moment more he was discovered and
+surrounded!
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VII.
+
+                   AN ATTACK ON THE JAPANESE TROOPS.
+
+
+"Chan-cera-ree!" shouted one of the Japanese soldiers, and aimed his
+rifle at Oscar Pelham's head.
+
+But another soldier--an under officer--saw the movement and stopped the
+shooting.
+
+"We will make him a prisoner," he said in Japanese. "He is an American
+and may prove useful to us in this accursed country."
+
+Oscar was quickly made to leave the shore.
+
+He had discarded the diver's suit, but the Japanese soldiers took it
+along, considering it a great curiosity.
+
+Because of the suit they thought Oscar was one who had planted a mine
+under the ocean and that the Tien-Tsin had struck upon this and been
+blown up.
+
+"He is a great capture," said the Japanese commander. "Who knows but
+what he may be a leading American officer."
+
+As he could not speak English, he could not question the young
+inventor.
+
+Baracoa had fallen and Japanese and Chinese troops had landed to the
+number of six thousand.
+
+They expected to be re-enforced by German and French soldiers, and then
+a land attack was to be made in Florida, the troops marching across
+Cuba to Havana, and there taking transports to Key West.
+
+In the meantime England and some other nations were sending a large
+force, upward of a hundred thousand men--to attack the Canadian shore.
+England wished to reconquer Canada, no matter what the cost.
+
+The Japanese continued to move along the northern coast of Cuba until
+two o'clock in the afternoon.
+
+By that time it was so hot that the soldiers had to rest, even though
+the Japanese are the toughest race on the face of the globe.
+
+Thousands of Cubans had fled before them, for the landing had been
+unexpected, and the people of the island were not prepared to offer
+resistance.
+
+When the rest came Oscar found himself at the mouth of a small river
+flowing into the Atlantic Ocean.
+
+He was secured to a tree with ropes while his captors proceeded to take
+it easy, lying in the grass, smoking cigarettes and drinking Japan tea.
+
+The young inventor felt that he was in a serious situation, for he knew
+that in this world-wide war the Japanese would not hesitate to kill him
+whenever it pleased them.
+
+He tugged at his bonds, but if there is anybody who knows how to tie
+knots it is a Japanese, and those which bound Oscar could neither be
+strained or broken.
+
+An hour went by, when suddenly the young inventor saw something which
+both amazed and delighted him.
+
+Far off in the ocean he beheld something come up to the surface. It was
+like the back of a turtle, about four feet in diameter.
+
+It was only a few inches above the waves, but it shone like a plate of
+bluish steel--and such it was--the top-center plate of the Holland XI!
+
+"Thank fortune, she escaped!" he muttered to himself.
+
+Then he waited for several minutes, when the trap-door in the plate was
+slid aside and a form appeared--head and shoulders--the form of Andy
+Greggs.
+
+Andy had a spy-glass, and with this he swept first the ocean and then
+the land.
+
+On catching sight of the Japanese soldiers he was about to retire at
+once and sink the submarine craft, when by accident his eyes rested
+upon Oscar.
+
+At first he could not believe the evidence of his senses. Then he waved
+his hand in recognition.
+
+The young captain of the new Holland could not see the movement very
+well, but he nodded his head vigorously in the direction of the first
+lieutenant.
+
+In another moment Andy disappeared and soon the Holland sank from
+sight. Oscar waited anxiously, wondering what his friends would do--in
+fact, what they could do.
+
+The submarine craft was designed wholly for warfare on and under the
+ocean, not on land.
+
+Yet Oscar knew that his friends would never desert him, now they knew
+he was a prisoner of the enemy.
+
+Quarter of an hour went by. To the prisoner it seemed an age.
+
+He was watching the water and soon saw a slight movement behind a
+number of bushes just where the river met the ocean.
+
+He knew what the movement meant. The Holland XI. had come in shore as
+far as the depth of the water permitted.
+
+Up came that plate again and out popped Andy Greggs, armed with a
+pistol and a short knife.
+
+The young lieutenant slipped into the water like an eel and dove down
+almost out of sight, to come up near to Oscar's feet.
+
+The Japanese were half asleep, thinking their prisoner secure.
+
+With cat-like steps Andy left the water, pushed through the bushes and
+came up behind Oscar.
+
+Two slashes of that sharp knife and the young captain of the new
+Holland was free.
+
+He slid behind the tree, and side by side he and Andy ran for the ocean.
+
+"Hi-cha-kling!" roared one of the Japanese soldiers, rousing suddenly,
+and then he aimed his rifle at Oscar.
+
+But before he could pull the trigger Andy fired his pistol, which had
+been kept dry on the journey to shore, and the bullet pierced the
+enemy's heart.
+
+Before the other Japanese could do anything both of the chums were
+swimming for the Holland. They tumbled into the trap-door one after the
+other and then the plate was slid shut.
+
+"Down!" ordered Andy, and immediately the submarine craft sunk several
+feet. Then a swift run was made for a third of a mile away from the
+coast.
+
+"Oh, how glad I am to see you alive!" cried Andy, when the pair were
+safe.
+
+"And I am glad, too, cap'n," put in George Dross. "I never expected to
+set eyes on ye ag'in."
+
+"But how did the Holland escape?" asked the young captain.
+
+"The explosion set us free," answered Andy. "But we had to move out
+lively, or we would have been crushed as flat as a pancake when the
+wreckage came down a second time."
+
+Captain Oscar was now asked to tell his own story and did so. He was
+very weak, but a good dinner with a strong cup of coffee soon made him
+feel once more like himself.
+
+"What's orders?" asked Andy, coming in the dining-room while he was
+eating.
+
+"We must attack that Japanese army," answered the young captain. "They
+are marching for Havana, with the intention of invading Florida."
+
+"And how are you going to do it?"
+
+"They are marching forward in almost a solid body. As soon as they
+form, we will rise to the surface and throw a couple of dynamite bombs
+into their midst."
+
+Orders were at once delivered to the ammunition men and the bombs were
+brought forth and inspected, to see that they were ready for use.
+
+Half an hour went by and then they saw that the Japanese were preparing
+to move.
+
+The enemy did not like the manner in which Oscar had been rescued and
+the leader wanted to get out of the way of the submarine craft.
+
+Soon the foreign soldiers were in columns for the march and the command
+came to move forward.
+
+The drums beat and the band began to play one of the Japanese national
+airs in a music which to the Americans was nothing short of a hideous
+discord.
+
+"Now then, up we go," commanded Captain Oscar, and in a minute the new
+Holland lay well out of the water.
+
+Then the stern was sunk, so that the bow might stand well up.
+
+The gun to fire the two bombs was carefully sighted.
+
+"Touch off!" was the next command.
+
+Boom! went the gun, and into the air flared the two missiles of death,
+straight for the Japanese column.
+
+Zim! crash! bang!
+
+The two bombs exploded directly in the midst of the Japanese troops,
+dealing death and destruction upon every hand.
+
+The carnage was something frightful. Dozens of men were literally blown
+to atoms, arms, legs, heads and bodies flying in all directions!
+
+A yell of terror went up, commingled with shrieks of pain.
+
+When the smoke cleared away it was seen that at least fifty Japanese
+had been killed and as many more wounded.
+
+Terror-stricken, the remainder of the army fled from the road along the
+ocean to the rocks and hills beyond.
+
+"Give them another," ordered Captain Oscar, and it was quickly done,
+and this brought down several more men, including the Japanese
+commander, who had his head taken off just as he was about to order a
+rifle attack on the strange sea monster that had attacked them.
+
+The remainder of the Japanese took to the woods and inside of three
+minutes not a soldier was to be seen.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VIII.
+
+                         THE ACT OF A MADMAN.
+
+
+"I reckon we have given that army a setback," remarked Andy Greggs
+after the contest was over.
+
+"Yes," answered the young captain of the new Holland.
+
+"But they ought not to be allowed to get to Havana, much less to land
+in Florida."
+
+"What do you advise?"
+
+"Have you reported to Commodore Garrison yet?"
+
+"No; we were trying to find out what had become of you."
+
+"Then we will report first, and see what the commodore has to say."
+
+It was easy to find the commodore's flagship, and they surprised the
+guard on deck by coming up directly at the side of the cruiser without
+anybody on board being aware that the new Holland was in the vicinity.
+
+"Hello, you!" cried the officer of the deck, when Oscar hailed him.
+
+"Yes, sir," answered the young captain, with a salute. "I could have
+torpedoed you nicely had I wished."
+
+"You're the old Nick himself," growled the officer.
+
+Captain Oscar Pelham's interview with Commodore Garrison was brief and
+to the point.
+
+"The new Holland has done more than well," said the commodore. "I don't
+believe that Japanese army will ever reach Havana. We have already
+three thousand soldiers there."
+
+"Then I presume our duty lies elsewhere."
+
+"It does. I have just received a message by wireless telegraphy asking
+if I can spare your boat to go to the coast of Canada. The Secretary
+of the Navy was delighted to hear of the blowing up of the Tien-Tsin,
+and he wishes you to help the warships which will meet the British,
+French and German squadron off the coast of Canada. These warships are
+acting as an escort to some army transports carrying about a hundred
+thousand soldiers, who wish to land in Canada." And the commodore gave
+the details so far as he knew them.
+
+"I will go to meet the American squadron in Canadian waters without
+delay," answered Oscar, and bowed himself out of Commodore Garrison's
+presence.
+
+Once again the submarine craft was put at her best speed and she went
+spinning through the ocean like a thing of life.
+
+Several days passed and they were making rapid progress northward, when
+one night the new Holland came to a sudden halt.
+
+Her screws continued to revolve for a time, but soon they were clogged
+up and the power had to be stopped.
+
+"Now what is up?" cried Captain Oscar, as he leaped from the couch
+where he had been sleeping.
+
+His lieutenant could not tell, nor could the engineer.
+
+According to their charters no land was within fifty-six miles of the
+submarine craft.
+
+The lights were turned on full and an examination made.
+
+It showed that the new Holland had run into the Sargasso Sea, that
+dense mass of seaweed which floats along the Atlantic shore near and in
+the Gulf Stream.
+
+The weeds were so long and thick that the boat could not be budged.
+The screws were tangled up completely, and for the time being the new
+Holland lay helpless.
+
+The weeds pressed against the windows of the craft and through the mass
+darted innumerable fish, some of the most ugly order Oscar had ever
+witnessed. The larger fish were continually preying upon the smaller.
+
+"Let us try to ascend," said the young captain, and this they did, but
+without success. The weeds were above them as well as around them, and
+to try to go down under the mass only made matters worse, for many were
+fast to the very bottom of the ocean.
+
+"Here's a pickle truly," sighed Andy Greggs. "How far do you suppose
+this Sargasso Sea extends?"
+
+"Humph! Perhaps for miles," answered Captain Oscar.
+
+"Well, we've got to do something."
+
+"We will do something," was the quiet answer. "We can't stay here."
+
+"It's only a question of expense, Andy."
+
+"I don't follow you."
+
+"I mean the expense of getting out."
+
+"How is money to get us out of this confounded mess?"
+
+"It will cost us the price of one dynamite bomb, placed just above and
+in front of the new Holland."
+
+"Oh! By ginger, I never thought of that. Oscar, you have a long head."
+
+The young captain's plan was to float a bomb above and ahead of the new
+Holland, using one of the water-proof variety for the purpose.
+
+This was done, and when the bomb was set off the dense seaweed was
+hurled in every direction.
+
+Meanwhile the screws were cleaned, and as soon as an opening appeared
+the Holland shot upward into an open space fifty yards in extent.
+
+A searchlight was called into play, and by this they saw that the
+nearest open sea was to their right.
+
+But they had to continue to fight the seaweed with long poles, and with
+more shells, and even then it was nearly morning before they were clear
+of the mess.
+
+"That's an experience I hadn't bargained for," remarked Captain Oscar,
+as they sped once more on their way. "After this we must keep a better
+lookout." And they did.
+
+At last they came in sight of the Canadian coast, and rounded Cape
+Breton into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
+
+Here Captain Oscar Pelham reported to Admiral Fielding, who was in
+command of the warships stationed there.
+
+"I am glad to have you here," said the admiral. "We have a big fleet of
+ships to contend with. They are lying twenty miles out to sea, awaiting
+a favorable opportunity to attack us."
+
+"And what do you wish the new Holland to do, admiral?" asked the young
+captain.
+
+"Go out and do all the damage you can before they have a chance to get
+in here."
+
+"I will do the best I can, sir."
+
+Once more the new Holland was off on her mission of death and
+destruction.
+
+With the crew went a pale-faced lieutenant from the admiral's flagship,
+sent on board to watch proceedings.
+
+The lieutenant's name was Raxtell, and Oscar did not at all like his
+looks. Yet he said nothing and treated the lieutenant to all the
+courtesy due his naval rank.
+
+But that night Oscar could not sleep. Something worried him, he could
+not tell what.
+
+"Something is wrong, and I know it," he muttered to himself, and,
+unknown to any of the others, began a tour of inspection.
+
+All went well until he reached the magazine room in which the
+explosives were stored.
+
+Then he heard a low chant, and looking in, saw a sight that caused his
+very heart to stop beating.
+
+Lieutenant Raxtell was there, with the look of a madman upon his
+ghost-like face.
+
+He had attached a long fuse to all of the dynamite bombs and was in the
+act of firing the explosives.
+
+[Illustration: HE WAS IN THE ACT OF FIRING THE EXPLOSIVE.]
+
+Should they go off the new Holland would be blown to atoms!
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IX.
+
+                          ANOTHER BLOWING UP.
+
+
+For the moment after Captain Oscar Pelham made his terrible discovery
+that Lieutenant Raxtell intended to blow up the new Holland he could
+neither move nor speak.
+
+He clearly saw that the lieutenant was mad, but what had caused his
+insanity was a mystery.
+
+His face was like chalk, and his eyes rolled in a fashion horrible in
+the extreme.
+
+"We will all go to heaven!" he heard the naval officer mutter. "All go
+to heaven--and that will be better than going home. Home! Ha! ha! So
+the admiral would not give me shore leave? I will show him a trick or
+two! Here goes!"
+
+"Hold!"
+
+The cry came from Oscar, and aroused as from a dream, he hurled himself
+upon the madman and bore him to the floor.
+
+Frothing at the mouth, Raxtell struggled desperately at first to free
+himself and then to bite Oscar as might a wolf.
+
+But the young commander of the new Holland was fighting for life, and
+held him as in a vise of steel.
+
+"Let me go!" roared the madman. "Let me go, or I will eat you up alive!"
+
+"Be calm, lieutenant," gasped Oscar. "Be calm. You are not well. Be
+calm."
+
+"What's the row here?" came from the doorway, and Walton, the
+ammunition man, came in.
+
+"Quick, he is mad," answered Oscar. "Help me."
+
+"Mad! By Jove, captain, is it possible?"
+
+Walton hurled himself into the contest without hesitation, and between
+the pair they speedily made Raxtell a close prisoner, binding him hands
+and feet, and fitting his face with a leather mask, that he might not
+bite himself or others.
+
+It afterwards came out that the lieutenant was of a nervous
+disposition, and that homesickness had preyed upon his mind until his
+reason forsook him.
+
+Nothing could be done at present but keep him on board, and realizing
+that the poor fellow was not accountable for what he had tried to do,
+Captain Oscar treated him with every consideration.
+
+Early in the morning of the next day the fleet of the enemy was
+discovered riding the ocean in a vast semi-circle.
+
+The warships numbered thirty-four, and the transports sixty-six, and
+the sight was a truly imposing one.
+
+"We can't do much against that fleet," said Andy Greggs, after the new
+Holland had sunk out of sight.
+
+"We can do our share," responded the young captain.
+
+He had his eyes on three ships of the enemy--the British cruiser
+Terrible, the German gunboat Wilhelm II., and the French
+ship-of-the-line Philippe.
+
+"I'll sink all three, or know the reason why," he said to himself, and
+laid his plans with great care.
+
+The three ships he had in view were not over a quarter of a mile apart,
+one from another, the Terrible being in the center.
+
+This would necessitate a run of half a mile to reach all three warships.
+
+The course of the new Holland was changed and they moved slowly and
+cautiously up to the Wilhelm II., keeping well under water all of the
+time.
+
+While the run was being made Oscar held a consultation with the
+ammunition man and with George Dross.
+
+It was calculated that it would take five minutes to run from one ship
+to another, and five minutes to adjust each of the several torpedoes.
+
+Soon the Wilhelm II. was gained, and in absolute silence the torpedo
+was fastened to her keel.
+
+Only fish watched the movement and gazed curiously at the torpedo,
+against which they rubbed their slimy sides.
+
+"Set the fuse at half an hour," ordered Captain Oscar, and this was
+done.
+
+Five minutes later they had gained the keel of the Terrible, and here a
+torpedo was set at twenty minutes.
+
+Then a swift run was made for the Philippe, where they set a torpedo at
+ten minutes.
+
+"Now run for it!" cried Captain Oscar, and the new Holland spun away,
+straight into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
+
+The torpedoes had been set to go off at exactly half-past eleven, and
+it lacked but two minutes of that time when the new Holland shot to the
+surface at a safe distance from the hostile fleet.
+
+But the submarine boat was discovered and at once several torpedo-boats
+belonging to the British set off to give her chase.
+
+"We are going to catch it from the little fellows," said Andy Greggs,
+with a grim smile.
+
+"They won't reach us. We'll go down as soon as the explosion is over,"
+answered Captain Oscar.
+
+He held his chronometer in his hand and was counting off the seconds.
+
+The time was up!
+
+As he put the watch in his pocket a deafening roar rent the air, and
+the German warship was seen to rise in the air and then fall, a broken
+and shapeless mass upon the waters.
+
+Then came two other roars, one directly after the other, as the English
+vessel and the French ship-of-the-line caught it.
+
+The explosion under the Philippe was the most perfect, for the craft
+was literally split to bits, not alone by the torpedo, but by the
+explosions of her various magazines. Everybody on this ship was killed
+but a cabin boy, who leaped overboard at the first noise, and was
+picked up by one of the smaller warships.
+
+With the Terrible it was different. The English cruiser was an
+unusually large one, and to have cut her to pieces would have taken
+several torpedoes.
+
+Inside of two minutes she sank, the majority of her crew leaping
+overboard as she went down.
+
+Some of the sailors were caught in the suction created and went down
+with the warship, never to rise again.
+
+An explosion under the ocean added to the panic, and many were killed
+by this.
+
+Over two hundred were floating around on the sea until other warships
+came to their assistance and picked them up.
+
+The blowing up of the three warships created consternation among the
+others of the fleet, and signal after signal was displayed from the
+commanding officer's flagship, all reading: "Clear for sea immediately;
+a submarine torpedo-boat is among us. Double your watches."
+
+Then the entire fleet began to move for the broad Atlantic, chasing the
+transports before them.
+
+The torpedo-boats which had come out to do battle with the new Holland
+were tremendously surprised to see the strange craft slide from view,
+and realizing that they themselves might be blown up at any instant,
+they lost no time in running for their lives.
+
+The new Holland could have given them plenty of trouble, but Captain
+Oscar considered his ammunition too valuable to throw away on such
+"small fish," as he called them.
+
+"One of our torpedoes costs the government eight thousand six hundred
+dollars," he said. "Those little chaps aren't worth that to me. I am
+after big guns."
+
+Considering that the new Holland had done enough for the time being,
+and wishing to obtain a new supply of torpedoes and dynamite bombs, the
+young captain now turned back to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and reported
+to Admiral Fielding.
+
+The admiral had witnessed the blowing up of the three warships through
+a powerful field glass which was stationed in an observation tower at
+the top of the mainmast of the flagship, and he was highly delighted
+at the success of the new Holland's work.
+
+"That craft is a marvel," he said. "The government must have more of
+them."
+
+"It certainly would be a good thing," replied Oscar. "I think I've got
+the enemy pretty well frightened. Perhaps they think we already have
+more than one of these boats, having seen the work done in Cuban waters
+and now here."
+
+"Perhaps; and I hope they think we have a dozen. They will then
+imagine their costly warships of no value against such an enemy, and
+consequently be glad to treat for peace."
+
+Using the wireless telegraphy system on the admiral's flagship, Oscar
+sent word to Bridgeport arsenal to send him at once a large quantity
+of torpedoes and dynamite bombs, and also a new style of bomb called
+highite.
+
+Highite was a new explosive, of which much was expected. A highite
+shell when it exploded sent hundreds of little shells forth in a
+circle, which exploded an instant later.
+
+"That is what we ought to have had in Cuban waters," said Andy. "We
+could then have made those Japanese sick."
+
+A week elapsed before the ammunition reached the new Holland and was
+stored on board.
+
+In the meantime it was learned that the fleet of the enemy had turned
+southward, probably with the intention of landing on the New England
+coast.
+
+The fastest despatch boats in our naval service were sent out to watch
+the enemy, and at the same time the new Holland was ordered southward,
+to be in readiness at any time the hostile fleet should show itself too
+close to our shores.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER X.
+
+                        THE FRAUDULENT MESSAGE.
+
+
+Four days later found the Holland lying snugly concealed in the waters
+of Cape Cod harbor.
+
+The run to Boston had been made without a sight of the hostile fleet.
+
+Andy had gone ashore on a little business, and soon he came back from
+Provincetown wild with excitement.
+
+"Captain, this beats the Dutch!" he cried, as he entered the tiny cabin
+of the submarine craft.
+
+"What is it now, Andy? Another fleet in sight?"
+
+"Worse than that. The enemy is in Washington."
+
+"Washington!" roared the young captain, and leaped from his seat. "Do
+you mean they have gotten soldiers into the country----"
+
+"Hold on; I said the enemy was in Washington," interposed the young
+lieutenant. "I don't know how many of them are there, but enough to do
+a mean piece of work."
+
+"And what? Have they blown up the Capitol, or the White House?"
+
+"No; but they've robbed the White House of its loveliest inmate."
+
+"You mean President Adams' daughter----"
+
+"Has been kidnaped--carried off--last night--and nobody knows where to.
+The whole country is wild with the news, and there is a reward up of a
+hundred thousand dollars for anybody who will bring her back safe and
+sound."
+
+"She's worth the money, too," added Captain Oscar, promptly. "Martha
+Adams is one of the sweetest girls in this country. How in the world
+was the deed accomplished?"
+
+"Last night she was left home alone, the President being at a Cabinet
+meeting, and Mrs. Adams being at a meeting for the benefit of disabled
+soldiers. Two of the servants in charge of the President's apartments
+were drugged and one stabbed in the back and killed. That is as much as
+is known now, excepting that two men were seen to hurry somebody in a
+coach and drive off with her."
+
+"And in what direction did the coach go?"
+
+"Straight for the Potomac--and a boat was seen to leave and go down the
+river an hour later."
+
+"Then she has been carried off to sea, beyond a doubt."
+
+"So I'm thinking, and more than likely she is now a prisoner on one of
+the foreign warships."
+
+The captain of the new Holland scratched his head thoughtfully.
+
+"If she is on a warship, it must be either a Japanese or a Chinese
+craft," he muttered.
+
+"Why so?"
+
+"Because I don't think England, France or Germany would stand for any
+such thing as that. It's heathens' work, and nothing less--or private
+spite."
+
+"And why private spite?"
+
+"Oh, easily. Somebody may be mad because he didn't get a fat position
+from the President, or something like that. You know how much
+wire-pulling there is at Washington," concluded Oscar.
+
+The news interested everybody, and when the papers came on board each
+read the reports on the case closely. But nothing new had been learned,
+excepting that it was practically certain Martha Adams had been carried
+off to some foreign warship lying off Chesapeake Bay.
+
+"I'd like to catch the rascals who abducted her," sighed Captain Oscar,
+after finishing the reading of the newspapers.
+
+"After the reward, eh?" laughed Andy.
+
+"Humph! I wasn't thinking of the reward. Martha Adams is the sweetest
+girl I ever----" He broke off short, and as Andy looked at him closely
+he blushed in spite of himself.
+
+Oscar had seen Martha Adams three times while the girl was at the
+shipyard with her father and others.
+
+"Oho! so that is how the wind blows," cried the lieutenant. "Well, it's
+a long step to a President's daughter, captain, but who knows what
+you'll be when this war is over--if the Holland XI. keeps on as she has
+begun?"
+
+"Andy, you get on deck," came quickly, and the lieutenant did so, but
+with a broad grin on his face. He knew that Oscar had met Martha Adams
+and had "gone sweet" on the President's only child in those days.
+
+Late on the following night a special messenger came on board of the
+Holland with orders for the submarine boat to move out to the east
+coast of Cape Cod, the locality being mentioned in detail.
+
+Captain Oscar was much puzzled by the order, for it was entirely
+unexpected.
+
+Yet there was nothing to do but to obey, and soon the new Holland was
+on her way out of Cape Cod Bay and heading first northeast and then
+southeast, outside of the cape.
+
+"This is strange," he said to the lieutenant. "I don't understand it."
+
+"Perhaps the navy department is afraid some foreign ship will crawl
+along Cape Cod in the dark," suggested Andy.
+
+"Perhaps."
+
+There the conversation ended, but still Captain Oscar was doubtful, he
+knew not why.
+
+His experience with Raxtell, who had been put ashore at Boston, made
+him extremely cautious.
+
+"I didn't like the looks of that messenger," he mused. "He had a bad
+eye."
+
+The outside of the cape gained, it was a run of two miles to the spot
+mentioned in the order.
+
+"Put on the searchlight and see that our way is perfectly clear," he
+said to the man who attended to the lights.
+
+"Aye, aye, cap'n!" was the answer, and the powerful searchlight was
+made to do duty under the sea, bringing within its rays thousands of
+fish who knew not what to make of the unexpected glare.
+
+Soon Oscar found his way to the lookout.
+
+The way seemed to be perfectly clear, and he was on the point of having
+the speed of the submarine craft increased when something caught his
+eye which made him pause.
+
+The Holland had glided into a fine netting made of copper wire.
+
+The netting was shaped like a funnel, running down to a hole at the end
+not quite as large in diameter as the width of the ship.
+
+Here was located a hidden mine, ready to go off the instant any moving
+body of large size should strike it.
+
+Had the Holland kept on running the huge copper netting would have
+led the submarine craft directly into the hole, the mine would have
+exploded, and that would have been the end of the craft and all on
+board.
+
+"Back, quick!" cried Captain Oscar, and touched the button which
+connected with the engine.
+
+The screws were reversed, and the Holland XI. gave a shiver from stem
+to stern as her rapid head-way was checked.
+
+Still she went on, however, until the end of the hole was almost gained.
+
+"A mine!" shrieked the lookout. "We shall be blown up!"
+
+"All power backward!" cried Oscar to George Dross through a speaking
+tube. "Quick! It means life or death to us!"
+
+The backward power was increased. Yet the Holland drifted closer and
+closer, until her sharp prow was less than two feet away from the butt
+of the mine. Oscar held his breath. Another instant and they might all
+be blown to pieces.
+
+But then the forward motion ceased, the Holland gathered power in the
+opposite direction, and soon they had backed out of the huge copper net
+and were free!
+
+"What does this mean?" demanded Andy Greggs, as he crowded into the
+lookout.
+
+"It means two things," answered Oscar, drawing a long sigh of relief.
+"In the first place we have had a close shave from death, and in the
+second place it means that the order to come here was fraudulent."
+
+"Then this was a trap set for us?"
+
+"Beyond a doubt. And I would just like to lay hands on that messenger."
+And Oscar grated his teeth.
+
+"Perhaps he is somewhere around, in a boat. Undoubtedly he was a
+foreign sympathizer."
+
+"We will go to the surface and see if any craft is in sight."
+
+Going to the surface did not consume long, and the waters were swept by
+the powerful searchlight.
+
+Far out from land was an English despatch boat.
+
+"I'll wager that is the messenger's ship," cried Oscar. "We'll run
+closer and make sure."
+
+Again they went down, and now the light was put out, and they swept up
+to the despatch boat as silently as a black ghost.
+
+When within a hundred yards of the craft they came up and the light was
+turned directly upon the despatch boat's deck.
+
+Every man on the deck could be seen distinctly, and looking through his
+night glass, Oscar made out a form he had seen before.
+
+"That messenger--and in the uniform of a lieutenant!" he cried.
+
+He ordered the Holland below, but not before the despatch boat fired
+two four-pounders at the submarine craft.
+
+The four-pounders were powerless to hurt the Holland, further than to
+make a dent in her starboard side.
+
+"Now for a quick revenge!" muttered the young captain. "Close those
+front windows!"
+
+Those on board knew what that meant, and the order was quickly obeyed.
+
+Then the new Holland went forward at full speed.
+
+Bang! crash; The despatch boat was hit fairly and squarely in the side
+and began to sink immediately.
+
+The Holland withdrew, and Captain Oscar watched the result of the
+ramming.
+
+Down went the English vessel and the most of her crew with her.
+
+A few tried to swim away, but the swell of the ocean was too strong for
+them, and one after another sank to rise no more.
+
+The new Holland had added another to her list of triumphs over her
+enemies.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XI.
+
+                  AN URGENT CALL FOR THE HOLLAND XI.
+
+
+Early on the following morning the Holland went back to her old
+resting place near Provincetown, and the young captain reported to his
+superiors what had occurred.
+
+"You have done well," said the commodore, who received his report. "You
+beat them at their own game. But we must be very careful in the future,
+for there may be more fraudulent messages afloat."
+
+"I would like to make a suggestion to the department," replied Oscar,
+modestly.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Why not have every real message marked in some peculiar and secret
+manner known only to those who can be trusted? Then every commander
+would know at once whether a message was genuine or not."
+
+"An excellent suggestion," answered the commodore. "I will recommend
+that this be done."
+
+Later on Oscar's plan was carried into effect, and by it three false
+messengers were caught, and later on these men were hung as spies.
+
+Nothing had been seen of the foreign fleet since they had run to sea,
+but it was not long before the warships were discovered about thirty
+miles outside of Boston harbor.
+
+The new Holland was at once ordered to that vicinity, "To do as much
+damage as possible," so the order read.
+
+"And we'll do it," said Captain Oscar. "They'll clear out for good when
+we're done with them."
+
+But alas! the best laid plans are sometimes miscarried by things really
+small in themselves.
+
+A small fishing smack one night came in the bay and anchored directly
+above the Holland.
+
+When the Holland started to move, the anchor of the fishing smack got
+tangled up in one of the submarine boat's screws.
+
+The result was the wrecking of the screw and the grinding of the anchor
+into powder. Those on the fishing smack were scared almost to death,
+thinking there was an earthquake going on under the boat.
+
+Andy Greggs was in despair, but not so Oscar.
+
+"No use crying over spilt milk," said the young captain. "We must get
+that screw repaired without delay."
+
+And he had the Holland XI. towed over to the Charlestown Navy Yard.
+
+The accident put a damper on the enthusiasm of the navy department,
+for much had been looked for from the new Holland.
+
+But the enemy was close at hand and must be met, and Admiral Fielding
+gathered a squadron of twenty-six cruisers and gunboats for that
+purpose. With this squadron went two of the regular torpedo-boat
+destroyers.
+
+More warships were telegraphed for from New York, but it would take
+these vessels two days to reach the scene of battle.
+
+The squadron sailed out at night, with everybody in the best of spirits.
+
+It was felt that one of the greatest battles of the war was at hand.
+
+"We'll smash every one of the enemy!" cried one old salt, "just as
+Dewey smashed the Spanish warships in Manila Bay."
+
+"And Schley smashed the Spaniards in Santiago harbor!" added another
+jackie.
+
+And so the talk ran on until morning dawned.
+
+It was expected that the enemy would be in sight, but not a single ship
+was to be seen anywhere.
+
+"This is remarkable," said Admiral Fielding. And he at once sent some
+scouting craft ahead to find out what had become of the foreign vessels.
+
+The scouts came back at nightfall and reported that the foreigners were
+running up to the coast of Maine. The enemy was making for Casco Bay,
+off the city of Portland.
+
+At once began a chase after the foreign ships which lasted all of that
+night and up to noon of the next day.
+
+Then the American cruisers Vermont and Canada came up to the rear guard
+of the enemy and opened fire without delay.
+
+Inside of half an hour a fierce battle was in progress, with
+twenty-eight warships on the American side, and thirty-two on the side
+of the allies.
+
+The din was terrific, as broadside after broadside was poured forth
+from one ship or another.
+
+The first vessel to go down in the dreadful encounter was the German
+cruiser Berlin. She was quickly followed by the Italian gunboat Carlos
+II. and the French frigate Siene. In the meantime one of the British
+cruisers had caught fire and was burning fiercely.
+
+But now the Americans began to catch it, and presently the cruiser Utah
+took fire. Her magazines blew up, and this set fire to the Tennessee,
+which happened to be close at hand when the explosion occurred.
+
+In the van of the fight was the noble Oregon, with the Brooklyn beside
+her. These old ships had done wonders in the Spanish-American war, and
+they were now adding nobly to their laurels.
+
+To the right of the line, the New Jersey was having a sort of private
+duel with the English cruiser Windsor. The Windsor had pumped three
+ten-inch shells into the New Jersey, but still our cruiser held her
+own, and let drive with two of her thirteen-inch guns. Both shots hit
+below the water-mark, and the Windsor slowly sunk, many of her crew
+swimming to the neighboring warships.
+
+To the left of the line was the New York, fighting two French ships
+whose names could not be ascertained. The Frenchmen were plucky, and
+poured shot and shell hotly into the New York. But presently one was
+sunk by a ten-inch shell, and rushing around in a semi-circle, the New
+York managed to ram the second, nearly cutting her in two.
+
+But now more foreign ships were coming up and the fight became hotter
+than ever, until the surface of the sea was filled with nothing but
+waterspouts and thick clouds of smoke. At times but little could be
+seen, and it is no doubt that on more than one occasion a friendly ship
+fired into one of its comrades without knowing it.
+
+But though the American ships were doing nobly, it was seen by
+nightfall that the battle was slowly but surely going against them.
+They still had sixteen ships fit for service, but the other foreign
+war vessels had come up, and the good ships on the other side numbered
+twenty-six, just ten more. The newly arrived warships were big ones,
+and the outlook for the Americans became blacker and blacker.
+
+"If only we had the new Holland here," sighed Admiral Fielding. "I
+believe she could turn the scales in our favor when morning comes."
+
+By the wireless telegraph he sent a message ashore to Portland, which
+was immediately transmitted to the Charlestown Navy Yard.
+
+Soon this message came back:
+
+    "Have just finished repairs and am at your service.
+
+                                                         "OSCAR PELHAM,
+                                      "Captain, commanding Holland XI."
+
+"Good!" cried the admiral, and then he sent this massage in reply:
+
+"Come to Casco Bay instantly, and do all the damage you can."
+
+"We are off for Casco Bay!" cried the young captain to his lieutenant.
+
+"The call looks important," answered Andy.
+
+"It is important. There has been a big battle, and it looks as if our
+fleet was almost knocked out."
+
+"By Jove! Then we are wanted, and no mistake."
+
+Boston harbor was soon left behind, and they stood up the New England
+coast.
+
+"Crowd on all power!" said the young captain to the engineer. "Don't
+spare anything. This run may prove the run of our lives."
+
+And power was crowded on, until the Holland XI. quivered with an
+energy that seemed to endow her with life.
+
+Slowly the night went by, and when morning came it found the submarine
+boat in sight of the great battle ground.
+
+The foreign ships were hammering the Americans as never before, and
+matters were going badly with the upholders of Old Glory.
+
+"Here is where we make a record for ourselves, or die in the attempt!"
+cried Captain Oscar. "We must turn that defeat into victory. Let every
+man do his duty to the utmost. Down we go, Dross."
+
+And down plunged the new Holland into the ocean on her course of
+destruction and death.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XII.
+
+                      DEFEAT TURNED INTO VICTORY.
+
+
+Captain Oscar Pelham knew that whatever was to be done must be done
+quickly.
+
+In the terrific naval battle now in progress the Americans were getting
+the worst of it fast.
+
+Ship after ship was either going down or burning up and thousands of
+brave lives had already been sacrificed.
+
+Officers and men were doing their best to hold their own, but the
+foreign fleet was so much larger, that defeat appeared inevitable.
+
+The first warship the Holland attacked was a British armored cruiser
+which was pounding our own Iowa III.
+
+The Iowa was suffering from several big gaps in her larboard side, but
+still fought on desperately.
+
+Under the British cruiser sunk the Holland XI. a torpedo was rapidly
+adjusted, and then the submarine craft ran away with all speed.
+
+Some sixteen-inch guns had just been trained on the Iowa III. and the
+English gunners were about to set off the pieces when a deep rumble
+was heard, like an earthquake, and up went the British cruiser into a
+million atoms.
+
+The explosion was a surprise to everybody. The Holland had, so far not
+shown herself and it was thought by friends and foes alike that the
+British warship had been the victim of her own magazines.
+
+Those on board might have told a different story, but all were either
+killed outright or drowned in the awful wreckage which followed.
+
+"Number One!" cried Captain Oscar. "Now for Number Two!"
+
+Close at hand lay a broad-beamed French ship, the Coronet, carrying a
+newly-invented battery of dynamite guns.
+
+Another torpedo was quickly adjusted here and an explosion as loud as
+the first followed. The Coronet, however, was not blown to pieces,
+but suffered a hole in her bottom four feet long and three feet wide.
+Through this the ocean poured with the power of a Niagara, and swiftly
+the Frenchman sank from view, leaving her dead and dying scattered in
+all directions. Some of these sailors were picked up and they told of
+the explosion from the bottom, and then the foreigners knew a submarine
+craft was at work.
+
+This explosion also revealed to Admiral Fielding the true state of
+affairs.
+
+"Nothing but a torpedo from the Holland XI. could have done that!" he
+cried. "She is among us and is doing nobly. The day will be ours after
+all!" And the old salt almost fell to dancing a jig.
+
+The news was quickly communicated from ship to ship and all felt the
+inspiration of the Holland's presence.
+
+To the northward two big German cruisers had cornered the Virginia, a
+gunboat of fair size.
+
+The Virginia was fighting desperately, but the German men-'o-war were
+slowly but surely driving the American ship on a low-lying reef.
+
+"We will fight to the last," said the commander of the Virginia. "A man
+can die but once and what more noble than to give up one's life for his
+country!" And his men cheered him loudly.
+
+Captain Oscar had noted this state of affairs, and as soon as the
+Coronet was disposed of he made after the two German vessels.
+
+As he came closer, he noticed the two ships moving up side by side, as
+if their commanders were consulting together.
+
+"I'll end that consultation," he muttered, and ordered that a torpedo
+be shot out directly between them.
+
+Wizz! went the huge instrument of death, and as it struck the side of
+one of the German warships it went off with a terrific noise, tearing
+great holes in both vessels.
+
+The ships were not sunk, but consternation now reigned supreme, for
+both were in danger of sinking.
+
+"Hurrah!" yelled the jackies on board the Virginia. "Hurrah! The new
+Holland is at hand. The fight is ours!" And then the Virginia went into
+the contest with new vigor, which speedily placed the two foreign ships
+completely at her mercy. The Holland did not wait to see the end of the
+struggle, but ran back to where the sea battle was still at its hottest.
+
+To the northward four American warships had been cornered by eight
+foreign ships and shot and shell were raining down as never before.
+Coming to the surface to get a good view of the situation, the young
+commander of the new Holland ordered that two of the new highite bombs
+be thrown at the largest of the enemy's vessels.
+
+The bombs were aimed with great accuracy and did fearful execution,
+one almost clearing a deck of all the men standing upon it, while
+smoke-stacks and riggings went flying in all directions.
+
+Then the Holland XI. sank below, but not before one of the Allies'
+warships had sent a thirteen-inch solid shot over her bow.
+
+"Phew! But that was close!" muttered Andy Greggs. "A foot nearer and we
+would have had a pretty good-sized hole into us."
+
+"We must expect to get hit sooner or later," answered Oscar. "Every one
+of the enemy is laying for us. They would rather sink us than capture
+our largest armored cruiser."
+
+"To be sure, for the Holland XI. is more deadly to them than a score of
+cruisers."
+
+The Holland now turned her attention to several Italian and Turkish
+vessels which were guarding the enemy's transports, far to the eastward.
+
+"If we make a demonstration against the transports those cruisers in
+front will have to run back to protect them," said Captain Oscar. "It's
+a pity to sink the soldiers who haven't had a chance to fight, but it's
+got to be done."
+
+The attention of the Holland was first turned to the Turkish
+man-'o-war, that being the nearest. It was crowded with Turkish
+soldiers and sailors, their bright-red uniforms standing out boldly in
+the sunlight.
+
+A time torpedo was attached to the Turkish ship, and before it went off
+another torpedo was attached to the Italian corvette. Then the Holland
+went for the nearest transport, one carrying nearly two thousand
+foreign soldiers of various nationalities.
+
+Bang! crash! boom! went the torpedoes, and as the Turkish and the
+Italian ships sailed skyward, the Holland hurled two highite and one
+dynamite bomb at the transport.
+
+The execution was horribly perfect, for the upper deck of the
+transport, crowded with soldiers, was literally swept clean; men,
+deckhouse, masts, sails, smoke-stacks, everything being hurled into the
+sea. A blood-curdling yell went up, and instantly the steam whistles of
+numerous other transports sounded a note of warning.
+
+It was the beginning of the end and that end was triumph for the
+Americans.
+
+But the victory had been dearly bought, and would have been a defeat
+had it not been for the timely arrival of the wonderful Holland XI.
+
+By night what was left of the Allies' fleet had withdrawn to the
+darkness of the Atlantic Ocean.
+
+What a celebration there was when the news of the victory reached land!
+
+Bells were rung, cannon fired, bonfires lit, and the people went almost
+crazy.
+
+The name of the Holland XI. was on every lip, and everybody spoke of
+her young inventor and commander, Oscar Pelham.
+
+"A wonderful young man," said President Adams. "He will assuredly make
+his mark in the world, indeed he has already done so."
+
+He telegraphed his congratulations to the fleet at large and sent an
+extra message of thanks to Oscar, which pleased all on board of the
+submarine ship very much.
+
+Yet the President was very sad.
+
+He could not forget that his daughter, his only child, was in the hands
+of the enemy.
+
+The shock had been severe upon Mrs. Adams and she was now sick in bed
+and not likely to get up for a long time to come.
+
+It must not be supposed that the strain of the great naval contest had
+not told upon the Holland.
+
+Her machinery had been taxed to the utmost and needed overhauling, and
+several of her plates had to be re-riveted. Besides this, she needed
+another supply of ammunition.
+
+She accordingly put back to Boston and to the Charlestown Navy Yard,
+where the repairs were made with all possible speed.
+
+A week passed and all remained quiet.
+
+Then came news which was calculated to fill the stoutest heart with
+dread.
+
+A fleet of fifty Chinese, Japanese and Russian warships had set sail
+for Asiatic waters, bound, so it was surmised, for the western coast of
+the United States.
+
+The fleet would probably try to enter the Golden Gate and bombard San
+Francisco and Oakland!
+
+These twin cities now rivaled New York in size and their commercial
+value was enormous.
+
+During the past ten years thousands of Chinamen had been driven from
+San Francisco and other cities of California, and this made the
+Celestials wild to gain a footing in what had once been their beloved
+Chinatown.
+
+Soon came a message for Captain Oscar Pelham:
+
+    "You are wanted immediately on the pacific coast. If you do not
+    come we are doomed.
+
+                                                             "Chester."
+
+Alvin Chester was the Admiral in command of the Pacific Squadron of our
+navy. He was a fighter to the core and had been well acquainted with
+Oscar's father.
+
+"Wanted, eh?" mused the young captain of the new Holland. "All right,
+we'll go."
+
+"But how are you going?" demanded Andy. "It will take a long while to
+sail around Cape Horn."
+
+"We will go by the way of the Central American Canal," answered the
+young captain.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIII.
+
+                      THE CENTRAL AMERICAN CANAL.
+
+
+The great canal, in Central America, had just been completed by the
+United States at a cost of thirty-six millions of dollars.
+
+Other nations, especially France, had tried to push a canal through for
+years, but had failed.
+
+The United States now controlled all the land in the vicinity of the
+canal, and, as previously stated, thought seriously of taking these
+Central American States into our glorious union.
+
+"Can we get through the canal?" questioned Andy.
+
+"Yes. I figured it out long ago--when I thought we might be needed on
+the western coast."
+
+"Captain, you have a long head."
+
+"Thanks, Andy, no compliments. Let's go to dinner." And there the
+subject was dismissed.
+
+Thirty-six hours later found the new Holland on her way southward.
+
+Cuba was passed without special incident and then they ran into the
+Caribbean Sea.
+
+At the canal entrance a special message awaited them, urging them to
+come on with all possible speed.
+
+"The enemy are coming to the western coast as fast as they can," said
+Oscar, after reading the message to Andy. "It is feared that they
+intend to bombard the Hawaiian Islands on the way over, and capture
+Honolulu and other important seaport towns."
+
+"Can't we head them off?"
+
+"Perhaps that is what we will be called upon to do," answered the young
+captain of the Holland XI.
+
+The weather was very hot everywhere and in the interior of the
+submarine craft it was stifling.
+
+"This isn't so much fun," grumbled old George Dross. "I expect some day
+you'll find nothing but a grease spot left o' me."
+
+"All right, George, we'll give the spot decent burial," answered Oscar,
+dryly, and then a laugh went up.
+
+With no time to lose, preparations were made to go through the great
+canal with all speed.
+
+In the meantime the enemy heard of the proposed trip and it caused all
+foreign nations to worry a good deal.
+
+They knew that if once the new Holland got into the Pacific Ocean she
+could do incalculable damage to their warships.
+
+A plot was at once instituted to blow up several of the canal locks,
+thus rendering the artificial waterway useless.
+
+This was to be accomplished when the Holland was half way to the
+Pacific side, so that the submarine craft might be left high and dry
+some seventy miles from either coast.
+
+Ten miles from the Atlantic coast entrance, or more particularly the
+Caribbean Sea entrance, the Holland put up for a few hours at the town
+of Ambrose, a Spanish settlement.
+
+Oscar went ashore for despatches and with him went Andy, glad to have
+the chance of stretching his legs on Mother Earth once more.
+
+The despatches filled Oscar with suspicion, for there was one from the
+Pacific end of the canal which read as follows:
+
+"Be on your guard, or the Holland XI. will suffer while coming through
+the canal."
+
+"Humph! Now what does that mean?" muttered the young captain.
+
+"It means that there is more deviltry afoot," answered his lieutenant.
+"We must be wide-awake. Perhaps the Spaniards down here are not so
+friendly as they would like to appear."
+
+Feeling hungry, the pair entered a restaurant not far from the edge of
+the canal.
+
+They sat close to an open window and while eating, caught some talk of
+three Spaniards who rested in a small boat directly under the window.
+
+The talk was about the new Holland, and Oscar gathered that the
+foreigners were far from friendly to the craft.
+
+"I vish she vas sunk," growled one Spaniard.
+
+"Perhaps your vish vill come true, Carlos," said a second Spaniard.
+"Remember, Pargloss ees vide awake."
+
+"And Pargloss ees a vonderful man," added the third Spaniard.
+
+Then the three rowed away in the darkness.
+
+"Who can this Pargloss be?" mused Captain Oscar.
+
+"I don't know. There used to be a Nathan Pargloss in the Treasury
+Department, but he was kicked out on account of some crookedness."
+
+"Then perhaps he is the man, Andy. Perhaps he wants to get square with
+the United States."
+
+The young captain had struck the nail on the head.
+
+Nathan Pargloss was furious because he had been discharged from a
+position paying five thousand dollars per year.
+
+He was a dishonest man and for years had been in sympathy with Spain
+and other foreign nations.
+
+He had sold valuable treasury secrets to foreigners and the discovery
+of these actions had caused his dismissal.
+
+It was he who had concocted the scheme to blow up two of the canal
+locks when the new Holland should reach about the middle of the long
+water-course.
+
+All of the next day Oscar thought of Nathan Pargloss and of what the
+Spaniards had said.
+
+When the second lock was gained he spoke to the keeper about Pargloss.
+
+"Ha! I heard of him only yesterday!" cried the keeper. "He is around
+here somewhere."
+
+"Then we must set a trap and catch him," returned Oscar, decidedly. "I
+cannot risk the loss of the Holland at such an important time as this."
+
+It was decided to set a close watch all along the canal.
+
+Trustworthy men were hired at Oscar's expense, the young captain
+knowing full well that the Navy Department would reimburse him for any
+outlay thus made.
+
+The plan worked well, for about midnight a small boat was seen to
+approach the lock.
+
+It contained two men, Pargloss and a confederate.
+
+Pargloss' craft contained a large can of dynamite and this was placed
+close to the gate of the lock.
+
+Pargloss was about to depart when Oscar and several men fell upon him.
+
+"Halt!" ordered the young captain of the new Holland, and aimed a
+pistol at Pargloss' head.
+
+The wretched man, however, was game, and he flung himself upon the
+young captain and both tumbled over the brink of the lock into the
+waters below.
+
+Pargloss had Oscar by the neck and the young captain was in peril of
+either being choked to death or drowned.
+
+Oscar tried to free himself but in vain.
+
+Pargloss was a powerful man and could not be made to let go.
+
+In desperation, Oscar pulled the trigger of his pistol.
+
+He scarcely expected the weapon to go off, but it did, and the bullet
+struck Pargloss in the shoulder.
+
+The man was not seriously injured, but the sudden pain made him loosen
+his hold and in another instant Oscar was free.
+
+Coming to the surface he reached a ladder running up the side of the
+lock and soon found himself once more above the canal.
+
+In the meantime, Pargloss' confederate had been made a close prisoner
+by the others.
+
+"Where is Pargloss?" asked Andy.
+
+"In the canal. Watch for him, he must soon come up."
+
+They did watch, and in a few seconds the criminal appeared and gazed
+around him savagely.
+
+"Come up out of there!" ordered Oscar. "If you don't you are a dead
+man!"
+
+"I defy you! You shall never capture me!" shrieked Pargloss, and dove
+out of sight again.
+
+Ten minutes passed, but he did not come up.
+
+They watched in vain, running up and down the canal bank and bringing
+many torches to bear upon the scene.
+
+"He went under to stay under," was Andy's sober comment.
+
+Early in the morning they dragged the canal, and at the bottom came
+upon Pargloss' body.
+
+Rather than give himself up he had clung fast to an old tree stump and
+thus drowned himself!
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIV.
+
+                         CAST UPON THE SHORE.
+
+
+Forty-eight hours later found the Holland XI. out in the Pacific Ocean,
+on her way to the Golden Gate.
+
+The death of Pargloss and the capture of his confederate had put a
+damper on other plans to tamper with the Central American Canal, and no
+trouble was experienced in finishing the journey.
+
+Arriving in San Francisco, Oscar was much surprised to receive what was
+little short of an ovation by the citizens.
+
+All had heard of the wonderful work done by the new Holland and all
+wished to see the craft, her young commander and her brave crew.
+
+But time was precious and the submarine boat remained in San Francisco
+Bay but a few hours.
+
+A cablegram had come from the Far East, that the Hawaiian Islands were
+to be attacked and that the enemy wanted to use Honolulu as a base of
+supplies.
+
+At that time, Honolulu, the capital of the islands, had grown to be
+a city of three hundred thousand inhabitants. Many of the people were
+Americans and much of the money invested there had come from California.
+
+The Holland was soon bound for Honolulu, and this made a run of nearly
+ten days for the craft.
+
+"Now we are getting into the territory of earthquakes," remarked Andy.
+"I wonder what a strong under-water earthquake would do to us?"
+
+"I don't think I would care to experience an earthquake," replied
+Oscar. "We are having lively times enough fighting the enemy."
+
+The run to the Hawaiian Islands was made without trouble of any kind,
+excepting that the weather was hot and they had to come to the surface
+of the ocean every night to get cooled off.
+
+The harbor of Honolulu is an ideal one, situated behind a high series
+of rocks called Diamond Head.
+
+When the Holland came into view of Diamond Head, not a native vessel of
+any sort was in sight.
+
+"By Jove!" cried Oscar, suddenly. "Look!"
+
+He pointed to the very top of Diamond Head.
+
+From a tall flagpole situated there, floated a large flag of red,
+black, yellow and blue.
+
+It was the standard used by the Allies!
+
+"The enemy have captured the Islands!" ejaculated Andy.
+
+His words were true.
+
+Just three days before the new Holland reached there, the fleet of
+warships from Asiatic waters had arrived in front of Honolulu and
+demanded an immediate and unconditional surrender.
+
+The authorities would not surrender and the three American warships in
+the harbor, along with the shore forts, had done their best to hold the
+enemy at bay.
+
+But it was a vastly unequal contest from the start, and before sundown,
+the three American ships were annihilated, the forts reduced to ruins,
+and the capital taken by main force.
+
+For many years the Chinese had been very bitter against the Hawaiians,
+for they had been thrown out of the island States after Hawaii was
+annexed, and now when they came ashore from their warships they did
+everything they dared to make it unpleasant for the inhabitants.
+
+Had it not been for the Russians, every man, woman and child of
+Hawaiian birth would have been butchered.
+
+The majority of the foreign fleet had now sailed to capture other
+seaports on the islands.
+
+Eight big men-o'-war, however, lay close in Honolulu harbor, keeping
+watch over the town.
+
+Watching his chance that night, Oscar went ashore, and from several
+Americans gained a full knowledge of what had occurred.
+
+"We would still fight, were the outlook more hopeful," said one of the
+Americans, a Custom House official.
+
+"We will make it more hopeful," answered Oscar, grimly. "By morning not
+many foreign warships will be seen in this harbor."
+
+The young captain hurried back to the Holland and the submarine craft
+immediately sank out of sight and came around Diamond Head into the
+harbor. By the aid of a powerful glass they made out the location of
+the enemy's ships with ease.
+
+Then Oscar paid a long visit to the ammunition room and where a number
+of torpedoes were adjusted, and also a number of dynamite and highite
+bombs.
+
+The foreign ships rode at anchor, so that the bombs and torpedoes could
+be set off by means of a wire charged with electricity instead of the
+time fuses.
+
+"They shall all go up together," said the young captain. "It will be
+the greatest blow-up of the age."
+
+Again he sent word ashore, stating that all Americans must keep away
+from the water front between the hours of seven and eight o'clock the
+next morning.
+
+At midnight the Holland began to move around the bottom of Honolulu
+harbor, adjusting the torpedoes and bombs.
+
+The bombs were concealed in seaweed and floated on top of the water,
+close beside the ships they were to destroy.
+
+By six o'clock in the morning every instrument of destruction was in
+position, and all attached to the fatal electric wire.
+
+Those on board of the Holland were exhausted by their work, yet nobody
+thought of going to sleep.
+
+An early breakfast was had and then the Holland ran out of the harbor
+as far as the length of the electric wire permitted.
+
+Watching the foreign ships, Captain Oscar saw the sailors stirring and
+then heard the roll-calls sounding.
+
+The warships were crowded with Chinese, Japanese and Russians.
+
+These commanders had ordered fresh meat and vegetables to be brought
+on board their vessels at half-past seven, and when no native lighters
+came out with the things they grew very angry.
+
+"We are not to be disobeyed!" stormed one Chinese commander. "If that
+food is not forthcoming quickly, I will go ashore and fire the accursed
+city."
+
+Similar threats were made by the other commanders, and by quarter to
+eight some of them prepared to leave their ships, to put their threats
+into execution.
+
+"We will let them get ashore," said Oscar to his companions. "They will
+make good prisoners."
+
+The foreign commanders went ashore with much pomp, and hurried to the
+Custom House to see why their commands had not been obeyed.
+
+Oscar had ordered that any foreigners ashore should be made prisoners,
+yet as the warships still rode unmolested in the harbor, the Americans
+at the Government Building knew not what to do.
+
+If they made the commanders prisoners, and the plan of those on board
+of the Holland failed, it would go bad with the city people.
+
+But at ten minutes to eight came what appeared to be a terrific
+earthquake.
+
+There was a noise like a sharp crash of thunder, followed by broad
+sheets of fire playing across Honolulu harbor, and then those at
+a distance saw several of the foreign warships flying skyward and
+townward, blown into atoms.
+
+The air was filled with debris and the streets of Honolulu and the
+housetops were covered with bits of wreckage. In some instances the
+wreckage was on fire and produced other fires in the city, but these
+were rapidly extinguished.
+
+The native Hawaiian thought the end of the world had come and some of
+the most superstitious of them ran hither and thither, shrieking in
+terror.
+
+The explosion shook the Custom House and broke some of the glass in the
+windows.
+
+"Ha! What does that mean?" demanded one of the Chinese officers, who
+had come ashore.
+
+"It means that your ship is blown up and that you are our prisoner!"
+answered one of the Americans, and pointed a pistol squarely at his
+head.
+
+A wild scene followed, but the foreigners were outnumbered and soon
+all eight of those who had come ashore were made prisoners, and cast
+into one of the dungeons of the old fort. The sailors who had been left
+in charge of the small boats at the dock were either killed by the
+shock of the explosions, or shot down by sharpshooters stationed at a
+distance.
+
+The annihilation of many of the foreign warships was complete, and
+when the wreckage and the smoke cleared away, nothing remained in the
+harbor but several sunken hulks, the other ships having lost no time in
+leaving. The lives of all on board the sunken ships were also destroyed.
+
+Oscar came ashore at ten o'clock and the Americans nearly hugged the
+young captain to death.
+
+"You have saved us!" said one of the number. "That was the greatest
+move I ever witnessed in my life!"
+
+"Now we must watch for the return of the other warships," said the
+young captain.
+
+But he first wanted some more torpedoes. Fortunately these were close
+at hand, for Honolulu was an American base of supplies for warships
+sailing between San Francisco and the Philippines.
+
+That afternoon found the Holland lying off shore about two miles from
+the city.
+
+It was rumored that seven other foreign ships were coming, but so far
+they were still out of sight.
+
+Suddenly a strange rumble rent the air, coming from the depths of the
+sea.
+
+The terrific explosion of the morning had loosened some rocks of the
+reefs outside of the harbor and now followed a regular under-water
+earthquake.
+
+The disturbance was a violent one, and brought on a tidal wave which
+arose to a height of fifteen feet.
+
+"Hi, look!" screamed Andy to Oscar.
+
+Both were on the deck of the Holland at the time, and before they could
+go below the craft was caught by the tidal wave and carried rapidly
+toward shore.
+
+Over the beach swept the wave, carrying the Holland with it, a distance
+of two hundred feet and more.
+
+Then the wave went down almost as suddenly as it had arisen, and the
+young captain found his submarine craft high and dry on the rocks,
+three hundred feet from water deep enough to float her!
+
+There was great confusion on board, and in the midst of this came
+another alarm.
+
+"The foreign warships are in sight! They have spotted us and are
+running this way!"
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XV.
+
+                        TIDAL WAVES AND WHALES.
+
+
+It was a perilous situation, of this there could be no doubt.
+
+The tidal wave had cast the Holland XI. high and dry on the Hawaiian
+shore, where she lay as helpless as a whale on a grassy plain.
+
+In the offing loomed up three foreign warships, a Chinese, a Japanese
+and a Russian.
+
+The enemy had already sighted the new Holland, and were drawing closer
+to the curious-looking craft.
+
+The submarine boat had landed on the shore right side up, and Captain
+Oscar Pelham and Lieutenant Andy Greggs had just come to the little
+deck to view the situation.
+
+"We are knocked out this trip," groaned Andy. "As soon as they learn
+who we are they'll throw a shell this way and that will finish us."
+
+"Let us see if we can't train one of our guns on them," suggested the
+young captain.
+
+The word was passed and it was found that one gun could be trained on
+the Russian warship, which was coming up from the southward.
+
+The gun was loaded with a highite bomb and at the proper moment was
+touched off.
+
+Boom!
+
+Loud and clear the sound echoed over the Pacific Ocean and the shell
+exploded close to the deck of the Russian warship, causing death and
+destruction upon every hand.
+
+The effect of the awful shot was soon apparent, for those left on the
+warship lost no time in turning the vessel about and sailing out of
+range.
+
+The shot, however, was noticed by those on the Japanese and the Chinese
+cruisers, and soon they came in and let fly at the Holland XI.
+
+One solid shot plowed up the sand in front of the submarine craft,
+while several others struck the rocks behind, causing a shower of
+stones to cover the craft as with flying hail.
+
+"By Jove! But this is dangerous!" muttered Oscar. He turned to his men.
+"What do you wish to do, remain here or leave the Holland XI. and take
+to yonder wood?"
+
+"We'll do what you do," answered old George Dross.
+
+"I will never desert the Holland XI.!" answered the young captain,
+calmly.
+
+"Neither will I!" added Andy.
+
+"We'll all stay!" came in a shout. "Hurrah for Uncle Sam! We'll get the
+best of 'em yet!"
+
+"Give them another shell," went on Oscar. "Even if it doesn't hit them
+it may make them keep their distance."
+
+The shell was soon sent forth, but the enemy was out of range and the
+bomb did no further damage than to land in the body of a shark sporting
+in the offing.
+
+Then the three foreign ships got together and concocted a scheme to
+bombard the new Holland from three different points at the same time.
+
+Soon shot and shell were raining all around the submarine craft.
+
+One shell struck so close it smashed out one of the side windows,
+sending a shower of glass and sand into the little cabin.
+
+"This is hot!" cried Andy, and of a sudden came a yell from a man at
+the stern window, which was pointed out to sea.
+
+"The water! The water!" yelled the lookout. "It is rising again."
+
+His words were followed by another rumble, similar to that which they
+had before experienced, and looking toward the ocean all saw another
+tidal wave sweeping toward the shore.
+
+"Close up the deck!" ordered Oscar, hurriedly. "And, Marken, get some
+sort of cover for that broken window."
+
+Then the young captain turned to the old engineer.
+
+"We must take advantage of that wave when it strikes us," he said. "We
+are lying stern to the ocean. If we get afloat, start her backward with
+all power."
+
+"Aye, aye!" answered George Dross.
+
+Soon the sea could be heard rushing up the sand and then they found the
+new Holland rocking from side to side. But the water only came up to
+her windows and the submarine craft did nothing but slip a dozen feet
+closer to the Pacific.
+
+"Left!" muttered Andy, in disgust. "That wave was not strong enough."
+
+"Another is coming!" cried Oscar. "By Jove, look!"
+
+Far out to sea they saw the ocean becoming white with foam, while a
+very mountain of water loomed up. It had struck the Chinese cruiser and
+that ship had keeled over and lay a wreck in the boiling sea.
+
+Then the mighty torrent rushed up the beach, bringing with it driftwood
+and fish innumerable. It reached the new Holland, raised her up and
+whirled her around and around like a top.
+
+"No use to use our power!" yelled Oscar, that George Dross might hear
+him. "We are being carried further inland!"
+
+The young captain was right, and now came a thump and a bump, as the
+craft struck rocks and palm trees and then slid along a cliff. Oscar
+thought they might be carried directly to the center of the island,
+when of a sudden the tide turned and rolled back to the vast ocean. And
+they went with it!
+
+But those inside of the Holland XI. knew little now of where they were.
+Having gotten into deep water, the force of the tidal wave turned the
+craft completely over, and all those inside had all they could do to
+keep themselves from being smashed to death on walls or ceiling.
+
+But in less than three minutes the agitation was over and the new
+Holland righted herself. The water had come in at the broken window and
+this had to be pumped out with all rapidity. Had not one of the men
+placed a temporary plate over the window when first ordered to do so,
+the new Holland would surely have been swamped.
+
+Inside of half an hour the tidal disturbances were at an end and the
+ocean rolled as peacefully as before. Feeling they could now rise in
+safety, the young captain gave the necessary orders and they went up.
+
+The first sight which met their gaze filled them with wonder. All three
+of the foreign warships had been caught by the tidal wave and carried
+on the rocks, and there they lay, battered and broken almost beyond
+recognition.
+
+Sailors and soldiers lay in the wreckage or floating helpless on the
+tide.
+
+A few had gone ashore, but these the Hawaiians had either shot down or
+made prisoners.
+
+"Our work here is done," said Oscar. "Let us go back to Honolulu and
+see what damage has been done there."
+
+His orders were obeyed and at Honolulu they found much of the shipping
+a wreck, yet but few lives had been lost.
+
+The loss of the foreign ships was hailed with great delight and Oscar
+and his crew were entertained in fine style for the remainder of that
+day and also the next.
+
+In the meantime the Holland XI. was repaired, making her once more as
+good as new.
+
+Everybody wondered what had become of the balance of the foreign fleet
+which had set sail for San Francisco from Asiatic waters.
+
+"They must be somewhere in these waters," said Andy.
+
+"Perhaps they have pushed on to the United States," answered Captain
+Oscar.
+
+The young commander of the submarine craft was right.
+
+Thirty-two of the foreign warships had pushed on, and word to this
+effect was brought to Honolulu the next day by a steamship which had
+run away from them by sheer good luck.
+
+"That ends our stay here," said Oscar.
+
+And within the hour the new Holland left the Hawaiian Islands behind,
+the people of Honolulu cheering lustily as the craft left the harbor.
+
+The air was all that could be desired and the run toward the Golden
+Gate was made for days without anything of special interest happening.
+
+Sometimes they put out a small drag net in which they caught many fish,
+which, properly cooked, were no mean addition to their table.
+
+"If the weather holds out, we'll be in sight of California in two
+days," observed Oscar, one evening.
+
+"And I'll be glad of it," returned Andy. "I'll tell you what, there is
+nothing like the old States, after all!"
+
+"Right you are, Andy!"
+
+The night was a hot one, and to get air, the new Holland came to the
+surface and the trap-door of the deck was left wide open.
+
+Oscar went to bed early and had been asleep less than an hour when a
+strange rocking motion of the submarine awoke him.
+
+"Hullo, something is wrong!" he cried, and slipped into his clothing.
+The rocking motion continued and he heard cries from several of his
+crew.
+
+"We have sailed into a school of whales!" announced Andy, coming to him.
+
+"A school of whales!"
+
+"Exactly. They are around us as thick as bees around a pot of honey.
+Just look!"
+
+Oscar ran to one of the windows and gazed out.
+
+His chum was right. Whales were on every hand, so thick that the
+submarine boat could scarcely move among them.
+
+"This is the oddest yet!" was Oscar's comment. "We had better close the
+trap-door and go down, before a whale gets into the screw and disables
+it."
+
+He had just given the order to close the trap when there came a great
+shock from above, followed by a dripping of water.
+
+One of the more sportive whales had thrown himself into the air,
+intending to come down on the Holland XI. and crush it.
+
+[Illustration: THE WHALE INTENDED TO CRUSH THE BOAT.]
+
+The whale had struck the trap-door opening head first, and now his head
+was as tight as if in a bear trap, sticking six feet and more down the
+narrow companionway, leaving his mighty tail to flop above, high in the
+air!
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XVI.
+
+                        SAVING THE MERCHANTMAN.
+
+
+"Held--with a whale in us for a mast!" roared old George Dross. "Hang
+me, ef this isn't the wust yet!"
+
+"We must get rid of that whale!" cried Captain Oscar. "If we don't he
+may turn the Holland over, with that trap-door open!"
+
+"All hands get something and shove him back!" put in Andy Greggs.
+
+"We can't do it," answered Oscar. "Hold, I have it!"
+
+With all speed he ran to the ammunition room and soon returned with a
+small shell, of the kind usually used for signaling purposes.
+
+This he rammed into the mouth of the whale, while the huge creature
+strained and puffed and turned, rocking the new Holland violently.
+
+"Run away!" he cried, and set fire to the fuse of the shell.
+
+All got out of sight as speedily as possible, and then waited.
+
+Fifteen seconds passed and then the shell went off, with a muffled
+roar.
+
+The head of the whale was torn to shreds, fat and blood spattering all
+sides of the companionway and the apartment around it.
+
+With the head torn away, the body slid from the top of the Holland XI.
+into the sea.
+
+"We are free!" gasped Andy, as soon as he could speak.
+
+"Shut the trap!" ordered Oscar, and it was done, old George Dross
+cleaning off the slide with a broom.
+
+Then the order came to sink the new Holland and they went down in the
+very midst of the whales, who had parted for the instant after the
+explosion and the sight of their headless companion.
+
+"That was an adventure I don't care to repeat," remarked Oscar, when
+all danger was passed. "Who would have thought of a whale trying to get
+into the Holland XI.?"
+
+"Reckon he knew a good thing when he saw it," grinned Andy.
+
+It took quite some work to clean up the mess and there was little sleep
+for anybody for the balance of that night.
+
+The next day came a thunder storm.
+
+The lightning was terrific and when the Holland XI. came up for
+some fresh air it seemed to play all around the steel plates of the
+submarine ship.
+
+One of the men went on deck and was hurled backward by the shock, with
+such force that he died an hour later, having had his skull fractured.
+
+This was the first death which had occurred on board of the new
+Holland, and it cast a gloom over everybody.
+
+The trap was closed and the vessel sunk thirty feet below the surface.
+
+Here all was silent, for the heavy storm above could not reach them at
+such a depth.
+
+The body of the dead man was placed in a canvas shroud and consigned to
+the ocean, Oscar reading a chapter from the Bible and making a brief
+address and prayer.
+
+Then they resumed the course eastward.
+
+Twenty-four hours later the storm had passed away and the lookout
+announced several steamships in sight.
+
+As they came closer they made out an American steamship loaded with
+merchandise for the Philippines.
+
+The merchantman was being chased by two Japanese warships.
+
+The warships had already sent a ball through the merchantman's upper
+works, but the latter still held to her course.
+
+Those on board knew that it was to them a matter of life or death.
+
+Should they surrender to the enemy they would most likely all be
+butchered on the spot.
+
+"Here is work for us!" said Oscar, after surveying the chase through
+his glass. "We must get after those foreigners at once."
+
+Down went the Holland XI. to a distance of fifteen feet.
+
+Then a course was laid straight for the nearest of the Japanese
+warships.
+
+The crafts soon came together and a torpedo was fastened to the enemy
+close to the stern.
+
+Then the new Holland sped off to where the second Japanese warship was
+coming on.
+
+Those on the first ship were in the act of planting a broadside into
+the merchantman when there came a rumble and a roar from the ocean, and
+the ship sailed skyward, blown up as the Holland XI. had already blown
+up so many others.
+
+It was a frightful spectacle, that lurid flash, that thunderous report,
+and then the wreckage sailing in all directions and commingled with the
+torn and mutilated bodies of the Japanese sailors and officers.
+
+The sight held those on the merchantman spell-bound.
+
+"She has blown up her magazines!" was the cry. "Heaven be praised that
+it is so!"
+
+Then all attention was placed on the second Japanese warship, which was
+by far the larger of the two.
+
+She was coming on swiftly, but now she turned and fled, all on board
+filled with terror.
+
+"We are saved!" cried those on the merchantman.
+
+All were filled with wonder. Nobody could understand what had caused so
+speedy a turn of the dire situation.
+
+But when the new Holland came up and Captain Oscar showed himself with
+an American flag in his hand a mighty cheer went up.
+
+"It is the Holland XI.!"
+
+"Three cheers for the boat and the men that saved us!"
+
+Of course Captain Oscar was invited on board of the merchantman, and he
+went, accompanied by Andy and George Dross.
+
+All crowded around the young commander to learn how the destruction of
+the Japanese vessel had been accomplished.
+
+From those on the merchantman Oscar learned that over thirty of the
+foreign warships had been seen off the Golden Gate, and that San
+Francisco and Oakland were expecting a bombardment to begin at any
+moment.
+
+"If that's the case we have no right to delay here," said the young
+captain.
+
+Soon the Holland XI. was again speeding eastward.
+
+A sharp lookout was kept for the foreign ships.
+
+That evening they came upon half a dozen, riding close together.
+
+Small boats were passing from one warship to another, as if an active
+consultation of some sort was going on.
+
+"They are plotting something special, and I know it," said Oscar to
+Andy.
+
+"What could they plot--the bombardment of San Francisco?"
+
+"Perhaps worse. I wish I could find out."
+
+No sooner had the thought entered the young captain's head than he
+resolved to act upon it.
+
+He would come up directly in the rear of one of the ships and try to go
+aboard in the dark.
+
+It was a risky thing to do, but Oscar was far from being a coward.
+
+Indeed, nobody in the whole navy was more daring than this young
+inventor.
+
+The ships comprised two Chinese cruisers, two Japanese cruisers and two
+English men-of-war.
+
+The conference was being held on board one of the British ships.
+
+As silently as a shadow the new Holland glided along under the Pacific
+Ocean until directly under the stern of the British ship, which was
+named the Corcoran.
+
+All was dark here, for the lights from the deck could not reach the
+spot.
+
+With caution the trap-door of the Holland was opened.
+
+Oscar came up and saw a large port open in the Corcoran to admit the
+evening breeze.
+
+He climbed to this and saw that the apartment beyond was empty.
+
+From a distance came a murmur of voices and from overhead the steady
+tramping of feet.
+
+"Remain here for me," he said to Andy, who was on the deck. "Be
+prepared to let the Holland XI. down the instant I come on board again."
+
+Then the young captain passed into the Corcoran and out of sight of his
+companions.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XVII.
+
+                           PLAYING THE SPY.
+
+
+Captain Oscar Pelham knew only too well that he carried his life in his
+hands.
+
+He was in the heart of the enemy's domain, and they would not hesitate
+to kill him on sight.
+
+He must be cautions, for the ship was a strange one to him and it would
+be easy to make a false move and thus expose himself.
+
+In one hand he carried a long knife and in his belt rested a brace of
+pistols.
+
+He walked silently to the end of the stateroom he had entered, and
+through a half-open door saw a narrow passageway leading into a large
+and well-furnished cabin.
+
+From this cabin came the murmur of voices which had first greeted his
+ears.
+
+The British commander of the ship was holding a conference with the two
+Chinese captains of the warships lying close alongside.
+
+As Oscar took a step forward, a negro suddenly appeared, from another
+stateroom.
+
+"Hi, you----" began the negro, when Oscar caught him by the throat.
+
+"Silence! if you value your life!" muttered the young captain of the
+new Holland. "Say another word and I will kill you!"
+
+The negro was powerful, and instead of keeping silent he tried to throw
+Oscar off. Both went down to the floor and the negro strove to cry out.
+
+It was a fatal move.
+
+Down came the keen knife, straight into the negro's body, and he lay
+still where he had fallen.
+
+Oscar withdrew the bloody blade with a shudder.
+
+He hated to take human life thus, but it had been rendered absolutely
+necessary.
+
+He stowed the body under a bunk and threw a blanket before it.
+
+Then wiping the knife on a curtain, he tiptoed his way closer to the
+cabin.
+
+"I do not see how your plan can succeed," he heard the English captain
+say.
+
+"But it will succeed," replied one of the Chinese captains, with a
+strong accent. "Chan Lee and I have it well in hand."
+
+"Then you must have a strong hold upon President Adams."
+
+"We have."
+
+"I doubt if he will agree, even so. Why, sir, if he did that, he would
+be a traitor to his country--a regular Benedict Arnold."
+
+At this both Chinese captains shrugged their bony shoulders and drew
+down their almond-shaped eyes.
+
+"That is nothing to us," remarked the captain, who had heretofore
+remained silent.
+
+"He won't do it, I tell you."
+
+"Captain Gresson forgets that the President has lost his daughter,"
+went on the other Chinese captain.
+
+"Ha! So that is the way the wind blows!" ejaculated Captain Gresson.
+
+"You are now on the right path."
+
+"The girl was abducted."
+
+The two Chinese captains bowed.
+
+"You have her on board of your ship?"
+
+"No, she is many miles from here."
+
+"Where?"
+
+Again the two Chinese captains shrugged their shoulders.
+
+"Let us talk of something else," said one.
+
+"It is a clever plan, but a horrible one in the bargain," was the
+honest comment of the British captain. "We don't make war in that
+fashion."
+
+"The Chinese fight as pleases them," answered one of the yellow
+commanders.
+
+"Yes, I know. But I don't think you will succeed, anyway."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"President Adams would rather see his child killed before his face than
+prove a traitor to his country. I know these Americans."
+
+"Good for the Briton!" muttered Oscar. "His heart is in the right
+place, even if he is an enemy."
+
+"We shall see!" muttered one of the yellow captains. "But what of this
+attack on San Francisco?"
+
+"Orders are to commence at sunrise to-morrow."
+
+"And how many ships will take part?"
+
+"Seven."
+
+"But seven?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And the remainder?"
+
+"The remainder will sail up the coast under the direction of the
+Russian admiral."
+
+"To bombard the Alaskan coast and try to retake the territory," said
+the Chinese captain, with a shrewd laugh. "The great Russian bear has
+always wanted Alaska back, since gold was discovered at the Klondyke
+and elsewhere."
+
+"Well, who can blame him?" answered the English captain. "What do you
+ask at the hands of President Adams--a slice of California, where you
+can locate a new Chinatown--and if he won't give it to you you will
+kill his daughter."
+
+The talk continued for several minutes more, when there came a call
+from the deck.
+
+"I will come in a moment," said the English captain, and arising he
+hurried to the passageway in which Oscar was hiding.
+
+The Englishman passed him, but not so the yellow captains.
+
+One stumbled over a rug and pitched forward, clutching at the curtains
+which concealed Oscar.
+
+Down came the curtains.
+
+"Walila! Cher walila!" roared the second yellow captain. "A spy! He
+must be killed!"
+
+"A spy!" cried the British captain.
+
+"Ha! You are a stranger to us!" came from Captain Gresson, and he eyed
+Oscar sharply.
+
+"Hush! Not so loud!" said Oscar, and raised his hand, warningly.
+
+He saw that he was in a bad situation--that nothing but a clever ruse
+could save his life.
+
+"Why be still, young sir?" demanded the British captain, but in a lower
+tone.
+
+"We may be overheard," whispered Oscar. "I come to you on a secret
+errand. Is the admiral on board?"
+
+"No, the admiral was here, but left an hour ago."
+
+"To go up the Alaskan coast?"
+
+"I believe so. But what is that to you? Who are you?"
+
+"I am Barton Peeks," answered Oscar.
+
+He mentioned the name of a notorious British spy who had been captured
+in St. Louis, shortly after the great war broke out.
+
+"Barton Peeks!" ejaculated Captain Gresson. "Where have you been? How
+did you get here?"
+
+"It is a long story, captain," replied Oscar. "I was placed under
+arrest by those clever Yankees, but I found a friend and escaped one
+dark night in a heavy storm. But I have important news for the admiral.
+If he goes to the Alaskan coast all is lost."
+
+"Then you thought he was on board this vessel?"
+
+"I did; otherwise I would never have come on board."
+
+"How did you get here?"
+
+"In a submarine boat captured from the Yankees."
+
+"Not the Holland XI.?"
+
+"No, but a craft very much like her. We captured her while she was
+coming through the Central American Canal. Six of the men on board were
+killed. The engineer took the oath of allegiance to England and I got
+aboard a new crew of men I could trust. We shall now be able to give
+the Yankees a dose of our own medicine, captain."
+
+"It is a strange story, Peeks--a strange tale, truly. But you were
+always a wizard, by the war reports--captured to-day and free
+to-morrow. Where is your craft?"
+
+"At the stern. Will you come on board?"
+
+"I am needed on deck now."
+
+"I will go aboard and wait for you, for I want you to help me.
+Everything is going wrong, and this movement on Alaska is the worst of
+all."
+
+"I would like to see that strange under-water ship," spoke up one of
+the yellow captains, who had listened to the talk with interest.
+
+"Then come with me," said Oscar, grimly. "And you'll be a prisoner in
+five minutes more," he added under his breath.
+
+The turn of affairs delighted him, for the Chinese commander was the
+same who had spoken about President Adams' daughter. Once he was a
+prisoner, Oscar was certain he could wring the yellow wretch's secret
+from him.
+
+"Remain here for a moment," said Oscar, as they neared the stern. "My
+men are on guard and may not like to see me with a stranger, after
+my telling them I had come on a secret mission. I will be back in a
+minute."
+
+The Chinese captain agreed to wait, and Oscar hurried to the rear rail
+of the Corcoran.
+
+He leaned far over, expecting to catch a dim view of the new Holland
+underneath.
+
+Then a cry of dismay burst from his lips.
+
+The submarine craft was gone!
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+                      THE CAPTURE OF HANG CHANG.
+
+
+"Gone!"
+
+Such was the single word which escaped from Captain Oscar Pelham's lips
+as he gazed over the stern of the British warship into the darkness of
+the Pacific Ocean.
+
+In vain he scanned the waves, to the rear, to the larboard and
+starboard. It was all to no purpose; the submarine craft had vanished
+utterly.
+
+What had become of her? Had those on board become scared and deserted
+him?
+
+The thought was agony. Andy and old George Dross deserting him? Never!
+
+And yet, why had they gone? Was it possible that men from other
+warships had come up and captured his beloved ship and made prisoners
+of all on board.
+
+He looked back of him, and saw Hang Chang, the Chinese captain who had
+expected to inspect the Holland, coming slowly toward him.
+
+"Is something wrong?" questioned the Celestial.
+
+"The boat--it must have sunk," said Oscar. He knew not what to say.
+
+At this the second yellow commander plucked his companion by the sleeve.
+
+"Perhaps he has no boat," he whispered in Chinese. "It may be a ruse.
+He may have been deceiving Captain Gresson."
+
+At this Hang Chang shrugged his bony shoulders.
+
+"It may be so. Yet the English captain must know him, or all would not
+have gone so smoothly in the cabin."
+
+In the meantime, Oscar was straining his eyes as never before, in his
+search for the Holland.
+
+What was that? A tiny ray of light, shooting up from the dark green
+depths of the ocean. It was the Holland XI., moving silently and slowly
+to her old position under the stern. Soon she came up and the trap-door
+opened noiselessly.
+
+"My vessel is back, sir," announced Oscar, with a bow. "If it will
+please your highness to visit my filthy quarters I will do what I can
+to make his visit full of pleasure."
+
+His form of address was in the regular Chinese style--for a Chinaman
+always depreciates his own residence--and Hang Chang smiled broadly.
+
+"Thank you, I will go," he said, his suspicions removed.
+
+Oscar led the way and the Celestial followed. The second Chinaman held
+back.
+
+"Have a care!" he called out in Chinese.
+
+By this time Oscar and Hang Chang were on the deck of the new Holland.
+Andy was looking up the companionway filled with wonder.
+
+"Sixteen, nine," said Oscar, to his lieutenant.
+
+During their spare time Oscar had formulated a secret language and had
+taught it to all on board of the Holland XI.
+
+Each number meant something important.
+
+Sixteen meant, "There is an enemy here." Nine meant, "Go down as
+quickly as possible."
+
+Andy understood and passed the word along.
+
+Oscar was on the companionway and Hang Chang was following him, when
+all of a sudden an alarm arose on board of the Corcoran.
+
+The body of the negro had been discovered and all was confusion.
+
+"A murder!" shrieked the second yellow captain. "I knew something was
+wrong. Hang Chang, come back!"
+
+Soon faces appeared at the stern of the Corcoran, and a pistol was
+leveled at those below.
+
+"Come back here!"
+
+"I--I will go back," stammered Hang Chang, in alarm.
+
+"Not much!" retorted Oscar, and seizing the Celestial by the foot he
+gave a jerk, which landed Hang Chang flat on his back at the bottom of
+the companionway.
+
+"Down, quick!" cried the young captain, and in a trice the trap in the
+deck was closed and the Holland XI. began to sink.
+
+They were not an instant too soon, for just as the waters of the
+Pacific closed over the craft a gun was trained on her from one of the
+Chinese warships.
+
+Bang! and the ball grazed the upper plates of the submarine boat.
+
+But before another shot could be fired the new Holland was safe, having
+slid under the Corcoran and away out of sight and hearing.
+
+While this was going on Oscar had thrown himself on Hang Chang.
+
+The Chinese captain was a powerful man and realizing that he had been
+caught in a trap he resolved to sell his life as dearly as possible.
+
+He was on the floor, but soon he struggled to his knees and tried to
+throw Oscar.
+
+Over and over went the pair, bumping against the companionway ladder
+and the hard steel walls of the ship. Then the Chinaman grabbed Oscar
+by the throat.
+
+"Die, dog!" he hissed in his native tongue. "If I have to go, you shall
+go with me!"
+
+All was becoming black before Oscar's eyes. He tried to get his
+breath--to cry out. All in vain.
+
+The young captain felt his senses leaving him, when somebody rushed
+up. It was Andy, who had left the spot to give directions to the
+engineer.
+
+Without hesitation Andy leaped at Hang Chang.
+
+One heavy blow behind the ear staggered the Chinaman and another under
+the jaw made him relax his hold and stagger to the lower step of the
+ladder.
+
+Then Oscar recovered sufficiently to add another blow, on the nose,
+which drew blood and caused Hang Chang to become partly unconscious.
+
+"Bring the irons," said Oscar, to one of the ship's hands who was
+passing.
+
+The irons were speedily brought, and by the time Hang Chang was himself
+again he was bound, hands and feet, and chained to one of the walls of
+the Holland XI.
+
+He raved, swore and prayed to his gods for deliverance. He called Oscar
+all the vile names his tongue could frame, and finally fell in a fit
+from which he did not recover for hours.
+
+"I tricked him nicely," said the young captain, with a grim smile.
+
+"But what made you bring him on board?" asked Andy.
+
+"He holds an important secret. He knows all about the abduction of
+President Adams' daughter."
+
+"Oh! Then you have made quite a haul."
+
+"Yes."
+
+The appearance and disappearance of the new Holland had caused much
+consternation on board of all the warships congregated outside of San
+Francisco harbor.
+
+Several on board of the Corcoran had known the celebrated spy, Barton
+Peeks, and from these men the English captain gathered that he was an
+entirely different looking individual from Oscar.
+
+"We have been duped!" said Captain Gresson. "That rascal must have been
+a Yankee."
+
+"Then his submarine boat must have been the Holland XI.," added his
+first officer.
+
+The foreign ships were very uneasy, yet just at present those on them
+had nothing to fear.
+
+The course of the new Holland was straight for San Francisco.
+
+"We must inform the naval authorities of what has been done at
+Honolulu, and of the expedition to Alaskan waters," said Oscar.
+
+The new Holland arrived at San Francisco without anything unusual
+happening, and here Oscar spent a full hour with his superiors.
+
+The naval commander was well satisfied with the work at Hawaii, and
+astonished that the bombardment of the Golden Gate was to be little
+more than a ruse.
+
+"We must send a strong fleet to Alaskan waters at once," he said. "And
+the new Holland must go with our warships."
+
+To hear was to obey, and soon Oscar had received his orders in full,
+and was once more on board of his submarine craft.
+
+He said nothing to the admiral about Hang Chang, wishing to discover
+for himself what had become of Martha Adams.
+
+He was not thinking of the one hundred thousand dollars reward offered
+for her recovery.
+
+He could think only of her beautiful form, her deep brown eyes and that
+silvery voice which had so thrilled him in former days.
+
+He knew that she was the President's daughter, and stood high in
+society. Yet he was a captain in the navy and the inventor of a boat
+which had performed wonders in this fearful war, and there was no
+telling how high he might stand at the end of the contest.
+
+From the admiral he learned that the navy department contemplated the
+construction of three other vessels similar to the Holland XI.
+
+If these were built, Oscar would be put in command of the submarine
+squadron, with the rank of commodore.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIX.
+
+                   NEWS OF THE PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER.
+
+
+"Now where, Oscar?"
+
+It was Andy who asked the question.
+
+"Back to those ships we left several hours ago."
+
+"Are we to blow them up?"
+
+"Blow up as many as we can."
+
+"And after that?"
+
+"We are off for the coast of Alaska."
+
+"Gee-rusalem! That's a long trip!"
+
+"So it is. But there may be lots of glory in it. And Andy?"
+
+"Well."
+
+"You want to make a good record for yourself."
+
+"How so?"
+
+"The government is going to build three more ships like the Holland."
+
+"That means that they will want three more captains."
+
+"Exactly, Andy, and I intend to put in a good word for you," added
+Oscar.
+
+"Thank you, Oscar, you always were the best chum in the world. But if I
+get one of those boats I'll hate to leave you."
+
+"I may become commodore of the squadron and if so I'll see that you are
+always close to me."
+
+It was now coming morning, and by the gray light of dawn they soon came
+upon the two Japanese and two Chinese ships getting ready to bombard
+San Francisco and Oakland.
+
+The Corcoran and her sister ship had disappeared.
+
+"I'm not sorry about the Corcoran," mused Oscar. "Captain Gresson
+seemed a pretty decent sort of fellow. I would hate to blow him up."
+
+"Suppose Martha Adams is on board one of those ships?" asked Andy.
+
+At this remark the young captain could not help shuddering.
+
+"Don't! It makes me heartsick to think of it," he groaned.
+
+"Why don't you make Hang Chang talk?"
+
+"I will make him talk! I'll make him tell me everything!" cried Oscar,
+with sudden determination.
+
+He had tried to talk to the Chinaman before, but Hang Chang had refused
+to open his lips.
+
+The Celestial was still chained to the wall. He sat on the floor, his
+knees drawn up to his chin, a sullen look on his thin, yellow face.
+
+"Hang Chang, I want to talk to you," began Oscar.
+
+To this there was no answer. Indeed, the Celestial did not even lift
+his eyes.
+
+"Do you hear? I want to talk to you. If you value your life you will
+speak."
+
+At this the Chinese captain shifted uneasily.
+
+"What does the Yankee wish me to say?" he asked, with a treacherous
+look from his almond-shaped eyes.
+
+"I want you to tell me the truth about President Adams' daughter. Where
+is she?"
+
+"She is--safe."
+
+"You have her a prisoner."
+
+"How does the Yankee know that? Ha! You overheard my talk on the
+Corcoran."
+
+"I did. Where is she? I demand to know."
+
+"She is, as I said before, safe." And the Celestial grinned wickedly.
+
+"Hang Chang, you are playing with fire. We Americans are civilized and
+do not usually harm the prisoners we take. But unless you tell me what
+I want to know it will go hard with you. Martha Adams is too good to
+remain a prisoner of the yellow dogs who are holding her."
+
+"There is an easy way for her to become free."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Let your President do as China demands and she shall be returned to
+her father safe and sound."
+
+"You talk as the savage Indians of years ago used to talk. I demand to
+know at once where she is."
+
+"I have nothing more to say."
+
+"Do you value your life? Would you not give something to be set again
+at liberty?"
+
+"No."
+
+"You tell a lie when you say that. You do value your life, and it would
+be far sweeter for you to go free than to suffer the torture which
+awaits you if you refuse to speak."
+
+"Torture!"
+
+"Aye, torture; Hang Chang--torture worse than any you ever inflicted on
+Japanese or Tartar--a torture which will make you writhe and scream in
+spite of yourself."
+
+Oscar had no intention of torturing the yellow wretch, but he spoke so
+earnestly that Hang Chang shivered and his yellow face blanched.
+
+"I thought the Yankees did not torture their prisoners," he faltered.
+
+"Usually they do not, but there are exceptions to all cases. I think
+much of Martha Adams, and am bound to restore her to her parents. If
+you do not tell me where she is you shall suffer all the horrors of the
+Pit of Everlasting Fire! I will kill you by inches! You shall thirst,
+you shall starve, you shall burn, all at the same time. Now take your
+choice."
+
+"I--I will say nothing," responded Hang Chang, but his lips trembled so
+that he could scarcely frame the words.
+
+Oscar turned to Andy, who had come up.
+
+"Lieutenant Greggs, see to it that the foot plates are made red-hot,"
+he ordered. "Perhaps he will talk after his feet have been well warmed."
+
+"No! no! Do not scorch my feet!" wailed the yellow wretch. "I suffered
+that once--from the Borneo pirates--I could not stand it again."
+
+"And, Lieutenant Greggs, see that the branding iron is also made
+red-hot," went on Oscar, calmly. "Hang Chang needs a mark of beauty
+upon each cheek and upon his chin."
+
+"No! no! no! I will not stand it! It is inhuman!" shrieked the
+Celestial. "Do not touch me! I--I will tell all I know, if only you
+will let me go!" And he fell upon his bony knees in front of Oscar.
+
+"Then tell me at once where Martha Adams is. And mind I will not let
+you go until you have proved your words true."
+
+"And if I tell you the truth will you let me go?" questioned Hang
+Chang, eagerly.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"She is on board of our warship, the Green Dragon."
+
+"You are positive of this?"
+
+"I swear it!" And Hang Chang beat upon his forehead with his hand.
+
+"Where is the Green Dragon now?"
+
+"Many miles from here."
+
+"I asked where?"
+
+"I cannot tell exactly. She sailed from Chesapeake Bay southward to the
+coast of Cuba."
+
+"Is she with other warships?"
+
+"No, she is alone, for with the President's daughter on board, it was
+thought best by our admiral not to let her go into any fights."
+
+At this Oscar drew a long breath. At least for the present this lovely
+girl was safe.
+
+"Have you informed President Adams that you are holding his daughter?"
+
+"Not yet, but we expect to do so soon."
+
+"And you intended to give her up only when he should grant what China
+demanded?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"What ships have you here?"
+
+"The Pekin and the Shanghai."
+
+"You are certain she is on board neither of these?"
+
+"She is thousands of miles from here, on the Green Dragon, as I swore
+before."
+
+"Very well, I will take your word for it. But if you have played me
+false let me say no torture I can think of shall be spared you."
+
+"I have told the simple truth. When will you let me go?"
+
+"As soon as I can prove your words. I have work ahead now, and when
+that is done I shall go in search of the Green Dragon."
+
+"And in the meantime?"
+
+"In the meantime you must remain on board of the Holland. But you will
+fare as well as any of us."
+
+"Then you will unchain me?"
+
+"No, I cannot as yet trust you that far."
+
+"And when you have found the Green Dragon, what then?"
+
+"I will try to make terms with those on board."
+
+"What terms?" questioned Hang Chang, eagerly.
+
+"Wait and you will see," replied Oscar gravely.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XX.
+
+                       THE CAVE UNDER THE OCEAN.
+
+
+By the time Oscar's interview with Hang Chang was over it was broad
+daylight.
+
+The two Japanese and two Chinese warships had drawn as closely as
+possible to San Francisco and Oakland, and now they began to bombard
+those cities with all their power.
+
+Shot and shell told heavily along the water front, but not one of
+either struck into the heart of the cities, for the foreign guns could
+not carry so far.
+
+The guns of the forts in the harbor responded nobly and a well-directed
+fire soon put one of the Chinese cruisers, the Pekin, out of the race
+forever.
+
+The Pekin was a sister ship to the Tien-Tsin, which the Holland had
+annihilated on her maiden trip at the opening of the great war.
+
+She carried many guns and over eight hundred sailors and officers, and
+was certainly a formidable fighting machine.
+
+This was Hang Chang's vessel, but Oscar did not let his prisoner know
+of this.
+
+"No use to make him feel worse than he does," said the young captain to
+his lieutenant. "He may go and do something desperate. You know some
+Chinese commit suicide after defeat."
+
+"But not Hang Chang," answered Andy. "He's too much of a coward."
+
+Boom! crash! came a rumble and a roar, and the Pekin was seen to be
+enveloped in a sheet of flame from end to end. She did not sink, and
+soon her magazines caught fire, and then it was the old story over
+again of a cruiser blown into atoms.
+
+The annihilation of the Pekin was speedily followed by the wrecking of
+the first of the Japanese warships, which had the keel split into three
+parts. The Japanese could not understand what struck them and scores of
+them leaped overboard, to be speedily pulled under by the vast suction
+when the ship suddenly settled with a plunge, and went from sight
+forever.
+
+The alarm was now great on board of the second Japanese warship, the
+Tokio, for those on her had seen that something was around in the
+water--a deadly enemy. The commander at once issued orders that the
+vessel withdraw from the fight and run from the vicinity.
+
+This sudden withdrawal proved almost fatal for the Holland XI. without
+the Japanese being aware of what they were doing. As the great warship
+made a turn, one of her anchors slipped overboard, and the anchor chain
+became entangled in the screw of the submarine craft, hauling her
+around like a flash.
+
+"Something is wrong with the screw!" announced George Dross to Oscar
+through the speaking tube.
+
+"Turn off the power."
+
+"I have already done so."
+
+"We are being dragged backward!" put in Andy, as he looked out of one
+of the glass windows.
+
+The young captain ran to the rear lookout and made an examination.
+He saw the anchor chain and saw how the new Holland was being towed
+backward by the cruiser overhead. Then the chain became tighter, as
+those on board of the Tokio tried to recover the anchor which had
+dropped overboard.
+
+But the power overhead was not equal to the task of bringing in
+the anchor with such a weight attached, and presently the task was
+abandoned for the time being.
+
+"I reckon they are thinking only of escaping from the hidden monster
+that blew up the other warships," said Captain Oscar, and in this
+surmise he was correct.
+
+On and on swept the Japanese cruiser, with steam at full power and
+every sail set. The wind was almost due north and the course of the
+vessel lay in that direction.
+
+"Where can she be going?" asked Andy.
+
+"Perhaps she is going to join that fleet in Alaskan waters."
+
+"By Jove! That's so, Oscar. Perhaps those English ships have gone to
+join that fleet, too."
+
+"More than likely."
+
+A consultation was now held as to what could be done concerning the
+entangled screw.
+
+With the Holland being towed at such a speed it was impossible to go
+outside and untwist the anchor chain.
+
+As the bow of the submarine craft was pointed away from the Tokio, it
+was equally impossible to fire a torpedo at the Japanese vessel and
+thus blow her up.
+
+"Besides, if we did that," said Oscar, "some of the wreckage might
+cling fast to the other end of the anchor chain and drag us to the
+bottom of the ocean."
+
+It was a desperate situation, yet as hour after hour went by and
+nothing unusual happened, they became accustomed to it, and Andy even
+cracked a joke on the point.
+
+"We're getting a free tow," he said, with a grin. "Wonder if they won't
+be sending in a bill to the Government for the job."
+
+The course of the Tokio had been northward, but now the big cruiser
+turned almost due east.
+
+"She is running for Fisherman's Bay," said one of those on the Holland
+XI. who happened to know the California coast thoroughly.
+
+"Is it deep there?" asked Oscar.
+
+Before the man could reply all on board of the submarine craft heard a
+grating sound.
+
+"We are dragging on the bottom!" gasped Andy.
+
+Orders were passed to George Dross and the new Holland came up close to
+the side of the Japanese warship.
+
+Had they remained longer under the big craft they might have been
+crushed between the rocks on the bottom and the keel of the cruiser.
+
+Presently the big cruiser came to a standstill, and a minute later
+those on board of the Holland XI. heard the roar of her mighty guns.
+
+The Tokio had found a single American warship in the harbor and was
+doing her best to sink the craft.
+
+The warship was something of a transport and was carrying sixteen
+hundred soldiers to San Francisco, from Tacoma, Washington.
+
+She had put into the bay for fresh water and was now doing her best to
+fight the Tokio off.
+
+But it was an unequal struggle, for her guns were much smaller than
+those on the Japanese vessel. Soon she had a gaping hole in her side,
+but fortunately this was two feet above the water line.
+
+While the Tokio continued to fire shot and shell, Oscar gave orders to
+George Dross to bring the new Holland around under the warship's stern.
+
+Then the young captain put on a diving suit and ordered Andy to do the
+same.
+
+Both went forth and with caution made their way to the stern of the
+Holland XI.
+
+The anchor chain was twisted twice around the screw and it took all
+their strength on a long crowbar to set the screw free.
+
+It was dangerous work, for had they been caught in the chain when it
+slipped away, one or both would surely have been killed.
+
+In a quarter of an hour they were back to the new Holland, but so
+exhausted that neither could stand upright.
+
+"Try the screw!" panted Oscar. "If it is all right, fix a torpedo under
+the warship and run away."
+
+The screw was tried immediately and found to work as well as ever.
+
+Then the torpedo was brought forth from the ammunition room and
+adjusted, and the Holland XI. ran off a distance of a quarter of a mile
+and then came to the surface.
+
+The Tokio was preparing to close in on the American transport; with
+the evident intention of killing or capturing all on board, when the
+torpedo went off with a rumble and a roar that could be heard for many
+miles around.
+
+The execution done by the torpedo was frightful, for the instrument of
+death had been attached to the weakest part of the Japanese ship's
+keel.
+
+The charge went straight up through the four decks of the Tokio,
+setting fire to every magazine.
+
+It was a fireworks spectacle which could not be equaled and was
+followed by a scene of horror.
+
+Everything went to pieces at once, and it is safe to say that scarcely
+an officer or a man on board escaped with his life.
+
+Those on the American transport could scarcely believe their eyes,
+and when the Holland appeared and a man went to the deck, to wave an
+American flag and then the private flag of the submarine craft, there
+was a wild hurrahing.
+
+"The Holland XI.!"
+
+"What a wonderful boat!"
+
+"Three cheers for her and her gritty commander and crew!"
+
+And the cheers were given with a will.
+
+The captain of the transport wished to thank Oscar in person, but the
+most the new Holland could do was to run alongside of the transport,
+and Oscar merely showed himself.
+
+"We are off for Alaska," he said. "We are after the big Russian fleet."
+
+"Good!" was the answer. "Hope you do them all up!" And then another
+cheer went up.
+
+Soon the Holland was cutting the waters of the ocean at a speed of
+twenty knots an hour.
+
+Oscar felt pretty certain that the first attack of the Russian fleet
+would be made at Cape Nome.
+
+In 1900, Cape Nome had boasted of less than a thousand souls, now the
+city contained over fifty thousand inhabitants.
+
+The Cape Nome mines had proved richer than any mines ever discovered
+in California or Australia, and the city contained a government assay
+office and several first-class banks.
+
+At one of the banks was stored gold to the value of thirty-five
+millions of dollars, and silver to the value of eighteen millions of
+dollars.
+
+"The Russians have their eyes on that gold and silver," said Oscar.
+"And they sha'n't get it, not if I can prevent the move."
+
+Day after day the new Holland kept on her journey, only stopping once
+for extra food and water.
+
+Then they ran between a number of islands, and one day found themselves
+caught in a storm and entered a little cave under a cliff.
+
+The storm increased in violence and the heavy rains caused a landslide.
+
+There was a strange rumble over their heads and the water was boiling
+and foaming on all sides of the Holland.
+
+"By Jove! I don't like this!" cried Andy. "Something is wrong."
+
+"It sounds like an earthquake," replied Oscar. "And see how dark it is
+getting."
+
+The young captain of the Holland was right; the light of day had
+suddenly ceased to shine in on them and nothing more could be seen
+until the electric lights were lit.
+
+"We had better move out of here," said George Dross.
+
+"Right you are," said Oscar, "and the sooner the better. That cliff may
+be coming down on our heads."
+
+The order was given to go forward, but the new Holland had run less
+than a hundred feet when she came to a sudden stop.
+
+Rocks blocked her way on every side.
+
+Then the submarine craft began to back, but soon other rocks brought
+her to a standstill.
+
+The terrible truth burst upon those on board.
+
+They were prisoners in the cave under the ocean!
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXI.
+
+                    OUT OF ONE DANGER INTO ANOTHER.
+
+
+Entombed alive!
+
+Such was the agonizing thought which came to the mind of everybody on
+board of the Holland XI.
+
+The submarine craft was caught in the cave under the ocean, and there
+seemed no way of escape.
+
+The darkness outside was intense, and the water still boiled and foamed
+upon every side.
+
+Once a huge rock came squarely down upon the upper side of the new
+Holland with a shock that made those inside fear the craft would be
+smashed flat.
+
+But at last all became quiet as a tomb.
+
+The searchlight was brought into play and they looked eagerly for some
+way out of the cave.
+
+But rear and front entrances were blocked by rocks almost as large as
+the Holland herself and could not be budged.
+
+An hour passed--a time full of awful anxiety.
+
+What if the whole top of the sea-cave should give way?
+
+It would prove the end of the new Holland and all on board!
+
+"We must do something," said Oscar. "I am going outside.
+
+"You may be killed," said Andy.
+
+"And I may be killed staying here."
+
+"If you go I shall go with you," returned the lieutenant.
+
+Together the chums put on diving suits.
+
+Then the torpedo trap was opened and they glided out on the bottom of
+the sea-cave.
+
+It was of sand, with sharp rocks scattered here and there.
+
+Oscar took with him a powerful electric hand light, and also a small
+dynamite shell.
+
+The pair walked to the front end of the cave and made a thorough
+examination of the rocks.
+
+"No way out of here," muttered Oscar, and then shook his head at Andy,
+who also replied in the negative.
+
+The next movement was toward the rear end of the cave.
+
+They had just passed the stern of the Holland XI. when Oscar grabbed
+Andy by the arm and pointed ahead.
+
+A huge mound of sand was moving, as if it were alive!
+
+With anxious eyes they gazed on the sand pile, until of a sudden it
+was scattered in all directions and from underneath a huge sea serpent
+showed itself.
+
+The monster was all of thirty feet long and as thick around as a
+good-sized stovepipe.
+
+It had a broad, flat head, from out of which shone two hideous eyes of
+bright yellow.
+
+Its color was green and white, and its tail was shaped like that of a
+fish.
+
+In a twinkle it curled itself into a number of loops and raised its
+slimy head.
+
+Those piercing eyes were turned first upon Andy and then upon Oscar.
+
+They moved from one to the other with the steadiness of a clock
+pendulum, and each young man was fairly fascinated.
+
+Andy tried to move, but found himself rooted to the spot, for those
+yellow eyes had burnt themselves into his very brain.
+
+Oscar, too, was almost transfixed.
+
+Then slowly, but surely, the huge serpent moved closer to the two,
+intending to embrace the pair as one and crush them.
+
+But the movement broke the spell so far as Oscar was concerned, and
+hardly knowing what he was doing the young captain hurled the dynamite
+shell at the water reptile.
+
+It struck the serpent on the head, and with a strange hiss the monster
+set its teeth into the shell.
+
+Oscar was pulling Andy with him.
+
+There was a dull explosion, and the water was filled with bits of the
+serpent's head and neck and also with the sand which was stirred up.
+
+When Oscar got up again he found the serpent's harmless body whipping
+itself furiously against the rocks.
+
+Andy was so weak he could hardly stand, and Oscar had to support him
+back to the submarine craft.
+
+All on board shivered when they heard of the sea serpent, and by
+turning the searchlight in that direction they saw the body still
+coiling and uncoiling on the sand.
+
+"I wouldn't go out there for a million dollars," said Marney, the air
+man.
+
+"Nor I," said Walton, the fellow in charge of the ammunition room.
+
+"Well, I'm going out again," said Oscar. "But this time I shall go
+armed with a rifle as well as with the dynamite."
+
+The new Holland boasted of several electric rifles, which could readily
+be discharged under water.
+
+"I'll go along in place of Andy, if you'll have me," said old George
+Dross.
+
+"All right," said Oscar.
+
+The pair were soon outside, each with a rifle and each carrying a
+dynamite bomb.
+
+They made a thorough examination of the cave and during that time
+nothing but a few curious, but harmless, fish came to disturb them.
+
+At one point they discovered a small opening through which came a faint
+light.
+
+Some small rocks were in the way and these pulled aside they saw that
+only one large stone lay between them and the outside ocean.
+
+Oscar pointed to the rock and to his dynamite shell and George Dross
+nodded, to show that he understood.
+
+The two shells which they carried were placed in proper position and
+they hurried back to the Holland.
+
+They had scarcely re-entered the submarine craft when the dynamite
+shells went off.
+
+The water was filled with the shattered rocks and as these cleared away
+they saw a good-sized opening ahead.
+
+"Hurrah, for our imprisonment is at an end!" cried Andy.
+
+The new Holland was sent forward at full speed through the opening, and
+once she was free those on board lost no time in quitting the vicinity
+of the islands.
+
+"No more ocean cave for me," said Oscar. "One such experience is enough
+for me."
+
+"And that serpent!" said Andy, with a shudder. "I imagine I'll dream
+of him for many a night to come." And he did, getting such a nightmare
+that Oscar often had to wake him up.
+
+Four days later they came up to a point within twenty-two miles of Cape
+Nome.
+
+The weather was now fine and a constant lookout was kept for foreign
+ships.
+
+Once they passed an American warship bound for Seattle, and hailed her
+for news.
+
+The Americans knew nothing about the Russian fleet, but said the people
+at Cape Nome were daily in fear of attack.
+
+"Well, I can't say that I blame them," said Oscar. "That gold must be a
+great temptation."
+
+"Right you are," returned Andy.
+
+For several hours the sky had been overcast, showing that a heavy storm
+was at hand.
+
+It was so hot on board of the Holland XI. that the young captain hated
+to order the submarine craft below the surface of the ocean.
+
+"I don't believe that storm can do us much damage," he said.
+
+"Unless we get struck by the lightning," replied Andy.
+
+Presently it began to rain, but this did not matter, for what little
+water came into the new Holland ran into the well and was promptly
+pumped out by the electric pump.
+
+Oscar was tired, for he had been working hard for several hours,
+helping to repair some wires which had broken.
+
+He laid down to rest, and was just in a doze when a report like a
+cannon close to his ears almost stunned him.
+
+The air was full of electricity, and as soon as he recovered he
+realized that what Andy had mentioned had happened. The Holland XI. had
+been struck by lightning.
+
+Staggering to his feet he made his way toward the engine room.
+
+He had scarcely entered the compartment when he stumbled over the body
+of George Dross.
+
+"Dross!" he murmured. "Are you dead?"
+
+No reply came back and the engineer lay like a log where he had fallen.
+
+Oscar had scarcely made his unwelcome discovery when he noticed that
+something was wrong with the engines of the new Holland.
+
+The submarine craft was running at a furious rate of speed, the
+indicator showing several points beyond the danger limit.
+
+"My graciolus! This won't do!" he ejaculated, and leaped to the
+controlling lever.
+
+As his hand touched the lever a spark of fire flew from the end of it
+to a wheel close at hand.
+
+Oscar received a shock, but not such a one as he would have gotten had
+his hand remained on the bar of steel.
+
+"Oh!" he gasped. "That was a close shave. I might have been
+electrocuted!"
+
+By this time he heard Andy calling to him.
+
+"Here I am, in the engine room," he called back.
+
+"Stop the boat! We are shipping water fast!" came from Andy.
+
+"I can't stop her!" replied Oscar. "Shut the trap-door at once."
+
+Without delay Andy tried to follow out the order given.
+
+No sooner had he touched the steel plate than he gave a gasp and fell
+down the companionway and lay like one dead.
+
+The fall reached Oscar's ears and he came out to see what was the
+matter.
+
+Then the terrible truth burst upon him.
+
+The bolt of lightning had disarranged the electric machinery on board
+of the Holland XI. and the submarine craft was now at the mercy of the
+powerful current which seemed to be beyond control.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXII.
+
+                           A RUN NOT WANTED.
+
+
+"Andy! Andy! Rise up!" cried Oscar, with increasing horror. "Tell me
+that you are not dead!"
+
+But Andy did not budge, nor did even a groan escape his lips.
+
+"If he is dead, and George Dross, what will I do?" thought the young
+naval captain.
+
+Never had his heart so failed him as now. He was still weak from the
+shock, and to think that his two best friends might be lost to him
+forever was sufficient to make him collapse utterly.
+
+The electricity was now playing around every part of the engine room,
+causing little flashes of fire and numerous sparks to fly hither and
+thither. It was a pretty sight, but woe to him who should come within
+the influence of that display!
+
+Oscar dragged George Dross' body into another compartment, and as he
+did so one of the other hands appeared.
+
+"Captain," he cried, hoarsely, "we are running too fast!"
+
+"I know it, but I cannot help it."
+
+"The trap----"
+
+"Don't touch the trap."
+
+"But the water----"
+
+"The lightning has played the old Harry with our engine. Everything is
+charged with electricity. He tried to close the trap, and look at him."
+
+Oscar pointed to Andy and the man gave a start of horror. Then he
+stared at the body of Dross.
+
+"Is he dead, too?"
+
+"I trust not, but I am by no means sure, Gilson."
+
+"But what shall we do, captain? I reckon all of the others are either
+stunned or dead."
+
+"The lookout, what of him?" demanded Oscar, quickly.
+
+"On the floor in a heap."
+
+"Too bad! We might run into something, and then----"
+
+Oscar did not finish, but Gilson, who was a general all-around helper
+on the submarine craft, understood what was in his mind.
+
+"We'll go to smash, eh?"
+
+"Yes, Gilson. But be careful what you try to do."
+
+"Can't we turn the electricity off?"
+
+"We can if the switch is all right."
+
+It may be mentioned here that all on board wore rubber shoes, so that
+no electricity might ever shock them through the feet while walking in
+dangerous places.
+
+Together the young captain and Gilson hurried to where the switchboard
+was located, between the engine room and the tiny compartment built for
+the lookout.
+
+"Ginger!" came from Gilson. "Burnt out! That was a strong stroke of
+lightning, and no mistake!"
+
+Gilson was right. The switchboard was completely wrecked and lay in a
+black mass on the floor. It had been burning, but the fire was now out,
+for it could not communicate with the steel plates of the new Holland.
+
+"Now what's to do, captain? How are you going to control that current?"
+
+The question was one not easy to answer.
+
+"I'll have to make a thorough examination first," replied Oscar. "In
+the meantime you attend to the others and see if some of them at least
+are not alive."
+
+"Lieutenant Greggs don't look much alive," said Gilson. "Nor does
+George Dross. But I'll do what I can for all hands."
+
+Left to himself, Oscar made the entire rounds of the submarine craft,
+surveying all of the intricate electric machinery with care.
+
+"It's a wonder the lightning didn't set off some of the torpedoes or
+dynamite bombs," he said to himself. "If they had gone off we would
+have been blown to kingdom come."
+
+The result of the examination was far from satisfactory. Many of the
+electric wires on board had become badly "crossed," and a new machine,
+called an electrogratrode, used for regulating the current, was running
+in a manner that completely puzzled the young inventor.
+
+"This is a brand new experience, that's sure," he told himself. "If I
+ever get out of this alive I'll beware of thunderstorms in the future."
+
+The new Holland continued to dash along over the surface of the water
+and at every big wave a large quantity of water came pouring down the
+companionway, until the well-hole was full and overflowing in spite of
+the fact that the pumping engine was working faster than ever before.
+
+"Something has got to be done," muttered Oscar, with set teeth. "If
+that water gets too high it will carry the electricity everywhere and
+we'll be killed on the spot."
+
+Getting out a long hook covered with rubber he began to work on the
+plate of the trap-door.
+
+For some time he could not budge it and more than once a slight shock
+of electricity made him halt. But at last the trap shut with a click.
+
+"Shut," he muttered, and then came a thought that made him turn pale.
+Had he locked himself and the others in what would prove their tomb of
+steel?
+
+The water had now stopped coming in and then the well-hole speedily
+became empty. But the pumping engine ran on as madly as ever, with a
+whirr that shook the Holland XI. from stem to stern.
+
+Soon Gilson came running to him.
+
+"Dross is alive," he cried, "and so are most of the others."
+
+"Is Lieutenant Greggs alive?"
+
+"I can't tell about him, sir. If he is he was touched pretty heavily."
+
+"Well, do what you can, Gilson. I have no time to attend to them. I
+must stop this machinery or the boat will be ripped to bits."
+
+"Shall I stop the pumping engine. That seems to be O. K?"
+
+"No, for if that power is turned off it will only be added to the
+screw, and we have too much power there already. See how we are
+flying--as fast as an express train."
+
+"That's true, sir, and let me add, it's not the worst of it."
+
+"No? What do you mean?"
+
+"We are running due East, captain."
+
+"I know that, Gilson."
+
+"By this time we must be within two or three miles of land. If we can't
+stop the Holland XI.----"
+
+"We must stop her!" ejaculated the young captain. "If we don't she'll
+strike shore like a battering ram!"
+
+"Right you are, sir."
+
+Oscar waited to say no more, but rushed to where the steering apparatus
+of the submarine craft was located.
+
+The electricity was still playing all over the compartment, yet he felt
+that he must at least change the course of the new Holland or all would
+surely be lost.
+
+With a rubber glove on his hand he took hold of one of the levers and
+tried to swing it over.
+
+At first it refused to budge. Then came a snap and a click and the
+lever slid over to where he wanted it and three notches further.
+
+Instantly the Holland XI. gave a shiver from stem to stern and started
+to run in a small circle.
+
+The engines pounded away as before and the submarine craft tilted until
+it was next to impossible to stand on the floor.
+
+Then came an explosion from the engine room and Captain Oscar was
+enveloped in a blueish smoke which threatened to strangle him on the
+spot.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+                       THE FIGHT OFF CAPE NOME.
+
+
+"Captain, are you dead?"
+
+It was Gilson who uttered the cry, as he rushed forward through the
+smoke, to where Oscar was leaning against a post, gasping for breath.
+
+"No--no, Gilson," was the answer. "But we--we must have some fre-fresh
+air!"
+
+Gilson knew what to do and ran with might and main to where the air was
+stored.
+
+He turned several cocks and soon the foul air was being forced out of
+the Holland XI. and fresh air began to circulate through the various
+compartments.
+
+This had hardly been done when Oscar heard a voice calling him. Then
+the engineer appeared, as pale as death and with his forehead bandaged.
+
+"Reckon I was knocked out," said George Dross. "What happened?"
+
+"A good many things," answered Oscar. "How do you feel?"
+
+"As weak as a half drowned cat, captain. But what is wrong? Did the
+lightning knock us inside out?"
+
+"Almost," answered the young commander, and told the engineer some of
+the particulars.
+
+"I'll do what I can with that engine," said Dross. "But it's a ticklish
+job--with so much electricity flying around loose."
+
+"Be careful," returned Oscar. "I don't want you to get knocked out for
+good."
+
+He followed the engineer to the doorway of the engine room and here a
+long consultation took place.
+
+Then it was decided that Dross should try to manage one part of the
+engine while Oscar managed another, both at the same time.
+
+In the meantime the Holland XI. continued to swing around in a circle
+and once the craft came close to throwing herself completely over on
+the starboard side.
+
+"Now then, ready, George?"
+
+"Yes, captain."
+
+"Then let her go."
+
+Both strained at their task and several sharp clicks followed. Then
+Oscar sprang to a nearby lever and gave it a pull.
+
+Instantly the power was shut off and in a moment more the Holland XI.
+came to a standstill on the bosom of the ocean.
+
+"Hurrah, we have stopped her at last!" cried Oscar, enthusiastically.
+
+With the turning off of the electricity it became safe to walk all
+over the submarine craft and both Oscar and the engineer, as well as
+Gilson, set to work to repair damages.
+
+While they were at work the most of the men who had been shocked by the
+lightning came to their senses and wanted to know all about what had
+happened.
+
+But poor Andy still lay in a stupor and he did not recover until
+several hours after.
+
+It was no mean task to repair all the damage done to the intricate
+machinery of the Holland XI. and for two days every man on board was
+kept busy.
+
+Fortunately, however, nothing had been destroyed but the burnt-out
+switchboard, and luckily there was a duplicate switchboard in the
+storeroom. Oscar himself put this into place and when tried it worked
+perfectly.
+
+"Now I reckon we are all right once more," said the young commander,
+after a test had been made of all the working parts of the submarine
+boat.
+
+Yet to make certain that he was ready for active service, once again he
+ran the Holland XI. out into the ocean and made her go through all the
+movements of blowing up a warship.
+
+Then the course was changed for Cape Nome and soon they were but a few
+miles from that port.
+
+An American warship was sighted, but Oscar got no opportunity to hail
+her, for she was steaming along at full speed.
+
+"Looks as if she was running from something," said Andy.
+
+The American warship had scarcely sailed out of sight to the southeast
+than the lookout announced a strange craft coming up from the southwest.
+
+The new Holland was sunk almost to the level of the ocean, so that only
+the trap deck was above the water.
+
+At last they made out the newcomer to be a big Russian cruiser, the
+Ivan II.
+
+She was supposed to be the largest warship in the Russian navy, if not
+in the world.
+
+She carried a battery of over a hundred large guns and her muster roll
+counted over two thousand men.
+
+"By jove! but she's a wonder!" muttered Andy, as he gazed at her
+through a glass.
+
+"She is, and she's not alone," answered Oscar. "See two more warships
+have come into view."
+
+The young captain was right. The second and the third ships were also
+Russian, and these were followed by a Chinese cruiser and a Japanese
+frigate, and then came six other Russian vessels.
+
+By this time the Ivan II. was so close that Oscar thought it best to
+descend below the surface of the ocean, and coming down with Andy he
+gave orders for the trap-door to be closed.
+
+The button which communicated with the machinery of the Holland was
+touched, but, much to the young commander's surprise, the trap-door
+remained open.
+
+"Hullo, something is wrong there again!" he cried, and ran to push the
+button himself.
+
+It worked all right, but he speedily discovered that the connection
+with the power was broken in the engine room.
+
+"We must shut the trap by hand!" he cried to Andy. "Quick, before that
+Russian cruiser spots us!"
+
+The chums ran up the ladder to move the door.
+
+But the plate was heavy and ran in a tight groove which was
+water-proof, and for the minute it refused to budge.
+
+Suddenly a yell came from the deck of the Ivan II.
+
+The Holland had been discovered.
+
+"The accursed American sea-devil!" roared the Russian captain. "If she
+gets the chance she will sink us as she has sunk the Tien-Tsin and
+other ships."
+
+He ordered that a bomb be brought on deck with all speed.
+
+This was done, and a few seconds later the deadly thing was hurled
+straight at the Holland XI.
+
+It struck the open trap-door, bumped on the steps, and rolled at
+Oscar's feet.
+
+The fuse was burning briskly, and in a few seconds more the bomb would
+go off, creating destruction and death upon every hand!
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+                        SINKING OF THE IVAN II.
+
+
+"We shall be killed!"
+
+Such was the cry which came from the lips of Andy Greggs as he stared
+in helpless horror at the bomb, and its smoking fuse.
+
+It was a moment to act, not to think.
+
+By instinct more than reason Oscar leaped forward and caught the bomb
+in his hands.
+
+His fingers closed over the burning fuse, to put out the fire.
+
+But the action was too late--the fire had gone inside!
+
+Then with a lightning-like movement the young captain hurled the shell
+up through the trap-door into the air.
+
+Before it had time to drop into the ocean it went off with a loud
+report.
+
+Pieces of the shell came down through the trap-door, hitting both of
+the young men on the head and hands and in the face.
+
+Andy had the skin taken from one cheek and Oscar's left hand was
+somewhat bruised.
+
+But they and the Holland were saved!
+
+By this time George Dross was running forward to shut the trap-door
+with an instrument made for that purpose.
+
+"What's up?" he asked, in astonishment.
+
+"Shut the trap first and I'll tell you," gasped Oscar. For the moment
+he could scarcely speak.
+
+Once the trap was closed the new Holland sank down to a depth of thirty
+feet.
+
+The movement came none too soon.
+
+The Ivan II. now had several guns trained on the submarine craft and
+the balls from these struck the water and swept past them with no room
+to spare.
+
+"We'll fix you for that!" murmured Oscar.
+
+Then he told George Dross of what had occurred.
+
+"Oscar's move was the bravest I ever saw!" declared Andy.
+
+The young captain now ordered that they follow the Ivan II. closely and
+this was done.
+
+As expected, the course of the big Russian cruiser was for Cape Nome
+and soon she came to a stand about five miles from the sea front of the
+city.
+
+"Now we have her at our mercy," said Andy.
+
+But for once the young lieutenant was mistaken.
+
+The foreign ships--or at least a fair number of them--had profited by
+the destruction of the craft wrecked by the Holland XI. and had adopted
+a curious device by which they might be warned of the near approach of
+a submarine ship.
+
+From the under side of the keel of the Ivan II. there ran a number
+of wires, stretching out in all directions, like the spokes of some
+gigantic bicycle wheel.
+
+These wires were connected with an alarm bell on the ship, which would
+ring, by an electric circuit, the moment any large mass of metal
+touched them.
+
+The new Holland was going ahead at a fair rate of speed, when, by
+aid of the searchlight, the lookout announced the discovery of some
+odd-looking wires ahead.
+
+An inspection was made, and those on board of the submarine craft soon
+learned the nature of the defensive method the Russian naval officers
+had adopted.
+
+"That's pretty good," mused Oscar.
+
+"I'm afraid its going to beat us!" declared Andy. "No telling what may
+happen if we run into those wires."
+
+"They may contain current enough to shock the Holland and kill
+everybody on board," said George Dross.
+
+The matter was talked over for a quarter of an hour.
+
+In the meantime the other warships had drawn up in line and all were
+preparing to bombard the city beyond, which contained so much of gold
+and silver.
+
+"Well, we've got to do something," said Oscar. "I have an idea."
+
+His idea was nothing less than to float a torpedo out of the Holland
+XI. and attach it to a long line, setting the time fuse at ten minutes.
+
+They would then tow the torpedo into such a position that the drift of
+the ocean would pull it under the Ivan II.
+
+The job was a delicate and dangerous one, for the fuse when once set,
+might become entangled in the line and set the torpedo off prematurely.
+
+Oscar superintended the task himself and in a quarter of an hour the
+torpedo was drifting close to the Ivan II.
+
+The guns of the Russian warship had just spoken up against the city
+forts, when the warning bell attached to the wires began to ring.
+
+"Ha! that boat is now at hand!" cried the Russian commander. "We will
+soon give him more than he sends!"
+
+An electric current was touched off, but this only struck the torpedo,
+which was slowly traveling toward the Russian cruiser's keel.
+
+Two minutes passed and the Russians were wondering what had happened on
+board of the Holland XI.
+
+"Let the line go!" sang out Oscar, as he saw that the time for the
+explosion was about up.
+
+Then the new Holland ran for safety.
+
+Boom! Bang!
+
+Loud and clear came the report over and under the ocean, as the
+torpedo, charged with both high explosives and electricity, went off.
+
+It would have been impossible to smash up a craft of the size of the
+Ivan II. with one torpedo, but a great hole was torn in her keel and
+through this the water rushed in a veritable cataract.
+
+"We are ruined!" shrieked one of the Russian officers. "The Holland has
+torpedoed us after all!"
+
+Then commenced a scene which beggars description.
+
+To the upper deck rushed the sailors, gunners, ammunition men,
+engineers and all others connected with the big craft.
+
+There were men cursing, men praying, and men rushing around as if
+crazy. Some leaped overboard, some climbed the tall masts, and some
+stood as if turned to stone, too paralyzed to move.
+
+Those on the other warships were horrified.
+
+Then they realized that the Holland XI. must be at work and the various
+captains gave orders to get into motion without delay.
+
+Cape Nome and its gold were forgotten. The one thought of all was to
+get away from this frightful submarine ship which had brought so many
+foreign vessels to their doom.
+
+Off went the ships, in all directions, putting on their best steam, and
+running so well that the Holland did not attempt to follow them until
+some time later.
+
+Slowly and majestically the Ivan II. sank until reaching the bottom she
+stood where she had gone down, only her tall masts showing above the
+bosom of the ocean.
+
+The going down of the Ivan II. and the sudden departure of the other
+ships mystified those on shore and they wondered what it all meant.
+
+But when the new Holland showed herself near one of the forts, those
+inside understood and a yell arose, which soon became a ringing cheer.
+
+As soon as he could Oscar went ashore and was received by the commander
+of the fort, who shook him warmly by the hand.
+
+"You have done nobly, sir!" said the commander. "You have saved both us
+and the city."
+
+"I would advise you to make prisoners of all the Russians found
+floating in the bay," answered Oscar. "It may save you from another
+attack at a later day."
+
+"A good idea," responded the commander, and at once gave the necessary
+orders.
+
+As a result two hundred and nine Russians were captured, including an
+Admiral, for the Ivan II. had been the flagship of the fleet.
+
+It was announced that the Admiral would be held at Cape Nome until the
+end of the war, and this saved the place from another bombardment, for
+the Russians were afraid the naval officer might otherwise be put to
+death.
+
+After leaving Cape Nome the Holland put after the rest of the fleet,
+but they could not be found.
+
+This broke up the movement on Alaska for the time being, and then the
+bow of the submarine terror was turned southward once more.
+
+All this time the Chinese Captain, Hang Chang, had remained on board a
+close prisoner.
+
+He frequently begged for the freedom of the ship, but Oscar was afraid
+to trust him.
+
+"At least give me a sight of the outside world," he begged one day.
+
+Oscar agreed to do this, as they were then in mid-ocean, and releasing
+the prisoner, led him up through the trap-door to the tiny deck of the
+Holland.
+
+The movement was almost a fatal one. The confinement had preyed on Hang
+Chang's mind and turning suddenly while on deck, he caught Oscar by the
+throat.
+
+"We go--we die together!" he hissed, grating his teeth and rolling his
+wicked eyes. "Farewell to the world!"
+
+The next moment he had leaped into the ocean, dragging Oscar with him!
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXV.
+
+                 IN WHICH THE HOLLAND XI. IS CAPTURED.
+
+
+"Man overboard!"
+
+Such was the cry which came from the lips of Marney.
+
+He was at the foot of the ladder at the moment Hang Chang grappled
+Oscar and disappeared with the young captain.
+
+"Who's over?" came from Andy, as he rushed up.
+
+"The cap'n!" went on Marney. "The Chink dragged him over! He had the
+cap'n by the throat!"
+
+Andy waited to hear no more, but bound up the ladder two steps at a
+time.
+
+All he could see was a slight disturbance in the water, where a few
+bubbles were coming to the surface.
+
+With Andy to think was to act, for he felt that Oscar was in a
+dangerous situation.
+
+With one leap he was down at the foot of the ladder again and calling
+to George Dross.
+
+"Watch for us! I am after Oscar!" he shouted, and then caught a knife
+which was in Marney's belt.
+
+Then he went to the deck again and taking a long breath, plunged into
+the ocean, blade in hand.
+
+In the meantime Oscar was having a bitter struggle with the madman, for
+such Hang Chang had become.
+
+The grip of the Celestial was like that of steel and could not be
+broken.
+
+Oscar kicked at him and turned and twisted, but all in vain.
+
+Then there came a darkness over the eyes of the young captain and a
+strange rumble in his ears.
+
+He felt himself going down and down, the water each instant getting
+colder and more lonely.
+
+"It must be the end of all!" he thought. "Heaven alone can help me!"
+
+He thought of the Holland XI., of his friends, of the many victories he
+had gained--and of what he had hoped to do for the President's daughter.
+
+Was this to be the end of all--this, a grave at the bottom of the
+mighty Pacific?
+
+Again he struggled, and this time he thought the grip on his throat was
+somewhat relaxed.
+
+But only for a moment, then it became even tighter than before.
+
+The darkness increased and he believed himself dead and dreaming.
+
+Of a sudden something brushed against his shoulder.
+
+It was Andy's body, and opening his eyes he saw dimly a hand clutching
+a knife.
+
+Once, twice, three, the blade was plunged into the back of the
+Chinaman. Then it came upward a fourth time and slashed across the
+crazy man's wrist.
+
+The sea was died with the blood of the Celestial and slowly but surely
+that steel-like grip relaxed, until Oscar found himself free.
+
+But he was almost too weak to help himself and Andy had to assist him
+to the surface.
+
+Here willing hands helped both to the deck of the new Holland and down
+into the interior, where both sank on the floor exhausted.
+
+Oscar looked white and faint, and not without reason, for never before
+had he been so close to death.
+
+"We are well rid of him," he said, after he and Andy had told their
+stories. Then he caught his chum's hand. "Andy, that is another debt I
+owe you."
+
+For several days after this nothing unusual happened on board of the
+new Holland.
+
+Oscar had now determined to go in search of the Chinese cruiser, which
+was said to have Martha Adams on board as a prisoner.
+
+He felt that he must rescue the girl, no matter what the cost, for to
+him Martha Adams was the loveliest young woman on the face of the
+globe.
+
+Day after day went by and at last they approached the coast of
+California once more.
+
+Here a stop was made for provisions and for some extra ammunition, and
+Oscar reported to the authorities what had been done at Cape Nome.
+
+But the news had already come in from Alaska by telegraph.
+
+The Navy Department at San Francisco also had news for Oscar which
+caused him much pleasure.
+
+Congress had awarded him and his men a special medal for bravery and it
+was broadly hinted that Oscar would soon be made a commodore.
+
+"We'll get to the top of the naval ladder--if this war lasts long
+enough," said Oscar.
+
+"That's what we want," answered Andy. He was equally delighted, for he
+scented a captaincy ahead.
+
+From San Francisco the run was straight to Central America, and then to
+the entrance of the great canal.
+
+At the east end of the canal it was learned that several foreign
+warships had been sighted in the Caribbean Sea off the south coast of
+Cuba.
+
+One of the warships was supposed to be the Chinese cruiser Green Dragon.
+
+"We'll soon find out if it is the Green Dragon," said Oscar, grimly.
+
+But, alas! just as they wished to crowd on all power, something got
+the matter with the machinery and they had to lay-to two days for
+repairs.
+
+It was very hot, for they were not far from the equator, and so they
+lay on the top of the ocean, with the trap-door open day and night.
+
+By the second night the repairs were almost completed and George Dross
+announced that they would be ready to continue their voyage by ten
+o'clock the next day.
+
+All had worked hard over the machinery, especially Oscar and Andy, and
+were much exhausted in consequence.
+
+The young captain and his lieutenant retired and were soon in the
+land of dreams, and George Dross, Marney and several others followed,
+leaving only Walton on guard.
+
+It was a dark night and so close that it made Walton sleepy. He sat on
+the companionway ladder smoking, but soon his head began to nod, and
+though he didn't fall asleep he was not as alert as he might have been.
+
+In the meantime from shore there had put off a long Spanish cutter
+containing ten of the most daring Spanish and Italian naval men and
+sailors to be found anywhere.
+
+Slowly and silently the cutter crept up to the Holland XI. and the
+leader of the party, Captain Roquez, stepped on the tiny deck of the
+submarine craft.
+
+He motioned his followers to be silent and then took from his pocket a
+plaster of pitch.
+
+Down the ladder he went like a ghost until he stood directly over
+Walton.
+
+The ammunition-man started in alarm, but ere he could say a word the
+pitch plaster was clapped over his mouth and he was made a close
+prisoner.
+
+"Now for the others," whispered Captain Roquez. "We will show the
+Americanos what we can do and wipe out the insult of the War of 1898!"
+
+Slowly and cautiously the party moved forward until they came to where
+Oscar and Andy slept.
+
+They had brought leather straps along, and these were clapped on the
+pair before they could sit up.
+
+"What does this mean?" demanded Oscar, as soon as he could speak.
+
+"It means that we have captured your ship and that you are our
+prisoners!" chuckled the Spanish captain.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+                     PRISONERS ON THE HOLLAND XI.
+
+
+"Prisoners!"
+
+Such was the single word which burst from Oscar's lips as he tried to
+sit up on his couch.
+
+He almost thought he was dreaming, but when he tried to raise his arm
+and found it tied fast to his resting place, he fully realized the
+direful situation.
+
+"And who are you?" he went on slowly.
+
+"Captain Roquez, but not at your service," returned the Spaniard, with
+a baneful glance. "The Americanos defeated my country in Cuba, years
+ago, but they shall never defeat me again. On the contrary, I shall
+have a splendid revenge upon all the Yankee navy--now I am master of
+the new Holland.
+
+"Oscar, this is an outrage," put in Andy, after finding himself also
+bound. He turned to Roquez. "What have you done with the engineer and
+the others?"
+
+"All prisoners, excepting one man, who slept at the door of the
+ammunition room."
+
+"That was Marney, the air man. What of him?"
+
+"He tried to resist, and he is now at the bottom of the sea."
+
+"You killed him?"
+
+Captain Roquez nodded, coldly.
+
+"And I will kill every one of you if you try to resist me," he added
+grimly.
+
+"How do you expect to run this boat?" questioned Oscar, curiously. "Do
+you not know that it takes a well-drilled expert to do the trick?"
+
+"Humph! We are prepared!" said the Spaniard. "Rest assured that I knew
+what I was doing when I planned to capture the new Holland."
+
+"Well, I'll wager a dollar you can't run the boat," said Oscar,
+decidedly.
+
+"Then if we cannot we will force you and your men to run it for us."
+
+"I'll see you hanged first!"
+
+"And so will I!" added Andy, promptly.
+
+"Ho! Do not speak so, or I will run you through with this!" cried the
+Spaniard, and flourished a long dagger in their faces.
+
+A moment later Captain Roquez went away, leaving Oscar and Andy in
+charge of one of the Spanish sailors, Canelli, by name.
+
+Canelli could not speak English, so to converse with him was out of the
+question.
+
+"Oscar, this looks as if we were in a pickle," came from the
+lieutenant, with something of a groan.
+
+"That's true, Andy. How are your bonds."
+
+"As tight as a drum. And yours?"
+
+"Ready to cut the wrists and ankles off me."
+
+"They know how to tie knots, don't they?"
+
+"They do."
+
+"I wonder how they intend to run the Holland? I don't see how they can
+manage our intricate machinery," went on Andy, musingly.
+
+"They can't run her unless they have an expert machinist aboard, and
+even then he'll have to know something of submarine boats. If any
+ordinary fellow tackles George Dross' job, he'll run us to the bottom
+or blow us up."
+
+Canelli now came forward and clapped his hand on each of their mouths,
+at the same time showing them his knife, upon the blade of which was a
+quantity of dried blood.
+
+This was a warning to keep silent, and as the Spaniard looked like
+a wicked wretch, capable of doing almost anything, they stopped
+conversing.
+
+Half an hour went by and all remained silent on board.
+
+The trap-door was still open, but now of a sudden they heard the
+well-known click-click as the trap closed.
+
+"Found out how to shut her up, anyway," murmured Andy.
+
+Both strained their ears to learn what the next movement of the captors
+of the Holland would be.
+
+They heard earnest talking in the power room, where George Dross lay,
+bound to an iron bench.
+
+"Won't tell ye a thing, hang ye!" came presently from the old engineer.
+"I run this ship for Cap'n Pelham, not for the likes o' you!"
+
+"Good for Dross!" whispered Oscar. "I knew he would stick by us."
+
+"If you won't help us we will kill you!" came in Captain Roquez's voice.
+
+To this George Dross was silent.
+
+Then followed pleading and curses, but all to no effect. Finally
+Captain Roquez and another man came out into the passageway in front of
+the apartment in which Oscar and Andy were prisoners.
+
+"Gabretti, you must do your best without their help," said the Spanish
+captain, earnestly.
+
+"I will, captain," was the answer, in a strong foreign accent. "But it
+will be taking something of a risk."
+
+"It ought to be all right. You once ran the engines on the old Holland."
+
+"Zat ees true, captain, but ze new Holland is von great improvement on
+ze old. Ze machinery ees much more--vat you call heem?--complications,
+eh?"
+
+"I suppose so--these accursed Yankees are forever improving things.
+But their engineer won't do a thing and so you must do your best. Only
+don't blow us up as you blew up the old Holland."
+
+"Ha, ha! You make von joke on me, eh? I blow up ze old Holland because
+ve vant him blow up. I hate ze Americanos. But I not blow up ze new
+Holland, no, no! I make heem blow up two-seex-ten-a-hundred Yankee
+ships before I am done."
+
+"Now you are talking," answered Captain Roquez. "But be careful, and if
+you can't manage her we will force that Yankee engineer to help us out,
+even if I have to cut off his ears to make him come to terms."
+
+The two passed out of hearing, and presently Canelli was called away,
+leaving Oscar and his first lieutenant alone.
+
+"Andy, that fellow is Gabretti, the rascal who blew up one of the old
+Hollands!"
+
+"Right you are, Oscar. He ought to be hung!"
+
+"Rather say, captured. Don't you remember that there is a reward of
+fifty thousand dollars out for his apprehension?"
+
+"By Jove, that's so! I'd like to obtain that reward."
+
+"He ought to be captured, the sneak! I don't believe he can run our
+boat."
+
+"He may run her after a fashion. But sooner or later he is bound to get
+into a tight hole and then he won't know what to do."
+
+Half an hour more dragged by, and the Holland began to sink by jerks,
+showing that the man who was running the power was new at the business.
+
+She descended a distance of fifty feet and came to a stop.
+
+Then the new engineer began to experiment with the power, and moved the
+boat backward with a number of other jerks, and then forward slowly and
+unevenly.
+
+"He's trying hard to get there," muttered Andy.
+
+"He can't run her smoothly enough to do service with," returned Oscar.
+"Wait, I have an idea!" he added, suddenly.
+
+"What's up now?"
+
+"Perhaps I can get free. The edge of this couch is of iron and rough
+in one spot, as I well remember. Perhaps I can saw this leather strap
+apart on the rough edge. Do you think that Spaniard will stay away?"
+
+"Never mind; do what you can."
+
+With caution, and making as little noise as possible, the young captain
+set at the task of liberating himself.
+
+It was a slow and painful job, and he rubbed the skin on his wrists
+almost as much as he did his leather bonds.
+
+But the movement was a success, and at last he found his hands free.
+
+He quickly liberated his feet and then set his lieutenant at liberty.
+
+"Now if only we had pistols," said Andy.
+
+"We will take the electric rifles--they make little or no noise,"
+answered Oscar. "And don't forget those swords in the pantry."
+
+Soon both were well armed and ready to fight to the death for liberty.
+
+Hardly had they prepared themselves when they heard footsteps
+approaching the apartment.
+
+On the instant Oscar reached up and turned off the electric light
+hanging from the ceiling.
+
+"Get in a corner, Andy, and watch your chance," he whispered. "And
+mind, they are our deadly enemies and would kill us were they certain
+they could run this boat without our aid."
+
+There was no time to say more, for a second later the door was opened
+and Captain Roquez and the sailor, Canelli, entered.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+                       THE DEFEAT OF THE ENEMY.
+
+
+"Ha! It is dark here!" cried the Spanish captain, as he paused on the
+threshold of the door.
+
+"The light has lost its power," answered Canelli. "Perhaps it got
+turned off by accident."
+
+"Try to find it."
+
+"Aye, aye, captain."
+
+The sailor came into the room and Captain Roquez followed.
+
+The instant they entered Oscar kicked the door shut and caught the
+Spanish captain from behind.
+
+Andy caught Canelli, and a fierce hand-to-hand struggle ensued.
+
+Down went both pairs on the floor and rolled over and over.
+
+They tried to rise, but this was impossible, for the Holland had begun
+to jerk around in a semi-circle, the new engineer having tried some
+experiment with the power.
+
+The Spanish captain drew his dagger, but before he could use it, Oscar
+brought his sword into use and the Spaniard received a nasty cut in
+the side. At the same time Andy was trying to draw his own blade, but
+Canelli caught hold of it, and now it was a wrangle for the blade, hot
+and bitter.
+
+"Do you surrender?" asked Oscar, as he placed the sword at the Spanish
+captain's throat.
+
+"Yes! Do not kill me!" howled Roquez.
+
+"Then lie where you are. A single move and I will put a bullet into
+you."
+
+Oscar backed to the center of the apartment and turned on the electric
+light once more.
+
+Captain Roquez lay helpless on the floor. He knew that if he moved,
+the young captain of the Holland would run him through with that
+ugly-looking blade.
+
+Oscar turned to look at Andy. The sight that met his gaze thrilled him
+with horror.
+
+Canelli had obtained possession of the sword, and was on the point of
+running it through the young lieutenant's body.
+
+"Stop!" cried Oscar. "Stop, or I will fire!"
+
+[Illustration: "STOP OR I WILL FIRE!"]
+
+"Never! He shall die!" shrieked the Spanish sailor.
+
+And he made a fierce lunge at Andy, intending to lay open his very
+heart.
+
+The blade had already cut through the young lieutenant's shirt and
+scratched his skin, when Oscar raised the electric rifle with the
+rapidity of lightning.
+
+Zip! There was a faint, hissing sound, and Canelli fell over backward,
+mortally wounded.
+
+"Ha! You have killed him----" began Captain Roquez, when Oscar clapped
+his hand over the Spaniard's mouth.
+
+"Say another word, or make the least outcry, and I will serve you in
+the same way!"
+
+"Gosh! but that was a close shave!" gasped Andy, as he staggered
+forward. "I was afraid I was a goner!"
+
+"Hand me that leather strap and I will make this fellow a prisoner,"
+said Oscar.
+
+The strap was quickly adjusted, and then Oscar brought forth a large
+neckerchief, which he speedily transformed into a gag and inserted in
+Captain Roquez's mouth.
+
+"What shall we do with him?" questioned Andy.
+
+"We'll put him in the pantry for the present. The dead body we can stow
+away under my couch." For Canelli had breathed his last.
+
+Back of the apartment was a pantry containing flour, potatoes and other
+ship's stores.
+
+In this narrow space they placed Captain Roquez, perching the Spaniard
+on a flour barrel.
+
+"Now keep quiet if you value your life!" said Oscar.
+
+Then the door was closed and bolted on the rascal.
+
+Oscar's next movement was to look out into the passageway.
+
+"The coast is clear," he said to his lieutenant. "Come."
+
+Andy followed, and they passed to the entrance to the ammunition room.
+
+Here they found Walton and two other men, close prisoners, each with a
+pitch plaster over his mouth.
+
+There was a Spanish guard here, but he was readily overpowered, and one
+of the pitch plasters was placed over his mouth and he was tied to a
+big torpedo.
+
+"Where is George Dross?" asked Oscar.
+
+Nobody knew.
+
+"So far we are but four against seven," said Andy. "We want to be
+careful, or our cake will be dough."
+
+"I hope Dross is safe," said Oscar. The old engineer was very dear to
+him.
+
+He told the men to remain on guard, and each armed himself with a
+dagger, sword or pistol.
+
+Then Oscar tiptoed his way to the engine room.
+
+Peering in he saw Gabretti at the engine, studying a power register
+with much perplexity.
+
+"I can make nodding of heem!" he muttered. "Do zat make ze boat go zis
+vay or zat vay, eh?"
+
+He turned to George Dross, who still lay bound to the iron bench.
+
+"Don't ask me any questions," growled the old engineer.
+
+"You shall answer me!" stormed the Italian. "Answer--vot ees zat funny
+clock for?"
+
+"It shows the time to pump the electricity in the
+go-bang-it-on-the-head," answered Dross.
+
+"Ze electricity in ze go-bang-him--vot you call eet? Who ses eet?"
+
+"It shows when you will be hung," grumbled George Dross.
+
+"Ha! You make von fun of me, eh? You are a--a--I know not vot. How you
+like dat, eh?"
+
+Raising his heavy boot, Gabretti kicked the old engineer violently in
+the side.
+
+He was about to repeat the act when Oscar rushed at him from behind and
+pushed him headlong.
+
+Then the young captain of the Holland jumped on the Italian rascal,
+knocking every particle of wind out of him.
+
+"Let--mego!" panted Gabretti.
+
+"Ha! It ees the captain!"
+
+"You scoundrel, to blow up one of the old Hollands!" cried Oscar
+angrily. "You, a naturalized citizen of the United States. You deserve
+what you will surely get--a traitor's death."
+
+Gabretti struggled wildly and tried to draw a knife from his bosom.
+But Oscar kicked the blade aside and hit the rascal a blow with his
+electric rifle, and then the traitor sank back, insensible.
+
+"Heaven be praised!" murmured George Dross, when set free. "I was
+afraid we had reached the end of our string."
+
+"I reckon that fellow has reached the end of his string--or he will
+when he hangs," answered Oscar. "Bind him with the ropes that bound
+you." And Dross quickly complied.
+
+With the leaders of the expedition against the new Holland out of the
+way, and with five men to fight but six, Oscar rightfully felt that
+success was now but a short distance off.
+
+George Dross was soon armed, and then Oscar and the old engineer moved
+silently toward the lookout.
+
+Here two men were stationed, a Spaniard and an Italian. They were both
+gazing intently at what was before them in the ocean, and neither heard
+the approach of the Americans until it was too late for them to do
+anything.
+
+Both were thrown down and in the struggle one was knocked senseless.
+Then the pair were bound, back to back, and pitched into one of the
+lower compartments of the Holland XI.
+
+While this was going on two other men had appeared in front of Andy and
+those with the young lieutenant.
+
+A fierce fight ensued, in which one of the foreigners was shot and the
+second cut in the head with a sword. One of the Americans was also
+wounded, but the wound was of small consequence.
+
+Half an hour later the Holland XI. was once again in complete control
+of her regular crew.
+
+Walton explained how he had been overcome, and Oscar read him a
+lecture on being more careful in the future.
+
+"And I will be careful," said the ammunition-man. "After this the first
+man to try any game on me gets shot."
+
+Oscar did not care to go after the Green Dragon while he had so many
+prisoners on board, and consequently he ran in at Santiago de Cuba,
+and placed Captain Roquez, Gabretti and the others in charge of the
+American garrison there.
+
+"A big haul, Captain Pelham," said the commander of the garrison. "The
+capture of Gabretti means fifty thousand dollars in your pocket."
+
+"A fair share of it shall go to my men," answered Oscar.
+
+Soon the new Holland left Cuba, and then the search for the Green
+Dragon and pretty Martha Adams was renewed with more vigilance than
+ever.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+                       AN UNDERWATER EARTHQUAKE.
+
+
+From Santiago the Holland XI. ran southward and then eastward.
+
+A rainy season was now on, and it was cloudy nearly all the time, while
+showers were frequent.
+
+A sharp lookout was kept constantly, but for several days nothing was
+sighted but a few peaceable fishing smacks.
+
+At Santiago the young commander had received news that many of the
+foreign nations were growing tired of the war.
+
+Out of sixteen naval battles they had won but four and out of
+twenty-two contests on land only three stood to their credit.
+
+In the meantime Uncle Sam had not been idle.
+
+An army of invasion, numbering forty thousand soldiers, had been landed
+on the coast of England and had taken possession of two forts and one
+city located there.
+
+Another army was on its way to Japan and a third had just left the
+Philippines bound for China.
+
+More than this, the Boers of South Africa had thrown in their fortunes
+with the United States and Cape Colony had followed. Four small South
+American republics had likewise declared for our country and were
+willing to do whatever Congress and President Adams wanted of them.
+
+"Things are coming our way fast," declared Andy, when talking the
+matter over with the young naval captain. "I reckon those foreigners
+who have combined against us are heartily sick of their job. I can't
+understand why they went in at all."
+
+"It's the capitalists who forced the war, Andy. The United States is
+taking the trade of the world fast, and they had to do something."
+
+"Then why didn't they stop buying our goods?"
+
+"Because the common people won't stand that--not if they can buy
+our goods cheaper than they can their own. When you touch a man's
+pocketbook you touch his heart."
+
+"But after this war is ended, what then?"
+
+"We'll have to adjust commercial matters with them, that's all.
+Congress will come to some sort of a friendly agreement. After all,
+you must remember that our enemies are really our fellow human beings.
+While we have the power to do so, it's not right for us to drive them
+too far into a corner."
+
+"I agree with you, Oscar. 'Live and let live' is my motto. But I must
+say I've got no use for the Chinese."
+
+"Nor I--especially for the fellows who abducted Miss Adams."
+
+"I see you can't get her out of your head. Well, I don't blame you.
+She's a fine girl, no two ways about it."
+
+The Holland XI. was now out of sight of land, and no shore came to view
+until some hours later.
+
+In the meantime the air grew strangely hot in spite of the heavy rain
+which was falling.
+
+"Gosh, but the Holland XI. is getting to be a reg'lar sweatbox!" panted
+George Dross, as he came out of the engine room and to the trap-door to
+get a whiff of fresh air.
+
+Oscar examined the thermometer.
+
+"Great Scott!" he ejaculated.
+
+"How high?"
+
+"A hundred and eighteen in the shade!"
+
+Dross could not believe it and examined the glass for himself.
+
+"Right you are, captain. No wonder I was getting ready to keel over
+down there from the heat."
+
+"We will sink to the bottom of the sea," answered Oscar. "It must be
+cooler there than up here."
+
+A fresh supply of air was taken on board and soon the submarine craft
+was slowly descending.
+
+At this point the bed of the Caribbean Sea lay a quarter of a mile
+below the surface and was broken up by a series of ridges and several
+hilltops, which looked as if in years gone by they might have been
+islands.
+
+"It is cooler here," said Andy, while they were resting on the bottom.
+And then, glancing out of the window, he continued: "What beautiful
+seaweeds and trees! Oscar, do you suppose this part of the ocean was
+ever an island?"
+
+"More than likely, Andy."
+
+"What caused it to sink--an earthquake?"
+
+"Either that or else a volcanic eruption, such as they had on
+Martinique years ago."
+
+"That was a terrible thing. I was told it wiped out 30,000 lives at the
+city of St. Pierre."
+
+"Yes, and it was followed by the sinking of four small islands in that
+vicinity and the appearance of the island now known as Gromley, after
+Professor Gromley, the geologist, who discovered it."
+
+"Those must have been trying times down here."
+
+"They were--so my father told me. And a few years later, when they had
+that little earthquake in New York city, and the whole mass slipped two
+inches toward the Battery and the bay, folks got scared out of their
+wits. My father told me that downtown people left New York with a rush,
+and some of them didn't go back until several months later."
+
+"I don't blame them. Imagine the whole city, with its enormously high
+buildings, coming down with a crash and sliding into the bay. It's
+enough to make a fellow shiver from head to foot."
+
+"Something is bound to happen there some day--if they keep on putting
+up those skyscrapers. Just before we left I heard of a party who was
+going to erect a building one hundred stories high and three blocks
+long, the streets between the blocks to be bridged over."
+
+"Gosh! That fellow must have money!"
+
+"It was a stock company building, and the shares were to be held by the
+tenants. But I wouldn't want to live or do business on the hundredth
+floor, I can tell you that."
+
+At this moment word came in from the lookout that he desired to see
+Captain Oscar at once.
+
+The young captain lost no time in hurrying forward.
+
+"What is it?" he asked.
+
+"Look there, captain. What do you make of that?" questioned the
+lookout, in return.
+
+Captain Oscar looked in the direction indicated, which was the top of a
+small hill.
+
+From this hilltop sand was pouring, accompanied by a peculiar something
+which resembled smoke.
+
+For several minutes both gazed at the extraordinary phenomena in
+silence.
+
+"That is something new," said Oscar. "I would not mind going a bit
+closer to investigate."
+
+The words had hardly left his lips when the sand began to shoot up into
+the air. Then followed something that looked like smoke and steam, and
+soon the plate glass of the lookout window became hot.
+
+"It's a volcano!" cried Oscar. "I reckon we had better leave this
+vicinity."
+
+Through the speaking tube he gave orders to George Dross to back the
+Holland XI.
+
+The screw was just beginning to turn when a dull explosion came to the
+ears of all on board.
+
+A rush of sand, mud, steam and fire followed and stones beat a steady
+tattoo on the steel plates of the Holland XI.
+
+Some of the mud and stones became entangled in the screw of the
+submarine craft and in their hurry to get away from the vicinity the
+boat was run into a forest of seaweed and marine brushwood.
+
+The whole bottom of the sea was moving and they realized that an
+earthquake was at hand.
+
+They were caught in the very midst of the awful disturbance and it was
+a question whether or not they would get out of it alive.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+                       THE RESCUE OF JEAN FEVRE.
+
+
+It was a moment of extreme peril and nobody realized it more than did
+Captain Oscar Pelham.
+
+Should the Holland XI. become fast between the rocks and mud now
+pouring forth on all sides the submarine craft would be doomed.
+
+"Turn her and run at full speed!" he shouted. "To port, quick!"
+
+His order to turn to port was obeyed as speedily as possible.
+
+He had seen the bed of the sea rising in the opposite direction and the
+movement came none too soon. A moment later the ground shot high up
+into the air, carrying huge rocks with it.
+
+Had the Holland XI. been caught in that upheaval she would have been
+thrown two hundred feet above the surface of the Caribbean Sea, to fall
+back a broken and battered mass, with all on board lifeless.
+
+The commotion under water was now growing rapidly, so that little could
+be seen, and they had to trust largely to luck as they moved on in an
+endeavor to get away from the ill-fated spot.
+
+Once the Holland XI. struck a huge mass of mud which had just been
+raised by the earthquake.
+
+It sent the mass flying in all directions and the lookout window was
+completely covered with the stuff, so that next to nothing could be
+seen.
+
+"If we get out of this we can be thankful!" gasped Andy. "Hark to the
+roaring! And feel, the very sides of the boat are getting hot!"
+
+The young lieutenant was right; the plates were so warm that they were
+positively painful to the touch.
+
+And now came a greater explosion than before, and in a twinkle the new
+Holland was caught and turned around and around like a top in a strange
+current created by this new volcanic eruption. And, worst of all, the
+boat was sinking.
+
+"We're going down into a hole!" shouted one of the ammunition men.
+"Nothing can save us now! We'll drop to the bowels of the earth and
+right into that volcano fire!"
+
+His words were truly startling, and for the moment it looked as if all
+on board the submarine craft were losing their presence of mind. Oscar
+ran to the engine room.
+
+"Up! up!" he yelled. "And give her all the power possible! It is our
+one chance!"
+
+The electric engine began to work as never before, and presently their
+downward course was stayed. Then they arose and Oscar directed they run
+ahead as before.
+
+The mud was still on every side and the water ran hither and thither in
+all directions, carrying seaweed, wood and dead fish with it. The heat
+continued, but presently it grew cooler.
+
+"I guess we are going to get out of it, after all," said Andy, mopping
+the perspiration from his forehead. "But, oh! what an experience! I
+never want another like it!"
+
+"Don't crow until you are out of the woods," said Oscar.
+
+"That was a real volcanic eruption and an earthquake combined, wasn't
+it?"
+
+"Certainly--and not a little one, either."
+
+"By no means."
+
+Yet in an hour the danger was over and the sea once more resumed its
+normal condition.
+
+When they came to the surface it was much cooler than it had been and
+it was raining in torrents.
+
+On every side seaweed was floating about and on the water rested an
+oily substance exceedingly disagreeable to the smell.
+
+"What will you do?" asked Andy.
+
+"Put in to shore and find out how bad the earthquake has been,"
+answered the young captain.
+
+It was no easy matter to locate themselves in the darkness, but after a
+consultation the course was set and they ran back in the direction of
+Santiago.
+
+When they arrived at the entrance to Santiago Harbor they found great
+excitement. The earthquake had done considerable harm to the shipping
+and several small coast vessels had been completely destroyed.
+
+In the town a number of large buildings had suffered, but no serious
+damage was done and no lives were lost.
+
+But a few hours later came in word that the shock had been very heavy
+on the north coast of Venezuela and that several seaport towns were
+completely wiped out.
+
+"I want no more earthquakes," said Oscar. "One is enough."
+
+And Andy agreed with him.
+
+Two days later they left Santiago once more and the search for the
+Green Dragon was resumed.
+
+But day after day went by and nothing was seen of the Chinese warship.
+
+"It looks to me as if we were on the wrong track," said Oscar.
+
+"Do you intend to give up the search?" asked Andy.
+
+"No, no! We must find that ship, and Miss Adams."
+
+On the following day the lookout announced a ship far away to the
+southeast.
+
+"Looks something like a warship and then not exactly like one, either,"
+he said.
+
+"Perhaps it is a private ship fixed over into a fighting machine,"
+returned the young captain.
+
+In less than an hour they came up to within a hundred yards of the
+strange craft.
+
+Not a soul was in sight and they soon discovered that the ship was a
+complete wreck from stem to stern.
+
+There was a large hole on her starboard side, just above the water line
+and many of her upper guns were missing.
+
+"This is queer," said Andy, as they gazed at the wreck. "What do you
+make her out to be?"
+
+"A French ship-of-the-line. See, there is the name, Bordeaux, on her
+bow. Do you know what I think?"
+
+"That she has been through a battle?"
+
+"Yes, but not with other ships."
+
+"I don't understand, Oscar."
+
+"I think she has been through a battle with that earthquake and got the
+worst of it."
+
+"By Jove! Perhaps you are right!"
+
+"I'm going to see if anybody is on board."
+
+Oscar set up a yell through a trumpet, and then, to increase the sound
+of his voice, added an electric attachment which magnified the voice
+fiftyfold.
+
+Presently a cry came faintly from the wreck and a single Frenchman
+appeared at the rail.
+
+"Safe me! Safe me!" he called piteously.
+
+[Illustration: "SAVE ME! SAVE ME!" HE CALLED PITEOUSLY.]
+
+"Are you alone?" questioned Oscar, cautiously.
+
+"Yes! yes! All alone!"
+
+"Where is the crew?"
+
+"All drowned by ze great earthquake! Oh, it was terrible, terrible.
+Safe me!"
+
+"This may be a trick to get us on board," came warningly from Andy.
+
+"I don't intend to go on board yet, Andy."
+
+The Holland XI. was run in close to the wreck and the Frenchman was
+told to drop into the water.
+
+"I vill drown!" he wailed. "Poor Jean Fevre has never learned how to
+swim!"
+
+"We will pick you up, never fear," said Oscar, and then the Frenchman
+did as bidden. In a moment more he was on board. Tears of joy streamed
+down his face.
+
+"It is so goot to be safed!" he said, brokenly.
+
+It was now discovered that the French warship was in danger of going
+down at any moment, and they got out of the vicinity without delay.
+
+Soon the big ship began to sink and a quarter of an hour later she
+passed out of sight forever.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXX.
+
+                     THE LAST BATTLE.--CONCLUSION.
+
+
+Jean Fevre proved to be a queer character. He was something of a French
+dude, and before the war had shone in social circles both in Paris and
+in Washington.
+
+Oscar soon learned that the Frenchman knew Martha Adams fairly well,
+and the Frenchman raved over her beauty. When told that she was a
+prisoner on the Green Dragon, he was thunderstruck.
+
+"Zat ees not right!" he cried with a shudder. "Poor la belle a prisoner
+of ze bad yellow men! Too bad! It must not be! She ees no soldier! It
+ees--ees, yes, it ees devilish!" And he stamped his boot on the deck.
+
+Then he told Oscar that the Green Dragon was hiding in a bay on the
+Cuban coast not ten miles distant. He hated the Chinese, and was
+perfectly willing to see them defeated, so long as Martha Adams was
+rescued, and so long as it did not give final victory to the Americans.
+
+The new Holland ran at once for the bay Fevre mentioned and reached it
+at noon of that day.
+
+Sure enough the Green Dragon was there, at anchor, and the people on
+her deck could be seen plainly.
+
+Bringing the Holland XI. to the surface behind a point of land out of
+sight of the Chinese warship, Oscar scrutinized those on the deck with
+his spy-glass.
+
+"By thunder!" he cried, and dropped the spy-glass.
+
+He had seen Martha Adams on the deck.
+
+The girl was trying to escape from the clutches of a Chinese officer,
+who acted as if he had been trying to embrace her.
+
+Suddenly the girl broke loose and ran to the bow of the ship, which was
+pointed out to the ocean.
+
+The warship had a long bowsprit, and the President's daughter made her
+way to the extreme limit of this.
+
+"Come back!" roared the Chinese officer, and ran after her.
+
+"Let me be, or I will leap overboard!" screamed the unhappy maiden,
+and then, as the officer came closer, she made a dive and disappeared
+beneath the bosom of the ocean.
+
+By this time Oscar had caught up one of his pistols.
+
+His aim was true and the Chinese officer pitched headlong into the
+water, mortally wounded.
+
+The officer was an admiral in the Chinese navy, and a howl went
+up when the fatal shot was fired, and all eyes were turned in the
+direction of the Holland XI.
+
+"Quick, we must rescue Martha Adams, no matter what the cost!" cried
+Oscar. "Will you stand by me, men?"
+
+"We will!" came from Andy and the others.
+
+"Then forward at full speed to where she went down. But take care that
+the Holland XI. does not strike the young lady."
+
+Word was passed along, and the submarine craft darted over the ocean
+like a thing of life, keeping her deck above water and the trap-door
+wide open.
+
+Oscar stood on the deck, pistol in hand, and beside him was Andy, also
+armed.
+
+Soon the boat was almost under the bowsprit of the Chinese warship.
+
+In the meantime, Martha Adams had come to the surface and was battling
+bravely to save herself from drowning.
+
+She could swim, but the weight of her clothes was dragging her down.
+
+"Keep up! We will save you!" cried Oscar.
+
+"Help!" panted the girl. "Oh, save me from those horrible Chinamen!"
+
+She struck out feebly, then disappeared from view.
+
+"Take my pistols, Andy!" exclaimed Oscar, and threw down the weapons.
+The next instant he was over the side of the new Holland and swimming
+after Martha Adams. A dive and he had the beautiful maiden by the
+shoulder.
+
+In the meantime the Chinese were bewildered and knew not what to do.
+
+But then several officers ran forward with guns and pistols.
+
+"Shoot the foreign dogs!" they shouted, and one fired a gun at Oscar,
+but the bullet sped wide of its mark.
+
+"Come with me, and I will take care of you," said the young captain of
+the Holland XI., encouragingly.
+
+"Mr. Pelham!" burst from the girl's lips, and a smile lit up her
+anxious face. "Oh, how thankful I am!"
+
+"There is no time to spare! Come, quick!" And he helped her through the
+water to the new Holland's side.
+
+As they came up out of the ocean, several shots were fired, one of
+which took effect in Oscar's shoulder.
+
+Andy returned the fire, and two other Chinese officers went to their
+death, while a third was badly disabled.
+
+"Catch hold of her, Andy!" panted Oscar. And Martha Adams was placed on
+deck. Then Oscar tried to come up, but was too faint from loss of blood
+to do so.
+
+"Give me your hand!" cried Andy, and hauled him on board. Then all
+three went below and the trap-door was closed as quickly as possible.
+
+The movement came none too soon, for the Chinese gunners were already
+training their heavy guns in the direction of the Holland.
+
+"Blow her up!" shrieked an officer, in Chinese. "Make dog's meat of
+her!"
+
+"Back her, full speed!" yelled Oscar. "Quick, Dross, for our very lives
+depend on it!"
+
+And back went the Holland XI. at full speed, churning up the ocean into
+a milky foam.
+
+"Bang! bang! boom! boom!" went the Chinese guns.
+
+All of the shots but one flew wide of their mark.
+
+One shot hit the bow of the Holland and glanced off, leaving a badly
+cracked plate behind.
+
+"Down we go!" sang out Oscar, and down they did go, and in another
+minute were safe for the time being.
+
+Then the young captain fainted.
+
+When Oscar came to his senses he found Martha Adams bending over him
+and binding up his wound for him.
+
+"You are so brave!" she murmured. "I shall never forget you, never!"
+And she blushed deeply.
+
+She, too, was weak, but insisted upon making him comfortable before
+caring for herself.
+
+Oscar found that the submarine craft had run half a mile away from the
+bay in which the Green Dragon was located.
+
+He ordered the boat back at once, and told Andy to torpedo the Chinese
+warship.
+
+This Andy was very willing to do, and inside of an hour the new Holland
+had added another to her long list of victories.
+
+"And now back to the States to tell the President that his daughter is
+saved," said the young commander.
+
+On the trip that followed, nothing of special interest occurred.
+
+The time passed all too quick for Oscar, who found Martha Adams'
+society dearer to him than ever.
+
+When Chesapeake Bay was gained, important news awaited all on board of
+the Holland XI.
+
+The foreign nations had given up the struggle against the United States.
+
+"Hurrah! The war is over!" cried Andy. "And I must say that on the
+whole I am not sorry."
+
+"There is only one cloud which rests upon the nation," said the officer
+who brought the Holland XI. the news. "President Adams' daughter is
+still missing."
+
+"She is not missing--she is found," answered Oscar, and introduced the
+officer to Martha Adams.
+
+The news spread like wildfire, and when the new Holland reached the
+Potomac it found a regular flotilla of warships there, ready to do her
+honor.
+
+Cannon boomed, whistles blew, rockets flared, bells rang, and flags and
+bunting were everywhere in evidence. The President and his wife came
+down to the wharf, in their carriage, and received the girl and Oscar,
+in person, and at the happy meeting the crowd fairly shouted itself
+hoarse. It was a fitting end to a most glorious campaign on land and
+sea.
+
+"You have fairly earned your reward," said the President to Oscar. "The
+money is yours and you shall be commodore of the new submarine fleet
+which is building."
+
+Two years went by and the great war of all nations became a thing of
+the past.
+
+Yet the United States were bound to profit by past experience, and lost
+no time in completing all the warships which had been building.
+
+Instead of three, the government built twelve new submarine boats of
+the Holland pattern.
+
+This fleet was divided into two squadrons, and Andy Greggs became the
+commodore of one, and faithful old George Dross the commodore of the
+other.
+
+And Captain Oscar, do you ask?
+
+It was no longer Captain Oscar, then, but Rear Admiral Pelham,
+commander of all the United States submarine craft afloat, a worthy
+officer and one to be trusted with any mission, no matter how sacred or
+how dangerous. He was known far and wide as a brilliant inventor and
+daring navy official. And his pretty wife, Martha, was equally known
+for her great beauty and her sweetness of heart. They were happy, and
+here we will leave them.
+
+
+                               THE END.
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75394 ***