The Mystery Ship: A Story of the 'Q' Ships During the Great War by Percy F. Westerman
CHAPTER XI
VON PREUGFELD'S RESOLVE
"DONNERWETTER! I am utterly sick of this business, Kaspar," whisperedSeaman Furst. "It is the life of a dog, or worse. If this war is notover by the beginning of the winter there will be trouble amongst the_unterseebooten_ crews."
"S'sh, not so loud," cautioned his companion, as the grumbler raisedhis voice towards the end of his tirade. "I agree with you, Hans.This game does not pay. We were told that we should save theFatherland and bring England to her knees by our submarines. But havewe? Just look! Here we are hungry, wet and unhappy, yet in Englandthere is, they say, plenty. Just before we left Cuxhaven my wife hada letter from her brother who is a prisoner in England. He wrote andsaid that even our men who are held in captivity receive three goodmeals a day."
"That is what I do not understand," remarked Hans Furst. "If we arewinning, as our officers tell us we are, how comes it that we cannotget eatable food? Of course, at the beginning of the war we werelucky. All we had to do was to run alongside an English merchantman,take what we wanted in the way of food and tobacco, and then sinkher; but now----"
"But now," continued Kaspar Krauss, taking up the parable, "everystrafed English ship has a gun, and one never knows but that acoasting vessel is not a death-trap for us. You remember thatfishing-smack off Flamborough?"
Furst shuddered.
"Will I ever forget it?" he answered. "'Tis marvellous that we liveto tell the tale. What would I not give for a life ashore with atankard of Munich beer, a loaf of good bread and cheese? Andtobacco--what is tobacco? I have almost forgotten."
"There was some in that Dutch vessel we burnt a week ago," saidKrauss.
Furst clenched his fists.
"And where did it go?" he demanded. "That _schweinhund_ our kapitanput it under lock and key. He and the pig-faced von Loringhoven smokeevery night when we rise to recharge batteries, but never a cigar ora pipeful comes our way."
"We'll be back again on Friday if all goes well," said the other."Then we can enjoy ourselves."
"Enjoy ourselves!" echoed Furst contemptuously. "How? I've got abundle of notes in my belt, but precious little use are they. In thegood old days a mark was a mark, but now----"
"Yes, I know," snarled Krauss. "Just before the war I came back fromAmerica on the _George Washington_ with eight hundred and fifty marksto my name. I was going to buy a small business in Bremen and settledown to a life ashore. I should have done well. Then came the war.The rascally swindlers told us that if we lent our money to the Stateit would be repaid with twenty-five per cent. when peace wasproclaimed. Just imagine! I handed over my eight hundred marks insilver, fool that I was! Even supposing the government does pay meback a thousand marks, it will be in rotten paper money, and I knowthat five thousand now will not buy the place I had offered to me foreight hundred and fifty four years ago."
"There will be trouble," agreed Furst. "Do you know that there is amovement amongst the men of the U-boats' crews to hoist the RedFlag?"
"Have I not heard of it!" exclaimed Kaspar grimly. "And when thetime comes here is one who will jump at the opportunity. Now, at----"
The clang of a gong interrupted the discourse. The men jumped upsmartly. The cast-iron discipline of the German Navy was as yet toopowerful a force to be flouted by embryo revolutionists.
"Empty two and four tanks," came a guttural order through a voicetube. "And be quick about it, you numskulls!"
U 247 was preparing to rise to the surface in order to verify herposition. For several hours she had rested on the bottom, scared bythe presence of a swarm of destroyers and M.L.'s which had hurried toavenge the bombardment of Aberspey.
The material damage to the little town had been slight--almostnegligible--for the majority of the shells had fallen in open spaces.Two people had been slightly injured by flying fragments. Actualdestruction of military property was nil. Financially the bombardmentwas a failure. The cost of the ammunition far exceeded that of thedamage; but morally an insult had been offered to the island shoresof Britain, and the destroyer flotillas were quick to avenge theaffront.
Ober-leutnant Hans von Preugfeld, kapitan of U 247, had acted withgreat discretion after his brave bombardment of Aberspey. "Leggingit," submerged for several miles, he allowed the submarine to lie onthe bottom for a considerable period. Then, hearing no suspicioussounds, he had the motors restarted and, the while submerged, shiftedhis position a good five miles. At length, assuming that it was safeto blow ballast-tanks and come to the surface, he gave the necessaryorders.
Directly a patch of white light showed upon the object-bowl of theperiscope, signifying that the tip of the latter had "brokensurface," von Preugfeld made a cautious survey. Through nearly threehundred degrees the periscope revolved. Then, abruptly, the kapitanchecked the rotary movement of the training-wheel.
"Come here, Eitel!" he exclaimed peremptorily.
Von Preugfeld stood aside to allow the unter-leutnant to view theobject that had attracted his superior's attention.
"Come now," said the ober-leutnant irritably. "What do you make ofit?"
"It is a vessel of some kind, Herr Kapitan," replied Eitel vonLoringhoven.
"Of course it is," snapped von Preugfeld. "Any fool could see that.What I want to know is: what sort of craft is it? Stand aside if youcannot do better than that."
"It is a long, low-lying craft painted black," resumed Loringhoven,retaining his place at the periscope in order to ingratiate himselfin the eyes of his commanding officer. "There are men standing aft.Amidships I can see a small sail--it may be that there is a sailingboat alongside."
"That's better," remarked von Preugfeld, literally pushing theunter-leutnant aside. "Port helm fifteen degrees," he ordered. "Atouch ahead with both motors."
The U-boat shuddered under the beats of the twin screws, then forgingslowly ahead approached the puzzling object.
"Stop!"
A bell clanged somewhere in the confined recesses of the modernpirate craft. At a curt nod from the kapitan the quartermaster pulledover a lever which had the effect of actuating the twin horizontalrudders. Once more the periscope reared its sinister head above thewaves.
"Ach! I see men in uniform," exclaimed von Preugfeld. "We must becautious. Men in khaki," he continued, scratching his closely croppedhead in perplexity. "I cannot understand it. Look again, Eitel: canyou see if she carries any guns or torpedo-tubes?"
"None, as far as I can see, Herr Kapitan," replied von Loringhovenafter a careful scrutiny. "To me it looks as if she is sinking. Herstern is well down. Yes, there is a sailing-boat alongside or closeto her. The boat is moving ahead."
"We will submerge and come up again on the other side," declared vonPreugfeld. "We may then solve the mystery. Down to ten metres," heordered.
Bubbling with latent insubordination, Furst and Krauss at their postsat the auxiliary ballast-tank valves obeyed promptly. In spite of alltheir revolutionary tendencies and expressions of general"fed-uppedness," they realised that their lives depended upon theprompt execution of their hated superior's orders. Knowing nothing ofwhat was going on without, they submitted to discipline as the onlyremedy for their present predicament. After a period of ten minutes'total submergence the periscope shoved its squat snout above thesurface--like a reluctant puppy about to receive a hiding. When aperiscope is in danger of getting a blinding blow in the shape of asix-pounder shell, or the hull to which it belongs is liable to bepulverised by a trio of torpedoes, the need for extreme cautionbecomes apparent.
"They have not observed us," muttered von Preugfeld with ferventgratitude to the providence that looks after Hun submarines. "There's'X 5' painted on her bows. Know what that means, Eitel?"
Von Loringhoven confessed that he did not. In spite of a carefulperusal of all works dealing with numbers and nomenclature of Britishshipping--and Berlin was kept fairly up-to-date in such matters--themystic symbol "X 5" was to him an unknown quantity. Incidentally itrecalled days when he was studying mathematics at the
The ober-leutnant steadied the periscope and touched a switch.Immediately, by the introduction of a special lens, the "field"covered by the eye-piece of the periscope was reduced, but the objectactually seen was considerably magnified. It was like looking througha telescope.
"They are men of the English Air Force," he observed. "Ibelieve--here, Eitel, look--the man walking for'ard. What do youmake of him?"
"_Donnerwetter!_" ejaculated von Loringhoven. "Surely it is ourfriend von Preussen?"
"Yes," replied the ober-leutnant. "Von Preussen playing the part of aJonah to an English whale. I wonder what he does there?"
"It would be well to clear out and leave him alone, Herr Kapitan,"suggested von Loringhoven. "It could only be that von Preussen isengaged in highly important confidential work that brings him afloatagain. _Himmel!_ He is a clever fellow."
The ober-leutnant tugged at his moustache thoughtfully. Eager to havea finger in any pie without the risk of burning himself, he was lothto take his subordinate's advice. Here, apparently, was an unarmedcraft, crewless, with the exception of a few officers. To him itsuggested that highly confidential experiments were being carriedon--so important that no one beneath the rank of officer waspermitted to be present. Perhaps they were staff officers of highrank?
Eagerly von Preugfeld kept each man under observation. Thetrench-coats gave no indication of their wearers' rank, but--disappointing fact--none of the officers wore gilt leaves round thepeaks of their caps. The sailing-boat alongside was also a puzzle.Why should the experimenters make use of an insignificantsailing-boat when there were steam pinnaces and motor launchesavailable?
"Stand by!" he ordered. "Guns' crews prepare to take your stations.Blow main and auxiliary tanks."
Bells clanged, valves hissed and pumps grated, men hurried to and froin execution of loud-voiced orders.
Von Preugfeld turned to his unter-leutnant.
"Bring her up," he ordered. "I am going to take those fellowsprisoners."