The Land that Time Forgot
Chapter 2
Toward morning, I must have dozed, though it to me at the time that I had for days, of hours. When I opened my eyes, it was daylight, and the girl's was in my face, and she was normally. I thanked God for that. She had her the night so that as I opened my I saw her not an from mine, my almost hers.
It was Nobs who her. He got up, stretched, around a times and again, and the girl opened her and looked into mine. Hers very wide at first, and then slowly came to her, and she smiled.
"You have been very good to me," she said, as I helped her to rise, though if the truth were I was more in need of than she; the all along my left to be entirely. "You have been very good to me." And that was the only mention she of it; yet I know that she was and that only her from to what, to say the least, was an situation, unavoidable.
Shortly after we saw toward us, and after a time we out the lines of a tug—one of those of England's of the sea that ships into French and English ports. I up on a and my above my head. Nobs upon another and barked. The girl sat at my her toward the of the boat. "They see us," she said at last. "There is a man your signal." She was right. A came into my throat—for her than for mine. She was saved, and none too soon. She not have through another night upon the Channel; she might not have through the day.
The came close us, and a man on us a rope. Willing hands us to the deck, Nobs without assistance. The men were as mothers with the girl. Plying us with questions they her to the captain's and me to the boiler-room. They told the girl to take off her wet and them the door that they might be dried, and then to into the captain's and warm. They didn't have to tell me to after I once got into the of the boiler-room. In a jiffy, my about where they might most quickly, and I myself was absorbing, through every pore, the welcome of the compartment. They us and coffee, and then those who were not on sat around and helped me the Kaiser and his brood.
As soon as our were dry, they us them, as the were always more than in those that we should into trouble with the enemy, as I was only too well aware. What with the and the of safety for the girl, and the knowledge that a little and food would overcome the of her of the past hours, I was more than I had since those three whistle-blasts had the peace of my world the previous afternoon.
But peace upon the Channel has been but a thing since August, 1914. It proved itself such that morning, for I had into my and taken the girl's to the captain's when an order was into the engine-room for full speed ahead, and an later I the of a gun. In a moment I was up on to see an enemy about two hundred yards off our port bow. She had us to stop, and our had the order; but now she had her gun on us, and the second the cabin, the tug-captain that it was time to obey. Once again an order to the engine-room, and the speed. The U-boat and ordered the to come about and approach. Our had us a little the enemy craft, but we were now on the of a circle that would us alongside her. As I the and what was to of us, I something touch my and to see the girl at my side. She looked up into my with a expression. "They on our destruction," she said, "and it looks like the same that us yesterday."
"It is," I replied. "I know her well. I helped design her and took her out on her run."
The girl from me with a little of and disappointment. "I you were an American," she said. "I had no idea you were a—a—"
"Nor am I," I replied. "Americans have been for all nations for many years. I wish, though, that we had gone bankrupt, my father and I, we out that Frankenstein of a thing."
We were the U-boat at speed now, and I almost the of the men upon her deck. A to my and something hard and cold into my hand. I did not have to look at it to know that it was a pistol. "Tyke 'er an' use 'er," was all he said.
Our was pointed toward the U-boat now as I word passed to the engine for full speed ahead. I the of the English skipper—he was going to ram five hundreds of U-boat in the of her gun. I a cheer. At the didn't to his intention. Evidently they they were an of seamanship, and they their to the to speed and the hard to port.
We were fifty of them when they to the of our maneuver. Their gun was off its guard; but they to their piece now and sent a above our heads. Nobs about and furiously. "Let 'em have it!" the tug-captain, and revolvers and rifles upon the of the submersible. Two of the gun-crew down; the other their piece at the water-line of the tug. The of those on to our small-arms fire, their toward the man at our wheel.
I pushed the girl the leading to the engine-room, and then I my pistol and my at a boche. What in the next so that are in my memory. I saw the upon the wheel, the around so that the off from her course, and I that all our were to be in vain, of all the men aboard, Fate had that this one should to an enemy bullet. I saw the gun-crew on the fire their piece and I the of impact and the loud as the and in our bows.
I saw and these as I was into the pilot-house and the wheel, the of the helmsman. With all my I the to starboard; but it was too late to the purpose of our skipper. The best I did was to alongside the sub. I someone an order into the engine-room; the and to the of the engines, and our speed lessened. Then I saw what that of a planned since his had gone wrong.
With a loud-yelled command, he to the of the submersible, and at his came his crew. I from the pilot-house and followed, not to be left out in the cold when it came to the boches. From the engine room came the and stockers, and together we after the of the and into the hand-to-hand that was the wet with red blood. Beside me came Nobs, now, and grim. Germans were from the open to take part in the on deck. At the pistols the of the men and the loud of the and his junior; but presently we were too mixed to make it safe to use our firearms, and the itself into a hand-to-hand for of the deck.
The of each of us was to one of the into the sea. I shall the upon the of the great Prussian with me. He his and at me, like a bull. With a quick side-step and low his arms, I him; and as he to come at me, I a upon his which sent him toward the of the deck. I saw his wild to regain his equilibrium; I saw him for an upon the of and then, with a loud scream, into the sea. At the same a pair of arms me from and me off my feet. Kick and as I would, I neither turn toward my free myself from his grasp. Relentlessly he was me toward the of the and death. There was none to him, for each of my was more than by from one to three of the enemy. For an I was for myself, and then I saw that which me with a terror for another.
My was me toward the of the against which the was still pounding. That I should be ground to death the two was upon me as I saw the girl alone upon the tug's deck, as I saw the high in air and the settling for the final dive, as I saw death from which I not save her at the skirts of the woman I now all too well that I loved.
I had the of a second longer to live when I an angry us with a of pain and from the who me. Instantly he to the deck, and as he did so he his arms to save himself, me. I upon him, but was upon my in the instant. As I arose, I a single at my opponent. Never again would he me or another, for Nob's great had closed upon his throat. Then I toward the of the to the girl upon the tug.
"Jump!" I cried. "Jump!" And I out my arms to her. Instantly as though with in my ability to save her, she over the of the onto the sloping, of the U-boat. I over to her hand. At the same the pointed its toward the sky and out of sight. My hand missed the girl's by a of an inch, and I saw her into the sea; but had she touched the water when I was in after her.
The us the surface; but I had her the moment I the water, and so we together, and together we came up—a yards from the U-boat. The thing I was Nobs barking furiously; he had missed me and was searching. A single at the vessel's me that the was over and that we had been victorious, for I saw our a of the enemy at pistol points while one by one the of the was out of the craft's and up on with the other prisoners.
As I toward the with the girl, Nobs' barking the attention of some of the tug's crew, so that as soon as we the there were hands to help us aboard. I asked the girl if she was hurt, but she me that she was none the for this second wetting; did she to any from shock. I was to learn for myself that this and the and of a warrior.
As we joined our own party, I the tug's up our survivors. There were ten of us left, not the girl. Our was missing, as were eight others. There had been of us in the party and we had in one way and another the for sixteen Germans and had taken nine prisoners, the commander. His had been killed.
"Not a day's work," said Bradley, the mate, when he had his roll. "Only the skipper," he added, "was the worst. He was a man, a man."
Olson—who in of his name was Irish, and in of his not being Scotch had been the tug's engineer—was with Bradley and me. "Yis," he agreed, "it's a day's wor-rk we're after doin', but what are we goin' to be doin' it now we got it?"
"We'll her into the nearest English port," said Bradley, "and then we'll all go and our V. C.'s," he concluded, laughing.
"How you goin' to her?" Olson. "You can't trust these Dutchmen."
Bradley his head. "I you're right," he admitted. "And I don't know the thing about a sub."
"I do," I him. "I know more about this particular than the officer who her."
Both men looked at me in astonishment, and then I had to all over again as I had to the girl. Bradley and Olson were delighted. Immediately I was put in command, and the thing I did was to go with Olson and the for and machinery. There were no Germans below, and was and in ship-shape order. I then ordered all hands one man who was to act as lookout. Questioning the Germans, I that all the were to their and in the into an English port. I that they were at the of being at a English prison-camp for the of the after the and through which they had passed. The officer, however, me that he would be a party to the of his vessel.
There was, therefore, nothing to do but put the man in irons. As we were preparing to put this into force, the girl from the deck. It was the time that she or the German officer had each other's since we had the U-boat. I was the girl the and still a upon her arm—possibly after such support was no longer necessary—when she and looked into the of the German. Each a of and dismay.
"Lys!" he cried, and took a step toward her.
The girl's wide, and slowly with a great horror, as she back. Then her to the of a soldier, and with in air and without a word she her upon the officer.
"Take him away," I the two men who him, "and put him in irons."
When he had gone, the girl her to mine. "He is the German of I spoke," she said. "He is Baron Schoenvorts."
I my head. She had loved him! I if in her of she did not love him yet. Immediately I jealous. I Baron Friedrich Schoenvorts with such that the me with a of exaltation.
But I didn't have much to my then, for almost the his over the and that there was on the horizon, ahead. Immediately I on to investigate, and Bradley came with me.
"If she's friendly," he said, "we'll speak her. If she's not, we'll her—eh, captain?"
"Yes, lieutenant," I replied, and it was his turn to smile.
We the Union Jack and on deck, Bradley to go and to each of the his duty, one Englishman with a pistol each German.
"Half speed ahead," I commanded.
More now we closed the ourselves and the stranger, until I see the red of the British merchant marine. My with at the that presently British would be us upon our capture; and just about then the merchant must have us, for she toward the north, and a moment later of from her funnels. Then, a course, she from us as though we had been the plague. I the of the and set off in chase; but the was than we, and soon left us astern.
With a smile, I that our original be resumed, and once again we set off toward England. That was three months ago, and we haven't yet; is there any that we shall.
The we had just must have a warning, for it wasn't an hour we saw more on the horizon, and this time the the white of the Royal Navy and guns. She didn't to the north or else, but on us rapidly. I was just preparing to her, when a from her bows, and an later the water in of us was high by the of a shell.
Bradley had come on and was me. "About one more of those, and she'll have our range," he said. "She doesn't to take much stock in our Union Jack."
A second passed over us, and then I gave the to our direction, at the same time Bradley to go and give the order to submerge. I passed Nobs to him, and following, saw to the and of the hatch.
It to me that the diving-tanks had so slowly. We a loud directly above us; the to the which us all to the deck. I to the of water, but none came. Instead we to until the registered and then I that we were safe. Safe! I almost smiled. I had Olson, who had in the tower at my direction, having been a of one of the early British crews, and therefore having some knowledge of the business. Bradley was at my side. He looked at me quizzically.
"What the are we to do?" he asked. "The will us; the war-vessel will us; neither will our colors or give us a to explain. We will meet a if we go around a British port—mines, and all of it. We can't do it."
"Let's try it again when this has the scent," I urged. "There must come a ship that will us."
And try it again we did, only to be almost rammed by a freighter. Later we were upon by a destroyer, and two and at our approach. For two days we up and the Channel trying to tell some one, who would listen, that we were friends; but no one would listen. After our with the I had that a message be sent out our predicament; but to my I that sending and had disappeared.
"There is only one place you can go," Schoenvorts sent word to me, "and that is Kiel. You can't land else in these waters. If you wish, I will take you there, and I can promise that you will be well."
"There is another place we can go," I sent my reply, "and we will we'll go to Germany. That place is hell."
