On the morning of the day on which she was to sail, Lieutenant7 Timmons, former gunnery officer of the Manhattan, did not step on board his speedy command till half an hour or so before sailing time. He found a scene of intense bustle8 and activity[32] awaiting him. Last stores were being rushed on board, and the excitement that attends the last moments before the casting off of any vessel1, from a mud scow to a battleship, was in the air.
From the Beale’s four stacks columns of black smoke were pouring, and white spurts9 of steam gushed10 from her escape pipes. She reminded one of an impatient horse champing his bit,—the bit in this case being the taut11 lines which held her to the navy yard wharf12.
“Say, Herc, this is something like it,” observed Ned, as the two young men stood on the forward deck and watched the eager preparations going forward.
“Um, kind of like going to sea in a machine shop,” was Herc’s comment as he gazed about him at the wilderness13 of steel and mechanical contrivances. As Herc had said, the deck of a destroyer does not bear a material difference from the metal wilderness of a machine shop.
“Wait till we get outside,” grinned Ned; “if[33] there are any whitecaps she’ll dance around like an empty bottle.”
“Woof!” grunted14 Herc, who still had a lively recollection of his first day at sea on the Manhattan. If that mighty15 Dreadnought was tumbled about like a plaything of the waves, what would happen to the little Beale? Herc dared not think about it.
“Say,” observed Ned suddenly, “I wonder what that fellow wants?”
He indicated, as he spoke16, a man who had just paced by them. He was a stalwart figure, though rather thickset, and round his neck was a dirty towel, proclaiming that he belonged in the fire-room regions.
“Oh, just some lubberly fireman. Why does he interest you particularly?”
“Why, he’s been past us two or three times since we’ve been standing17 here, and each time he has given us the greatest sizing up. I thought at first he might know us.”
At this moment the fireman turned, having[34] reached the limit of the superstructure, and came back toward them.
“Ever see him before?” asked Ned.
“Never,” rejoined Herc positively18.
“Neither have I—of that I’m certain. I don’t like his looks much.”
“Well, thank goodness, we don’t come much in contact with that collection of lubberly ash-hoisters to which he belongs,” grinned Herc.
As usual, the red-headed lad spoke rather louder than he had intended. Just then a sudden lull19 came in the clatter20 and uproar21 of the last moments, and Herc’s words were distinctly heard by the other. He favored the two as he passed with a distinct scowl22.
“There you go again, Herc,” reproved Ned. “That fellow heard what you said.”
“Well, he is one, isn’t he?” demanded the irrepressible youth. “An ash-hoister, I mean.”
“That’s no reason to tell him so. Now you, for instance——”
A long blast from the Beale’s siren interrupted him. Instantly boatswain’s mates’ whistles[35] shrilled23 about the steel decks, and men scampered25 hither and thither26, taking up their posts.
Ned and Herc hastened to theirs, while the orders to “Cast off” rang out sharp and clear. Instantly, like big snakes, the hawsers27 squirmed inboard, while steam winches rattled28 furiously. On the conning29 tower stood the figure of Lieutenant Timmons, with Ensign Gerard, his second in command, beside him.
“Ahead—slow!” he ordered.
A quartermaster shoved over the engine-room telegraph, and the steel decks began to vibrate beneath the boys’ feet. A small navy tug30 had hastily hitched31 on to the Beale’s “whale-back” bow, and hauled it round toward the river. Presently, however, this duty done, she, too, cast off. Thus left to her own power, the low, black destroyer glided32 out among the shipping33 on the East River, like a ferret slipping through a rabbit warren.
“Hurray for going to sea on a sewing-machine!” grunted Herc sardonically34, as the business of casting off being over, the Dreadnought Boys were free for a few minutes.
“Say, Ned,” he remarked suddenly, after an interval35 spent in watching the busy shipping and the buildings along the shore, “I thought you said this boat could beat anything of her class afloat?”
“So she can—twenty-nine knots,” rejoined Ned, briefly36 and comprehensively.
“Hum! We’re crawling along like an old ferry boat.”
“Well,” laughed Ned, “it’s a good thing, too. If we made speed in this crowded river, we might run into something.”
“And sink them?”
“No, hardly. Torpedo-boat destroyers aren’t built for that kind of work. The skin of this craft isn’t much thicker than that of an orange.”
“Wow! Stop her!” exclaimed Herc.
“What’s the matter?”
“I’ve just remembered an important engagement ashore37!”
“Too late now,” laughed Ned, as they steamed through Buttermilk Channel and headed down[37] the bay toward the Narrows. Brooklyn Bridge lay behind them like a rainbow of steel.
“Say,” grunted Herc suddenly, as if the thought had just struck him, “it wouldn’t do for us to hit anything, would it?”
“Well, I should say not,” laughed Ned. “It would be like an inflated38 paper bag getting the impact of a good, healthy fist.
“Have you seen our quarters below?” inquired Ned, to change the subject.
“Have I? I should say so. Not much like the old Manhattan’s forecastle. There isn’t room to swing a cat without scraping its whiskers off.”
“No, in craft of this kind everything is sacrificed to engine space. Speed is the thing.”
“Well, I guess you’ll soon see some. Wait till we get out of the Ambrose Channel and turn our nose southward.”
“Can’t come too swift for me,” confidently asserted Herc.
The conversation of the two young men was interrupted at this moment by a boatswain’s[38] mate. He ordered them forward to attend to some brasswork.
“Same old chores to be done even aboard a destroyer,” sighed Herc.
It may be said here that both Ned and Herc had practically received their rating as boatswain’s mates, but, owing to red tape, they had not received their appointments when the time came for sailing on the Beale. The destroyer carried a picked crew for the special service on which she was going, and Ned and Herc, to their huge delight, had been recommended by Captain Dunham for duty. Their present commander, Lieutenant Timmons, was the officer whom Ned had saved when the turret39 on the Manhattan was filled with the deadly gases and flames of the flare-back.
“Never mind,” Ned comforted, as the two boys went forward to get their rags and “brass dope,” “we’ll get our rating before this cruise is over.”
“Hooray! Then we’ll be giving orders, not taking them. Won’t I give some chaps I know a working-up,” grinned Herc.
“So far as obeying is concerned, the rear-admiral himself has to follow orders,” reminded Ned.
“Yes, but not so pesky many as we have to now,” Herc retorted.
The destroyer was soon well out into the heavy Atlantic swell40. Dimly on the starboard hand could be seen the low-lying coast of New Jersey41. During the afternoon the wind freshened, and the sun sank in a heavy bank of hard, greasy-looking clouds.
“Wind, sure as fate,” remarked a boatswain’s mate, as he gazed at them.
Before supper the men were given their watches, and other routine duty assigned. It was the first time that either of the boys had seen Lieutenant Timmons since Ned had so bravely rescued him. Naval42 etiquette43, however, forbade his giving either of the boys more than a crisp nod and a short:
“Well, my lads,” as he made his first tour of inspection44.
Ned and Herc were both on duty in the watch[40] that came on after midnight. They turned in, therefore, with several of their mates shortly after the evening meal. Both slept soundly, being, by this time, too accustomed to the noises of a laboring45 ship to pay any attention to the uproar. They were awakened46 at eight bells, midnight, however, by the shrill24 cries of:
“Turn out there, the starboard watch! Come on, tumble out there!”
Both boys instantly perceived that they were, indeed, as Ned put it, on board a craft “as lively as a floating bottle.” The steel floor, shining dimly under the few incandescents burning in the forecastle, seemed inclined at all sorts of angles at once.
“Say, this thing is a sea broncho!” complained Herc, trying in vain to thrust a leg into his trousers. Every time he thought he had succeeded a fresh lurch47 would send him flying across the floor. Ned got on a little better, but both boys were black and blue in numerous places by the time they caught on to the fact that their more seasoned shipmates were bracing48 themselves[41] against the upright metal posts from which the hammocks were slung49.
As they hastily dressed the boys could hear, every now and then, a terrific crash like a heavy burst of thunder. It was the weight of some big wave smashing against the whale-back bow. At such moments the destroyer quivered from stem to stern like a nervous racehorse.
Emerging on deck the boys found that the motion had not belied50 the wildness of the night. One of those summer gales52 that spring up along the Atlantic coast was howling in all its fury. The seas were running in black mountains. It seemed as if their great jaws53 must engulf54 the slender, needle-like craft, which, instead of riding them, dived clean through most of them. This was owing to her high speed, which, though it had, of course, been moderated when the blow came on, was still very fast.
Lieutenant Timmons’ orders were to get to his station as fast as possible, and he was surely doing it.
“A good thing we’ve got on oilskins!” exclaimed[42] Ned, clinging to the rail as the destroyer bucked55 and plunged56, and water slushed and swished along her decks.
Soon after, the midshipman whose duty it was, came to where the watch was crouching57 in the protection of the wing of the superstructure, and, while a quartermaster held his lantern, read off the roll.
“Now, keep away from the rail, boys,” he warned, “it’s going to blow harder yet, and we don’t want any one overboard.”
“Overboard,” commented Herc, as the young officer hurried back to the small “bridge” on the conning tower and sought the shelter of a weather cloth, “well, I should say not. It’s wet enough here.”
“Bad business, any one going overboard to-night,” put in the man in charge of the watch, a weather-beaten boatswain’s mate named Stanley. “That dinky boat would stand a good chance of being smashed like an eggshell.”
“How about the illuminating58 buoy59?” inquired Ned.
“Oh, that’s slung aft, with a hand watching it, of course. But even that wouldn’t be much use on such a night.”
Chatting thus, the shivering, wet watch managed to pass the time. At frequent intervals60 Ned peered into the inky blackness. Against the pitchy background he could see ragged61 clouds of lighter62 shade being ripped viciously past overhead by the gale51.
“If this wind ever hit the farm, gran’pa wouldn’t have a roof over his head in the morning,” shouted Herc in his comrade’s ear.
Ned was about to reply in a similar vein63 when a sudden cry rang above the uproar of the laboring destroyer and the howling of the wind.
It was a shout that chilled the blood of every man in that group—the most terrible cry that can be heard at sea on such a night.
“Man overboard!”
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1
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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2
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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3
squat
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| v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的 | |
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4
funnels
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| 漏斗( funnel的名词复数 )； （轮船，火车等的）烟囱 | |
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5
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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6
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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7
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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8
bustle
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| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
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9
spurts
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| 短暂而突然的活动或努力( spurt的名词复数 )； 突然奋起 | |
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10
gushed
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| v.喷，涌( gush的过去式和过去分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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11
taut
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| adj.拉紧的，绷紧的，紧张的 | |
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12
wharf
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| n.码头，停泊处 | |
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13
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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14
grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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15
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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16
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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17
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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18
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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19
lull
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| v.使安静，使入睡，缓和，哄骗；n.暂停，间歇 | |
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20
clatter
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| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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21
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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22
scowl
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| vi.(at)生气地皱眉，沉下脸，怒视；n.怒容 | |
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23
shrilled
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| （声音）尖锐的，刺耳的，高频率的( shrill的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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25
scampered
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| v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑，惊惶奔跑( scamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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26
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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27
hawsers
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| n.（供系船或下锚用的）缆索，锚链( hawser的名词复数 ) | |
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28
rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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29
conning
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| v.诈骗，哄骗( con的现在分词 )；指挥操舵( conn的现在分词 ) | |
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30
tug
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| v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船 | |
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31
hitched
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| （免费）搭乘他人之车( hitch的过去式和过去分词 )； 搭便车； 攀上； 跃上 | |
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32
glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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33
shipping
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| n.船运（发货，运输，乘船） | |
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34
sardonically
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| adv.讽刺地，冷嘲地 | |
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35
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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36
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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37
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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38
inflated
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| adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨 | |
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39
turret
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| n.塔楼，角塔 | |
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40
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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41
jersey
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| n.运动衫 | |
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42
naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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43
etiquette
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| n.礼仪，礼节；规矩 | |
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44
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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45
laboring
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| n.劳动，操劳v.努力争取(for)( labor的现在分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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46
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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47
lurch
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| n.突然向前或旁边倒；v.蹒跚而行 | |
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48
bracing
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| adj.令人振奋的 | |
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49
slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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50
belied
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| v.掩饰( belie的过去式和过去分词 )；证明（或显示）…为虚假；辜负；就…扯谎 | |
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51
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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52
gales
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| 龙猫 | |
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53
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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54
engulf
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| vt.吞没，吞食 | |
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55
bucked
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| adj.快v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的过去式和过去分词 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃 | |
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56
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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57
crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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58
illuminating
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| a.富于启发性的，有助阐明的 | |
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59
buoy
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| n.浮标；救生圈；v.支持，鼓励 | |
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60
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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61
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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62
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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63
vein
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| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
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