CHAPTER XX--OUT ON THE MINE FIELD

An investigation did follow. It began right after reveille the next morning.

As soon as possible, after having gotten up from his uncomfortable bed on the floor, Dan hastened to the sick bay, for his wrist was swelling and demanded immediate attention.

The surgeon examined it carefully.

"You have broken two small bones in the wrist. How did you do it?"

The lad explained.

"Very well, I shall have to put you on the binnacle list to-day. You will not be able to do any heavy work with that hand for some days to come."

"I do not wish to go on the binnacle list," replied the lad promptly.

"You don't wish to?"

"No, sir."

"Then you are different from most sailors. They all pull the list on the slightest pretext, some under no pretext at all. Why are you so particular?" questioned the surgeon, his curiosity aroused by the unusual objection on the boy's part.

"I expect to have duties to perform."

"What are they?"

"Mine work."

"You will not be able to work on mines to-day. I shall not permit it," decided the surgeon firmly.

"I hope to go out as a signal man. I can do that, can I not?"

"You might, but I shall advise against it."

"Please do not tell the officers that," pleaded Dan. "I want to go. It is my first chance to prove that I am good for anything at all. I have made a mess of almost everything I have tried so far."

"I hear differently."

Somehow the earnest young seaman seemed to appeal to the sympathies of the surgeon. He was different from the others; perhaps that was the reason.

"From what I have heard I judge that you already have distinguished yourself," smiled the doctor.

"How so, sir?"

"In the little argument you had with Able Seaman Kester, for instance."

Dan flushed.

"May I go out with the mines, sir?" he asked hurriedly.

"Yes; I'll let you go, but I shall have to put you on the report. First, let me bind the wrist up and splint it. Be as careful of the injured member as possible. You are liable to do still further damage if you subject the wrist to any sudden strain."

"I'll be careful, sir."

After bandaging the wrist, the surgeon allowed his patient to go. On his morning report to the captain, giving the list of sick and injured, the surgeon made the following notation:

"Ordinary Seaman Daniel Davis, bones of wrist fractured, said to have been sustained by fall from hammock. Refuses to take sick leave or be placed on binnacle list, saying he has important duties to perform."

A smile of approval appeared on the face of the captain when he read the notation.

"The boy is all right. He will do all right. I must keep my eye on him to see that he does not get sidetracked in the wrong direction."

Calling his orderly the captain said:

"Tell the officer of the deck that Ordinary Seaman Davis is to be excused from heavy duty to-day. He will go out with the mine boats in the capacity of signalman. Tell the officer of the deck to give the proper orders and to have Davis notified."

The orderly saluted and retired to carry out the orders of the commanding officer.

"I wish there were more such in the Navy," mused the captain.

With a great rattle and bang the mines were being hoisted to the deck from somewhere far down in the ship. Neither lad ever had seen mines before, and both were curious to know all about them.

Many men now being at work on the quarter-deck, Sam among the number, Dan was at liberty to go there and watch the work.

The mines were spherical, made of steel and hollow. They were about two feet in diameter, bolted in the middle. The mine men were now at work taking the mines apart.

Inside the sphere was a can of wet guncotton, with an opening left for a charge of dry guncotton, which is put in place when the mines are being laid for an actual enemy. This was the only part of the operation that was to be omitted in the practice work, there being no necessity for so dangerous an operation.

The quarter-deck of the battleship, with all the apparatus strewn over it, somewhat resembled a wreck. Down by the sides of the ship all the boats had been drawn up ready to receive the heavy mines. In the meantime the navigator had gone out in the motor boat to take bearings and place buoys showing where the mines were to be dropped.

"Stand by to launch mines," came the command at last.

The signal was given by a bugle call. Everyone was on edge, for the time required to put the mines over into the small boats was to be taken and would count on the record.

The Battleship Boys climbed over the side with their signal flags, each dropping into a whale boat, though the operation proved a severe strain on Dan's injured wrist.

"Launch mines!"

The signal was blown loud and clear.

Crash after crash followed the bugle's command, as steel met steel when the mines were clamped together.

"Silence!" roared the executive officer as the men began shouting in their excitement.

As fast as the mines were bolted together they were rolled to the side of the ship. There tackle was quickly hooked to them, then at command the heavy spheres were swung over the side, being carefully lowered to the boats below. There they were hung over the opposite sides of the small boats, one mine balancing the other. This would make placing the mines much easier than if they were to be taken over into the boats, for in that case they would have to be lifted out.

In an incredibly short time every one of the sixteen deadly implements of warfare was on the boats. Each boat held either an ensign or a midshipman, who was in command.

Sam was in one of the large whaleboats, while Dan occupied the wherry with an ensign and an oarsman.

"Three minutes, lads," came the information from the deck.

The jackies sent up a cheer that might have been heard far over the sunlit sea. The morning was a glorious one, the sea having quieted down to a sluggish roll that scarcely disturbed the ship at all, though the small boats bobbed about somewhat, thus giving more zest to the work.

"Lay mines," came the command.

Half a hundred hardy tars bent themselves to the oars and the fleet of boats slipped away from the towering sides of the "Long Island," the men pulling for the mine field off to the southeast.

Each Battleship Boy carried a spy glass under his arm. Now and then he would place it to his eye for a long look at the ship.

"The ship is making signals, sir," Dan informed the ensign in command of his boat.

"What do they want?"

"They are saying that whaleboat number two is off its course, sir. Orders, sir, to bear more to the southwest."

"Wherry, there," spelled Dan. "That's us." He acknowledged the signal.

"Pull up. Wherry lagging behind!"

Dan translated the message to his superior officer. The lad was glad that it was not he who was tugging at the oars, for the perspiration was dripping from the face of the oarsman by this time.

As each boat reached the buoy where it was to locate its mine, the men would toss their oars as a signal that they were ready. Some time was required for all the boats to get in their proper places.

In the meantime Dan Davis was standing up in the wherry with his flag ready for signaling. At last the oars in each boat of the fleet were tossed, which means held upright.

"Ready," wig-wagged the Battleship Boy.

He held his flag high above his head with one hand--the injured one--the other hand holding the spy glass to his eye watching the signal halyards of the battleship.

A flag fluttered to the breeze on the ship. Instantly Dan dipped his own signal flag.

A splash from a cutter, followed by a series of splashes from the other boats of the little fleet, told him that the mines were going overboard.

The second leg of the contest against time was on. Sam Hickey sat in the whaleboat irritated because he had had little or nothing to do. Had he but known it, however, there was plenty of opportunity ahead of him to enable the lad to show the stuff he was made of.