CHAPTER VIII

DISABLED

Sudden noises at night, particularly when accompanied by a tremor and by vibrations that shake one to his innermost being, are, in themselves, terrifying. When to that is added the additional source of danger of the occurrence taking place at sea on board a crowded transport and the possibilities for tragic happenings from this source, fears may well be multiplied.

And yet, such was the discipline and foresightedness on board the _Sherman_ that the panic and terror were only momentary. No sooner did Ned, Bob, and Jerry, together with many of their comrades, find themselves stumbling about in the dark with the noise of the explosion still ringing in their ears, than they were aware of signals being sounded throughout the ship.

The signals were those for instant falling in on the part of the soldiers, and indicated that they were to take the quarters assigned to them, each man nearest the boat in which he was to have a place should destruction menace the ship.

And then, while excited cries were issuing from many throats and when some, in the confusion, forgot what the bugle calls meant and while still others were instinctively terrified in the darkness, lights began to gleam. Some of the illumination came from oil lanterns provided for an emergency to the dynamo lighting system of the ship. Other glows flitted from portable electric flash-torches that many of the officers and men carried, but the greater light came from the auxiliary storage battery system, which was switched on as soon as the proper officer found that the big, whirring dynamo was out of commission.

“Fall in! Fall in! Take your places at the boats!” cried the officers, rapidly getting the situation well in hand. “Be ready for the order to abandon ship!”

And then perfect order came out of confusion. No longer did the soldiers rush madly about, crying out to know what had happened. No longer was the pall of blackness hiding man from the sight of man. Once more wonderful discipline was uppermost.

“What’s it all about?” asked Bob of Ned, as he and his chum followed Jerry to their appointed station.

“Your guess is as good as the next man’s,” said Jerry. “Let’s get to our boat first, and talk afterward.”

They stumbled upward and onward in the midst of the crowd, groping their way, for the lighting system, though sufficiently good to enable them to see to progress, was not as bright as the regular one. As they stumbled on toward their boat-station a voice of authority cried:

“Wounded men first in the boats!”

“Right!” sang out a number of hearty voices, and it was evident there would be no terrible scenes should it become necessary to abandon ship. And this dire thought was uppermost in the minds of all.

It was also evident that the _Sherman_ had received an injury much more serious than the previous one that had sent her back to the dock for repairs to the machinery which had been so quickly made. She had come to a stop now in the darkness on the broad ocean, and was slowly heaving to the swell. There was also a slight list to one side, its cause unknown to the soldiers who, in response to the commands of their officers, were moving in orderly array to safety stations.

“Well, our adventures are keeping up,” said Jerry in a low voice to his two chums when they had reached their boat station and stood waiting for further orders. “But I didn’t quite bargain for this.”

“Me, either,” commented Ned.

“Do you think the old boat will go down?” asked Bob.

“No telling,” Jerry answered. “It looks pretty serious, or they wouldn’t get us all up here this way. They’re bringing up the wounded now.”

As he spoke it could be seen that doctors, nurses, and stretcher-bearers were appearing on deck with the casualty cases. And to the credit of the unfortunate ones be it said that they remained quiet, and some even laughed and joked, though they must have known, in case of the necessity for abandoning ship and taking to the small boats, that their chances of being saved were infinitely smaller than those of able-bodied men. But they were Uncle Sam’s boys, and that is enough to say.

Naturally, on all sides, the questions asked were:

“What happened?”

“What caused it?”

“Did a sub attack us?”

And so insistent were these queries, and so vital was it to have some information given out, that when at last all the wounded had been brought up and every man was at his station the officer commanding the troops addressed them.

“As you all know, there has been an unfortunate accident,” he said. “The full extent is not yet known, but I am authorized by Captain Munson to say that the ship is in no immediate danger. We are protected by a number of water-tight bulkheads, and, so far, only one compartment is flooded. This has been closed off and we expect to keep on.”

A cheer greeted this announcement. Holding up his hand for silence, the colonel, standing in the light of a ship lantern, went on:

“As you have heard ordered, the wounded will be first placed in the boats in case we have to abandon ship. Others will follow as directed. It is of prime necessity that every man obey implicitly his superior officers. The first to disobey will be instantly shot! You know what that means!” and his voice itself was like the click of a gun.

“It may be that we shall not have to take to the boats,” the colonel resumed. “An investigation of the damage done is now being made. As far as can be learned it was caused by an explosion of one of the small boilers. What caused the boiler to explode we do not yet know. But for the present every one must stand at attention and be ready for quick disembarkation.

“There have been men injured in the engine room, and they will take their places with our wounded in the boats first!” the colonel added, and his words were greeted with a cheer, which told him and the other officers that there would be no disgraceful scenes at the end in case the end should be a tragic one.

“Now you know as much as I do,” the colonel concluded. “We may be only slightly damaged, and we may be greatly so. We shall know in a little while. In the meantime, stand by!”

Another cheer punctuated the closing remarks, and then followed a nerve-racking time. There was nothing to be done except to wait for the conclusion of the investigation of the ship’s officers. They were below now, seeking to learn how badly damaged were the craft’s vitals.

“Well, this is worse and more of it,” remarked Bob, as he began to feel about him to ascertain if he had as many of his possessions as he had been able to gather up in the haste.

“It may not be so bad,” declared Jerry. “We aren’t a great way from the coast, for we haven’t made any wonderful speed so far. I believe we can get back.”

“What! In the small boats?” asked Ned.

“Maybe. Or the _Sherman_ may limp back under her own steam.”

“Not the way she’s listing now,” declared Ned. “Say!” he went on earnestly, “I wish we’d told some one about seeing that peppery chap with the black box leaving a trail of a fuse smell behind him.”

“Oh, don’t get to imagining things!” cautioned Jerry. “There are enough real happenings as it is. Stand by--that’s the order!”

“But we might have prevented this,” Ned persisted.

“Nonsense!” declared his tall chum. “This was an engine-room accident. Probably they were carrying too much steam. Lucky it wasn’t any worse.”

“We don’t know how bad it is,” remarked Bob. “Seems to me the lights are getting dimmer; aren’t they?”

“Maybe they’re shutting some off to save the current,” replied Jerry. “They switched on the storage battery, I heard some one say. They are getting dimmer, that’s a fact.”

As he spoke the incandescent lights began gradually fading away. The filaments, from a white-hot glow, turned red, and then went out, as a glowing match slowly loses its illumination. All that lighted the scenes on the ship’s decks now were the emergency oil lanterns and an occasional pocket electric torch.

“Let no one be alarmed!” called the colonel. “The lights are being turned off to save the battery current for the wireless in case we have to call for assistance. It will soon be morning.”

“If they have to depend for wireless calls on a storage battery it won’t last very long,” declared Ned.

“Let’s wait and see,” advised Jerry.

They all stood waiting for the result of the investigation of the damage done to the troopship. And as they waited in the semi-darkness many thoughts came to each man. It was a time to try one’s soul.

Finally there was a commotion near a group of officers, which included the commanding colonel of the troops on the _Sherman_. The ship’s captain was seen speaking to the colonel by Ned, Bob, and Jerry. And so close were the lads to the scene of the consultation that they overheard something of what was said.

One word, among the others, seemed to stand out as if written in letters of fire. And that one word was:

“Disabled!”