Those were anxious days, during which I had but little opportunityto associate with Lys. I had given her the commander's room,Bradley and I taking that of the deck-officer, while Olson andtwo of our best men occupied the room ordinarily allotted topetty officers. I made Nobs' bed down in Lys' room, for I knewshe would feel less alone.

Nothing of much moment occurred for a while after we left Britishwaters behind us. We ran steadily along upon the surface, makinggood time. The first two boats we sighted made off as fast as theycould go; and the third, a huge freighter, fired on us, forcing usto submerge. It was after this that our troubles commenced.One of the Diesel engines broke down in the morning, and whilewe were working on it, the forward port diving-tank commencedto fill. I was on deck at the time and noted the gradual list.Guessing at once what was happening, I leaped for the hatch andslamming it closed above my head, dropped to the centrale. By thistime the craft was going down by the head with a most unpleasantlist to port, and I didn't wait to transmit orders to some oneelse but ran as fast as I could for the valve that let the seainto the forward port diving-tank. It was wide open. To closeit and to have the pump started that would empty it were the workof but a minute; but we had had a close call.

I knew that the valve had never opened itself. Some one hadopened it--some one who was willing to die himself if he might atthe same time encompass the death of all of us.

After that I kept a guard pacing the length of the narrow craft.We worked upon the engine all that day and night and half thefollowing day. Most of the time we drifted idly upon thesurface, but toward noon we sighted smoke due west, and havingfound that only enemies inhabited the world for us, I orderedthat the other engine be started so that we could move out of thepath of the oncoming steamer. The moment the engine started toturn, however, there was a grinding sound of tortured steel, andwhen it had been stopped, we found that some one had placed acold-chisel in one of the gears.

It was another two days before we were ready to limp along,half repaired. The night before the repairs were completed,the sentry came to my room and awoke me. He was rather anintelligent fellow of the English middle class, in whom I hadmuch confidence.

"Well, Wilson," I asked. "What's the matter now?"

He raised his finger to his lips and came closer to me. "I thinkI've found out who's doin' the mischief," he whispered, andnodded his head toward the girl's room. "I seen her sneakin'from the crew's room just now," he went on. "She'd been ingassin' wit' the boche commander. Benson seen her in there las'night, too, but he never said nothin' till I goes on watch tonight.Benson's sorter slow in the head, an' he never puts two an' twotogether till some one else has made four out of it."

If the man had come in and struck me suddenly in the face, Icould have been no more surprised.

"Say nothing of this to anyone," I ordered. "Keep your eyes andears open and report every suspicious thing you see or hear."

The man saluted and left me; but for an hour or more I tossed,restless, upon my hard bunk in an agony of jealousy and fear.Finally I fell into a troubled sleep. It was daylight when I awoke.We were steaming along slowly upon the surface, my orders havingbeen to proceed at half speed until we could take an observationand determine our position. The sky had been overcast all theprevious day and all night; but as I stepped into the centralethat morning I was delighted to see that the sun was again shining.The spirits of the men seemed improved; everything seemed propitious.I forgot at once the cruel misgivings of the past night as I setto work to take my observations.

What a blow awaited me! The sextant and chronometer had bothbeen broken beyond repair, and they had been broken just thisvery night. They had been broken upon the night that Lys had beenseen talking with von Schoenvorts. I think that it was this lastthought which hurt me the worst. I could look the other disasterin the face with equanimity; but the bald fact that Lys might bea traitor appalled me.

I called Bradley and Olson on deck and told them what hadhappened, but for the life of me I couldn't bring myself torepeat what Wilson had reported to me the previous night.In fact, as I had given the matter thought, it seemed incrediblethat the girl could have passed through my room, in which Bradleyand I slept, and then carried on a conversation in the crew'sroom, in which Von Schoenvorts was kept, without having been seenby more than a single man.

Bradley shook his head. "I can't make it out," he said. "One ofthose boches must be pretty clever to come it over us all likethis; but they haven't harmed us as much as they think; there arestill the extra instruments."

It was my turn now to shake a doleful head. "There are no extrainstruments," I told them. "They too have disappeared as did thewireless apparatus."

Both men looked at me in amazement. "We still have the compassand the sun," said Olson. "They may be after getting the compasssome night; but they's too many of us around in the daytime fer'em to get the sun."

It was then that one of the men stuck his head up through thehatchway and seeing me, asked permission to come on deck and geta breath of fresh air. I recognized him as Benson, the man who,Wilson had said, reported having seen Lys with von Schoenvorts twonights before. I motioned him on deck and then called him to oneside, asking if he had seen anything out of the way or unusualduring his trick on watch the night before. The fellow scratchedhis head a moment and said, "No," and then as though it was anafterthought, he told me that he had seen the girl in the crew'sroom about midnight talking with the German commander, but asthere hadn't seemed to him to be any harm in that, he hadn't saidanything about it. Telling him never to fail to report to meanything in the slightest out of the ordinary routine of the ship,I dismissed him.

Several of the other men now asked permission to come on deck, andsoon all but those actually engaged in some necessary duty werestanding around smoking and talking, all in the best of spirits.I took advantage of the absence of the men upon the deck to gobelow for my breakfast, which the cook was already preparingupon the electric stove. Lys, followed by Nobs, appeared as Ientered the centrale. She met me with a pleasant "Good morning!"which I am afraid I replied to in a tone that was rather constrainedand surly.

"Will you breakfast with me?" I suddenly asked the girl,determined to commence a probe of my own along the lines whichduty demanded.

She nodded a sweet acceptance of my invitation, and together wesat down at the little table of the officers' mess."You slept well last night?" I asked.

"All night," she replied. "I am a splendid sleeper."

Her manner was so straightforward and honest that I could notbring myself to believe in her duplicity; yet--Thinking tosurprise her into a betrayal of her guilt, I blurted out: "Thechronometer and sextant were both destroyed last night; there isa traitor among us." But she never turned a hair by way ofevidencing guilty knowledge of the catastrophe.

"Who could it have been?" she cried. "The Germans would be crazyto do it, for their lives are as much at stake as ours."

"Men are often glad to die for an ideal--an ideal of patriotism,perhaps," I replied; "and a willingness to martyr themselvesincludes a willingness to sacrifice others, even those wholove them. Women are much the same, except that they will goeven further than most men--they will sacrifice everything, evenhonor, for love."

I watched her face carefully as I spoke, and I thought that Idetected a very faint flush mounting her cheek. Seeing anopening and an advantage, I sought to follow it up.

"Take von Schoenvorts, for instance," I continued: "he woulddoubtless be glad to die and take us all with him, could heprevent in no other way the falling of his vessel into enemy hands.He would sacrifice anyone, even you; and if you still love him,you might be his ready tool. Do you understand me?"

She looked at me in wide-eyed consternation for a moment, andthen she went very white and rose from her seat. "I do," shereplied, and turning her back upon me, she walked quickly towardher room. I started to follow, for even believing what I did, Iwas sorry that I had hurt her. I reached the door to the crew'sroom just behind her and in time to see von Schoenvorts leanforward and whisper something to her as she passed; but she musthave guessed that she might be watched, for she passed on.

That afternoon it clouded over; the wind mounted to a gale, andthe sea rose until the craft was wallowing and rolling frightfully.Nearly everyone aboard was sick; the air became foul and oppressive.For twenty-four hours I did not leave my post in the conning tower,as both Olson and Bradley were sick. Finally I found that I mustget a little rest, and so I looked about for some one to relieve me.Benson volunteered. He had not been sick, and assured me that hewas a former R.N. man and had been detailed for submarine dutyfor over two years. I was glad that it was he, for I hadconsiderable confidence in his loyalty, and so it was with afeeling of security that I went below and lay down.

I slept twelve hours straight, and when I awoke and discoveredwhat I had done, I lost no time in getting to the conning tower.There sat Benson as wide awake as could be, and the compassshowed that we were heading straight into the west. The stormwas still raging; nor did it abate its fury until the fourth day.We were all pretty well done up and looked forward to the timewhen we could go on deck and fill our lungs with fresh air.During the whole four days I had not seen the girl, as sheevidently kept closely to her room; and during this time nountoward incident had occurred aboard the boat--a fact whichseemed to strengthen the web of circumstantial evidence about her.

For six more days after the storm lessened we still had fairlyrough weather; nor did the sun once show himself during allthat time. For the season--it was now the middle of June--thestorm was unusual; but being from southern California, I wasaccustomed to unusual weather. In fact, I have discovered thatthe world over, unusual weather prevails at all times of the year.

We kept steadily to our westward course, and as the U-33 was oneof the fastest submersibles we had ever turned out, I knew that wemust be pretty close to the North American coast. What puzzledme most was the fact that for six days we had not sighted asingle ship. It seemed remarkable that we could cross theAtlantic almost to the coast of the American continent withoutglimpsing smoke or sail, and at last I came to the conclusionthat we were way off our course, but whether to the north or tothe south of it I could not determine.

On the seventh day the sea lay comparatively calm at early dawn.There was a slight haze upon the ocean which had cut off our viewof the stars; but conditions all pointed toward a clear morrow, andI was on deck anxiously awaiting the rising of the sun. My eyeswere glued upon the impenetrable mist astern, for there in the eastI should see the first glow of the rising sun that would assure mewe were still upon the right course. Gradually the heavenslightened; but astern I could see no intenser glow that wouldindicate the rising sun behind the mist. Bradley was standingat my side. Presently he touched my arm.

"Look, captain," he said, and pointed south.

I looked and gasped, for there directly to port I saw outlinedthrough the haze the red top of the rising sun. Hurrying to thetower, I looked at the compass. It showed that we were holdingsteadily upon our westward course. Either the sun was rising inthe south, or the compass had been tampered with. The conclusionwas obvious.

I went back to Bradley and told him what I had discovered."And," I concluded, "we can't make another five hundred knotswithout oil; our provisions are running low and so is our water.God only knows how far south we have run."

"There is nothing to do," he replied, "other than to alter ourcourse once more toward the west; we must raise land soon or weshall all be lost."

I told him to do so; and then I set to work improvising a crudesextant with which we finally took our bearings in a rough andmost unsatisfactory manner; for when the work was done, we didnot know how far from the truth the result might be. It showedus to be about 20' north and 30' west-- nearly twenty-fivehundred miles off our course. In short, if our reading wasanywhere near correct, we must have been traveling due south forsix days. Bradley now relieved Benson, for we had arranged ourshifts so that the latter and Olson now divided the nights,while Bradley and I alternated with one another during the days.

I questioned both Olson and Benson closely in the matter of thecompass; but each stoutly maintained that no one had tamperedwith it during his tour of duty. Benson gave me a knowing smile,as much as to say: "Well, you and I know who did this." Yet Icould not believe that it was the girl.

We kept to our westerly course for several hours when thelookout's cry announced a sail. I ordered the U-33's coursealtered, and we bore down upon the stranger, for I had come toa decision which was the result of necessity. We could not liethere in the middle of the Atlantic and starve to death if therewas any way out of it. The sailing ship saw us while we werestill a long way off, as was evidenced by her efforts to escape.There was scarcely any wind, however, and her case was hopeless;so when we drew near and signaled her to stop, she came into thewind and lay there with her sails flapping idly. We moved inquite close to her. She was the Balmen of Halmstad, Sweden, witha general cargo from Brazil for Spain.

I explained our circumstances to her skipper and asked for food,water and oil; but when he found that we were not German, hebecame very angry and abusive and started to draw away from us;but I was in no mood for any such business. Turning towardBradley, who was in the conning-tower, I snapped out:"Gun-service on deck! To the diving stations!" We had noopportunity for drill; but every man had been posted as tohis duties, and the German members of the crew understood thatit was obedience or death for them, as each was accompanied bya man with a pistol. Most of them, though, were only too gladto obey me.

Bradley passed the order down into the ship and a moment laterthe gun-crew clambered up the narrow ladder and at my directiontrained their piece upon the slow-moving Swede. "Fire a shotacross her bow," I instructed the gun-captain.

Accept it from me, it didn't take that Swede long to see theerror of his way and get the red and white pennant signifying"I understand" to the masthead. Once again the sails flappedidly, and then I ordered him to lower a boat and come after me.With Olson and a couple of the Englishmen I boarded the ship,and from her cargo selected what we needed--oil, provisionsand water. I gave the master of the Balmen a receipt for whatwe took, together with an affidavit signed by Bradley, Olson, andmyself, stating briefly how we had come into possession of theU-33 and the urgency of our need for what we took. We addressedboth to any British agent with the request that the owners of theBalmen be reimbursed; but whether or not they were, I do not know. [1]

[1] Late in July, 1916, an item in the shipping news mentioned aSwedish sailing vessel, Balmen, Rio de Janiero to Barcelona, sunkby a German raider sometime in June. A single survivor in an openboat was picked up off the Cape Verde Islands, in a dying condition.He expired without giving any details.

With water, food, and oil aboard, we felt that we had obtaineda new lease of life. Now, too, we knew definitely where we were,and I determined to make for Georgetown, British Guiana--but Iwas destined to again suffer bitter disappointment.

Six of us of the loyal crew had come on deck either to serve thegun or board the Swede during our set-to with her; and now, oneby one, we descended the ladder into the centrale. I was thelast to come, and when I reached the bottom, I found myselflooking into the muzzle of a pistol in the hands of BaronFriedrich von Schoenvorts--I saw all my men lined up at oneside with the remaining eight Germans standing guard over them.

I couldn't imagine how it had happened; but it had. Later Ilearned that they had first overpowered Benson, who was asleepin his bunk, and taken his pistol from him, and then had foundit an easy matter to disarm the cook and the remaining twoEnglishmen below. After that it had been comparatively simpleto stand at the foot of the ladder and arrest each individual ashe descended.

The first thing von Schoenvorts did was to send for me andannounce that as a pirate I was to be shot early the next morning.Then he explained that the U-33 would cruise in these waters fora time, sinking neutral and enemy shipping indiscriminately, andlooking for one of the German raiders that was supposed to be inthese parts.

He didn't shoot me the next morning as he had promised, and ithas never been clear to me why he postponed the execution ofmy sentence. Instead he kept me ironed just as he had been;then he kicked Bradley out of my room and took it all to himself.

We cruised for a long time, sinking many vessels, all but one bygunfire, but we did not come across a German raider. I wassurprised to note that von Schoenvorts often permitted Benson totake command; but I reconciled this by the fact that Bensonappeared to know more of the duties of a submarine commander thandid any of the Stupid Germans.

Once or twice Lys passed me; but for the most part she kept toher room. The first time she hesitated as though she wished tospeak to me; but I did not raise my head, and finally she passed on.Then one day came the word that we were about to round the Horn andthat von Schoenvorts had taken it into his fool head to cruise upalong the Pacific coast of North America and prey upon all sortsand conditions of merchantmen.

"I'll put the fear of God and the Kaiser into them," he said.

The very first day we entered the South Pacific we had an adventure.It turned out to be quite the most exciting adventure I hadever encountered. It fell about this way. About eight bells ofthe forenoon watch I heard a hail from the deck, and presentlythe footsteps of the entire ship's company, from the amount ofnoise I heard at the ladder. Some one yelled back to those whohad not yet reached the level of the deck: "It's the raider,the German raider Geier!"

I saw that we had reached the end of our rope. Below all wasquiet--not a man remained. A door opened at the end of thenarrow hull, and presently Nobs came trotting up to me. He lickedmy face and rolled over on his back, reaching for me with his big,awkward paws. Then other footsteps sounded, approaching me.I knew whose they were, and I looked straight down at the flooring.The girl was coming almost at a run--she was at my side immediately."Here!" she cried. "Quick!" And she slipped something into my hand.It was a key--the key to my irons. At my side she also laid apistol, and then she went on into the centrale. As she passed me,I saw that she carried another pistol for herself. It did nottake me long to liberate myself, and then I was at her side."How can I thank you?" I started; but she shut me up with a word.

"Do not thank me," she said coldly. "I do not care to hear yourthanks or any other expression from you. Do not stand therelooking at me. I have given you a chance to do something--nowdo it!" The last was a peremptory command that made me jump.

Glancing up, I saw that the tower was empty, and I lost no timein clambering up, looking about me. About a hundred yards offlay a small, swift cruiser-raider, and above her floated theGerman man-of-war's flag. A boat had just been lowered, and Icould see it moving toward us filled with officers and men.The cruiser lay dead ahead. "My," I thought, "what a wonderful targ--"I stopped even thinking, so surprised and shocked was I by theboldness of my imagery. The girl was just below me. I lookeddown on her wistfully. Could I trust her? Why had she releasedme at this moment? I must! I must! There was no other way.I dropped back below. "Ask Olson to step down here, please,"I requested; "and don't let anyone see you ask him."

She looked at me with a puzzled expression on her face for thebarest fraction of a second, and then she turned and went upthe ladder. A moment later Olson returned, and the girlfollowed him. "Quick!" I whispered to the big Irishman, andmade for the bow compartment where the torpedo-tubes are builtinto the boat; here, too, were the torpedoes. The girlaccompanied us, and when she saw the thing I had in mind,she stepped forward and lent a hand to the swinging of thegreat cylinder of death and destruction into the mouth ofits tube. With oil and main strength we shoved the torpedohome and shut the tube; then I ran back to the conning-tower,praying in my heart of hearts that the U-33 had not swung herbow away from the prey. No, thank God!

Never could aim have been truer. I signaled back to Olson:"Let 'er go!" The U-33 trembled from stem to stern as the torpedoshot from its tube. I saw the white wake leap from her bow straighttoward the enemy cruiser. A chorus of hoarse yells arose from thedeck of our own craft: I saw the officers stand suddenly erect inthe boat that was approaching us, and I heard loud cries andcurses from the raider. Then I turned my attention to myown business. Most of the men on the submarine's deck werestanding in paralyzed fascination, staring at the torpedo.Bradley happened to be looking toward the conning-tower andsaw me. I sprang on deck and ran toward him. "Quick!" I whispered."While they are stunned, we must overcome them."

A German was standing near Bradley--just in front of him.The Englishman struck the fellow a frantic blow upon the neckand at the same time snatched his pistol from its holster.Von Schoenvorts had recovered from his first surprise quicklyand had turned toward the main hatch to investigate. I coveredhim with my revolver, and at the same instant the torpedo struckthe raider, the terrific explosion drowning the German's commandto his men.

Bradley was now running from one to another of our men, andthough some of the Germans saw and heard him, they seemed toostunned for action.

Olson was below, so that there were only nine of us against eightGermans, for the man Bradley had struck still lay upon the deck.Only two of us were armed; but the heart seemed to have gone outof the boches, and they put up but half-hearted resistance.Von Schoenvorts was the worst--he was fairly frenzied with rageand chagrin, and he came charging for me like a mad bull, and ashe came he discharged his pistol. If he'd stopped long enough totake aim, he might have gotten me; but his pace made him wild,so that not a shot touched me, and then we clinched and went tothe deck. This left two pistols, which two of my own men werequick to appropriate. The Baron was no match for me in ahand-to-hand encounter, and I soon had him pinned to the deckand the life almost choked out of him.

A half-hour later things had quieted down, and all was much thesame as before the prisoners had revolted--only we kept a muchcloser watch on von Schoenvorts. The Geier had sunk while wewere still battling upon our deck, and afterward we had drawnaway toward the north, leaving the survivors to the attention ofthe single boat which had been making its way toward us whenOlson launched the torpedo. I suppose the poor devils neverreached land, and if they did, they most probably perished onthat cold and unhospitable shore; but I couldn't permit themaboard the U-33. We had all the Germans we could take care of.

That evening the girl asked permission to go on deck. She saidthat she felt the effects of long confinement below, and Ireadily granted her request. I could not understand her, and Icraved an opportunity to talk with her again in an effort tofathom her and her intentions, and so I made it a point tofollow her up the ladder. It was a clear, cold, beautiful night.The sea was calm except for the white water at our bows and thetwo long radiating swells running far off into the distance uponeither hand astern, forming a great V which our propellers filledwith choppy waves. Benson was in the tower, we were bound forSan Diego and all looked well.

Lys stood with a heavy blanket wrapped around her slender figure,and as I approached her, she half turned toward me to see who it was.When she recognized me, she immediately turned away.

"I want to thank you," I said, "for your bravery and loyalty--youwere magnificent. I am sorry that you had reason before to thinkthat I doubted you."

"You did doubt me," she replied in a level voice. "You practicallyaccused me of aiding Baron von Schoenvorts. I can never forgive you."

There was a great deal of finality in both her words and tone.

"I could not believe it," I said; "and yet two of my men reportedhaving seen you in conversation with von Schoenvorts late atnight upon two separate occasions--after each of which some greatdamage was found done us in the morning. I didn't want to doubtyou; but I carried all the responsibility of the lives of thesemen, of the safety of the ship, of your life and mine. I had towatch you, and I had to put you on your guard against a repetitionof your madness."

She was looking at me now with those great eyes of hers, verywide and round.

"Who told you that I spoke with Baron von Schoenvorts at night,or any other time?" she asked.

"I cannot tell you, Lys," I replied, "but it came to me from twodifferent sources."

"Then two men have lied," she asserted without heat. "I have notspoken to Baron von Schoenvorts other than in your presence whenfirst we came aboard the U-33. And please, when you address me,remember that to others than my intimates I am Miss La Rue."

Did you ever get slapped in the face when you least expected it?No? Well, then you do not know how I felt at that moment.I could feel the hot, red flush surging up my neck, across mycheeks, over my ears, clear to my scalp. And it made me love herall the more; it made me swear inwardly a thousand solemn oathsthat I would win her.