for the next few days the work of turning chaos into order and knocking raw material into fairly smart crews proceeded apace. patience and energy overcame difficulties, and although there were many ludicrous displays afloat, "george robey's marines", as they were dubbed by the fisherton seafolk, managed to make considerable headway without any serious accident.
the crew told off under derek's orders were a mixed lot. one was a solicitor, another a master from a public school, numbers three and four were bank clerks, while the fifth was a lancashire coal-miner. once having overcome the tendency to refer to the boat as "it", and to the bows as the "pointed end", they began to get into shape. mornings they spent in lecture-rooms ashore, listening to and trying to master the theory of compass-work, knots and splices, and the use of the lead-line. this instruction was varied by lessons in signalling, the intricacies of the naval and international codes, semaphore and morse being patiently explained by the signalling instructor—a hard-working individual whose soul appeared to be wrapped up in bunting from the eight a.m. parade to five and after seven-thirty in the evening.
in the afternoon the classes went afloat, while those who had been in the boats during the morning were told off for instruction on shore. altogether it was a case of long hours and diligent application, and to their credit the men rose nobly to the occasion.
it was a proud day for derek when for the first time he took his boat across the bar and out to the open sea. his command, from the stern of which the white ensign floated grandly in the breeze, was a half-decked motor-craft of thirty-five feet in length. the engine was completely under cover, being placed well for'ard. abaft the half-deck was an open well, fitted with a canvas "dodger", that afforded slight protection from wind and spray. here were stationed the coxswain and the engineer, while usually the officer in charge would take up his post by the coxswain. abaft the well was a fairly spacious cock-pit, provided with a folding awning that in heavy weather afforded complete protection from rain and spray. "all out", the boat was capable of doing seventeen knots, although it was customary to run her at only half throttle.
"let go, for'ard! cast off!"
"all clear, sir!"
"easy ahead!"
with a gentle motion the motor-boat glided away from the pier on her first run under lieutenant derek daventry's command, then, gathering speed, headed down the buoyed channel towards the distant bar buoy, while derek, with frequent references to a chart, stood by the none-too-competent coxswain.
it was no use denying that derek fully realized his position. his sensations were somewhat akin to those on the occasion of his first solo flight, but with this difference. then he was responsible for himself alone. if an accident had occurred through his inexperience or error it was he alone who would have suffered. now he was directly responsible for the safety of five men with practically no experience of the ways of the sea, who looked to him implicitly, took their orders from him, and, in short, placed their lives in his hands. added to this was the fact that he was answerable for the safety of the boat—a practically brand-new craft that had cost the nation a sum closely approaching ￡2000.
to port and starboard of the narrow channel were dangerous, unobtrusive sandbanks, studded with concealed ledges of rock, their presence indifferently marked by the milk-white rollers that lashed themselves in impotent fury upon the shoals. a slight error of judgment, a wrong turn of the helm, and the frail cockle-shell would almost certainly run aground, and be dashed to pieces in the breakers.
derek quickly found that r.a.f. 1164 b—that being the official designation of his command—was decidedly wet. her long, lean bows, and the weight of her engines being well for'ard, tended to make her shove her nose into it. showers of icy spray flew inboard, enveloping the occupants of the steering-well, and making them duck their heads as they gasped for breath. well it was that derek and his crew were well equipped with oilskins and sea-boots; even thus protected moisture found its way down their necks, soaking chillily against their chests and backs.
nevertheless it was wildly exhilarating. the rapid pulsations of the powerful motor, the rhythmic lift of the long, lean hull to the waves, the hiss and the sting of the flying spindrift, and the unwonted sensation of speed—a sensation not experienced when flying at a height—all combined to give a new zest to life.
and to what purpose? at first sight it was a mere joy-ride, a pleasure-trip in an expensive motor-boat at the cost of the british taxpayer. but it was part of a system of training. since the amalgamation of the r.f.c. and the r.n.a.s. it was hardly the thing to continue to draw upon the hard-worked navy for sea-going craft to attend upon the rapidly-increasing fleet of coastal airships and sea-planes. and since the aerial-fleet is liable to accident, it is also advisable to have assistance promptly and efficiently. hence the necessity for the formation of an auxiliary marine branch of the r.a.f., so that in the event of a "blimp" or a flying-boat being compelled to "land" upon the sea, aid would be quickly forthcoming from the motor-boat about to be attached to the various sea-coast air-stations. and as soon as the officer under training at sableridge had passed his period of probation in charge of a small craft he would be posted in command of one of those seaworthy vessels known as a "coastal m.l.", on board of which he would live an almost idyllic existence, sleeping and living in one of the most comfortable little ward-rooms imaginable.
at reduced speed m.b. no. 1164 b crossed the bar, wallowing and plunging in the confused cross-seas. but for the protection afforded by the after-canopy she might have fared badly, for green water was slapping viciously against the canvas covering on both quarters. although wet, she was a good sea-boat, and, beyond a quantity of spray, she passed through her ordeal without shipping any dangerous quantity of water. then, gathering way, she glided serenely over the long, oily rollers of the open bay.
derek's orders were to cruise within the limits of old tom—a detached chalk pinnacle on the south-western side of coombeleigh bay—and thorbury head, a bold promontory on the eastern side. here, with ordinary caution, a boat could come to little harm, the water being fairly deep, and unencumbered with rocks or dangerous currents.
three or four miles away, and also within the limits of the bay, the fisherton fleet was at work, the boats running under reduced canvas, with their heavy trawls trailing astern. in the bright sunshine their dark-tan canvas and white hulls made a pleasing picture, the warm colours contrasting vividly with the yellow cliffs and dark-green of the pine-woods fringing the bay. far out to the southward could be discerned the squat form of a blimp as it see-sawed five hundred feet above an up-channel tramp steamer—the solitary visible reminder that there was a war on, and that there were such things as u-boats lying in wait for british merchantmen.
for the best part of an hour derek exercised his crew, practising "man overboard"—the "man" being represented by a life-buoy thrown overboard at an unexpected moment—and also slowing down for the purpose of enabling the individual members of the crew to fix their position on the chart by means of cross-bearings.
suddenly the dull boom of a gun broke the stillness of the air. derek, who was bending over the sight-vanes of the compass, raised his head at the familiar sound, although what seemed to be a long time had elapsed since he last heard the report of a quick-firer.
to his astonishment he was just in time to see the masts and sails of one of the fishing-boats disappear over the side, to the accompaniment of a shower of spray and a cloud of smoke from the bursting projectile while less than four hundred yards away from its victim was a large u-boat.
the pirate had evidently been resting on the sandy bottom of the bay, and finding that she was in the vicinity of a fleet of small and unprotected fishing-craft, had judged it a good opportunity for an object-lesson in kultur.
a careful survey of the horizon by means of the periscopes had failed to reveal anything of a suspicious nature to the kapitan-leutnant of the unterseeboot. m.b. no. 1164 b, lying motionless on the water, was an inconspicuous object, her aviation-grey painted sides hardly visible against the haze on the skyline.
the crew of the motor-boat looked enquiringly at their skipper. it never occurred to them that a hostile craft was in the vicinity. not one of them had seen a u-boat except in the form of a picture in an illustrated paper, and this one did not resemble their idea of a german submarine.
derek weighed up the case in a few brief seconds. here he was in a fast motor-boat with a raw, practically untrained crew, and with not so much as a pea-shooter on board. the hun probably carried a couple of six-inch quick-firers and a few machine-guns. by force derek could do nothing.
nor could he, with any degree of honour, seek safety in flight and leave the slowly-moving fishing-boats to the mercy, or rather the lack of mercy, of a ruthless pirate compared with whom the buccaneers of the spanish main were gentlemen.
by stratagem derek might do something. unceremoniously pushing aside the still bewildered coxswain, and ordering the engineer to "let her rip for all she's worth", derek swung the helm hard over until the motor-boat headed straight for the long, low-lying, sinister hull.
"full throttle!" yelled daventry. "lie down, men, all of you."
image: 06_puzzling.jpg
[illustration: she presented a puzzling proposition to fritz]
m.b. no. 1164 b, gathering way, travelled faster than ever she had done since her acceptance trials. her long, lean bows lifted clean out of the water, while her stern squatted deeply into the trough of her wake, and feathery shafts of spray shot out far and wide of her knife-like stem. viewed "bows on" she presented a puzzling, nay alarming, proposition to fritz, whose nerves were already unstrung through the effects of half a dozen narrow squeaks. all he saw was something approaching at terrific speed. he knew that there were mosquito craft that had their stings in their tails, and depth-charges were his great aversion and terror.
nearer and nearer drew the motor-boat. derek's resolution increased with every revolution of the propeller. he had started with the idea of "putting the wind up fritz", but now he meant to hurl the boat bodily at the submarine, and take his chance of being picked up. a 35-foot boat travelling at seventeen knots would by its momentum shatter some of the hull plates of the submarine, but at the same time her bows would crumple up like brown paper.
once and once only did the lieutenant turn his head and glance at his crews. for novices they were behaving splendidly, lying stiffly, yet alertly, on the cockpit-gratings, although they could not resist the temptation of looking over the side to "see how things were going". not a man showed a trace of fear. it was an expression of determination, of really "doing his bit" that showed itself in the knit brows of every member of the crew.
the u-boat made no attempt to do further damage to the fishing-boats. two men at the quick-firer abaft the conning-tower swung the weapon round and let fly at the elusive target presented by the bows of r.a.f. 1164 b. derek saw the flash, and distinctly heard the screech of the projectile ere it burst four hundred yards astern.
it was the last show. already the u-boat's nose was dipping. the gunners, abandoning their weapon, bolted precipitately for the after-hatchway. with a resounding clang the water-tight metal cover fell in its appointed place, and the long, unsightly grey hull slithered beneath the waves in a swirl of froth and foam.
with mingled feelings of exultation and relief—exultation because he had scared the hun into ignominious flight, and relief because he had not been compelled to sacrifice his boat and his men on the altar of duty—derek put the helm hard-a-port, and, without slowing down, began to circle round the spot where the u-boat had disappeared. how he regretted that r.a.f. 1164 b was not fitted with depth-charges. no doubt, too, the kapitan-leutnant of the submerged craft now noticed the omission, but the chances were that he was too scared to attempt to rise to the surface and engage by gun-fire the interfering little spit-fire. he promptly crawled along a few feet above the bed of the sea—slowly, lest the following wake of the u-boat would betray its presence—until he imagined that he was safe from pursuit.
meanwhile the fishing-boats were running for port, the dismasted craft in tow, and steered by a venerable greybeard whose silvery locks were bound with a blood-stained handkerchief, while his "mate", otherwise his fourteen-year-old grandson, was nursing a badly-lacerated leg, and thanking his lucky stars that he was not one of germany's sons.
having satisfied himself that the fishing-boats were out of danger derek steered for the harbour. just as he crossed the bar he saw two coastal airships making seawards.
"that's good!" he remarked to the coxswain. "those fellows will do some very efficient strafing, unless i'm much mistaken. it hasn't been a bad run, has it?"
"no, sir," agreed the coxswain. "quite an enjoyable little picnic."
