“Keep cool, everybody,” he was shouting; “there is no danger.”
“The Titanic!” shrieked somebody. “We’ve hit an iceberg. We’ll sink like her.”
“The boats!” shouted a man. “We’ll lower ’em ourselves. We’re sinking!”
In the gloom Jack could see the man’s face, round and white, with a big yellow mustache.
The fellow shoved two women, wedged in the throng, aside, and addressed himself to Jack, who stood at the head of the companionway.
“Let me pass, you!” he bellowed, seemingly mad with fear. “I want a place in the first boat. I – ”
Jack felt Bill slip a revolver into his pocket. But he did not remove the weapon, the time had not yet come for its use.
“Stop that noise,” he told the yellow-mustached man bluntly. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he went on, “there’s no danger. We merely grazed the berg. Thank heaven the ship was swung in time to save her.”
“Don’t believe him,” shrieked the terrified man. “Stand to one side there. The boats!”
He made a rush for Jack and struck heavily at the young wireless operator. But before his blow landed, Jack had crouched and the next instant his fist shot out like a piston rod. The fellow staggered back, but could not fall because of the pressure of humanity behind him.
It is difficult to say what might have happened had there not been cooler heads in the crowd. Reassured by Jack’s cool manner, these began quieting the more timid ones. Just then, too, Captain Rollok and some of his officers appeared. All carried drawn revolvers, for a disorganized rush on the boats would have meant that scores of women would have been trampled and many lives lost in the confusion.
The captain’s firm, stern tones completed the work Jack and Bill had begun. He assured the passengers that an examination had been made and that no damage had been done. He also promised thereafter to run at a more moderate speed. Gradually, the excited crowd calmed down, and some sought their cabins. The greater part, however, elected to remain on deck throughout the night.
The next morning the fog had somewhat cleared and the break-neck speed of the ship was resumed. Jack was just resigning the key to young Poffer when the doorway was darkened by a bulky figure. It was that of a big, yellow-mustached man, whom Jack recognized instantly as the man who had led the panic of the night before, and whom he had been forced to deal with summarily.
He furiously glared at Jack, and the boy noticed that under his left eye was a dark bruise, a memento of the previous night.
“What did you mean by striking me last night?” he began angrily. “I demand your name. I will have you discharged.”
“My name is Ready,” answered Jack calmly, “and as far as having me discharged is concerned, I’m afraid that will be impossible. You see I’m here in what you might call an extra-official capacity.”
“Bah! don’t be impudent with me, boy. I am Herr Professor.”
“Oh, a barber,” smiled Jack, amiably.
The yellow-mustached man fairly growled. His light blue eyes snapped viciously.
“I am Herr – ”
“Oh, yes, I see you’re here,” responded Jack calmly. “You seem to be in rather a bad temper, too.”
“Boy, I will see that you are punished for this. I am a gentleman.”
“Really, it would be as hard to tell it on you this morning as it was last night,” responded Jack, in quite unruffled tones.
“Be very careful, young man. I have already told you I am Herr Professor.”
“Oh, don’t hang out the barber pole again,” begged Jack.
The other shot a glance full of venom at the perfectly cool youth before him. Then, apparently realizing that there was nothing to be gained from indulging in tirades, he turned abruptly on his heel and strode to the door. On the threshold he paused.
“I am going to report your conduct to the captain at once,” he said. “You will find out before long what such gross impertinence to a passenger means.”
“I shouldn’t advise you to tell him about your behavior last night, though,” observed Jack.
“Why not?”
“Because from what I’ve observed of him, he is a rather hot-tempered man and he might feel inclined to throw you out of his cabin – and it’s quite a drop from there to the promenade deck.”
“You will hear more of this,” snarled the infuriated man; but at Jack’s parting shot he made off, looking very uncomfortable.
Poffer regarded Jack with a look in which admiration and awe were oddly blended.
“I dink you haf for yourself made idt troubles,” he remarked.
“Trouble! In what way?” demanded Jack. “The fellow is an arrant coward. He – ”
“Ah yah, dot is so, but den he is Herr – ”
“Gracious, have you got hair on your brain, too?”
“Yah,” was the innocent response. “He is a big Professor at a Cherman War College. He is a great man in Germany, der Herr Professor Radwig.”
“Well, Mr. Earwig, or whatever his name is, may be a great man as you say, Hans, my boy, but he is also a great coward. As for his threat to make trouble with the captain, that does not bother me in the least. To begin with, I’m only a volunteer, as it were, and in the second place, I’ll bet you a cookie or one of those big red apples you’re so fond of, that Mr. Earwig will avoid discussing the events of last night as much as he can. I’ve heard the last of him.”
But in this Jack was wrong. In days that lay ahead of the boys, they were to find that Herr Professor Radwig was ordained to play no unimportant part in their lives.
CHAPTER VI
SMOKE ON THE HORIZON
Late that afternoon Jack, who had just come on deck, was in time to notice an unusual thrill of excitement among the already overwrought passengers. On the northern horizon was a smudge of smoke, and a dark hull bearing down on them. Those who had glasses had already announced the other craft to be a warship, although, of what nation, it was as yet impossible to say.
Jack hurried to the wireless room. Young Poffer declared that he had received no wireless, nor intercepted any message which might have any bearing on the identity of the strange ship. On the bridge, the ship’s officers were in excited consultation. The warship was drawing closer every moment. She was black and squat, with two fat funnels from which volumes of dark smoke rolled. At her bow was a smother of white foam showing the speed at which she was being pushed.
“Ach, now comes it!” exclaimed Poffer the next instant. He wrote rapidly and then handed the message to Jack. The wireless boy read:
“Heave to at once.
“Dutton, commanding His Majesty’s ship Berwick.”
“I’ll take it forward right away!” exclaimed Jack. “You listen with all your ears for any more messages, Hans.”
“You bet you my life I will undt den some,” Hans promised. “Vot you dink, dey shood us up, Jack?”
“I don’t know. I suppose if we don’t heave to, they will,” said the wireless boy as he hurried off.
“Chust as I thought,” declared Captain Rollok, after he had read the message.
“Shall I tell Hans to send back word we’ll stop?” asked Jack.
“Stop! I vouldn’t stop for der whole British navy,” declared Captain Rollok vehemently.
He stepped to the engine room telegraph and set it violently over