The Land That Time Forgot - The Original Classic Edition. Burroughs Edgar

It was then that one of the men stuck his head up through the hatchway and seeing me, asked permission to come on deck and get

       9

       a breath of fresh air. I recognized him as Benson, the man who, Wilson had said, reported having seen Lys with von Schoenvorts

       two nights before. I motioned him on deck and then called him to one side, asking if he had seen anything out of the way or unusual during his trick on watch the night before. The fellow scratched his head a moment and said, "No," and then as though it was an afterthought, he told me that he had seen the girl in the crew's room about midnight talking with the German commander, but as there hadn't seemed to him to be any harm in that, he hadn't said anything about it. Telling him never to fail to report to me anything 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, and soon all but those actually engaged in some necessary duty were standing around smoking and talking, all in the best of spirits. I took advantage of the absence of the men upon the deck to go below for my breakfast, which the cook was already preparing upon the electric stove. Lys, followed by Nobs, appeared as I entered the centrale. She met me with a pleasant "Good morning!" which I am afraid I replied to in a tone that was rather constrained and surly.

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

       She nodded a sweet acceptance of my invitation, and together we sat 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 not bring myself to believe in her duplicity; yet--Thinking to surprise her into a betrayal of her guilt, I blurted out: "The chronometer and sextant were both destroyed last night; there is a traitor among us." But she never turned a hair by way of evidencing guilty knowledge of the catastrophe.

       "Who could it have been?" she cried. "The Germans would be crazy to 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 themselves includes a willingness to sacrifice others, even those who love them. Women are much the same, except that they will go even further than most men--they will sacrifice everything, even honor, for love."

       I watched her face carefully as I spoke, and I thought that I detected a very faint flush mounting her cheek. Seeing an opening and an

       advantage, I sought to follow it up.

       "Take von Schoenvorts, for instance," I continued: "he would doubtless be glad to die and take us all with him, could he prevent 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, and then she went very white and rose from her seat. "I do," she replied,

       and turning her back upon me, she walked quickly toward her room. I started to follow, for even believing what I did, I was sorry

       that I had hurt her. I reached the door to the crew's room just behind her and in time to see von Schoenvorts lean forward and whis-

       per something to her as she passed; but she must have guessed that she might be watched, for she passed on.

       That afternoon it clouded over; the wind mounted to a gale, and the 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 must get 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 he was a former R.N. man and had been detailed for submarine duty for over two years. I was glad that it was he, for I had considerable confidence in his loyalty, and so it was with a feeling of security that I went below and lay down.