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The very first day we entered the South Pacific we had an adventure. It turned
out to be quite the most exciting adventure I had ever encountered. It fell about
this way. About eight bells of the forenoon watch I heard a hail from the deck,
and presently the footsteps of the entire ship's company, from the amount of
noise I heard at the ladder. Some one yelled back to those who had 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 was quiet--not a man
remained. A door opened at the end of the narrow hull, and presently Nobs came
trotting up to me. He licked my 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 a pistol, and then she went on into the centrale.
As she passed me, I saw that she carried another pistol for herself. It did not
take 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 your thanks or any
other expression from you. Do not stand there looking at me. I have given you a
chance to do something--now do it!" The last was a peremptory command that
made me jump.
Glancing up, I saw that the tower was empty, and I lost no time in clambering up,
looking about me. About a hundred yards off lay a small, swift cruiser-raider,
and above her floated the German man-of-war's flag. A boat had just been
lowered, and I could 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 the boldness of my imagery. The girl
was just below me. I looked down on her wistfully. Could I trust her? Why had
she released me 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 the barest fraction of a
second, and then she turned and went up the ladder. A moment later Olson
returned, and the girl followed him. "Quick!" I whispered to the big Irishman, and
made for the bow compartment where the torpedo-tubes are built into the boat;
here, too, were the torpedoes. The girl accompanied us, and when she saw the
thing I had in mind, she stepped forward and lent a hand to the swinging of the
great cylinder of death and destruction into the mouth of its tube. With oil and
main strength we shoved the torpedo home and shut the tube; then I ran back to
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