The Boy Allies at Jutland.

by Robert L. Drake.

CHAPTER I

H.M.S. "QUEEN MARY"

A great, long, gray shape moved swiftly through the waters of the Thames. Smoke, pouring from three different points in the middle of this great shape, ascended, straight in the air some distance, then, caught by the wind, drifted westward.

It was growing dark. Several hours before, this ocean greyhound--one of Great Britain's monster sea-fighters--had up-anch.o.r.ed and left her dock--where she had been undergoing slight repairs--heading eastward down the river.

Men lined the rails of the monster ship. These were her crew--or some of her crew, to be exact--for the others were engaged in duties that prevented them from waving to the crowds that thronged the sh.o.r.e--as did the men on deck.

Sharp orders carried across the water to the ears of those on sh.o.r.e.

The officers were issuing commands. Men left the rail and disappeared from the view of the spectators as they hurried to perform their duties. Came several sharp blasts of the vessel's siren; a moment later her speed increased and as she slid easily through the waters of the river, a cheer went up from both sh.o.r.es.

The crowd strained its eyes. Far down the river now the giant battleship was disappearing from the sight of the men and women who lined the banks. In vain, a few moments later, did many eyes try to pierce the darkness. The battleship was lost to sight.

The vessel that had thus pa.s.sed down the Thames was H. M. S. _Queen Mary_, one of the most formidable of England's sea fighters. It was with such ships as the _Queen Mary_, supported by smaller and less powerful craft, that Great Britain, for almost two years of the great war, had maintained her supremacy of the seas.

This great ship was new in service, having been completed only a few years before the outbreak of the war. She was constructed at a cost of $10,000,000. She was 720 feet long, of 27,000 tons burden and had a complement of almost 1,000 men. For fighting purposes she was equipped with all that was modern.

In her forward turret she carried a battery of six 16-inch guns. Aft, the turret was similarly equipped. Also the _Queen Mary_ mounted other big guns and rapid firers. She was equipped with an even half-dozen 12-inch torpedo tubes. She was one of the biggest ships of war that roved the seas.

The _Queen Mary_ was one of the fleet of battleships that had patrolled the North Sea since the outbreak of hostilities. Already she had seen her share of fighting, for she had led more than one attack upon the enemy when the Germans had mustered up courage enough to leave the safety of the great fortress of Heligoland, where the main German high sea fleet was quartered.

It had been in a skirmish with one of these venturesome enemy vessels that the _Queen Mary_ had received injuries that necessitated her going into dry dock for a few days, while she was given an overhauling and her wounds healed. True enough, she had sent the foe to the bottom; but with a last dying shot, the Germans had put a sh.e.l.l aboard the _Queen Mary._

Her damage repaired, the _Queen Mary_ was now steaming to the open waters of the North Sea, where she would again take up patrol duty with the other vessels that comprised the British North Sea fleet, under command of Vice-Admiral Beatty, whose flagship, the _Lion_, had taken up the additional burden of patrolling the _Queen Mary's_ territory while the latter was being overhauled.

Aboard the battleship, the British tars, who had become fretful at the delay, were happy at the thought of getting back into active service.

While they had been given an opportunity to stretch their legs ash.o.r.e, they, nevertheless, had been glad when the time to steam back into the open sea had come. Now, as the _Queen Mary_ entered the mouth of the Thames and prepared' to leave the sh.o.r.es of Old England for the broad expanse of the North Sea, they sang, whistled and laughed gaily.

They were going back where they would get another chance at the enemy, should he again venture from his lair.

Forward, upon the upper deck, stood two young officers, who peered into the darkness ahead.

"To my mind," said one, "this beats a submarine. Just look about you.

Consider the size of this battleship! Look at her armament! Think of the number of men aboard!"

"You may be right," returned the second officer, "but we have had some grand times beneath the sea. We have been to places and seen things that otherwise would have been impossible."

"True enough; but at the same time, when it came to a question of fight, we have had to slink about like a cat in the night, afraid to show ourselves to larger and heavier adversaries. Now, aboard the _Queen Mary_, that will be done away with. Now we are the cat rather than the mouse."

"It may be that I shall come to your way of thinking in time," said the second speaker, "but at this moment I would rather have the familiar feel of a submarine beneath my heel. I would feel more at home there.

Besides, we have lost one thing by being a.s.signed to the _Queen Mary_ that hits me rather hard."

"I know what you mean," said the first speaker. "We indeed have lost the companionship of a gallant commander. Captain Raleigh undoubtedly is a first cla.s.s officer--otherwise he would not be in command of the _Queen Mary_--but we are bound to miss Lord Hastings."

"Indeed we are. Yet, as he told us, things cannot always be as we would like to have them. He was called for other service, as you know, and he did his best for us. That is why we find ourselves here as minor officers."

"Yes; and it's a whole lot different than being the second and third in command."

At that moment another young officer hurried by.

"Coming, Templeton? Coming, Chadwick?" he asked as he pa.s.sed.

"Where?" demanded the two friends.

"Didn't you hear the call for mess?"

"No; By Jove! and I'm hungry, too," said the young officer addressed as Templeton. "Come along, Frank. We have been so busy talking here that we had forgotten all about the demands of the inner man."

The two hurried after the officer who had accosted them; and while they are attending to the wants of the inner man, as Templeton termed their appet.i.tes, we will take the time to explain how these two lads came to be aboard the giant battleship, steaming into the North Sea in search of the enemies of Great Britain and her allies.

Frank Chadwick was an American youth of some eighteen years. Separated from his father in Naples at the outbreak of the great war, he had been shanghaied aboard a sailing vessel when he had gone to the aid of a man apparently in distress. There he was made a prisoner.

Some days later he had been rescued by Jack Templeton, a young Englishman, who had boarded the vessel off the coast of Africa, seeking payment for goods he had sold to the mutinous crew. The two lads had been instrumental in helping Lord Hastings, a British n.o.bleman, put through a coup that kept Italy out of the war on the side of Germany and Austria. Lord Hastings had become greatly attached to the lads, and when he had been put in command of a vessel, he had both boys a.s.signed to his ship.

Through gallant service Frank and Jack had won their lieutenancies.

Later Lord Hastings had a.s.sumed command of a submarine and had made Jack his first officer and Frank his second officer.

Through many a tight place the lads had gone safely, though they had faced death more than once, and faced it calmly and bravely. Also, at this period of the war, they had seen service in many seas. They had been engaged in the first battle of the North Sea, when Great Britain had struck her first hard blow; they had partic.i.p.ated in the sinking of the German Atlantic squadron near the Falkland islands, off the coast of Argentina, in South America; they had fought in Turkish waters and in the Indian Ocean, and also had been with the British land forces when the j.a.panese allies of the English had won the last of the German possessions in China.

In stature and disposition the boys were as different as could be.

Frank, though large for his age, looked small when alongside of Jack.

The latter, though no older than his friend, was a huge bulk of a boy, standing well over six feet. He was built proportionately. Strong as an ox, he was, and cool of head.

Here he differed from Frank, who had something of a temper and was likely to do something foolish on the spur of the moment if he became angry. Jack had served as a damper for his friend's anger and enthusiasm more than once.

That they could fight, both boys had shown more than once. Jack, because of his huge bulk and great strength, was, of course, harder to beat in a hand-to-hand struggle than was Frank; but what the latter lacked in this kind of fighting, he more than made up in the use of revolver, rifle or sword.

Frank was a crack shot with a revolver; and more than once this accomplishment had stood them both in good stead. Each was a good linguist and conversed in French and German as well as in English. This also had been of help to them in several ticklish situations.

On their last venture, at which time they had been under command of Lord Hastings, they had reached the distant sh.o.r.es of Russia, where they had been of some a.s.sistance to the Czar. In reaching Petrograd it had been necessary for them to pa.s.s through the Kiel ca.n.a.l, which they had done safely in their submarine in spite of the German warships and harbor defenses. Also they had managed to sink several enemy vessels there.

Returning, Frank and Jack had gone home with Lord Hastings, where Lady Hastings had insisted that they remain quiet for some time. This they had done and had been glad of the rest.

One day Lord Hastings had come home with the announcement that he had been called back into the diplomatic service. It was the aim of the British government to align Greece and Roumania on the side of the Allies. Realizing that they could not hope to accompany Lord Hastings, and not wishing to remain idle longer, Frank and Jack had requested Lord Hastings to have them a.s.signed on active duty at once. Lord Hastings promised to do his best.

And this was the reason that Frank Chadwick and Jack Templeton found themselves aboard H.M.S. _Queen Mary_ when she steamed out to the North Sea on an evening in the last week of May, 1916.

CHAPTER II

A BIT OF HISTORY