[Illustration: Cover] [Transcriber's Note: Bold text is surrounded by =equal signs= and italic text is surrounded by _underscores_.] OVER THE SEAS FOR UNCLE SAM [Illustration: "Only the hits count!"] OVER THE SEAS FOR UNCLE SAM BY ELAINE STERNE _Author of "The Road of Ambition," "Sunny Jim" Stories, Etc._ "We're ready _now_!"--Navy slogan. NEW YORK BRITTON PUBLISHING COMPANY Copyright, 1918 BRITTON PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC. Made in U. S. A. All rights reserved. _To the Honorable Josephus Daniels Secretary of the Navy, whose devotion to the interests of the men in the American Navy has been an inspiration to them no less than to the nation as a whole._ CONTENTS PAGE THE WHEREFORE OF MY LITTLE BOOK 11 SUNK BY A SUBMARINE 21 WAR CLOUDS GATHER 35 THE STUFF HEROES ARE MADE OF 49 DEPTH BOMBS AND DESTROYERS 61 IN TRAINING 73 ZEPS AND TORPEDOES 91 "THE LEATHER NECKS" 107 THE WAY WITH THE FRENCHIES 119 A YANKEE STANDS BY 135 A TASTE OF HELL 147 THE WANDERLUST AND THE WAR 161 UNDER THE RED CROSS BANNER 175 "ABANDON SHIP!" 191 PRISONERS OF WAR 209 FRITZ GETS TAGGED 221 THE FLOWER OF FRANCE 233 THE WHEREFORE OF MY LITTLE BOOK We have learned some things in war times that we did not know in days of peace. We have made the amazing discovery that our own fathers and brothers and husbands and lovers are potential heroes. We knew they were brave and strong and eager to defend us if need be. We knew that they went to work in the morning and returned at night just so that we might live in comfort; but we never dreamed that the day would come when we would see them marching off to war--a war that would take them far from their own shores. We never dreamed that, like the knights of old, they would ride away on a quest as holy as that of the Crusaders. As for army and navy life--it had always been a sealed book to us, a realm into which one was born, a heritage that passed from father to son. We heard of life at the army post. We saw a uniform now and then, but not until our own men donned khaki and blue did we of the outside world learn of the traditions of the army and of the navy, which dated back to the days of our nation's birth. We did not know that each regiment had its own glorious story of achievement--a story which all raw recruits were eager to live up to--a story of undaunted fighting in the very face of death that won for it its sobriquet.