With a loud-yelled command, he leaped to the slippery deck of the submersible,
and at his heels came his hardy crew. I sprang from the pilot-house and
followed, not to be left out in the cold when it came to strafing the boches.
From the engine room companionway came the engineer and stockers, and together
we leaped after the balance of the crew and into the hand-to-hand fight that
was covering the wet deck with red blood. Beside me came Nobs, silent now, and
grim. Germans were emerging from the open hatch to take part in the battle on
deck. At first the pistols cracked amidst the cursing of the men and the loud
commands of the commander and his junior; but presently we were too
indiscriminately mixed to make it safe to use our firearms, and the battle
resolved itself into a hand-to-hand struggle for possession of the deck.
The sole aim of each of us was to hurl one of the opposing force into the sea.
I shall never forget the hideous expression upon the face of the great Prussian
with whom chance confronted me. He lowered his head and rushed at me, bellowing
like a bull. With a quick side-step and ducking low beneath his outstretched
arms, I eluded him; and as he turned to come back at me, I landed a blow upon
his chin which sent him spinning toward the edge of the deck. I saw his wild
endeavors to regain his equilibrium; I saw him reel drunkenly for an instant
upon the brink of eternity and then, with a loud scream, slip into the sea. At
the same instant a pair of giant arms encircled me from behind and lifted me
entirely off my feet. Kick and squirm as I would, I could neither turn toward
my antagonist nor free myself from his maniacal grasp. Relentlessly he was
rushing me toward the side of the vessel and death. There was none to stay him,
for each of my companions was more than occupied by from one to three of the
enemy. For an instant I was fearful for myself, and then I saw that which
filled me with a far greater terror for another.
My boche was bearing me toward the side of the submarine against which the tug
was still pounding. That I should be ground to death between the two was lost
upon me as I saw the girl standing alone upon the tug’s deck, as I saw the
stern high in air and the bow rapidly settling for the final dive, as I saw
death from which I could not save her clutching at the skirts of the woman I
now knew all too well that I loved.
I had perhaps the fraction of a second longer to live when I heard an angry
growl behind us mingle with a cry of pain and rage from the giant who carried
me. Instantly he went backward to the deck, and as he did so he threw his arms
outwards to save himself, freeing me. I fell heavily upon him, but was upon my
feet in the instant. As I arose, I cast a single glance at my opponent. Never
again would he menace me or another, for Nob’s great jaws had closed upon his
throat. Then I sprang toward the edge of the deck closest to the girl upon the
sinking tug.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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