The Boy Allies with Uncle Sams Cruisers | Page 6

sir," was the reply.
"Very well, then, you had better turn in. You will sail aboard the
Algonquin at five tomorrow evening. I will see that your reservations
are made and that you are supplied with sufficient funds."
The lads went to bed.
When Jack and Frank went aboard the Algonquin the following
evening half an hour before the sailing hour, they were dressed as
civilians. Each wore a heavy traveling suit and overcoat and a steamer
cap. Lord Hastings accompanied them aboard and introduced them to
the captain, Stoneman by name, with whom His Lordship was well
acquainted. Then Lord Hastings went ashore.
The Algonquin was an American vessel and sailed under American
registry.
"I don't believe any raider will bother us," said Jack.
"Never can tell," declared Frank. "What's our destination, anyhow? I
forgot to ask."
"Buenos Ayres," replied Jack.
"Wonder if there are many passengers aboard?"
"Doesn't look like it. We'll have a look at the passenger list."
They did so and found that the only passengers on the trip were two
women, registered as Mrs. Silas Wheaton and Miss Elizabeth Wheaton.
"Looks like we would be pretty much to our ourselves," grinned Jack.

"So much the better," said Frank.
The Algonquin was not, in the true sense of the word, a passenger
steamer. She had accommodations for some, but she was primarily a
freighter, detoured this trip to carry a cargo of oil to the Argentine
capital.
The vessel lifted anchor and steamed down the Thames promptly at 5
o'clock. At 6 the lads found themselves at dinner at the captain's table.
There, too, they found Mrs. Wheaton and her daughter, Elizabeth.
Introductions followed.
"I do hope we do not meet a submarine on the way," declared Miss
Wheaton, who could not have been more than eighteen.
"I guess we are safe enough on that score," smiled Jack.
"Then they tell me there is a German raider operating off the coast of
South America," said the girl. "We may be captured."
"Pooh!" exclaimed her mother. "Didn't I see guns front and back on this
ship as I came abroad?"
"You mean fore and aft, mother," said the girl, smiling. "Yes, I saw the
guns, too, but I don't imagine they would be much protection against a
German raider."
"Then what are they there for?" Mrs. Wheaton wanted to know.
Jack and Frank laughed, and Captain Stoneman allowed a smile to
wrinkle the corners of his mouth.
"Well, they won't dare attack us," said Mrs. Wheaton. "If they do the
United States will make Germany pay for it."
"I guess Germany is not worrying about the United States right now,"
said Jack quietly.
"We'll make her worry," declared the woman.

"We're going to declare war and then the Kaiser will wish he had let us
alone. Besides, there are probably American ships of war off the coast
of South America. They will not allow us to be molested by a German
raider."
"But, perhaps they won't be able to help it," mother, said the girl.
"Of course they will be able to help it," said the mother. "Now don't
talk about this foolishness to me any more."
She arose and left the table. Her daughter followed her a few moments
later.
"If the Germans get her they'll find they have caught a tartar," declared
Jack.
"So they will," declared Captain Stoneman.
"By the way, Captain," said Frank, "do you fear the raider will attack
us?"
"She will if she knows we are around," declared the captain grimly.
"And we are not prepared to fight her, sir?" asked Frank.
"Hardly," said the captain quietly.
"What's your crew?" demanded Jack.
"First, second and third officers, chief engineer, assistant and forty
men," was the reply.
"And nothing worth while to shoot with," grinned Frank.
The captain brought his hand down hard upon the table.
"No!" he bellowed. "And still with these pirates sailing the seas, the
American government won't allow us to carry guns big enough to do
any damage."

"Well, we'll hope for the best," said Frank, rising.
The lads made their way on deck.
CHAPTER IV
THE RAIDER
Word of the United States' declaration of war upon Germany was
flashed to the Algonquin on the fourth day out. It brought a thrill to
Frank and to Captain Stoneman, an American himself.
Mrs. Wheaton, however, was the only person aboard who did any
bragging as a result of it. She declared that now the United States had
come to the rescue of the world, she had no fear of German raiders or
Germans in any other shape or form.
The Algonquin was still two days out from Buenos Ayres. It was night.
Came a hail from the lookout forward,
"Ship, sir!" he sang out.
"Where away?" demanded Captain Stoneman from the bridge.