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way along the bottom of the sea,
found itself suddenly impeded. The
commander knew what that meant
He strove to rise, but the steel coils
fastened themselves about him. His
nose, tilting upward at an angle, rose
to near the surface. He shut off his
electric engines, intending to use the
petrol ones for surface driving. But
he could not quite reach, the surface
" and the periscope, tilted backward,
allowed ncughnpse of anything ex
cept the far horizon. Across the
glass the image of the aeroplane
kept flitting to and fro, hke a swoop
ing gull.
rne dow or tne submarine was
pointed in the direction of one of the
torpedo boats. He issued an order
and two of his crew ran to the tor
pedo station. They drew a torpedo
from the slings and thrust it into the
chamber. At the same instant a
bomb from the aeroplane grazed the
side of the vessel and threw a cloud
of water over it
' The oxygen hissed, the torpedo
started, and the submarine rocked
from the recoil like a tree in a gale.
An instant later the missile, directed
blindly, found its billet With a fran
tic roar the first torpedo boat blew
up. Fifty sailors were instantly
struggling in the water. The steel
net went down with the ship, and the
submarine, partly freed, reached
the surface.
The commander ran to the turret
and, opening the breech of the little.
gun she carried, thrust in a shell.
The layer at his side fired. The shell
hissed through the air and found
lodgment in the second torpedo boat
Instantly a gun on the torpedo
boat answered and missed. Down
went the submarine, freeing herself
from the clinging net, and started
beneath the water, her periscope
swishing through the waves.
, The aeroplane circled above her,
arid the torpedo boat,, having lowered
a small craft to pick up the strug
gling sailors of the wrecked ship,
ptarted on the pursuit again.
The sailors were mostly rescued,
except the captain. He had stayed
on the bridge to tha end. His body
had gone down in the wreckage.
As the torpedo boat raced through
the water in the wake of the peri
scope she fired again and 'again.
Three shells fell short, three went
too far,- The seventh shell struck
the periscope fairly and tore it away.
The submarine's eye was gone. She
was blind. Instantly she rose, with
a brief delay while changing engines.
In that delay the torpedo boat was
hpon her. The eighth shell pierced
the thin hull like paper. It made two
gaping holes, one on either side. The
submarine was doomed.
The commander, at the gun, ad
justed his sights, allowing for the
list of the sinking ship, and fired. The
shell burst in the engine room of the
torpedo boat, disabling her. She
drifted helplessly upon the Water.
The submarine was going down by
the stern. The commander called
through the tube to the men in the
torpedo room. One more torpedo
was.left of the store which had been
brought from port The commander,
at the wheel, worked frantically to
bring the bow in line with the dis
abled torpedo boat five hundred
yards away. If he could get that
line before his vessel sank, the tor
pedo boat was doomed.
Upon the bridge of the torpedo
boat the captain waited. He could not
move his' vessel, which drifted aim
lessly upon the tide. He could swing
her from side to side by working the
wheel; he tried to keep her bow on
to the submarine, so as to present
the smallest possible target
The two ships watched each other,
and the aeroplane, above, watched
both. She had one bomb left She
circled lower and lower, describing
narrowing circles above the sinking
submarine. At last she dropped her
bomb.
It crashed through the turret, kill
ing one man. That was the com
mander. It tore a hole through the
