d fire of
all the batteries on both shores, and that their chances of escape were
hardly worth considering. But this did not weigh for a moment, if they
were able to strike a blow for the Empire.

The revolutions were increasing, the launch moved more rapidly down upon
her quarry.

'Three barges!' exclaimed Roy. 'Big 'uns, too! I say, there must be tons
of stuff aboard. Jove, won't the Turks be sick?'

'We must get the tug first,' said Dimmock, who, though a man of forty, was
as keen as a boy. 'If we can slap it into her first, we can deal with the
barges at our leisure.'

As he spoke he was squinting along the barrel, his right hand busy with
the sighting screw.

'Hang this fog!' he muttered. 'I can hardly see what I'm shooting at.'

The launch was now within little more than a hundred yards of the tug
which was puffing noisily along, her string of barges tailing heavily down
the current, and her crew utterly unaware of the hidden danger gliding
down upon them through the fog.

'I'm beastly rusty,' continued Dimmock. 'Still, I hardly think I can miss
her at this range.'

As he spoke his finger pressed the electric button, and the gun barked
with that ear-splitting crack peculiar to the 6-pounder.

The tug staggered and rang like an iron drum.

'Not much miss about that!' cried Roy triumphantly. 'You must have got her
slap in the boilers.'

'No, it was too high,' said Dimmock in a discontented tone.' This gun
jumps a bit. Sharp there, with that other shell.'

Roy slipped it in as though it were a toy, the breech-block snicked to,
and five seconds later a second report roused the echoes.

'That's better,' said Dimmock, as a flash of flame rose from the midships
section of the tug. 'Ah, there goes her funnel! She's a goner.'

He was right. The tug swung round to the current, and, with engines
stopped, drifted idly down the Straits.

'What's the matter? They haven't begun to fire yet,' said Roy quickly, as
he thrust a third shell into the open breech.

[Illustration: 'Up shot a sheet of crimson flame.']

'So much the better for us,' Ken answered. 'Mr Dimmock, this one ought to
do for the nearest barge.'

Hastily Dimmock sighted again at the blunt, low-lying object which loomed
dimly ahead in the wet darkness.

Once more the smart little gun spoke, but the crack of the report had
hardly sounded before it was drowned by the most appalling crash. Up from
the stricken barge shot a sheet of crimson flame