all over and dived upward. The ascent lasted
four minutes and a half, at the end of which time the boat stood still
and light fell on the screen of the periscope. The sailors crawled up to
the main hatchway and unscrewed it. Cold salt air rushed into the boat,
swelling the chests of the sufferers and turning their heads; the
sensation of free breathing was delicious after the suffocation they had
so long endured.

Andrey, leaping on the bridge, found the evening sun suspended above
vast masses of warm clouds and the sea quiet and peaceful. He began to
take observations with the [v]sextant, which shook in his trembling
hand. Presently a loud buzzing was heard in the sky, followed by the
measured crackling of a machine gun; from the hull of the boat came a
sharp rat-a-tat, as if some one was throwing dry peas on it. A
hydroplane was circling above the _Kate_.

Andrey bit his lip and kept on working; a squad of his men loaded their
rifles. The hydroplane swooped down almost to the surface of the sea,
then soared with a shrill "F-r-r-r" and flew right over the boat. A
clean-shaven pilot sat motionless, his hands on the wheel; below him an
observer gazed downward, waiting. Suddenly the latter lifted a bomb and
threw it into a tube. The missile flashed in the air and plunged into
the sea at the very side of the boat. One of the crew fired his rifle,
and the observer threw up his leather-covered arms with outspread
fingers. Slowly circling under the fire of the submarine crew, the
aircraft rose toward the clouds and sailed off.

Over the sky-ridge another aeroplane appeared, looking like a long thin
line. Meantime the _Kate_ picked her way with graceful ease across the
orange-colored waters as if cutting through molten glass. Andrey,
buttoning his coat, said with a grimace, "Well, Yakovlev, the mines are
behind us, but what are we going to do now?"

"This region is full of reefs and sandbanks," replied Yakovlev.

"That's just the trouble. I wouldn't risk sailing under the water. Wait
a moment." He raised his hand.

A violent whizzing sound came from the west; Andrey ordered greater
speed. A [v]grenade hissed on the right, and a jet of water spurted up
from the quiet surface. The _Kate_ tacked sharply toward the purpling
horizon in the west, and behind, in her shadowy wake, another bomb burst
and blossomed out into a small cloud. The boat then turned east again,
but now in front of her, on both sides, everywhere, shells