e _Monitor_ had become enmeshed
in one of the German wire nets.

Unmistakably the scraping against the hull of the submarine was that
of the cables and chains that composed the net. Furthermore, it was
evident from the manner in which the propellers of the ship had ceased
their revolutions that they had struck an impediment of some kind.
McClure and Jack both realized they had, indeed, run into a snare of
the enemy.

For the next half hour the _Monitor_ was put through all manner of
maneuvers as her captain sought to extricate his craft from the web
of steel into which it had dived.

"Seem only to be getting in the tighter," said "Little Mack" as he
stopped the engines and from his chief engineer received a report to
the effect that the driving shafts could be turned only with the
greatest difficulty.

That which vexed the _Monitor's_ officers most, however, was the
knowledge that their capture was almost certainly known by this time
to the Germans ashore and that it would be a matter of minutes until
a German patrol or some other vessel in close touch with the wireless
ashore would be standing over the _Monitor_ awaiting the time when
the submerged vessel must ascend from the depths and surrender. For
it was well known that the submarine traps were equipped with electrical
lamps floating on the surface that were illuminated automatically the
moment a submerged vessel came in contact with the charged cables
underneath the water. Thus the light would engage the attention of
either a patrol ship or the lookout on shore who would soon dispatch
a destroyer to the scene.

Discussing this phase of the situation, Captain McClure had just
decided to make a quick ascension to the surface and take his chances
on freeing the _Monitor_ of her entanglements before a German warship
could come up; but at that moment Bonte reported from the wireless
room the approach of a vessel to port, coming up at full speed.

"Looks as though we are always running into hard luck," said McClure
disgustedly.

Jack tried hard to see the bright side of the situation, but had to
confess to himself that things did look rather black for the _Monitor_
and her men. Nevertheless the boy figured to himself that surely there
was some way in which Yankee wit and ingenuity could baffle the
craftiness of the Germans.

"What are we going to do?" asked Ted as Jack joined him in the torpedo
chamber.

"Haven't quite figured out yet, chum," answered h