"

Jack saluted mechanically, but his heart beat high and he could scarce
repress an exclamation of delight.

At a depth of sixty feet the _Dewey's_ engines were slowed down and she
floated gracefully out of range of the German destroyer. After
traveling ahead for half a mile the submersible was stopped again and
began slowly to ascend.

As the eye of the periscope projected again out of the sea Lieutenant
McClure hastened to get a glimpse of his surroundings.

There, off the port bow, lay the crippled German cruiser---the same
vessel that had been hit by the _Dewey's_ torpedo. She was listing
badly from the effect of the American submarine's unexpected sting
and had turned far over on her side. A British destroyer was standing
by rescuing members of the Teuton crew as they flung themselves into
the water from their overturning craft.

Far off the _Dewey's_ starboard bow could be seen a moving column of
warships---the remnants of the German raiding fleet in the van,
followed by the English and American patrol vessels.

"Useless for us to follow them," declared McClure, as he took in the
situation. "Might as well stand by this stricken Hun cruiser and pick
up some of her floating crew."

"There's a lot of them in the water," said Cleary, as he swung the
other periscope to scan the open sea well to the sinking cruiser's
stern.

In a few minutes the _Dewey_ ascended and made herself known to the
British "limey." Over the decks of the latter clambered several score
German seamen who had been fished from a watery grave.

A stiff wind had come up out of the southeast and was kicking the sea
into rollers with whitecaps. However, the men of the _Dewey_, armed
with life preservers, steadied themselves on the turtle-back deck of
their craft, and started the hunt for swimming Germans.

Ted had joined Jack forward, carrying a coil of rope, and they were
scanning the sea, when their attention was diverted by the gesticulations
of Bill Witt standing well forward. He was pointing off to port.

"Look---a floating mine!" he shouted. Almost at the same moment Jack
spied another mine closer up off the starboard quarter.

In a mine field! The retreating German warships had strewn the sea
with the deadly implements of naval warfare, and the _Dewey_ had come
up almost on top of a number of the unanchored explosives!

CHAPTER VIII

A RESCUE

"If one of them pill boxes bumps us on the water line it's all day