o. I had a very narrow squeak in Spithead about three hours
ago from one of their aerial torpedoes. It struck part of a destroyer
that I'd just sunk, and although it was nearly fifty yards away, it
shook me up considerably."

"Have you any idea of the whereabouts and formation of the French Fleet?
I must confess that I haven't. These infernal airships have upset all
the plans for catching Durenne between the Channel Fleet and the
Reserve, backed up by the Portsmouth guns, so that we could jump out and
catch him between the fleet and the forts. Now I suppose it will have to
be a Fleet action at sea."

"If you care to leave your ship for an hour, sir," replied Erskine, "I
will take you round the French fleet and you shall see everything for
yourself. We may have to knock a few holes in something, if it gets in
our way, but I think I can guarantee that you shall be back on the
_Britain_ by the time you want to begin the action."

"Absolutely irregular," said Lord Beresford, stroking his chin, and
trying to look serious, while his eyes were dancing with anticipation.
"An admiral to leave his flagship on the eve of an engagement! Well,
never mind, Courtney's a very good fellow, and knows just as much about
the ship as I do, and he's got all sailing orders. I'll come. He's on
the bridge now, I'll go and tell him."

The Admiral ran up on to the bridge, gave Captain Courtney Commodore
Hoskins' letter, added a few directions, one of which was to keep on a
full head of steam on all the ships, and look out for signals, and five
minutes later he had been introduced to Lennard, and was standing beside
him in the conning-tower of the _Ithuriel_ listening to Erskine, as he
said into the telephone receiver:

"Sink her to three feet, Castellan, and then ahead full speed."

The pumps worked furiously for a few minutes, and the _Ithuriel_ sank
until only three feet of her bulk appeared above the water. Then the
Admiral felt the floor of the conning-tower shudder and tremble under
his feet. He looked out of the side porthole on the starboard bow, and
saw his own fleet dropping away into the distance and the darkness of
the November night. The water ahead curled up into two huge swathes,
which broke into foam and spray, which lashed hissing along the almost
submerged decks.

"You have a pretty turn of speed on her, I must say, Captain Erskine,"
said the Admiral, after he had taken a long squint through the
semicircular window. "I'm