nerally accepted
theory," he said.

"They may have had some white men in their submarines at one time, but
we've either downed them or they've got Prussianised. They've
disgraced the very word submarine to all eternity." The speaker shook
his head over the besmirched escutcheon of his young profession.

"They're cowards, all right," added the Lieutenant. "'Member that
Fritz we chased all the way to Heligoland on the surface?"

"Yep. Signalled to him with a flashing lamp to stop and fight: called
him every dirty name we could lay our tongues on. Think he'd turn and
have it out? Not much! ... Yet he had the bigger gun and the higher
speed. Signalled back, 'Not to-day, thank you!' and legged it inside
gun-range of the forts. Phew! That made us pretty hot, didn't it,
Sub?"

"Nerves," said the Lieutenant. "Their nerves are just putrid. There
was another night once----" he talked quickly between spoonfuls of rice
pudding. "In a fog ... we were making a lightship off the Dutch coast
to verify our position.... Approached submerged, steering by sound of
their submarine bell, and then came to the surface to get a bearing.
There must have been half a dozen Fritzes round that light, all lost
and fluttering like moths round a candle. We bagged one, sitting, and
blew him to hell.... The rest plopped under like a lot of seals and
simply scattered. Fight? 'Not to-day, thank you.' They're only good
for tackling unarmed merchantmen and leaving women in open boats." The
speaker wiped his mouth with his napkin. "By God! I wouldn't be a Hun
when the war's over. They're having a nice little drop of leave now to
what they'll get if they ever dare put their noses outside their own
filthy country."

"Amen," said Sir William.

The Captain of the boat rose from his seat, glancing at his watch.
"Now then," he said to the Scientist, "Come to the periscope and let's
have a look round. Gedge ought to be over the horizon by now."

The men moved quietly to their stations and the tanks were blown.
Slowly the gauge needles crept back on their appointed paths. The
Submarine Commander motioned his guest to the periscope and gave him a
glimpse of flying spray and sun-kissed wave tops. A mile or so away
lay the group of islands they had seen before lunch, and close inshore
a mass of floating debris bobbed among the waves.

"Baskets, I think--jettison of sorts. I'm going to get amongst it and
go down with the tide, keeping