up a slick which, even in the darkness, it
was evident was trending to south'ard. For an hour and a half we
zigzagged up along that wake, keeping touch by smell until just before
three o'clock, when the new well-risen moon showed it up distinctly to
the eye. No," answering my frivolous interruption, "I don't recall
noticing at the time that it was a _blue_ moon.

"Ten minutes later we came up to where the wake turned to
south-westward, and had a brief glimpse of Fritz trying to evade
detection by running down the moon-path. He was plainly near the end of
his juice, and taking every chance that offered to charge on the
surface. He ducked under before there was time for a shot, but, knowing
that he could hardly stay there for long, we continued following down
his wake.

"It was broad daylight when, at half-past four, we sighted him again,
running awash about five hundred yards ahead and slightly on the
starboard bow. Ordering the bow gun to open fire, the captain put the
_Sherill_ at full speed and headed in to ram. The shots fell very close,
but no hit was observed.

"He turned sharply to port, preparing to dive. We tried to follow with
full left rudder, but missed by twenty feet. His conning-tower and two
periscopes showed not over thirty feet from the port side as we swept
by. It was too close for a torpedo, nor was there a fair chance for a
depth-charge. The port battery was opening on him as he submerged.

"The strengthening breeze began kicking up the surface about this time,
making it difficult to follow the wake. It was six o'clock before we
circled into it again, to find that Fritz was now trying to blind
pursuit by steering his course so that the wake led away straight toward
the low morning sun. It was probably by accident rather than design that
his now reversed course also laid his wake across some of the zigzags of
his old oil-slick. At any rate, between that and the sun, we got off the
scent again, and did not get in touch till an hour later, when a thin
blue-white vapour to the eastward revealed the blow-off of his exhaust
where he had resumed charging on the surface.

"He was a good five miles away, but we turned loose at him with the bow
gun and started closing at full speed. At almost the same time, the
British sloop _Moonflower_--the same one we were talking about this
evening--stood in from eastward, also firing at the enemy, who was about
midway between us.

"Fritz disappeared under the foam-