hundred square
miles by this time."

"'Spose she wasn't torpedoed?" asked the _Orontabella's_ master.

"No jolly fear!" replied the midshipman decidedly. "She's
torpedo-proof. We've had plenty of them fired at us, but never the
least danger of being hit."

"It's a good thing the sea's calm," continued the skipper. "We're
doing a good four knots. Twelve hours at the very most ought to bring
us in sight of the Wight, but we've dropped a long way to lee'ard.
P'raps it's as well, for it's no joke to be in the thick of the
cross-Channel traffic at night, with only a tuppenny dip to light us.
Good heavens! What's that?"

Less than fifty yards from the boat a pole-like object, throwing off a
double feather of spray, was forging through the water.

"A periscope, sir!" shouted half a dozen voices.

Ross did not require to be told that. With considerable misgivings, he
saw the metal shaft rise higher and higher out of the water; then the
tip of an ensign-staff, followed almost simultaneously by the snout and
conning-tower of a large German submarine. Finally the unterseeboot
rose to the surface, revealing her entire length, which was not less
than three hundred feet.

She slowed down. The aperture in her conning-tower opened and a couple
of officers appeared. From hatchways fore and aft, seamen clad in grey
fearnought coats came tumbling on deck, greeting the British with jibes
and laughter.

"So you getting on, Englishmen!" exclaimed a leutnant. "Still it is
long vay to land, hein? An' where vos der _Capella_? Suppose I tell
you: we her haf sent to der bottom. Goot night, ver' goot night. Our
ver' kind regards to Jellicoe."

The U-boat forged ahead, then, getting way, made off at high speed. In
a quarter of an hour she was out of sight.

"I suppose those fellows were telling the truth, old man," called out
Ross, addressing his chum.

"'Fraid so," replied Vernon. "They had her name pat, so it looks as if
the poor old ship's done for. But, I say, what a whopper of a
submarine!"

"One of the new type, I should fancy," said the skipper of the
_Orontabella_. "I shouldn't be surprised if she were a mine-layer as
well."

Darkness fell upon the scene. The men rowed doggedly, Vernon setting
the course by the simple expedient of keeping the Pole Star in line
with the boat's stem. It saved the strain of peering into the compass
bowl, and in any case the boats were bound to hit the English coast,
unles