d yet been received.

All that short January day the fleet steamed slowly eastward, while
signal flags fluttered incessantly. No hostile submarine put in an
appearance. Either the Germans feared the swift destroyers that
encircled the large vessels, or else they were in ignorance of the
presence of the British within four hours' steaming of their shores.

It was not until night that the _Hunbilker_ received her orders. She
had to proceed in advance of the destroyers, and under cover of
darkness pass through the Great Belt. Having done so, she was to be
run aground on a shoal between the Danish island of Laaland and the
Prussian island of Fehmern, the latter being within forty miles of the
stronghold of the German Navy at Kiel.

Then she was to await developments. If attacked by submarines, the
British destroyers would dash in; but what the British Admiral fondly
hoped was that the hostile battleships or armoured cruisers would not
be able to resist the temptation of sallying forth from Kiel to give
the supposed Dreadnought her _coup de grace_. In this case our
submarines would "chip in", and possibly the battle-cruisers might
score with their deadly and accurate long-range salvoes.

"It's not so risky as it looks," commented Barry as he explained the
tactics to the midshipmen. "You see, they can torpedo us as much as
they like, and blow the dummy sides of the ship to bits piecemeal. We
can't sink, since we'll be hard aground. We can't take fire--at least,
it would be quite a job to get any part of her to burn without being
able to keep the flames under control. Gunnery, of course, puts a
different aspect on the subject. If the enemy start shelling us with
their heavy guns, then the sooner we abandon ship and clear out the
better, and leave our big cruisers to mop up the Huns."

Grey dawn was breaking when the _Hunbilker_, having made the passage
through the Great Belt, ran gently aground at the spot indicated in the
Admiral's orders. Away in the sou'west, a glare in the sky that was
rapidly fading with the growing morn indicated the search-lights of the
Kiel defences. Eastwards, two huge grey shapes loomed ghost-like in
the half-light. Whether they were British cruisers or decoys, or even
German battleships, Ross could not determine.

The _Hunbilker_ lay with a slight list to starboard. All around her
the sea was covered with drifting ice. An utter stillness brooded over
everything. The silence wa