n saw that reflected
which caused him to exclaim:

"The Yankee destroyer has opened upon us with her forward port gun. And
there goes the starboard gun!"

Von Schellen, at a nod from his chief, signalled the orders for diving.
The ober-lieutenant saw the "Reed," as pictured on the white table, come
steaming toward the submarine at full speed.

"You idiot!" raged the German commander. "Your treachery has betrayed us,
and now the Yankee will do his best to sink us and drown all on board
here."

"That's what I'm praying right now he'll do!" cried Dave Darrin, his face
radiant with the glory of the thought.

CHAPTER XI

A VICTIM OF COURTESY

"AND what about the woman we have on board?" demanded the
ober-lieutenant, hurriedly. "Would you destroy her, too--cause her, if
you could, to die the death of drowning helplessly?"

"I--I had forgotten her," Dave confessed.

But from the passageway came a prompt response.

"Never mind me," called Mrs. Launce. "I have heard, and I, also, pray to
see this pirate craft destroyed before it can accomplish any more
wickedness and destruction. My own death does not matter!"

"Silence, woman!" cried the ober-lieutenant, glaring at Mrs. Launce.

"Mrs. Launce has spoken, and has no more to say," broke in the unruffled
voice of Caleb Launce.

"Is that the way you address women when they are helpless?" Dave
demanded, tauntingly.

"When they take part in conversations without being asked," the German
answered, curtly.

"I have heard it was a way with the naval men of your country," Dave
drove back, tauntingly.

Von Schellen reported:

"We are now sixty feet below the surface, and headed west by southwest.
Any further orders?"

"None," replied the commander. "Keep to the course until I direct it to
be changed."

With a stiff salute von Schellen turned and vanished.

"Your Yankee friend shall not catch us this time," jeered the
ober-lieutenant. "Listen! Can you hear his propellers? We are going
directly away from him."

"He will catch you, in the end," Darrin retorted, "or some other comrade
will. I know how many of your craft our Navy has put out of commission,
and I know how many our Allies have destroyed."

"But you do not know how many submarines we have left, nor how fast we
are building them," mocked the German commander.

"Do not be too sure of that," Dave retorted. "It may be that our
information is more exact than you suspect."

"Have you anything de