I say!"

The man at the wheel did as the Battleship Boy had ordered him to.

"Now, slow down. Drift in."

A moment more and the life lines shot out, a half dozen wet and angry
fishermen being hauled aboard the motor boat. The men were fighting
angry.

Shaking the water from their clothes, they started for Dan with angry
imprecations. Not only had they been upset, but they discovered that
the truant torpedo was driving through their nets. Yells of rage from
the fishermen in other boats told Dan that they, too, had discovered
what was occurring.

On went the torpedo, ripping net after net. It seemed bent upon
destruction, for, after passing through all the nets in its course, it
turned almost squarely about and dived through the rest of the nets.
Every net, with its burden of fish, was utterly destroyed.

Dan grabbed up a boat hook as he saw the rescued men meant business.

"Stand back!" he commanded. "I'll smash the first one of you who comes
forward. Ahoy there, fishing boats. Come up here and take these men
off, and no nonsense about it, either."

The men hesitated.

"Throw him overboard!" cried a more turbulent spirit.

"Try it, if you want to, men, but I warn you this is a government boat.
If you commit an assault on board, or on one of its crew, you will be
in for a long term in a federal prison. Think you want to take that
chance?"

That settled it. The men realized that the young sailor was right, and
their anger cooled almost at once.

"The government will pay you for all the damage done to your nets, as
you well know. Draw alongside here," he commanded to one of the boats.
"Back out, coxswain. We are drifting around into the nets."

Dan wig-wagged to one of the whaleboats, asking them to row in and make
fast to the torpedo, for his own boat could get in no further. The
fishermen, thinking he was signaling for assistance, did not wait for
the fishing boat that was coming to take them off. They sprang
overboard and swam for the boat.

"You didn't have to do that," called Dan. "You'll be saying next that
we made you jump overboard."

The whaleboat made fast to the torpedo very quickly; then one of the
steamers towed the huge projectile back to the ship, where it was
hoisted aboard.

For the next shot the motor boat took up its station down nearer to the
ship, about half way between the end of the range and the battleship.
Orders from the ship were to have the whaleboats take pos