e constantly on duty, testing pipes and gauges, air
pressure, water pressure, and a thousand other things.

When we dropped through the hatch into the interior of the
submarine and the cover was clamped down over our heads the
commander at once ordered me back into the turret.

"Hurry, if you want to see her dive," he said.

I climbed into the after section of the turret and fastened my
eye to the periscope. Around the top of the turret was a circle
of bulls' eyes and I was conscious of the water dashing against
them while the spray washed over the glass of the periscope. The
little vessel rolled very slightly on the surface, though there
was quite a bit of sea running. I watched the horizon through the
periscope and watched for the dive, expecting a distinct
sensation, but the first thing I noticed was that even the slight
roll had ceased and I was surprised to see that the bulls' eyes
were completely under water. The next thing there was no more
horizon. The periscope also was covered and we were completely
beneath the surface.

"Did it make you sick?" the commander asked, when I climbed down
from the turret, and when I told him "no" he was surprised, for
he said most men were made sick by their first dive.

The thing most astonishing to me about that experience was how a
submerged submarine can thread its way through a mine field. For
though the water is luminous and translucent one can hardly make
out the black hull of the boat under the turret and a mine would
have to be on top of you before you could see it. The men who
watch for mines must have a sense for them as well as
particularly powerful sight.

We continued to dive until we were sixty-eight feet below the
surface, too deep to strike any mine, and there we ran tranquilly
on our electric engines, while the commander navigated the vessel
and the second in command opened champagne in the two by four
mess room. After half an hour of underwater work we came near
enough the surface for our fighting periscope to stick twenty
inches out of the water and searched the lonely horizon for a
ship to attack.

It was not long before we sighted a mine trawler, steaming for
the harbour, and speeded up to overtake her.

"Pikers!" said our commander, as we circled twice around the