e up in the use of
revolver, rifle or sword.

Frank was a crack shot with a revolver; and more than once this
accomplishment had stood them both in good stead. Each was a good
linguist and conversed in French and German as well as in English. This
also had been of help to them in several ticklish situations.

On their last venture, at which time they had been under command of
Lord Hastings, they had reached the distant shores of Russia, where
they had been of some assistance to the Czar. In reaching Petrograd it
had been necessary for them to pass through the Kiel canal, which they
had done safely in their submarine in spite of the German warships and
harbor defenses. Also they had managed to sink several enemy vessels
there.

Returning, Frank and Jack had gone home with Lord Hastings, where Lady
Hastings had insisted that they remain quiet for some time. This they
had done and had been glad of the rest.

One day Lord Hastings had come home with the announcement that he had
been called back into the diplomatic service. It was the aim of the
British government to align Greece and Roumania on the side of the
Allies. Realizing that they could not hope to accompany Lord Hastings,
and not wishing to remain idle longer, Frank and Jack had requested
Lord Hastings to have them assigned on active duty at once. Lord
Hastings promised to do his best.

And this was the reason that Frank Chadwick and Jack Templeton found
themselves aboard H.M.S. _Queen Mary_ when she steamed out to the North
Sea on an evening in the last week of May, 1916.

CHAPTER II

A BIT OF HISTORY

Up to this time the German Sea fleet, as a unit, had suffered
comparatively little damage in the great war. Sheltered as it was
behind the great fortress of Heligoland, the British sea forces had
been unable to reach it; nor would the Germans venture forth to give
battle to the English, in spite of the bait that more than once had
been placed just outside the mine fields that guarded the approach to
the great German fortress itself.

To have attacked this fortress would have been foolhardy and the
British knew it. The British fleet, powerful though it was, would have
been no match for the great guns of the German fortress, even had the
battleships been able to force a passage of the mine fields; and this
latter feat would have been a wonderful one in itself, could it be
accomplished.

Upon several occasions German battleships, cruisers and submari