lieutenant stood outside. At the naval officer's direction Jack Benson
came up on the other side of the scow, about three hundred yards away,
with the nose of the "Hastings" so pointed that the torpedo dummy could
be delivered straight amidships.

At just the right moment Captain Jack passed the order to fire. Then he
watched the scow with a strange fascination. Danvers stood, watch in
hand.

"Now!" he shouted.

Barely two seconds later the second dummy torpedo rose, a few yards back
from the side of the scow.

"That torpedo struck, full and fair," nodded Lieutenant Danvers, turning
toward the conning tower. "Mr. Benson, if you always hit as full and
well, you'll be an expert torpedoist."

"Why, it's nothing but holding the nose of your own boat full on the
other craft, amidships, and the torpedo itself does the rest," uttered
the young submarine skipper.

"That's it," nodded Lieutenant Danvers. "But, when you're below the
surface, the problem becomes a harder one."

"But then I'd come up enough to use the periscope, and get the bearings
of the enemy's vessel," declared Benson. "Then I'd drop below, using
the compass for direction, and the number of motor revolutions to give
me the knowledge of distance traveled."

"That's just the way it is done," agreed Danvers. "After all, it's just
a matter of accurate boat handling, and being able to judge distances
by the eye alone. And now, Mr. Benson, if you'll run over yonder,
carefully, we'll pick up the dummies. After that, we've got to make
as good a shot, with a real torpedo, and sink the scow."

"And, if you don't, sir--?" smiled the young submarine skipper.

"Then we'll be guilty of poor shooting, and have to try the second
loaded torpedo," replied the naval officer. "If we miss with the
second, then we'll have to contrive either to tow the scow, or to sink
her somehow. If either of the loaded torpedoes fails to explode, we'll
have to pick it up, at all hazards. If we left a loaded torpedo
floating on the surface of the water, here in the paths of coast
navigation, it would sink the first ship that struck the war-head of
the torpedo."

The sea, by this time, was rough and whitecapped, and a brisk wind was
blowing down from the north-east. It was no easy task to get a rope
around first one dummy torpedo, and then the other. Yet at last this
was done, and the heavy objects were hoisted aboard and stored below.

"Now, we'll get off and sink the