their
peril. Incidentally, Mr. Benson, I must congratulate you upon the
neatness of the shot."

"To accept congratulations for that would be like robbing a poor-box in
a church," laughed Jack. "It called for nothing but aiming the nose of
the boat straight."

"And, even under water," replied Danvers, "it calls for but few more
calculations. With really trained men all through the crew of a
submarine, you can now understand what show the battleship of coming
days will have against a single hostile torpedo boat. Why, the captain
of a torpedo boat, if he has but one torpedo on board, could sail in
under a fleet, pick out his battleship, sink it and then scuttle away,
under water, from the rest of the enemy's fleet."

"It seems almost like cowardice, doesn't it?" asked Hal Hastings,
soberly.

"Not exactly," replied Lieutenant Danvers, grimly. "In the first place,
the game of war is to destroy the enemy with as little loss as possible
to yourself. Moreover, the commander and crew of a submarine torpedo
boat, during a naval campaign, would have to take risks enough to make
most men's hair turn gray."

"I'm not wishing for war," muttered Jack Benson. "Still, if one has
to come, I hope I'll be in command of a torpedo craft that sees service."

"And I think you'd have your wish, my lad," nodded Lieutenant Danvers.
"Of course, none but regularly commissioned naval officers may command
the craft of the Navy. Still, in our Civil War, and in the War with
Spain, we had to commission a good many volunteers. So, in the event of
another war coming, I don't believe the Navy Department would feel that
it could possibly pass by boys trained as well as you three have been."

"Are you going to use the other loaded torpedo to-day, sir?" asked Jack.

"Against _what_?" demanded Danvers. "You've sunk the scow as deep as
the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean."

"Then I suppose we may as well put back to Dunhaven, sir?"

"Yes, Benson."

Jack accordingly signaled for slow speed ahead, turning the nose of the
"Hastings" toward the west. Hal and Eph, as the submarine started back,
took a drill in loading and unloading torpedoes into the tube, performing
this work with one of the dummies, Ewald and Billens assisting.

Knowing that Hal was not in the engine room, Captain Jack was content
to run along at slow speed. Nor had the boat gone more than two miles
when something struck the bow.

At the first impact alert Jack Benson felt