The Raymer enterprise., 1918-04-04

II. A few seconds later the boom Of
the discharge echoed across the water,
and pillar Of spray shot up near the
Beotia's bow. The battleship turned
toward her prey.
And Dona,d's chance had come.
The Beotia had no intention of sur
rendering. The German, following
her. perceived the lurking danger. and
at once his guns were trained on the
submarine.
The F55 dipped at the bow. A shell
hooted over her. and second, falling
shorter. deluged the submersIble with
water. But the F55 was stern down
and sinking. Her periscope shot
through the waves. the only target,
and In the coming tower Donald sat
with his eyes fast on the mirror.
Ten feet below the surface the F55
plunged on toward the monarch Of the
sen.
The sound Of the guns was vastly
louder under the waves. A single shot,
sent home. would smash through the
thin plates as II they were of paper.
But Donald knew that 1t was the su-
preme moment when danger must be
ignored. He seemed to sense the ship,
the crew. as single entity. devoted
to a single purpose. He aimed his
bow directly into his enemy's port
flank. Sc was less than mile away.
At that distance 1t seemed miracle
that her shells failed to strike home.
Down In the torpedo room three
men bore torpedo from the rack and
placed 1t In the slings. They swung
II forward into the breech OF the tube.
One man at the pump rapidly filed the
breech chamber with the compressed
air that was to send the missile upon
Its course.
Donald, In the coming tower, still
held the cruiser within the mirror. He
saw the smoke coil from her guns. he
heard their dull reverberation. and
knew that at any moment the blinded
F55 might be sent staggering to her
death through the wake Of her wash.
But he was animated by the single
minded purpose which inspired all and
made the steel and human mechanism
u bolt forged for death.
Clouts, at the wheel. did not allow
the little craft to devlate hairs
breadth from her course.
"Stand by"
The hiss of the oxygen apparatus
dominated all other sounds. At her
45-knot speed the missile left the
launching tube with heavy thud. and
the ship quiyered as she shook herself
free.
And Donald knew that his shot had
gone home.
The whir grew less. but all listened
until the end of the mile-long journey.
On board the enemy ship everyone
could see the air bubbles that came up
from the speeding missile and Its
white, foaming wake. There was no
time to maneuver the giant ship. They
prayed-they could do no more-that
the torpedo might not have been shot
true; that II might deviate from its
imminent path.
1t came on lnexorably. The firing
became wilder. The gunners, alb
sorbed as they were In their task,
seemed permeated with the contagious
terror caused by that white. rippllng
pencil line that was extending toward
their ship.
The missile struck the battle cruiser
amidships, blowing out a section Of
her hull, single water-tIght compart.
ment. The cruiser hardly staggered
from the blow.
The torpedo had struck glancing.
and missed the full force Of Its deliv-
cry. The wound was in itself too
small to sink or even badly cripple the
great ship; triumph Of shipbullding,
and calculated to Withstand Just such
an impact.
Unfortunately for her. the maximum
of the shock was received beneath the
powder room. adjacent to the ammu-
milton chamber. whose doors were
open at that moment for the removal
Of the Pinch shells By the ammuni-
tion hoist.
The shock was followed BY an infi-
mite suspense. Perhaps IT lasted for
two seconds. The cruiser drove
through the waves like some sea mon
ster that had received I deadly thrust
unscathed.
Then. with 4 detonatipn that was
heard from Sumburgh to Sutherland,
she went sky-high In tumbling ruin.
Donald, within the coming tower. saw
q bur frost the mirrog Of the peri