Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1924-05-23

A last message from the mother ship
Informed him 10 keep his course
toward the Shetlands. He was In
structed that a battle cruiser had
slipped out of the Klel canal and
was lurking somewhere among the
Norwegian fjords with a view to
evading the blockade, making for the
Atlantic, and harassing shipping there.
/ The inference from this statement
was an obvious one, for the American
fleets patrol joined the British in this
longitude.
"Smoke to starboard, sirw
Sam Clouts, the lookout, was speak
ing, and Instantly the two parts Of
Donald's personality fused. Ida Ken
nedy was forgotten. Upon the hori-
zon, through his glasses, Donald could
see a tiny spiral of curling smoke.
He flung over the surface steering
wheel and headed the F55 straight for
the stranger, From that distance he
knew that, while he could see the
tunnels of the ship, the submarine was
invisible, owing to the curvature Of
the earth.
RelinQuishing the wheel to Clouts,
he watched the stranger. Gradually
the smoke thickened; then there came
into view two tunnels, and hull half
invisible among the chopplng waves.
1t was impossible to mistake the on
coming ship. She was battle cruiser
of the Bluecher class, and she could
only be escaping westward to harry
commerce along the Atlantic trade
route With her fast heels and u
inch guns, she could match any unit
afloat except those Of the home squad
ron.
Donald's luck was with him after
all,
She was proceeding west-nor'-west,
evidently purposing to round the Shet-
lands and so gain the shelter Of the
open seas. II was daring maneuvor
and she would certainly be sighted by
the British destroyer hotina. still
though she could hardly outsteam
these fast little craft, she might beat
them Off and escape before either the
British or the American blockading
vessels could come upon the scene.
Donald spoke a sharp command into
the tube of the diving station. The
hatch was jammed down. The hori-
zonfal rudders at the bow were de-
flected the water rushed into the div
ing tanks, and the F55 began TO dip.
The surface running light slanted sea-
ward as the bow went under, and
slowly regained poise as the stern fol-
lowed, bringing the F55 back to an
even keel. The hum of the petrol mo-
tors ceased, the hull was filed with
the roar of the inrushing water; then
the electric motors took up their
steady throbbing.
give meters p announced the man
at the depth Indicator. "Six meters
Seven-halfl I"
At first the hum Of the electric mo-
tors dominated all other sounds, but
gradually II became blended with
medley Of noises. Placing his ear a
moment against the plating Of the
hull, Donald could hear a steady
though faint pounding which came, not
from within, but from the bearings of
the distant warship, transmitted I'M
der water. Somewhere, too, Donald
fancied that destroyer was speed /
ing toward them, for there was a
faint and almost imperceptible whir-
ring, as Of high-speed machinery.
Mixed with the throb Of the screws
there came the sound of their suction.
At times the seas, breaking over the
periscope, obscured his vision. Some
times, too, the cruiser shifted outside
her arc; then the periscope motor
started anew, and slowly she would
swing back, growing more dlscernible.
Below, the men, who understood
that an enemy ship was near, waited
in suppressed excitement.
"We1l have to try her at a mile,
Clouts," said Donald to the lookout.
He carried only three torpedoes. He
would have liked to close in and make
sure of his prey, but shot at almost
the extreme range seemed preferable
to hazarding the vessel and the lives
of his crew.
"Aye, STRIP answered Sam Clouts.
Clouts was a man Of about forty
years, hook-nosed, with bland, humor-
GUS blue eyes, and a square jaw under
a square, bristling beard. When off
duty he was perpetually playing a
and Donald could not
help smiling to see his hand stealing
generously toward his pocket even
now.
The German could hardly have been
more than a mile away when she sud
denly Changed her course to westward.
Donald had been approaching her head
on, with the object Of maneuyering,
when within striking distance, to send
! torpedo amidships. The new course
Of the vessel was a bitter disappoint-
nent TO him.
Donald realized that she was near
ng the Shetlands and endeavoring TO
make the passage between mainland
md Fair island. That was the most
hazardous part of her joruney. Once
,avond tho cfraffe she would he free /