ht to watch this great spectacle from the high
deck of a steamer as it ploughs its way through the foaming flood, or
to be borne aloft on the top of the waves with a ship under full sail,
but it is still more wonderful to behold Nature's great display from
the half submerged conning-tower of a U-boat, and to dive through the
mountainous breakers until they close gurgling over our heads and hide
us from all curious glances. Our little nutshell, in perpetual
motion, is drawn down into the deep valleys of the ocean waves, or
tossed upwards on the comb of the following breaker. We are soaked to
the skin, and the spray covers us like a silvery veil; our boat as
well as ourselves is daubed with a salt crust, our eyes smart and our
lips have a briny tang, but to us sailors it's a joy to be the sport
of the wild waves, and even those few unfortunates who always suffer
from sea-sickness never lose their love of the sea.

We were thus, in the midst of a strong southwesterly gale, lying in
wait for our prey at the entrance of the English Channel, but no ship
was to be seen; most of them took the northerly course beyond the war
zone, around the Shetland Islands, and it was not until the next
morning, north of the Scilly Isles, in the Bristol Channel, that we
caught sight behind us of a big steamer, running before the wind, like
ourselves. The wind had somewhat fallen and the March sun was shining
bright and warm; the steamer was heading for Cardiff, and we judged by
her course that she had sailed from some port in South America.

Turning about and breasting the waves we faced the oncoming steamer
and signaled to her to stop; but hardly had she espied us than she
also turned about in the hope to escape. She showed no flag to
indicate her nationality, so surely we had sighted an English vessel.
Even after we had fired a warning shot, she tried by rapid and
tortuous curves to return to her former course, and endeavor thereby
to reach her home port. Meantime she sent up rockets as signals of
distress in quick succession, to draw the attention of British patrol
ships that must be hovering in the neighborhood.

This obliged us to fire a decisive shot, and with a loud report our
first shell struck the ship close to the captain's bridge. Instead of
resigning himself to his fate, the Englishman sent up more signals and
hoisted the British flag. This showed us he was game, and the fight
began in dead earnest. All honor to the pluck of thes