n of speed to come up.

[Illustration: BEATTY.]

Meanwhile fifteen German and twelve British destroyers charged out
together to try their torpedoes, met in the middle, and had a fierce
fight. Two Germans went down; but the British formation was broken,
and only three closed the German battle cruisers, which received them
with a perfect hurricane of shells from their quick-firing guns,
sinking one, disabling another, and forcing the third to retire.
Commander Bingham, who won the V.C. by leading this skilful and gallant
attack, had his destroyer, the _Nestor_, sunk under him. But he was
saved, as if by a miracle, and taken prisoner aboard a German
man-of-war.

_Second Round: Beatty luring Scheer and Hipper on towards Jellicoe:
4.38 to 5.50 P.M._

Commodore Goodenough's splendid light cruisers went scouting ahead till
they met Scheer racing north. Then they turned north themselves, under
a tremendous outburst of fire, to rejoin Beatty, who now, changing from
pursuer to pursued, also turned north to join Jellicoe. The Germans,
with their twenty-two dreadnoughts, now hoped _Der Tag_ had really come
for Beatty's eight. But Beatty hit hard and drove a German battle
cruiser out of the line very badly mauled. Shortly afterwards the
destroyer _Moresby_ fired a torpedo which hit a German battleship.
There was a tremendous burst of steam and smoke; and, when this had
cleared off, the German was seen to be on fire. But Beatty's strong
point was speed. His battle cruisers and four fast _Queen Elizabeth_
battleships could do a good bit more than the slowest Germans; and as
the Germans now had to keep together, in case Jellicoe came up, their
whole line could go no faster than its slowest ship. Starting with a
lead and putting on a spurt Beatty turned gradually more to the
eastward, that is, toward the German line, which then had to turn and
keep parallel or else let him cross its T. If you will separate the
crosspiece from the upright of a T--for big ships fight some miles
apart--you will see quite plainly that ships in a line like the upright
of the T have no chance at all against ships in a line like the
crosspiece of the T. The crosspiece line can converge all its
broadsides on the leading ship of the upright, smash it utterly, and
then do the same to the next, and the next. So the Germans, having to
keep together and having to keep parallel to Beatty, were gradually
forced eastwards, which would give Jellicoe t