k. _Rifleman's_ action has taken over six hundred. A
sensible clearance! _Nemesis_ swings in with the precision of an
express, and the thud and clatter of the troops jumping to her deck sets
up a continuous drumming note of deliverance. Alert and confident, the
naval men accept the great risks of their position. The ship's bows are
entered to the water at a steep incline. Every minute the balance is
weighing, casting her stern high in the air. The bulkheads are by now
taking place of keel and bearing the huge weight of her on the water. At
any moment she may go without a warning, to crash into the light hull of
the destroyer and bear her down. For all the circling watch of her
sister ship, the submarine--if still he lives--may get in a shot at the
standing target. It is with a deep relief we signal the captain to bear
off. Her decks are jammed to the limit. She can carry no more. _Nemesis_
lists heavily under her burdened decks as she goes ahead and clears.

Forty minutes! The zigzag clock in the wheelhouse goes on ringing the
angles of time and course as though we were yet under helm and speed.
For a short term we have noted that the ship appears to have reached a
point of arrest in her foundering droop. She remains upright as she has
been since righting herself after the first inrush of water. Like the
lady she always was, she has added no fearsome list to the sum of our
distress. The familiar bridge, on which so many of our safe sea-days
have been spent, is canted at an angle that makes foothold uneasy. She
cannot remain for long afloat. The end will come swiftly, without
warning--a sudden rupture of the bulkhead that is sustaining her weight.
We are not now many left on board. Striving and wrenching to man-handle
the only remaining boat--rendered idle for want of the tackles that have
parted on service of its twin--we succeed in pointing her outboard, and
await a further deepening of the bows ere launching her. Of the
military, the officer commanding, some few of his juniors, a group of
other ranks, stand by. The senior officers of the ship, a muster of
seamen, a few stewards, are banded with us at the last. We expect no
further service of the destroyers. The position of the ship is
over-menacing to any approach. They have all they can carry. Steaming at
a short distance they have the appearance of being heavily overloaded;
each has a staggering list and lies low in the water under their deck
encumbrance. We have onl