ight, though late in the afternoon, when the anxious
watchers upon the Hoe made out, beyond Drake's Island, two big ships
coming in round the western end of the breakwater. Though deep in the
water they towered above their escort of destroyers and fast patrol
boats. The leading ship was listing badly, her tripod mast with its
spotting top hung far over to port, and she was towing stern first a
sister ship whose bows were almost hidden under water. The Three
Towns, which can recognise the outlines of warships afar off, rapidly
pronounced judgment. "That's the _Intrepid_" they declared, "and the
one she's towing is a battle-cruiser of the same class--the
_Terrific_ or _Tremendous_. They're both badly holed." "Gawd
A'mighty," cried a grizzled longshoreman, who might have sailed with
Drake or Hawkins--as no doubt his forbears had done--"look to the list
of un! And thicky with her bows down under, being towed by the stern
to keep her from swamping entire. If it worn't for them bulk'eads un
wouldn't never have made the Sound." It was plain to those who had
glasses turned on the damaged ships that they were drawing far too
much water to be brought into the Hamoaze and over the sill of the dry
dock at Devonport, so that no one felt surprise when the
battle-cruisers were seen to pull out of the deep fairway and make
towards the shore. The purpose was plain to read. They were to be put
aground under Mount Edgcumbe, patched up, and pumped dry, and then
would go into dock for repairs. It was a job of weeks, and during all
that time the Fleet would be short of two battle-cruisers which might
have swept the South Seas clear of the German Ensign. It was cruel
luck, and the Three Towns had enough to talk of to keep them occupied
for many days. Presently more news came, authentic news, and passed
rapidly from mouth to mouth. The vessels were the _Intrepid_, the
flagship of Admiral Stocky, and her sister the _Terrific_, a pair of
fast Dreadnought cruisers. They had, as was surmised, been speeding
down from Scotland to dock at Plymouth on their way to clean up the
mess made in the far South. They had come safely through the Irish Sea
and round the Land's End, but when near their journey's end off Fowey
they had run into a patch of mines laid by German submarines. The
_Terrific_ had had her bow plates ripped into slivers of ragged steel,
and the three fore compartments flooded. The _Intrepid_ had picked up
the wire of a twin mine, got caugh