the clank and swish of the discharge. At the same
instant I put the helm hard down and flew off at an angle. There was a
terrific lurch, which came from the distant explosion. For a moment we
were almost upon our side. Then, after staggering and trembling, the
_Iota_ came on an even keel. I stopped the engines, brought her to the
surface, and opened the conning-tower, while all my excited crew came
crowding to the hatch to know what had happened.

The ship lay within two hundred yards of us, and it was easy to see that
she had her death-blow. She was already settling down by the stern.
There was a sound of shouting and people were running wildly about her
decks. Her name was visible, the _Adela_, of London, bound, as we
afterwards learned, from New Zealand with frozen mutton. Strange as it
may seem to you, the notion of a submarine had never even now occurred to
her people, and all were convinced that they had struck a floating mine.
The starboard quarter had been blown in by the explosion, and the ship
was sinking rapidly. Their discipline was admirable. We saw boat after
boat slip down crowded with people as swiftly and quietly as if it were
part of their daily drill. And suddenly, as one of the boats lay off
waiting for the others, they caught a glimpse for the first time of my
conning-tower so close to them. I saw them shouting and pointing, while
the men in the other boats got up to have a better look at us. For my
part, I cared nothing, for I took it for granted that they already knew
that a submarine had destroyed them. One of them clambered back into the
sinking ship. I was sure that he was about to send a wireless message as
to our presence. It mattered nothing, since, in any case, it must be
known; otherwise I could easily have brought him down with a rifle. As
it was, I waved my hand to them, and they waved back to me. War is too
big a thing to leave room for personal ill-feeling, but it must be
remorseless all the same.

I was still looking at the sinking _Adela_ when Vornal, who was beside
me, gave a sudden cry of warning and surprise, gripping me by the
shoulder and turning my head. There behind us, coming up the fairway,
was a huge black vessel with black funnels, flying the well-known house-
flag of the P. and O. Company. She was not a mile distant, and I
calculated in an instant that even if she had seen us she would not have
time to turn and get away before we could reach her. We