nding. Together they examined the tallow
at the bottom of the lead, and von Sperrgebiet made a prolonged
scrutiny of the chart. "H'm'm!" he said. "I don't understand."
Submerging again, they progressed at slow speed for some hours and he
took another sounding. The sky was overcast and no sights could be
taken.

This time von Sperrgebiet returned from comparing the sounding with the
chart, wearing a distinctly worried expression.

The hawk-eyed seaman beside him on the bridge gave an ejaculation and
pointed ahead.

"Land, Herr Kapitan!" he said.

"Fool!" replied his Captain. "Idiot! How can there be land there
unless"--he glanced inside the binnacle half contemptuously--"unless
the compasses are mad--or I am."

He raised his glasses to stare at the horizon. "You are right," he
said. "You are right.... It is land." He gnawed his thumbnail as was
his habit when in perplexity.

The next moment the seaman pointed again. "The Hunters," he said.

Von Sperrgebiet gave one glance ahead and kicked the man down through
the open hatchway of the conning-tower. He himself followed, and the
hatch closed. The helmsman was standing, staring at the compass like a
man in a trance.

"Herr Kapitan," he said, as von Sperrgebiet approached, "it is
bewitched." Indeed, he had grounds for consternation. The compass
card was spinning round like a kitten chasing its tail, first in one
direction, then in another.

"Damn the compass!" said von Sperrgebiet. "Flood ballast tanks--depth
thirty metres--full speed ahead!"

He thrust the helmsman aside and took the useless wheel himself.

"Ludwig," he said, "to the periscope with you and tell me what you see."

The Second-in-Command waited for no second bidding; he pressed his face
against the eye-pieces. "There are small vessels approaching very
swiftly from all sides," he said. And a moment later, "They are firing
at the periscope..."

"Down with it," said von Sperrgebiet. "We must go blind if we are to
get through." His face was white and his lip curled back in a
perpetual snarl like a wolf at bay. As he spoke there was a splutter
and the lights went out.

The voice of the Engineer sounded through the low doorway from the
engine-room. "There is something fouling our propeller, Herr Kapitan,"
he shouted. "The engines are labouring at full speed, but we are
scarcely making any headway. The cut-outs have fused."

Von Sperrgebiet cursed under his breath. "Stop t