fish in a muddy pool. We were always grazing one, but never quite
getting it. And, believe me, the wake of one of those catfish didn't
have anything on the wake of that Fritz for sinuosity.

"He was zigzagging constantly, and just after charges had been dropped
on him he twice broached surface. It was only for a few seconds though,
and never long enough to offer a target for even a ranging shot. Once we
tried to ram, but he turned as he submerged, and the forefoot cut into
nothing more solid than his propeller swirl.

[Illustration: A LIMIT TO THE NUMBER OF "CANS" A DESTROYER CAN CARRY]

"After the _Cushman_ and _Fanny_ left us to resume their own job the
_Sherill_ took up the chase again on her own account. There were still
about three hours to go till dark, and two of these we spent in keeping
our quarry on the jump by every trick we knew. Then we stood away, and
gave him a chance to come up and start charging on the surface. When it
finally became evident that he was not going to take advantage of our
consideration on this score, we closed in again, picked up his wake,
sent down another 'can' or two to tell him what we thought of him.

"The last of these must have been near to a hit, for it brought up oil
bubbles three feet in diameter, with smaller bubbles of air inside of
them. The oil-slick left behind by his wake was so heavy that, even in
the failing light, it was visible for several miles. He was now making
about five knots. We followed that broad slick of oil for some time
after darkness had fallen, and it was not till a little before midnight
that we lost it.

"There wasn't much hope of regaining touch before daybreak, but on the
off-chance the captain started circling in a way that would cover a lot
of sea, and yet not take us too far from the centre of interest.

"It was a little after one in the morning that one of the
look-outs--perhaps 'sniff-outs' would be a better term under the
circumstances--reported an oil smell to windward. The captain promptly
ordered her headed up into the wind, with sniffers stationed to port and
starboard, fore and aft. Every man on watch was sniffing away on his
own, of course, and you can bet it would have been a funny sight if
there had only been enough light for us to see one another in. Nosing--I
can use the term literally this time--slowly along, turning now to port,
now to starboard, as the oil smell was strongest from this side or that,
within ten minutes we picked