away with the same kind
of stunt again, there ought to be no kick on my telling you just how it
happened.

"You see," he went on, pulling a big furry-backed mitten on the hand
most exposed to the cold in gesticulation, and tucking the fingers of
the other inside the neck of the Balaclava for warmth, "Fritz is an
animal of more or less fixed habits, and so the best way to hunt him,
like any other animal, is to begin by making a study of his little ways.
I specialised on this for some months, confining myself almost entirely
to what he did in attacking, or when being attacked by, M.L.s, and
ignoring his tactics with sloops, trawlers, and other light craft. It
wasn't long before I discovered that his almost invariable
practice--when it was a matter of only himself and a M.L.--was to get
the latter's range as quickly as possible, endeavour to knock it out, or
at least set it afire, by a few hurried shots, and then to submerge and
make an approach under water for the purpose of making a closer
inspection of the damage inflicted. In this way the danger of a hit from
the M.L.'s gun was reduced to a minimum--an important consideration, as
a holing by even a light shell might well make it impossible to submerge
again. And a U-boat incapable of seeking safety in the depths is, in any
part of the North Sea where it would have been likely to meet a M.L.,
just as good as done for.

"I also found that when explosions had taken place in the M.L., or when
it was heavily afire by the time the U-boat drew near, it was the
practice of the latter to come boldly up and finish the good work at
leisure, with the addition of any of the inimitable little
Hunnisms--such as firing on the boats, or ramming them, or running at
full speed back and forth among the wreckage so as to give the screws a
good chance to chop up the swimming survivors--of which _Unterseeboot_
skippers were even then becoming past masters.

[Illustration: A DEPTH CHARGE]

[Illustration: DISABLED DESTROYER IN TOW]

"In short," here D---- paused for a moment while he lifted the little
electric heater and lighted a fresh cigarette on one of the glowing
bars, "in short, I studied the vermin in just the same way I did the
gophers and prairie-dogs when I started to exterminate them on my Kansas
farm. I found out when they were most likely to come up, when to stay
down; what things attracted them, and what repelled. Then I went after
them. Of course, there was no chance for t