he had fought
two or three more unequal rounds and was squaring away, groggy, but
still unbeaten, for what proved the final one.

"I don't know whether he ever got credit for it or not, but the Old
Man's plan of action at this juncture must pretty nearly have marked a
mile-post in merchant ship defence against aerial attack. We had been
instructed in, and had practised the zigzag before this, but that was
about the limit of our resources in this line. 'Squid' tactics--smoke
screening--had hardly been more than thought of for anything but
destroyers. Yet the wily old skipper, literally on a moment's notice,
brought off a stunt that could not have been improved upon if it had
been the result of a year's thought and experience.

"The instant the Hun 'stumbled' when he struck the cloud of smoke that
was pouring ahead of us, the skipper's ready mind began evolving a plan
still further to besmudge the atmosphere. Today, with special
instructions and special stuff ready to hand, a merchant captain, if he
needed it, would simply tell the chief engineer to 'make smoke screen.'

"On this occasion the Old Man meant the same thing when I heard him
yelling down the engine-room voice-pipe to 'Smoke up like hell!'

"About all the chief could do under the circumstances was to stoke
faster and cut down the draught. This he did to the best of his ability,
but the screen did not bear much resemblance to one of those almost
solid streams of soot a modern destroyer can turn out by spraying oil
freely and shutting off the air.

"Such as it was, however, the Old Man made the most of, and by steaming
down the wind accomplished the double purpose of cutting down the
draught fanning the fire on the poop and keeping a maximum of smoke
floating above the ship.

"The smudge bothered the Hun, but by no means put an end to his
machine-gun practice. Except for the freight clerk, who was still
pumping back at the seaplane every time it swooped over, every one on
the poop had been killed, wounded, or driven to cover, and, with no one
to fight it, the fire was beginning to gain new headway.

"'Not good 'nuf by a mile,' I heard the Old Man muttering to himself as
he eyed the quickly thinning trail of smoke from the funnels. 'Must do
better'n that or 'taint no good.' Then I saw his bronzed old face light
up.

"'X----!' he shouted, beckoning me to his side, 'duck below, clean out
all the stuff in the paint lockers and chuck it in the furnaces,
's