darkness out of the twenty-four in these northern latitudes, and when
the armed trawler came in sight of the widely scattered fishing fleet,
which it was her duty to guard throughout the night, a mystic half-light
subdued all colours to a shadowy grey, but a pale amber afterglow still
lingered in the sky and the stars were pale.

Smith lingered a few minutes on deck to finish a cigar before going
below for his evening meal. Seldom during the past year had all the
elements been so long at peace, and the contrast appealed to him as a
luxury to be enjoyed at leisure. Even the light breeze of sunset had
died away, leaving an unruffled calm, and the sails and stumpy funnels
of the little fishing craft appeared like "painted ships on a painted
ocean."

For nearly an hour he sat inhaling the fragrant and satisfying smoke
from more than one cigar, preferring the cool of the deck to the stuffy
cabin. Then a dark blot appeared from out of the luminous blueness of
the eastern sky and it travelled rapidly downwards towards his flock.

Smith watched it for several seconds, then it suddenly dawned upon him
that the hand of the destroyer was coming even into this haven of peace,
and a fierce resentment entered his soul. He heard the distant shouting
of fishermen as they cut adrift their nets and prepared to scatter
before the approaching zeppelin, and in a moment he realised that the
long-awaited chance had come. It all seemed too unreal to be true, but
he rose up quickly and in a few terse sentences gave the necessary
orders for the guns' crews and engineers.

The whir of the airship's propellers grew rapidly louder and its bulk
loomed black against the bright sky. Determined, however, to take no
risk of failure, Lieutenant Smith withheld the fire of his guns until
the great aerial monster, now travelling down to less than 1000 feet,
was well within range.

Attracted by the helplessness of a large number of fishing craft
congregated in a comparatively small area of sea, the _destroyer_ dived
to the attack like some giant bird of prey, unable in the gloom which
shrouded the earth to distinguish the presence of an armed escort.

The suspense was painful. Then the muzzles of two high-angle guns rose
up from the well-deck and superstructure of the armed patrol, and in
response to a low-toned order from the C.O., giving the height, time and
deflection, they quickly covered the great black body of their
objective. Tongues of livid