and his staff were making sure that no lights
were visible. Traffic in the near-by thoroughfare had been stopped, and
all around lay the Great Metropolis, oppressively dark and still.

A searchlight flashed heavenwards and was followed by other beams. All
of these suddenly concentrated on the gleaming white hull of a zeppelin,
high in the indigo sky. The ground trembled under the fire of the
anti-aircraft batteries. Shells whistled and moaned over the College and
bright flashes came from little puffs of white smoke high in the central
blue.

Dull-sounding but earth-shaking booms came from different points as the
airship dropped her deadly cargo. Shrapnel fell on the congested
house-tops with a peculiar hiss and thud and ambulances rumbled over the
stone-paved high-road.

It was a small incident and scarcely worth the space required for its
recording, but it served a purpose--to steel the heart and steady the
hand for the time to come.

CHAPTER IV

THE NEW FLEETS IN BEING

BACK once again on the old cruiser with training completed and awaiting
draft to the zones of war. Then came the sailing orders. The name of
each officer was called in turn and he disappeared into the ship's
office, to return a few minutes later carrying a sheaf of white and blue
Admiralty orders, his face grave or gay according to destination.

Some were for the Spanish Main and bemoaned their fate at being ordered
to a station so remote from the principal zone of war. Others were
destined for the Mediterranean and comforted themselves with hopes that
trouble was brewing elsewhere than in the Adriatic, to which a lucky few
were appointed. The Suez Canal and Egypt claimed their share, but by far
the greater number were bound for the misty northern seas.

About the training given to the 200,000 men little can be said here
because of its diversity. They came as volunteers from all quarters of
the globe, were collected at the great depots in Portsmouth, Chatham and
Devonport, were trained in the art of signalling, squad drill, gunnery,
seamanship and the hundred and one things required by the "handy man,"
then belched forth into the ships.

Some had sailed the sea for years before in vessels of all kinds and
needed little more than the sense of cohesion and unquestioning
obedience imparted by discipline and drill. Others knew more of the
working of a loom, or the extraction of coal, than of seamanship, and
spent a cheerful but arduous f