d ahead. I instantly grasped the
brazen effrontery of the plucky English skipper--he was going to ram
five hundreds tons of U-boat in the face of her trained gun. I could
scarce repress a cheer. At first the boches didn't seem to grasp his
intention. Evidently they thought they were witnessing an exhibition
of poor seamanship, and they yelled their warnings to the tug to reduce
speed and throw the helm hard to port.

We were within fifty feet of them when they awakened to the intentional
menace of our maneuver. Their gun crew was off its guard; but they
sprang to their piece now and sent a futile shell above our heads.
Nobs leaped about and barked furiously. "Let 'em have it!" commanded
the tug-captain, and instantly revolvers and rifles poured bullets upon
the deck of the submersible. Two of the gun-crew went down; the other
trained their piece at the water-line of the oncoming tug. The balance
of those on deck replied to our small-arms fire, directing their
efforts toward the man at our wheel.

I hastily pushed the girl down the companionway leading to the
engine-room, and then I raised my pistol and fired my first shot at a
boche. What happened in the next few seconds happened so quickly that
details are rather blurred in my memory. I saw the helmsman lunge
forward upon the wheel, pulling the helm around so that the tug sheered
off quickly from her course, and I recall realizing that all our
efforts were to be in vain, because of all the men aboard, Fate had
decreed that this one should fall first to an enemy bullet. I saw the
depleted gun-crew on the submarine fire their piece and I felt the
shock of impact and heard the loud explosion as the shell struck and
exploded in our bows.

I saw and realized these things even as I was leaping into the
pilot-house and grasping the wheel, standing astride the dead body of
the helmsman. With all my strength I threw the helm to starboard; but
it was too late to effect the purpose of our skipper. The best I did
was to scrape alongside the sub. I heard someone shriek an order into
the engine-room; the boat shuddered and trembled to the sudden
reversing of the engines, and our speed quickly lessened. Then I saw
what that madman of a skipper planned since his first scheme had gone
wrong.

With a loud-yelled command, he leaped to the slippery deck of the
submersible, and at his heels came his hardy crew. I sprang from the
pilot-house and followed, not to be left