the promise
were from a German source, for the rest of the boats, whose
occupants--if they felt and spoke like those in my boat--were
more than mildly anxious about their plight and the prospects of
rescue.

The fear of some of the boats crashing together produced a
general inclination toward further separation on the part of all
the little units of survivors, with the result that soon the
small craft stretched out for several miles, all of them
endeavouring to keep their heads in the wind.

And then we saw the first light--the first sign of help
coming--the first searching glow of white brilliance, deep down
on the sombre sides of the black pot of night that hung over us.

It was way over there--first a trembling quiver of silver against
the blackness; then, drawing closer, it defined itself as a
beckoning finger, altho still too far away yet to see our feeble
efforts to attract it....

We pulled, pulled, lustily forgetting the strain and pain of
innards torn and racked from pain, vomiting--oblivious of
blistered hands and wet, half frozen feet.

Then a nodding of that finger of light--a happy, snapping,
crap-shooting finger that seemed to say: "Come on, you men," like
a dice-player wooing the bones--led us to believe that our lights
had been seen. This was the fact, for immediately the coming
vessel flashed on its green and red side-lights and we saw it was
headed for our position.

"Come alongside port!" was megaphoned to us. And as fast as we
could we swung under the stern, while a dozen flashlights blinked
down to us and orders began to flow fast and thick.

A score of hands reached out, and we were suspended in the husky
tattooed arms of those doughty British jack tars, looking up into
the weather-beaten, youthful faces, mumbling thanks and
thankfulness and reading in the gold lettering on their pancake
hats the legend "H. M. S. Laburnum."

Of course, the submarine fleets of the various navies paid a heavy
toll too. It has become, however, increasingly difficult to get any
accurate figures of these losses. The British navy, it is known, has
lost during 1914, 1915, and 1916 twelve boats, some of which
foundered, were wrecked or mined while others simply never returned.
The loss of eight German submarines has also been definitely
established.