eamers--X sailing ships."

All around me were the happy faces of the crew. All were satisfied,
every danger past and forgotten, thanks to the strength of youth and
their stout hearts.

_April 30--Nine-thirty A. M._

The lead was thrown. Now the water became shallow, for we are going into
the bay--the German bay.

"It's twenty-four meters deep," reported Lohmann, who in his feverish
desire to get ashore had been up on the conning tower since four
o'clock, although he should really have been off watch at eight. He
wanted to be the first one to sight land, because he is proud of his
fine eyesight and was as happy as a child when he discovered something
before his commander did.

"The lead shows twenty-four!"

"See if it agrees with the chart," I called to the mate who sat in the
conning tower with the chart on his knee.

"It agrees exactly," the mate called back, after he had compared the
measurement by the lead with the depth that was marked on the chart
where we estimated we were.

"How far is it to land?"

"Eight and a half miles."

In five more minutes, the German islands of the North Sea arose before
our eyes. Now we were unable to restrain ourselves further. We tore off
our caps and waved them exultantly, greeting our home soil with a
roaring hurrah. Our cheer penetrated into the boat, from stern to prow,
and even set Schweckerle's heart on fire, where he was sitting alone
and idle amongst the torpedo cradles.

Shortly thereafter we glided into the mouth of the river with the
pennant bearing our name proudly fluttering from the masthead. This told
all the ships that met us:

"Here comes U-boat 202!"

All knew by our announcement that we were returning from a long voyage
and we were greeted with an enthusiastic and noisy reception. Officers
and men thronged the decks, and in our inmost hearts we appreciated the
great cheer:

"Three cheers for his Majesty's U-202! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!"

Thus the proud German high seas fleet received our little roughly-used
boat.

At three o'clock on the afternoon of April 30 U-202 dropped her anchor
in the U-boat harbor.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Adventures of the U-202, by E. Spiegel

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF THE U-202 ***

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