fortress. And some day, the world knew, when all other ways had failed,
this great fleet would steam forth to give battle to the British, in a
last effort of the German Emperor to turn the tide in his favor; and
while, in the allied nations at least, there was no doubt of the
ultimate outcome of such a struggle, it was realized that the German
fleet would give a good account of itself when it did venture forth.

Therefore, it was considered just as well that the British keep the
German high sea fleet bottled up and give it no chance to reach the
open, where, although the greater part might be sent to the bottom,
some vessels might escape and embark upon a cruise of commerce warfare.
This bloodless victory, it was pointed out, was of just as great value
to Great Britain as if all the German ships of war had been at the
bottom of the North Sea. Bottled up as they were, they were just as
ineffective.

This was the situation, then, when the _Queen Mary,_ with Jack and
Frank aboard, steamed down the Thames and out into the North Sea to
take up again her patrol of those waters; and there was nothing to warn
those on board of the great battle that even now was impending and that
was to result disastrously for Great Britain, even though the Germans
were to suffer no less.

Mess over, Frank and Jack made their way to their own quarters
amidships. Here they sat down and for some time talked over the events
of the days gone by.

"I guess there will be nothing for us to do this night," said Frank at
last. "We may as well turn in."

"I am afraid there will be nothing for us to do for some time to come,"
was Jack's reply. "I am afraid it will be rather monotonous sailing
about the North Sea looking for German warships, when the latter are
afraid to come out and fight."

"Well, you can't tell," said Frank. "However, that's one beauty of a
submarine. You don't have to wait around for something to happen. You
can go out and make it happen."

"That's so. But, by Jove! I wish these fellows would come out and
fight! Maybe we could put an end to this war real quickly."

"Yes, but we might not," returned Frank.

"Why, don't you think we can thrash them?"

"I suppose we can; but at the same time they can do a lot of damage.
Besides, some of them have come out. We've sunk some, of course, but
the others have returned safely enough. I can't see any excuse for
that."

"It does seem that they should have been caught," Jack agreed, "