ter struck home. The second Zeppelin fell into the sea. By this
time the _Marlborough_ had drawn up with the _Queen Mary_ and the other
large British ships; and now these advanced majestically.

The first to encounter the weight of their guns was the German
battleship _Pommern_, of 12,900 tons. Raked fore and aft, she was soon
ablaze. Her crew leaped into the sea, almost as one man, following an
explosion in her boiler room; and the water was dark with bobbing
heads.

The _Pommern's_ sister ship, the _Freiderich_, slowed down and gave
assistance in picking up the crew of the former vessel; and while she
was engaged in this work no British gun fired at her.

Gradually the _Marlborough_, the _Queen Mary_, the _Indefatigable_ and
the _Invincible_ drew closer together as they advanced upon the
Germans. Shells burst over them with regularity, but so far none had
reached a vital spot.

The _Queen Mary_ turned all her forward guns on the _Westphalen_ and
raked her fore and aft. In vain the other vessels of the German fleet
sought to detract the _Queen Mary's_ fire. Captain Raleigh had started
out with the intention of disposing of the German flagship and he was
determined not to heed the others until the _Westphalen_ had been sent
to the bottom.

It was no easy task he had set for himself, for he now was the center
of fire of the whole German fleet--almost. A submarine darted forward
to save the _Westphalen_. The quick eye of a British gunner caught it.
He took aim and fired. The submarine disappeared.

With a view to disposing of the enemy immediately, Captain Raleigh
ordered that one of the two forward torpedoes be launched.

There was a hiss as the little tube was released. The distance was so
close now that a miss was impossible. There was an instant of silence,
followed by a terrible rending sound; then a loud blast. The torpedo
had reached the _Westphalen's_ boiler room.

Quickly the German admiral and his officers clambered over the side and
rowed to the _Wiesbaden_, where they were taken on board and the
admiral's flag run up. The _Westphalen_ was abandoned; and she sank a
few moments later.

In the meantime, the British cruiser _Warrior_, of 13,500 tons, had
been sent down by the explosion of a German shell which had reached her
magazine. So rapidly had she settled that not a man of her crew
escaped. Thus had the three light battle cruisers of the British--the
vessels that had shown the way--been disposed o