est British ship to suffer so far--dived beneath the waves.

CHAPTER XVII

THE MAIN FLEET ARRIVES

It was by a miracle, it seemed, that the _Queen Mary,_ the
_Indefatigable_, the _Marlborough_ and the _Lion_, now in the front
line, had escaped being struck in their vitals by the German shells
that flew all about. On the _Queen Mary_, dead men and wounded men
strewed the deck. They were being carried below as rapidly as possible,
where the ship's surgeon, with a corps of assistants, was attending to
their wounds.

Frank and Jack had been working like demons. From one part of the ship
to the other they had been running with orders ever since the battle
opened. The heart of each lad was in his throat--not because of fear--
but because the British were getting the worst of the engagement. Never
before had they seen an enemy fleet stand up to a British squadron of
this size and fight. Always before it had been the German policy to
run.

But now they were not only standing up to the British, but were giving
them a bad thrashing. Each lad realized, of course, that the British
were out-numbered and that the weight of guns was in favor of the
enemy; but in spite of this they felt that the enemy should be
defeated. They cast occasional glances to the west, hoping to catch
sight of the main British fleet, which should be drawing near now.

But at nine o'clock there was no smoke on the horizon.

The loss of the _Invincible_ had been a hard blow to the British. As
the others retreated now the Germans pressed them closely. A shot
struck the _Marlborough_ in the forward turret, exploding her guns
there and killing the gun crews. The effect of the explosion was
terrible. Men were hurled high in the air and came down in small
pieces.

Jack, in the forward turret of the _Queen Mary_ a moment later, was
hurled to the deck as a German shell struck one of the guns and blew it
to pieces. The lad escaped the rain of steel that descended a moment
later, but others in the turret were not so fortunate. Fully half the
men there were killed or wounded so badly that they could fight no
more.

Jack sprang to one of the guns himself. It was loaded. Quickly the lad
sighted it upon one of the enemy ships and fired.

He watched the effect of this shot. It was the German cruiser _Elbing_
at which he had aimed. He saw a cloud of missiles ascend from amidships
and knew that the shot had struck home.

Jack forgot all about reporting to