"The same as always--viz., 'Dear Sir, We beg to call your attention to the fact that your account is long overdue and that, unless it is settled immediately, we shall be reluctantly compelled'--and so on and so on. What I don't like about these chaps is their infernal priggishness, 'it-hurts-me-more-than-it-hurts-you' tone. Their reluctance to summons me is nothing to my reluctance to be summonsed." "Buck up! Nelson was dunned, you remember," said Trent. "Oh, shut up," growled the Lieutenant. "If I happen to have a go of toothache it doesn't do me any good to reflect that Julius Cæsar probably had it before me." "Try a cup of coffee, it'll soothe you." "And to think," went on Lawless, ignoring the suggestion, "that there's a thousand pounds waiting for me if only I could pot a Zep." "Why not write to your creditors and say that as soon as you've brought down a Zeppelin you will settle their accounts in full? Appeal to their patriotism." "I shan't write at all; let 'em do their worst," answered Lawless, as he rose from the table. "They're a measly lot of bounders, anyway." He went on deck and, although a white mist was creeping over the sea from the east, gave orders to get under way. Soon the _Knat_ was threading her way out of the Humber towards her alloted beat "somewhere" in the North Sea. Later, when off Spurm Head, instructions were received by wireless to keep a look-out for German warships, as there was a report to the effect that several were steaming in a westerly direction. "All jolly well to talk about keeping a look-out, but one couldn't see a liner a cable's length away in this fog," grumbled the Lieutenant when he had perused the message. He looked anxiously into the thick white mist which was closing around them. The _Knat_ was steaming at half speed and in every direction syrens were screeching and bellowing, some close at hand, others far away in the distance. It was, in fact, just the sort of weather that the Germans love when contemplating a raid on some defenceless east-coast port, since they can take advantage of the mist to escape when threatened with the arrival of British warships "I feel I could just do with a scrap; it would be a sort of tonic," said Lawless as Trent joined him on the bridge. "Demands for money always make me hopping mad." "I know," replied the junior officer, feelingly. After several rather narrow escapes from collision with other vessels--which did not tend to improve the Lieutenant's temper--the _Knat_ drew out of the shipping track, greatly to the relief of all on board. "Thank heaven for a little peace and quietness," said Lawless. "Now we can----"