Whistler put forth the idea that there were two ships working in these waters; but not many accepted this until, the day after they left Fayal, and the destroyer was traveling west, Sparks suddenly picked up an S O S from the south. The Argentine steamship _Que Vida_ was sending out frantic calls for help. She was being shelled by a monster submarine two hundred miles off the port of Funchal of the Madeiras. “This is the real thing--_Sea Pigeon_ or not!” the radio operator confided to George Belding. “She’s the super-sub we’ve been hearing about. The operator on this Buenos Aires’ ship says she came right up out of the sea at dawn and opened fire with guns fore and aft. Has used a torpedo, and has upperworks like a regular honest-to-goodness steam freighter. “There! He’s off again!” he exclaimed, as the radio began to spark, and he turned back to the machine. So was the _Colodia_ off again, and at full speed, dashing away in quest of the _Que Vida_ and the great submersible that had attacked her. CHAPTER XIV--THE MIRAGE Phil Morgan, coming up suddenly from the berth deck just as sweepers were piped at 5:20 in the morning, fairly overturned a smaller lad who had been straddling the top of the ladder. “Hi, you sea-going elephant, you!” complained Ikey Rosenmeyer’s voice. “Look where you are going!” “‘Keep off the engine room hatch’,” chuckled the older lad, quoting one of the emphasized orders from the manual. “Haven’t you learned that yet?” “No more than you have learned that ‘Whistling is never permitted aboard ship’,” rejoined Ikey, getting up and rubbing his elbows. “Wasn’t whistling!” denied Morgan. “Well, your lips were all puckered up, just the same. And you know what old Jehoshaphat,” he observed, using the nickname for the chief master-at-arms, “said that time about your doing that. It’s just as bad to look like you were whistling as to do it.” “Aw, he’s deaf and was afraid I was putting something over on him,” Morgan declared, and immediately proceeded to “pucker up” again in a silent tune. It was true that Phil Morgan had received more than one demerit when first he had come to sea because of this proclivity of his for whistling. He had really been driven to the extremity of carrying a couple of small burrs under his tongue to remind him of the infraction of ship rules he was about to commit whenever he thoughtlessly prepared to whistle. The Navy Boys had had a good many rules besides these two quoted above to learn. And not only to learn, but to obey! Excuses are not accepted in the Navy. Anybody who has ever looked through the Bluejacket’s Manual will be impressed by these facts.