The Americans saw the big burning steamship fall apart in the middle and sink after the torpedo struck her. Great waves lifted their crests over the spot, and it was at this time the submarine was put in the greatest danger. The spreading billows caught the helpless submersible and tossed her on their crests. Those on the _Colodia_ saw the Germans running about the deck like ants about a disturbed ant hill. Then a huge wave topped the ship and broke over her! A cheer started among the crew of the destroyer. But it was quenched in a moment. When the great wave rolled past they saw that the submarine had been flung upon its side and that it was sinking. “She’s going down, boys! She’s going down!” cried George Belding. “Don’t cheer any more--now.” Indeed the awful sight completely checked cheering. It is all right to fight an enemy; it is another matter to see that enemy sink beneath the waves. And the strangeness of this incident impressed the lads seriously as well. The submarine’s own act had sunk her. She had been overborne by a wave from the sinking of the freighter. “She brought about her own punishment,” remarked Whistler, voicing the general opinion of the crew of the American destroyer. “In other words, it was coming to them and they got it!” CHAPTER XVIII--“GHOST TALK” AGAIN The _Colodia_ was put about, and at reduced speed approached the spot where the submarine had gone down. There was very little wreckage on the surface of the ocean; but several black spots seen through the officers’ glasses caused two boats to be hastily launched and both were driven swiftly to the rescue of the survivors of the German craft. Morgan was in one of these boats. All through the fight he had thought of the Argentine skipper, Captain di Cos of the _Que Vida_. The possibility of his still being aboard the submarine worried the American lad. If there were prisoners, they had gone down with the enemy craft. These were the fortunes of war; nevertheless, that the unfortunates should be lost with the members of the German crew, was a hard matter. Only three survivors were picked up, and one of them, with his arm torn off at the socket, died before the boats could get back to the destroyer. The two were Germans. Questioned about possible prisoners aboard the submarine, they denied knowledge of them. Yet it was positive that Captain di Cos, at least, had been carried away by the German craft when the _Que Vida_ was sunk. Later some information was gleaned from the two prisoners brought back to the _Colodia_. The super-submarine had been known as the One Thousand and One. She was the first of a new type of subsea craft that the Germans hoped to use as common carriers if they won the war.