_Lorna_ immediately proceeded at full speed, to look for the sinking ship and give what assistance might be possible. But, at 9.14 P.M., she intercepted the reassuring message--‘Proceeding to port, torpedo missed fire.’ Lieutenant Tottenham at the same moment saw that _War Cross_, which had parted only twenty-five minutes before, had now turned and was steering westward, having evidently also received the S.O.S. signal from _Jabiru_. He altered course and spoke her accordingly, advising her captain to lay the land, and endeavour to round the Bill inside the U-boat’s operating radius. He also offered to go with him as escort, but _War Cross_ pluckily declined, thinking he could do better by waiting for darkness and running in by himself. Lieutenant Tottenham left him and searched the horizon for another smoke streamer. His game was to meet every ship which came that way and by closing them one after another, in the falling dusk, to ensure being within striking distance when the U-boat should make the next attempt at assassination. The only success which could satisfy him would be the destruction of the enemy before he had had time to strike the ‘live bait’--an ambition which showed great nerve, and a grasp of the principle of the offensive in war. It would have been easy to make all merchantmen give the Bill a wide berth, and perhaps save the next ten of them thereby; but the pest would be active again to-morrow, in the same place or another--destruction, at all risks, is the only cure for U-boats. Before long another ship was seen approaching from the south, and _Lorna_ at once headed towards her. But after steaming for about three and a half miles on this errand, Lieutenant Tottenham perceived that the new-comer was already in good hands, or would soon be so--the armed drifter _Evening Primrose_ was closing her, evidently with the intention of acting as escort. At this moment a fresh ship came in sight, approaching the Bill from the west. Lieutenant Tottenham instantly altered course and made straight for her. At 9.55 P.M., when he had hardly steadied _Lorna_ on her new course, he sighted the periscope of a submarine. It was steering due west, almost directly towards the approaching steamer, and seeing the position of the two ships, and their converging courses, he assumed rightly that the enemy was manœuvring for an attack of the usual kind, without warning. Of _Lorna’s_ presence the U-boat was apparently quite unaware, though she was now only 150 feet distant and rapidly coming up on the starboard side of the periscope.