Lord Hastings hesitated for a moment, and then replied: "Yes, we may as well." Jack took this as a command, and gave the necessary order. Slowly the D-16 began to rise. Lord Hastings glanced at his watch. "Seven o'clock," he said quietly, "and there should be no moon. A good night for our work." With the periscope barely reaching above the surface, the work of forcing water from the tanks was stopped. Lord Hastings stood quietly viewing the scene about him, and to his eyes was exposed an awesome sight. Right in the midst of the giant German battle fleet he peered, and as he did so he could but wonder to himself that so powerful and so magnificent a fighting machine apparently had been afraid to venture forth and give battle to the fleet of England, powerful as the latter was. The D-16, before ascending, had penetrated to the very middle of the harbor, and now that she was close to the surface, the powerful binoculars at the bottom of the periscope made clear the many vessels of the German fleet in all their majesty. Clouds of smoke floated from their smokestacks, and this suggested something to Lord Hastings. "Ready to set forth at any time," he muttered to himself. "Just afraid, that's all." He stepped away from the periscope, and Jack took a turn. "Great Scott!" he exclaimed, turning away at last. "To think that a fleet the size of that should be afraid to give battle." "It does seem strange," said Lord Hastings. Frank now peered into the periscope, and as he looked one of the German dreadnoughts began to move from her moorings. "One of 'em's coming out," cried Frank. "She's headed for the open sea." "I thought they might have determined to try a little raid when I saw all that smoke," said Lord Hastings. "We'll stop her, at any rate." He took Frank's place at the periscope and then commanded: "Ten knots ahead, Mr. Templeton, and prepare for action!" Jack jumped to obey this order, and a moment later the D-16 was in fighting trim. The engines throbbed and fussed, the water parted before the sharp prow of the vessel with an angry hiss, and the men stood at their posts. The signal board flashed its first command, in letters of fire. "No. 1 torpedo!" The gunner was ready, and the second command--"attention"--was scarcely necessary. Now, through the periscope, Lord Hastings gauged the range, and the signal board showed: "Submerge!" Almost at the same moment a second command showed plainly. "Fire!" "Click!" The first torpedo sped on its way, and at the same moment Lord Hastings shouted in Jack's ear: "Due north, Mr. Templeton. Fifteen knots!" The D-16 leaped ahead, and at the distance of half a mile, rose slowly to the surface. Lord Hastings and his two officers ascended to the bridge, where they took in the scene about them with their night glasses.