"Pull away! pull away!" shouted the commander, as the boats reached the surface of the water. The order and its execution did not come too soon. Like a giant, in a death struggle, there were a few spasmodic movements, and more pronounced ones as the bulkheads gave way. They were fully two hundred feet from the ship, when suddenly it seemed to roll around half-way, and they could look over the entire deck, so fully was it exposed to those on board of the dory in which the boys had taken refuge. The vessel rested on its side for a moment only, then it slowly staggered back, the bow quickly dipped, and failed to come back again. Then it seemed actually to slide forward into the depths, the stern rising higher and higher, as the bow moved under. More than fifty feet of the stern of the ship was still out of the water, when a peculiar thing happened. The hull ceased to move. It remained at an angle in the air for a quarter of a minute, while every one stared at it in silence. "What is the matter with it?" asked Alfred, who was the first to break the silence. "The bow is on the bottom of the ocean," said the captain. That was, indeed, true. Soon it began to sink, by falling back, and it quietly sank beneath the waves, leaving scarcely a ripple above the surface. "That would have been different if she had been struck amidship, for the hull would have gone down on an even keel," remarked the commander. The nine boats were now afloat near each other. In the distance could be seen smoke in two directions, evidence that vessels were not far away. Then, almost like an apparition, from the east came two of the speedy little ships, which act like spit-fires and lie so low in the water that they are able to creep up unawares. They do not give forth any smoke to warn an enemy, or indicate their presence to friends. Long before the ships, which had announced their positions by the smoke on the horizon, came into sight, the saucy chasers were sailing around and about the fleet of _St. Duneen's_ boats. "It rather makes me feel good to think that we didn't get caught by either of the submarines," said Alfred. "I would hate to give them that satisfaction." "But what's the difference, after all?" replied Ralph. "So long as they sink the ships, what matter does it make whether they do it by mines or submarines?" "Yes; one is as bad as the other, both done against all law," answered Alfred. The first boat to answer the signal was a French cruiser, which came up rapidly after the chasers arrived. There was ample room on board for the passengers, but it took fully an hour before all were safe on board and orders were given to start. As the cruiser turned, a great, gray British battleship came up to port, saluted, and passed on, followed by another far in the distance, those two great vessels with their black smoke trailing out in the distance and moving along majestically seeming to be the acme of power.