"Destroyer right ahead, sir," reported Jack as he indicated the position of the vessel. McClure picked it up with his glasses, and by taking the _Monitor's_ position was able very shortly to determine that the vessel was off the entrance to Ostend. "We might as well run up a bit closer and take a shot at her anyway," he announced shortly. Crowding on full speed, the American vessel edged in closer and was then partially submerged. The German vessel had not noticed the submarine as yet; at least, she gave no indication of being cognizant of the proximity of the American vessel. At a distance of three thousand yards McClure decided to loose a torpedo. "We'll take one shot and then dive," he said. "The coast is studded with guns everywhere here and we are too close to them to loiter around long." In another moment, after sighting carefully on the fleeing destroyer, McClure gave the signal to fire and Jack sent a torpedo whirling from the bow of the _Monitor_. "And now down we go," said McClure as he signaled to take in ballast. Not waiting to note the effect of their fire, the officers of the _Monitor_ sent their ship careening into the depths and went down to a depth of fifty feet with a greatly decreased speed. "Guess we had better turn now and make for the open sea," said McClure as he grasped the rudder key to swing the _Monitor_ around. But at that moment came a sharp rasping sound on the forward hull of the American vessel and then a mighty ripping sound aft followed by a grinding in the region of the propeller blades and an almost sudden stoppage of the _Monitor_. McClure and Jack looked at each other, dismay written in their faces. "Trapped!" ejaculated the little captain. "We are caught in a submarine net!" CHAPTER XXII YANKEE INGENUITY There was no denying the fact that the _Monitor_ had become enmeshed in one of the German wire nets. Unmistakably the scraping against the hull of the submarine was that of the cables and chains that composed the net. Furthermore, it was evident from the manner in which the propellers of the ship had ceased their revolutions that they had struck an impediment of some kind. McClure and Jack both realized they had, indeed, run into a snare of the enemy. For the next half hour the _Monitor_ was put through all manner of maneuvers as her captain sought to extricate his craft from the web of steel into which it had dived. "Seem only to be getting in the tighter," said "Little Mack" as he stopped the engines and from his chief engineer received a report to the effect that the driving shafts could be turned only with the greatest difficulty.