To return to Villiers’ story. The _Mer-Morte_, with her five thousand tons of projectiles and other munitions, followed the secret route to the spot where they were to head east for the Malta channel. She had not met a single patrol or guard. This was no surprise to Villiers, for he knows that patrolling is impossible. He asked us if the _Pamir_ had met any patrols from Salonica to Algiers, and Fourgues drew down his lower eyelid: a good answer! That did not surprise Villiers either. He told us all this in port, and you know that when a fellow has just escaped death, has lost his skipper, his first officer, ten men, his ship, five thousand tons of shells and barely missed going with them, you really do listen to what he says a little more carefully than to the rot the land-lubbers talk. So the _Mer-Morte_ came that evening to the turning-point in the route. There, a submarine emerged five or six hundred yards behind her and fired a blank shot to stop her. The commander of the _Mer-Morte_ was A1, copper-bottomed. As he had five thousand tons of munitions on board, he thought he must not let himself be sunk, because they were needed by the Army of the East; so he sent an order to Villiers in the engine-room to fire up for all he was worth and keep her at top speed for half an hour, when, as night was falling, he would be able to shed the submarine. Villiers did all he could and the _Mer-Morte_ got up to eleven knots and a half. But the U-boat was faster than that and gained on the _Mer-Morte_ and sent some shots into her. The _Mer-Morte_ was no more armed than the _Pamir_ and couldn’t reply. The skipper, seeing that he would be sunk, thought he would try to sink the submarine, so he came about and headed for it. You know what that was like--like an infantryman against a machine-gun. The submarine waited a little, then sent two shells on to the bridge, killing the skipper, his first officer and the others, and two more right into her hull near the water-line, which shattered the engine and boilers, and nearly killed Villiers. So the _Mer-Morte_ had to stop--no captain, no steam--a wreck. The submarine stood by and sent over an officer in a dinghy, who came aboard her. Villiers had gone on deck with all the crew who had not been killed. He was not yet delirious. The submarine officer knew French well and was very polite. “You are to launch your lifeboats and put the crew into them. You, sir, will please accompany me to the bridge. Oh, we saw! We killed the commander and a watch-keeping officer. Our gunner is very good. But there’s something on the bridge that I must see.”