Produced by Al Haines. [Illustration: Cover] [Illustration: "LIKE AN ARROW THE SNAKE-LIKE MONSTER DARTED FORWARD!" p. 175.] THE RIVAL SUBMARINES BY PERCY F. WESTERMAN AUTHOR OF "A LAD OF GRIT" ETC. ETC. ILLUSTRATED BY C. FLEMING WILLIAMS _THIRD IMPRESSION_ LONDON S. W. PARTRIDGE & CO., LTD. OLD BAILEY CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Captain Restronguet leaves Cards II. Sub-Lieutenant Hythe Discovers the Submarine III. The Man Who Walked out of the Sea IV. The Signal from the Depths V. Captured VI. Face to Face VII. In the Conning-Tower VIII. Explanations IX. The First Day in the "Aphrodite" X. The Second Officer Returns XI. Concerning Captain Restronguet’s Rival XII. The "Vorwartz" is Sighted XIII. The Missing Submarine XIV. "La Flamme" XV. A Visit to Gibraltar XVI. Over a Volcano XVII. The Rescued Italians XVIII. The Rivals pass through the Suez Canal XIX. Struck by Lightning XX. Rammed Amidships XXI. Captain Restronguet learns the News XXII. Beset by Somalis XXIII. Over the Bar XXIV. The Aero-Hydroplane XXV. The Approach of the "Vorwartz" XXVI. The Sinking of the "Topaze" XXVII. A Pilot under Compulsion XXVIII. In the Ballast Tank XXIX. The "Pride of Rhodesia" XXX. Captured. XXXI. The Unsuccessful Competitors XXXII. The Fate of von Harburg XXXIII. Hythe’s Masterstroke THE RIVAL SUBMARINES. CHAPTER I. CAPTAIN RESTRONGUET LEAVES CARDS. The garrison port of Portsmouth was mobilized. Not for the "real thing," be it understood, but for the quarterly practice laid down in the joint Naval and Military Regulations of 1917. Everything, thanks to a rigid administration, had hitherto proceeded with the regularity of clockwork; the Army officials were patting themselves on the back, the Naval authorities were shaking hands with themselves, and, in order to cement the bond of unity, each of the two Services congratulated the other. To the best of their belief they had reason to assert that Portsmouth was once more impregnable. A series of surprise torpedo-boat attacks upon the fortress had signally failed. The final test during the mobilization was to be in the form of a combined attack upon the defences by the battleships then lying at Spithead and the airships and aeroplanes stationed at Dover, Chatham, and Sheerness.