At seven o'clock on the morning of August 28 the positions of the fighting forces were as follows: The decoy British submarines were making a track from Helgoland to the northwest, pursued by a flotilla of German submarines, destroyers, and torpedo boats, and a fleet of light cruisers. On the west--the left edge of the page, halfway up--there were the British cruisers _Arethusa_ and _Fearless_ accompanied by flotillas, and steaming eastward at a rate that brought them to the rear of the German squadron of light cruisers, thus cutting off the latter from the fortress. In the southwest--the lower left-hand corner of the page--there was stationed a squadron of British cruisers, ready to close in when needed; in the northwest--the upper left-hand corner of the page--there were stationed a squadron of British light cruisers and another of battle cruisers, and it was toward these last two units that the decoys were leading the German fleets. The _Arethusa_ and _Fearless_ felt the first shock of battle, on the side of the British. The German cruiser _Ariadne_ closed with the former, while the latter soon found itself very busy with the German cruiser _Strassburg_. For thirty-five minutes--before the _Fearless_ drew the fire of the _Strassburg_--the two German vessels poured a telling fire into the _Arethusa_, and the latter was soon in bad condition, but she managed to hold out till succored by the _Fearless_, and then planted a shell against the _Ariadne_ which carried away her forebridge and killed her captain. The scouting which had been done by the smaller craft of the German fleets showed their commanders that there were other British ships in the neighborhood besides the two they had first engaged, and it was thought wiser to withdraw in face of possible reenforcement of the British, consequently the _Strassburg_ and _Ariadne_ turned eastward to seek the protection of the fortress. The _Arethusa_, a boat that had been in commission but a week when the battle was fought, was in a bad way; all but one of her guns were out of action, her water tank had been punctured and fire was raging on her main deck amidships. The _Fearless_ passed her a cable at nine o'clock and towed her westward, away from the scene of action, while her crew made what repairs they could.