An order was given in the _Z-3_. It was followed instantly by a kind of commotion--sailors opened valves, compressed air ran down pipes, the ratchets of the wheel clattered noisily. On the moon-faced depth-gauge, with its shining brazen rim, the recording arrow fled swiftly, counter clockwise, from seventy to twenty, to fifteen feet. Captain Bill stood crouching at the periscope, and when it broke the surface, a greenish light poured down it and focused in his eyes. He gazed keenly for a few seconds, and then reached for the horizontal wheel which turns the periscope round the horizon. He turned--gazed, jumped back, and pushed the button for a crash dive. "She was almost on top of me," he explained afterwards, "coming like hell! I had to choose between being rammed or depth-bombed." There was another swift commotion, another opening and closing of valves, and the arrow on the depth-gauge leaped forward. Captain Bill was sending her down as far as he could, as fast as he dared. Fifty feet, seventy feet--ninety feet. Hoping to throw the destroyer off, the _Z-3_ doubled on her track. A hundred feet. Crash! Depth-charge number one. [Sidenote: Depth bombs explode near by.] [Sidenote: The submarine's peril.] According to Captain Bill, who is good at similes, it was as if a giant, wading along through the sea, had given the boat a vast and violent kick, and then, leaning down, had shaken her as a terrier shakes a rat. The _Z-3_ rocked, lay on her side, and fell through the water. A number of lights went out. Men picked themselves out of corners, one with the blood streaming down his face from a bad gash over his eye. Many of them told later of "seeing stars" when the vibration of the depth-charge traveled through the hull and their own bodies; some averred that "white light" seemed to shoot out of the _Z-3's_ walls. Each man stood at his post waiting for the next charge. Crash! A second depth-charge. To everyone's relief, it was less violent than the first. A few more lights went out. Meanwhile the _Z-3_ continued to sink and was rapidly nearing the danger-point. Having escaped the first two depth-charges, Captain Bill hastened to bring the boat up to a higher level. Then, to make things cheerful, it was discovered that the _Z-3_ showed absolutely no inclination to obey her controls. [Sidenote: Anxious moments before the submarine rises again.]