Page:Air Service Boys Flying for France.djvu/89

84 the other, adjusting his binoculars to his eyes. "Yes," he added, "I guessed it right the first shot. They are having a great time off there and I can see no end of the dumpy things rolling along, all following the same general direction."

After that the same vigil was continued. The captain had not left the bridge long enough to eat his dinner, some of the passengers said, but had had it carried up to him. If anything came to pass, and a tragedy occurred, it could never be said that the commanding officer, who belonging to the British Naval Reserve, had neglected his duty.

"Honestly now," Jack said, when the subject arose between the two chums, "I believe the old man means to stick it out on the bridge until we arrive in port. I take off my cap to him. If that's the stubborn sort these British naval men are, I don't much wonder Britannia Rules the Waves."

"Did, you ought to say, Jack," corrected Tom, with a chuckle; "for since the submarine came along it's anybody's fight now as to who is mistress of the sea. Great Britain has Germany's Grand Fleet cooped up in the Kiel Canal; at the same time the subs roam the ocean as they please. One rules the surface, and the other seems to have control of the undersea part."