Page:Barbour--For the freedom from the seas.djvu/250

 outside followed by three days in port was the usual rule. Excitement was always just over the horizon, but seldom appeared to cheer the monotony. Only once was the Gyandotte engaged with a U-boat, and that was a long-distance affair that netted nothing save disappointment. The German submarine was not anxious for battle and, after firing four shells wide of the mark, quickly submerged. The Gyandotte's fire was no more deadly than the U-boat's, nor did the depth bombs which were later dropped from the cruiser succeed any better than the shells. All the comfort the Gyandotte could gain from that brief and unsatisfactory encounter lay in the fact that the tramp steamer which had been the U-boat's intended prey was rescued.

On every trip there were alarms, and sometimes a periscope or conning tower was actually sighted. But always the sub dived before she was in range. Nelson found himself sympathizing with the destroyer men who chanted a ditty to the effect that:

But if actual battles were few in the American 225