Page:Barbour--For the freedom from the seas.djvu/311

 To this the Gyandotte had answered: "Be with you forty minutes; don't give up."

As there had come no further message it was feared that the merchantman, the American "Three L" liner Antietam, had been forced to surrender. At seven-thirty the General Quarters alarm sounded and the crew went to stations. A few minutes afterwards the foretop lookout reported smoke one point off the starboard bow and presently a deck lookout reported "something to port, sir, low on the water! Might be the sub!" A moment's search from the bridge and then, over the fire control system sped range and deflection.

"Number Four! Are you on?"

"On, sir!"

Seven thousand yards away over the port bow lay a faint something that might have been a dead whale until a flare of light shot through the mist from it and the sound of a shell came across the water. Further off, to starboard, a cloud of low-hanging smoke indicated the position of the Antietam, and it was toward this mark that the shell sped.

"Ready!" called Garey. "Fire!"

Number Four barked sharply as Nelson closed the contact. A dozen yards short of the subma- 286