Page:Cornelia Meigs--The island of Appledore.djvu/102

84 The little destroyer ducked and plunged as she came hard over, she caught the big bow  wave and floundered for a second but nevertheless pressed manfully on. They were cutting under the big dreadnaught’s bows, they were bound to be rammed amidships at least;  no, it would be nearer the stern. Oh, wonder of wonders, they were going to win clear. It seemed to Billy, as he clung to the rail, that he  could almost have stretched out his hand and  touched the vessel’s vast steel side as they went  by. He heard some one near him laugh out loud in pure, joyful excitement and he saw  that it was the commander of the destroyer,  himself, who seized the pistol and fired the  signal rocket. Up it went in a flaming stream, directly over the dreadnaught’s  bridge, described a crimson arch above the  heads of the startled officers and dropped on  the other side. On both vessels there could be no shadow of a doubt that a desperate  night attack had been successfully made and  that according to all the rules of the war game  the battleship New Mexico had gone to the  bottom with all on board.

For Billy, who was as full of thrills as any of the rest, who hung forward to watch with