Page:Cornelia Meigs--The island of Appledore.djvu/97

Rh. There’s one of the big battleships has got away from the rest of the fleet, and we  have orders to look for her, too; but there’s  not much likelihood of her being in these  parts. We’ll sink her if we can get the chance though; I wish we could.”

“But—but—you don’t really oink her?” Billy asked, not willing to show his ignorance,  but far too curious to keep quiet.

“Oh, no; we get up as close as we dare and send up a signal to show that we could sink  her and that it is to be counted on the record  for us. But if she finds us with her searchlights before we can fire, and if we’re close enough to be smashed by her guns, then we are  destroyed and a mad lot we are, I can tell  you.”

It might have sounded like a foolish pastime to Billy when he was ashore, but here in the wind and the dark, with the ship rushing  forward at full speed and with every one  aboard her straining to do his part to the uttermost, the war game seemed most thrillingly in  earnest. He too hung over the rail and watched the long beam of light swing in  searching circles, he peered through the dark  for the periscope of a submarine until his eyes