Page:Cruise of the Dry Dock.djvu/327

 American coolly. “You won't find a merchantman if you go in thicker fields—you know that.”

"Surrender!" bawled Smith. "Do you think they shall have this tug to haul their prizes? Let 'em sink us, and then pick us up in boats! Look ahead!"

The American turned his binoculars obediently and scanned the west and north. His eyes traversed skein after skein of the brilliant colorful patternings, but he was unable to find a very closely netted region. He was about to announce his discovery to Caradoc when his lense focussed on another grim menace almost dead ahead.

He stared at it with a curious dropping of hopes that he had not suspected were in his breast.

What he saw was another fighting top. That pertinacious submarine had apparently surrounded the elusive Vulcan with German fighting ships.

Leonard removed his field glasses and stood for a full minute filled with a keen frustration. The splitting din about him roared on