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Then lie dashed for the companionway and fairly fell into the presence of the Captain. "A periscope! A periscope!" he gasped. In another instant the Captain was on the bridge, the glasses at his eyes. He commenced rapping out short orders.
The air was so clear that minutest objects on the horizon were easily picked up by the questing binoculars of the men on watch. Suddenly came a cry from one of the forward lookouts: "Periscope, two points off the starboard bow!" The call sounded from stem to stern, and instantly the alarm to general quarters was sounded while the helm was thrown hard over.
In Van Emmon's case, however, he could occasionally glimpse two loose parts of the machine, flapping and swaying oddly from time to time within the range of the observer, and at the front. Nothing was done about it. Van Emmon came to the same conclusion as Smith; the operator was looking into something like a periscope. Perhaps he himself did not do the driving.
Close by us something rose to the surface of the river and dashed at the periscope. I had a vision of wide, distended jaws, and then all was blotted out. A shiver ran down into the tower as the thing closed upon the periscope. A moment later it was gone, and I could see again.
Thither one afternoon we conveyed the mortar to the first trenches on an improvised carriage, placed it behind one of the traverses, and duly clamped it down. The subaltern took up a periscope and got the thread-line on the target you find the range without instruments and by your own intuitions. "Three hundred, I think," he remarked pensively.
"Spies!" Zimby exclaimed. "What do we do now?" piped up Mack Avery, the third man in Bud's crew. "Hadn't we better radio the Coast Guard and the FBI?" Bud wrenched away from the eyepiece. "I have another idea! Any of you fellows game to go with me and capture those spies?" All three of his companions volunteered eagerly. Bud chose Mel Flagler, then took another sight through the periscope.
Lord Hastings uttered an exclamation of astonishment. "Of all the remarkable things I ever saw!" he ejaculated. Frank and Jack were equally astonished; and the reason was this: both torpedoes had gone true and the periscope of each vessel fell away. "There'll be no more diving," said Lord Hastings quietly.
This aroused the suspicions of the German and she asked whether the steering apparatus of the U-los had again gone wrong. "Here is our answer," exclaimed McClure, and catching the big submersible full on the sight of the periscope glass, he released a torpedo.
Suddenly there was a jar that stirred all on board off their feet. There was a sensation of sinking. As previously instructed, the diving rudder man immediately gave the submarine up-rudder. Captain Nicholson ordered full speed ahead, although he knew it would mean that the vessel's periscope would show, giving the enemy a good look at the vessel.
At last day dawned, and we were quite surprised to find that nothing had happened; Scottie and I had our breakfast, the cook cooked it, and it was distributed in the trench, then we were put on sentry to watch through the periscope, while the rest had a sleep.
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