“You sent?” exclaimed the skipper. “How do you mean ‘sent’?”
“Well, he didn’t know he was being sent,” said Barton. “He thought he was turning a rather good trick; and he was—for us. He was hanging round Washington in a way we didn’t like; so, when we’d seen enough of him, we gave him a little present, and he toddled off to hand it over to his boss.”
“So that was the game, was it?” said the skipper with a chuckle.
“Yes,” answered Barton, “but keep it right under your hat.”
“I’m a good deal scared that he’ll hear of the sequel to his stroke of genius,” remarked Evans.
“That mustn’t be,” rejoined Barton firmly.
The sweep of the chasers went on till the circuit of the net had been completed. But since in the close formation necessary for a thorough sweep the chasers covered barely a mile, there was still an inner circle of two and a half miles’ radius that had not been swept. Assuming that the original seven submarines which Kendrick reported to have left Gibraltar had kept together, there was still one in the area to be found. Five had evidently held more or less to their course and had reached the western side of the netted area in time to be caught in the sweep; the sixth, turning to the southeastward away from the approaching fleet, had been caught on that side. The seventh, assuming she had stayed with the others, was still in the ring, and remained to be found.
Swinging in toward the center of the circle, the chasers began their second circuit of the enclosed area, this time so placing the line that it overlapped slightly the area of its previous sweep. It might be a prolonged search, for each time the circuit was made, the submarine might shift into the area just swept, and thus escape. Still, in her blind state of submersion she could hardly dodge them indefinitely; and ultimately the drawing-in of the net would so limit the area that the chasers could rake it in a single sweep.
The morning wore away, and the circles successively swept by the chasers closed in on the center, toward which also the ends of the net were towed, and, as the circumference of the circle became shorter, the superfluous lengths of net were recovered from the water and stowed in the holds of the net-layers.
It was nearly noon; the entire area had been swept by the chasers and their weary officers had begun to think there could be no more submarines. The chaser flagship made signal requesting instructions. Fraser signaled back from the destroyer to renew the sweep, designating a course which, in view of the altered size and shape of the area, would offer the best prospect of finding an object thus far missed. The sweep went on. The chaser skippers were wondering how much longer the raking process, already becoming tedious, would have to continue, when another detonation of a paravane bomb gave the signal for attack. Again the following chasers charged the spot, and again a formidable array of depth charges shook the sea and sky; and visible wreckage brought the count to seven.