"Good! Then you may give the signal to submerge, Mr. Templeton."
"I can give it all right," grinned Jack. "But I don't see what good it will do unless I obey myself."
"True," laughed Lord Hastings. "I had forgotten about the tanks. We shall have to take turns looking after them also."
"I'll attend to them this time," said Jack, and took himself off.
Directly the submarine began to sink slowly and at a depth of ten fathoms Lord Hastings called a halt. Then he signalled the engine room for twelve knots.
"Just where are we bound, sir?" asked Frank.
"Well," said Lord Hastings, "the Germans are understood to have established a naval base at Ostend and I have shaped my course for that port."
"And what are we to do when we get there?"
"Events will have to shape themselves," declared Lord Hastings. "It is impossible to foretell anything."
Jack re-entered the room at this moment, and the three held a consultation, Edwards meantime steering the course that Lord Hastings had given him.