Jack glanced at the range scale. It read 349 yards.
The cross wires of the periscope were on her middle funnel.
Captain Nicholson jerked the firing valve for No. 1 torpedo.
There was a hiss of air and a rush of water.
The first torpedo had been launched!
CHAPTER XXV
A SUCCESSFUL RAID
Without pausing to learn the effect of the first shot, Captain Nicholson sent the submarine below with a lurch, ordered the helm hard a-starboard and made for mid-channel, where he knew the second first-class cruiser lay at anchor, stern to and nosing the strong ebb-tide.
All members of the crew, as well as Frank and Jack, were jubilant. The men insisted that they had heard a roar that meant the explosion of the cruiser, though this was highly improbable. Jack and Frank had heard nothing, and they turned to Captain Nicholson.
"Did you hit her, sir?" asked Jack eagerly.
"Sure," was the reply. "The shot couldn't have failed to go home."
But the work was only one-third done, even less than that, when the fact that the submarine had to get out of the harbor again is considered.