The engineer came tumbling out from his cramped quarters.
"What—what——" he exclaimed.
"Keep still! Don't talk to me. All hands hold fast, for something is going to happen in a minute."
At that instant the lad swung the bow of his boat about, heading it directly toward the course of the advancing torpedo.
"Look out! You'll run into her!" yelled the engineer. "Don't you see she's just under the surface. She'll be on top—there she is now!"
"Stand fast!" roared the boy.
Torpedo and motor boat were driving toward a point where they must surely meet. Now Dan threw the speed full on.
Ere any of those wide-eyed observers realized what was occurring, the crash came.
The prow of the motor boat and the nose of the torpedo met with a crash that was heard far down the line. For a brief instant, projectile and boat rose into the air like two locomotives in a head-on collision.
Dan Davis was lifted clear off his feet and hurled through the air, head first, into the sea. The motor boat settled back and began filling with water, half drowning the two stunned seamen who lay in the bottom of the boat. The torpedo, however, like some living monster of the deep, seemed to shake herself angrily, then she settled down and shot forward, barely grazing the stern of the steamer.