IN THE TEETH OF THE CHANNEL GALE
Splash!
The mine sank below the surface.
A quick turn by the helmsman at the wheel, and the course changed violently on the instant.
"No stud struck or scraped the side as the mine went down!" exclaimed Mr. Hartley, in a voice as cool as though he were discussing the weather. "That was what saved us."
"That, and the presence of mind displayed by your man at the wheel," Dave calmly supplemented. "That quick turn of the wheel saved your hull under the water line from striking against the infernal thing."
"I thought we were goners!" exclaimed Ormsby.
"So did I," Dave nodded, "until I saw the thing sink and then realized how prompt the helmsman had been to act without orders."
"The helmsman's act was almost routine," Hartley continued. "On a craft like this every man instinctively knows what should be done in any moment of escapable peril."
Dave now withdrew the elbow which, up to now, he had leaned against the rail. He knew that he had been within a hair's breadth of instant death, but there was nothing in his bearing to betray the fact.
