Minutes passed and still the U-boat lay like a sullen monster, trapped but not subdued.
Then it was the trawlers' turn to take the offensive. Two depth bombs were placed on the taut chains and slid down through the waters to the hull of the doomed submarine.
There was a muffled boom, a geyser-like rush of water, and then the telltale oil that came to the surface showed that all was over. One more of the assassins of the sea had paid the score it owed to an outraged world!
"And that's the Kaiser's weapon that was going to bring England to her knees!" ejaculated Tom.
"The Allies are getting the best of them," declared Frank. "It looked at one time as though Germany were going to put it over. But we're sinking them now just as fast as they can be built and when America gets fairly to work we'll sink them still faster."
"Just wait till Edison gets on the job. He'll find something that will finish the U-boats in jig time. He'll make them look like thirty cents," declared Tom.
A little later they caught their first sight of France. Only a blur on the horizon at first, it grew steadily larger, and the bow of the boat was packed with the eager young soldiers, straining for a sight of the war-swept land that had suffered so much and done so much in the fight for liberty and democracy.
Here they were to fight, here they were to suffer, here they were to carry their country's flag to a glorious victory!
Frank breathed hard as the land came closer, for to him France had a greater significance than even to the others. It was his mother's land and for that reason doubly dear.
As the great vessel followed by others drew near the port, it was seen that the wharves and shores were black with people. News had been wirelessed of their coming, and the city had gone wild with joy at this visible token of help from the great sister republic across the sea.