"What ship is that?" came the call in German.
For a moment it seemed that some one on the deck of the submarine must be playing a prank on his friends. But Bill Witt, who was doing lookout duty forward, declared that the cry was right at hand and apparently from the deck of a warship.
Whispering to the repair crew to go quickly below McClure addressed himself to the unknown voice in his best Deutsch.
"Dis iss das unterseeboot nein und zwanzig."
For a moment there was a deathless silence. Then again the heavy voice to port:
"You speck not the truth. U-boat 29 is in der Kiel Canal. You are
English or Yankee. We call on you to surrender!"
McClure's answer was to slam down the lid of the conning tower and ring for full speed in the engine room. Instantly he switched the rudder to starboard as the Dewey's propeller blades began to turn.
"Dive!" yelled the commander to his navigating officer, as he himself slanted the submerging rudders.
Almost at the same moment the German warship's powerful searchlights turned full upon the American submarine. Then came a great spit of fire from a battery aboard the enemy vessel followed by the roar of her guns and a salvo of shots.
"It's no use, boys," said the submarine commander to his officers. "They have us trapped. Unless we surrender here we are going to be blown out of the water in short order. We cannot submerge quick enough to avoid that terrible gunfire."