He suited the action to the word. His great muscles strained till the oar bent under his pull, but fast as the boat leaped through the water there was still a lamentably large space separating her from the torpedo-boat destroyer.
The General Barrill all this time had been firing away unceasingly at the shore, but without apparently succeeding in silencing one of the guns.
“I hope that our old general is up in that battery,” observed the middy, as a shell from the destroyer burst in clouds of dust right inside the fortifications, as it seemed.
“If he is, he swallowed some dust that time,” laughed Stanley. He glanced over his shoulder.
The General Barrill was not far now. They could see figures on her decks waving them encouragingly on.
“Come on, boys,” shouted Stanley, “a little more steam. That’s it. Now, we won’t be——”
A blinding flash filled the air about them. Involuntarily Ned and Herc threw their hands in front of their eyes. It was well they did so, for the quick movement threw Ned out of the path of a jagged piece of metal. It whisked past his ear viciously. A shell had exploded almost alongside them.
Before they could uncover their eyes the resulting swell swept down on the boat. Overloaded as she was, the water poured in over her gunwales in a torrent. It was useless to attempt to bail.
The detonation of the shell had hardly ceased ringing in their ears before the Americans were struggling in the water, with shells screaming and exploding all about them.