"… sinking fast … struck square amidships … broke her back…."
"… trouble with her boats. There goes one over!…"
"… fools jumping overboard like cattle…."
"What's that rocket? Do the swine want us to shell their boats?"
"Why not? They're asking for it!"
One of the officers lowered his glasses and barked a series of sharp commands. The crew on deck leaped to attention. One leaned over the conning-tower hatch and shouted to his mates below. A hatch forward of the tower opened, and a quick-firing gun on a disappearing carriage swung smoothly and silently up from its lair.
The other officer, looking down, started violently.
"Verdammt! What's this?"
The first rejoined him. "Impossible!"
"Impossible or not—a man or a cadaver!"