The young officer grimaced. “Not the kind of thrill I enjoy, thank you. If that cruiser suddenly blew up, I shouldn’t weep. There—she’s firing again. Oh, if our guns could only carry over to her!”
This time the projectile struck the water a bare twenty yards ahead of the speeding liner. So close was it that those aboard the Amtonia felt the spray from the geyser that shot skyward.
“We’re within their range, now, that’s a cinch!” Bill said calmly.
“Do you think they’ll hull us, knowing that there are passengers aboard, Bolton?”
“They’re sure to, unless Commander Geibel puts on the brakes. It’s his responsibility, not theirs. That last shot was an order to stop. The Commander is paying no attention to it. He’s evidently decided to take the risk. You can’t blame him. Give us another minute and we’ll be in the fog. Those prisoners below-decks, or passengers, as you call them, will have to take their chance with the rest of us—”
There came a terrific crash which jarred the ship from end to end. Every man of the gun crew was thrown to the deck. For several seconds the Amtonia trembled like a live thing in agony. Her speed slackened materially. But before the dazed men could scramble to their feet, she was blanketed in a protecting cloak of fog. Bells rang, men shouted orders, and the wounded ship swung round to the northwest with a suddenness that sent her over at a sharp angle while the crew went rolling into the starboard scuppers.
There was no more firing from the cruiser. The race, for the time being, was over.
“That,” said Bill, as he picked himself up, “is what I call a direct hit.”
“Don’t I know it!” stormed Schneider. “If my knee isn’t fractured it’s no fault of this deck!” He limped over to the rail and leaned against it. “Thanks be to Neptune for this fog—that’s a blessing, if nothing else is!”
“Never mind,” chaffed Bill. “When the skipper wakes up he’ll pin an iron cross on you. First casualty, you know. Wounded in the line of duty and all that—which reminds me,” he went on more seriously, “that there are likely to be other casualties aboard. That shot struck somewhere aft, if I know anything about it.”