Under the White Ensign: A Naval Story of the Great War

by Percy F. Westerman

CHAPTER XXVII

A Daring Operation

It all happened in such a brief space, and so unexpectedly, that Captain M'Bride and Webb had but a hazy notion of what had taken place.

A crowd had gathered quickly, but by the time Laddie was pulled off the prostrate Greek the would-be assassin was dead.

"Narrow squeak, by Jove!" remarked Captain M'Bride. "The beggar tried to knife you, Osborne. Hallo, what's happened to the dog?"

"What's happened to the dog?" repeated Osborne in a voice that hardly sounded like his own. "Laddie, boy, what has the brute done to you?"

"He's broken his jaw," declared Webb.

"Yes, a double fracture," added a young officer in the uniform of the Veterinary Corps. "You ought to have him shot, sir, and put him out of his misery."

Poor Laddie seemed the least concerned of any of the group. His jaw had dropped, and he presented a rather pathetic figure, with his wide-open eyes fixed upon his master.