[CHAPTER XIII--Sefton in Command]
By this time the firing had ceased, while, the search-lights of the German war-ships having been screened, intense darkness brooded over the scene. The sea was rising rapidly, as if Nature was about to assert her power over the opposing fleets.
Exposed to the full force of the wind and waves, Sefton stood upon the remaining portion of the bridge, with his lieutenant-commander reclining within easy distance. Crosthwaite had given his subordinate strict orders to inform him of the moment when the Huns were again sighted. His wounds mattered little. Provided his head were cool and his brain alert the Calder's skipper meant to miss no part of the next phase of the scrap.
The destroyer was now steaming in almost the opposite direction to that by which she had penetrated the enemy line. She was five or six miles to leeward of the German ships and possibly three times that distance from the British main fleet.
Far away to the west'ard came the dull rumble of a furious cannonade.
"Our light cruisers are having a scrap with the Hun destroyers," muttered Sefton. "By Jove, this is a night!"
The sub was correct in his surmise. Although the British heavy ships were not attacked during the night, thanks to the screen provided by the Second Light-cruiser Squadron and several of the destroyer flotillas, the enemy torpedo-craft were several times in touch with the "fringes of the fleet".
Darkness played many strange pranks with the combatants, mistakes that more than once told against the Huns occurring with remarkable persistency.
On one occasion a battleship of the "Kaiser" class was observed by the Fearless. The Hun was entirely isolated, and was steaming at full speed. The British destroyer was unable to engage her gigantic antagonist--the two vessels passing in opposite directions at an aggregate rate of 50 miles an hour. To launch a torpedo would almost certainly result in a miss, while it was extremely hazardous for the Fearless to turn and follow, without colliding with other British destroyers following much farther astern. Nor did the German battleship make any attempt to engage; possibly the Fearless was not visible from the war-ship's deck.
Holding on her course, the Fearless warned her consorts by wireless, and a heavy explosion long after told its own tale.