Mark went down on his hands and knees and examined the thing most carefully, seeing exactly how it was held, calculating how it would fall when released, estimating how it would be kept in position while the mooring-line was being severed. All his scout-craft was exercised. He looked round at the sub-lieutenant.
"We shall manage all right, sir," he declared calmly. "We want a couple of hammocks to pack round the base of the mine for a fender, a strong man with a crowbar to hold it from slipping, while another with a sharp file and a pair of pliers cuts through the mooring warp. When it's cut, you submerge the ship a couple of feet, let go, and the mine will float off. Then the gunner can fire at it and explode it. Do you understand, sir? Excuse my making these suggestions; but I've had a lot to do with handling explosive contact-mines during the last week."
His directions were followed in every detail. In half an hour the work was done without mishap, and the submarine and her crew were saved. The mine, released from its sinker, floated with its rounded top and horns above the surface. The ship stood off, her fourteen-pounder quick-firing gun was raised from its chamber, and the gunner's skill brought about the explosion.
Late in the afternoon of that same day the H29 appeared abreast of Alderwick Knoll. Darby Catchpole saw her from the cliff. Watching her through his telescope, he made out that the flag flying from her mast bore the sign of the skull and crossbones, and by this he knew that she had been in action and had come out victorious.
CHAPTER X.
DARBY CATCHPOLE'S DISCOVERY.
"I expect she has been putting a torpedo into some German mine-layer," said Darby, speaking to Constable Challis, who stood beside him. "It's the H29."
"Ah!" nodded Constable Challis, "that's the submarine that Lieutenant Ingoldsby's in command of, isn't it? I wish I'd known when I saw his aunt, Mrs. Daplin-Gennery, along the parade just now."
Turning to see if that lady were still in sight, he saluted an elderly gentleman who was hobbling past with the aid of two sticks and with a folded newspaper under one arm.
"Good-evenin', Mr. Croucher," he said. "Any news in the evenin' newspaper, sir?"