He went up to the admiral.
"Turn your guns on that destroyer, sir," he implored. "Sink her! Sink her!"
CHAPTER XIV.
BRAVE AS A BRITON.
Whether it was that Admiral von Hilliger supposed that his nephew had some vital reason for drawing his attention to the Levity, or that his executive officers had resolved independently to punish this particularly bold and annoying destroyer, it is certain that the Levity became for some minutes a special mark for the Schiller's big guns.
Shells fell around the little vessel like a storm of hail, and many must have hit her but that she remained end on, thus making herself a smaller target. At length one fell between her funnels, crashed through her deck-plates, and exploded in her engine-room, leaving her helpless.
The Athene and the Sarpedon continued to send their 6-inch lyddite shells into the German cruiser, their forward guns firing at the rate of half a dozen rounds a minute.
These two British light cruisers were themselves receiving a large share of the Schiller's fire at long range, and were being constantly aimed at by torpedoes from the enemy submarines and destroyers, while there was always the danger of their running foul of floating mines. They were being hard pressed. Already the Athene had sent out wireless messages to the British battle cruiser squadron in the rear, reporting that she was in need of help.
The German cruiser Klopstock had by this time reappeared from the mist, and was steaming down to join battle. The situation was critical, yet the British ships stood their ground, and a well-placed shell from the Sarpedon smashed the forward bridge of the Schiller and injured her foremost funnel, while another from the Athene burst through her port bulwarks amidships and so damaged her internally that her engines stopped and she was seen to be on fire.
At this moment the four-funnelled Stein loomed out of the fog. The Athene signalled to her consort and the destroyers to withdraw and accompany her to cut off this new enemy cruiser.