"Yes," broke in Lieutenant Danvers, stepping forward. "See, its force is expended, and now it's floating on the water over there off the starboard bow."
Jacob Farnum stared at it as though utterly unable to comprehend anything.
"I saw the thing coming our way," went on the naval officer, hastily, "though not as soon as Benson did. By the time that I knew it, he was acting. So I held my peace, for, if Benson had failed—well, nothing would have mattered much—then!"
In a few more crisp, swift sentences; Danvers told the rest of it adding:
"It was Benson's quick coolness that saved us all from going skyward."
"No, it wasn't," broke in the youthful skipper, decisively. "It was Hal, who was right by his engines, who saved us. Had he acted on the signal a second and a half later that torpedo would have struck us plumb and fair."
"But who could have let a torpedo loose in that fashion?" stammered
Farnum. "What accident—"
"Accident!" broke in Jack, sneeringly.
"Accident!" repeated Danvers, scornfully.
"Well, then, how—"