Jack looked at his watch. It was 8 o'clock in the morning; and, even as he glanced at his timepiece, the fog lifted as suddenly as it had enveloped them.

"This is better--" Frank began, and broke off with a cry of amazement.

Not a hundred yards to the leeward his eyes fell upon the dark hull of the German cruiser which had pursued them the night before. Evidently the commander of the vessel had antic.i.p.ated the course of the Lena and had taken the same route. There is no telling in what imminent danger the two had been of a collision during the night, as both had sped along silently, each fearing to betray his presence to the other.

Jack espied the enemy at the same instant that Frank cried out; and he acted upon the instant.

Hoa.r.s.e commands were shouted across the decks of the Lena, and a moment later her small guns burst into sound. In spite of the fact that the enemy must have been on the lookout for the Lena, it was apparent that the Lena had been the first to realize the presence of the other.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!" spoke the Lena's guns, and the sound went hurtling out across the sea.

"Crash! Crash!"

At this close range a miss was almost out of the question, and the Lena's sh.e.l.ls crashed into the sides of the German cruiser.

The German vessel staggered and reeled, but in a moment her big guns answered the smaller caliber ones of the Lena.

The Lena quivered like a human thing under the deadly hail of fire from the enemy. The great guns raked the merchant ship from stem to stem, pierced her until her sides resembled nothing more than a sieve. Men fell everywhere, many prisoners being killed by fragments. But still the Lena continued to fight back.

Standing upon the bridge Jack directed the fighting of his ship.

He realized in the first moment of contact that the doom of the Lena was sealed. She was no match for the German cruiser, but, before going down, it was his intention to do as much damage as possible to the enemy. And the fire of the Lena was doing terrific damage.

Men fell on the cruiser as well as on the Lena. Sh.e.l.ls crashed aboard, tumbling down masts, bursting in the mouths of the guns and hurling showers of iron about. Grimy-faced men ran hither and thither about the decks of both vessels. They had long since lost all resemblance to human beings, and all fought like demons.

The German commander did not call upon the British to surrender.

Evidently he did not wish to be bothered with prizes. To sink the enemy--that was his sole aim.

One by one the guns of the Lena were put out of action, until finally but two remained to reply to the fire of the enemy.

Slowly the head of the Lena swung round, to permit of these last two guns being brought to bear.

"Boom! Boom!" They spoke their last message, and two sh.e.l.ls pierced the very heart of the German cruiser.

There was a sudden, terrific explosion. A fierce red sheet of flame leaped from the German cruiser, and shot high in the air.

The center turret rose with the flame and fell back to the waters of the North Atlantic in a million pieces.

The magazine of the cruiser had blown up! Her vitals were opened and the waters engulfed her.

The two lads stood on the bridge of the Lena, open-mouthed, awed by this spectacle. Both were too surprised to speak. At the very moment when the battle seemed lost, one well-directed shot had turned the fortunes of war in favor of the arms of the British.

At length Frank spoke.

"It is a miracle!" he exclaimed.

"No," replied Jack calmly, "not a miracle; rather, the courage and bravery of the sons of Britain are responsible for this good fortune."

He turned his eyes upon the floating wreckage. Not a survivor was in sight. "Poor fellows!" he said, half aloud, "may they rest in peace!"

At this moment the chief engineer came rushing on deck. Blood streamed down his face and one arm hung limp at his side.

"The engines are out of commission, sir," he reported, "and there is three feet of water in the engine-room. The ship is sinking!"

Jack drew himself up to his full height and shouted out his orders:

"Man the boats!" he cried.

He called the second and third officers.

"Look after the wounded," he commanded. "See that they are all placed in the boats. Release the prisoners, but they must shift for themselves."

"And the dead, sir?" questioned the second office.

Jack lifted his cap from his head.

"The dead," he said softly, "must be left to the mercy of the sea. We can do them no good."

The second officer saluted and hurried away.

Frank and Jack superintended the lowering of the boats. Each small craft already contained a quant.i.ty of provisions and water, and, at Jack's command, such small arms as could be hurriedly secured were thrown overboard. The wounded were lifted gently into the boats--the dead left where they had fallen. The last act was to release the prisoners. That was all that could be done for them.

At last all the boats were manned, and, at a word from Jack, they put away from the ship. Each boat was crowded, for some had been damaged in the battle with the German cruiser and made unfit for use.

Slowly the boats pulled away from the Lena.

"Which way?" asked Frank.

"Due east," replied Jack. "We must be some place off the coast of France, and, unless a storm arises, we stand a good chance of reaching land safely."

He cast his eyes toward the Lena.

"And hurry!" he commanded. "The Lena is likely to go down any moment, and, if we do not put some distance between us, she is likely to carry us under also."

The men in the boats bent to their work with a will, and soon they were out of danger.

"There she goes!" exclaimed Frank suddenly, and, standing up in the boat, he pointed a finger toward the Lena.

Slowly the ship had been settling by the head. Now she sank lower and lower in the water. A terrible hissing arose and went forth across the sea. The water had reached her boilers.

Then the bow of the ship climbed clear out of the water, for a moment pointed almost straight toward the sky--it seemed that she would turn completely over--then suddenly lurched heavily forward, and dived.

The water foamed angrily white, parted quietly for the Lena, as she took her death plunge, rose high in the air; then, its fury over, closed calmly over her. The Lena was gone.

"And so," said Jack sadly, "goes my first command!"

Frank laid his hand on his friend's arm.

"It's pretty tough," he said, "but there is no use crying over spilt milk. What can't be cured must be endured, you know."

"You are right," replied Jack, "and the thing do now is to try and reach land."