Roy Norton

“ We slid steadily into the depths, with men stationed at every vulnerable point to give an alarm in case we reached a depth too great for the resistance of the Hector's steel hull. My own anxiety and suspense were almost unbearable when the gauges in front of me indicated a depth of fifty fathoms, and we were still descending, directing our course by that ever-present trail which Jimmy alone was observing. ”

“ I had calculated the tides to a nicety for my purpose, and found that the time would prove fairly opportune for my purpose, extreme high tide being at about eight o'clock in the evening, which would leave me, after my purpose was accomplished, sufficient light to make my somewhat tortuous way in safety through the maze of islands and shoals, and reach the open sea before utter blackness intervened. ”

“ Time and again, traversing that submarine space, both Jimmy and I thought we had come upon her; but each time our hope proved faulty and ill-founded. It was on the second day of our quest that we were driven to the conclusion that we were at fault concerning the depth at which she lay, for it seemed that we had inspected every foot of the shoals for miles around. We found one feature that was disturbing, which was that the shoal, well defined, dipped abruptly away from shallow fathoms to considerable depths. ”

“ There were two ways of stopping them, one by maintaining a steady rifle fire with the half-dozen rifles which luckily happened to be aboard the Hector, and the other to run such a bluff on Vennemann as to chill his enterprise. With but one man to assist me, and sheltered behind the armored conning-tower, I made my way out to the deck of the Hector, and elevated our wireless mast. ”

“ Naturally we were taking chances too, for the charts were of more than three years' age, and there were possibilities that the depth of water above the shoals was no longer what it had been prior to the war. The light was still sufficiently strong, so that we could observe through the clear water the increasing shallowness, and every man on watch stood waiting breathlessly for commands. We threw ourselves forward across the shoals, straining to the utmost, and then I ordered half-speed, and gave the signal for cutting the towline with the automatic shears. ”

“ Why, do you know that down in these Caribbean waters, particularly on the run from Manzanillo westward to Batabano, where it is rather shallow, ships have made a road that is as clearly defined in the silt beneath as any road ever laid upon land? ”