Commander Lawless V.C.

ain it is that, soon after the latter incident, his request to be transferred back to the Sea Service was granted. That was why, in accordance with his instructions, he found himself at Devonp

received the order, "this takes me down

ly. "You'll be back where you started from before long

," answered Law

re" west of Start Point. The skipper, a gruff, taciturn old salt, received him without enthusiasm, and grumbled audibly at having to "dry-nurse g

so pleased at this idea that he forgot his indignation at having

morning, and was soon stubbing her way westward

y to begin with, had risen until the great foam-crested billows charged down upon each other, flinging high their white manes of wind-driven spume. The sky had turned

kipper Chard clung to a handrail and peered through the rime-froste

idships by an extra large wave, heeled

-wester, swarmed up the little iron ladder to the wheelhouse, and,

ted. "This is weat

r with a sour smile. "Wait t

ressed a smile, while the Lieutenan

pretty rough," he

le, more eloquent than words, that expressed all the scorn which a season

utes," said Lawless. "I expect

would have turned out for his watch before b

aid the skipper, jerking his head towards the

n came up the iron ladder to relieve the quartermaster at the wheel. As the o

ght look-out," he remarked

used them on a small object, barely discernible to the naked eye. He remained thus for more than a minu

he handed the glass

teamer of about fifteen hundred tons, with the word Gelderland painted in

observed, handing

" snorted the skipper. "Question is, w

ne was expected. Chard shouted an order to the quarterm

man to stop," com

e signal lamp and flashed the message across the intervening spac

," he said after t

the skipper; and, sliding back

across that hooker

and bent over a small quick-firer that

ards in front of the Dutchman's bows, sending up a small pillar of foaming water. But the stranger, instead of stopping, s

. Looks suspicious, her cuttin' away like that. Climb on th

ead. Crooking one arm round a stay to steady himself, he jerked out the signal in a somewhat uneven s

ough her funnel

ed the sights and waited till the O47

a

re was now only a jagged stump of metal, with columns of smoke iss

r from the wheelhouse. "Serve out cutlasses and revolv

head to help bring the trawler alongside her quarry. It needed no little ski

hreatened to crash right into the Dutchman and cut her in twain amidships, but the trawler's engines were

just as the Captain-a short, stout man-came p

he demanded, pointing

ou stop when

irst thing I know is-plump!-and then

w I sent a shot over your bows?

aptain. "But you haff done big d

other. "We'll see about that, but in

n alacrity that was calculated to disarm the most suspicious investigator. Accord

ed at the papers. "How long have

days. I was hu

rder, and therefore he had no right to detain the vessel further. As he was about to pass through the door

in a different t

This apex was just opposite Start Point, and the lines formed two sides of a triangle-one running paralle

tain, but there was a sl

you've been cruising around between Start Point, Ushant and the Lizard, and that the clearance papers you showed me are just fakes. It's pretty certain that--No,

h his pistol, he hailed the O47 thro

Law

!" came t

decks if the men show trouble. Then lower a c

as a difficult and dangerous task, but it was accomplished safely. Meanwhile, Chard had insisted on some of the hatches being removed from the Gelderland's hold

isfy you?" asked the

ly. "There's a clear space at the bottom of

to carry out his demand. The first case was opened, and found to be packed with cans of petrol.

marked Chard, with a grin. "Let's t

open, displaying rows

a gun or run short of ammunition, you can sup

as soon as the prisoners had been put aboard the trawler, he would be placed in charge of the Gelderland with a prize crew. This was carried out s

rd, before leaving, advised Lawless to make straight for Plymouth. Then he returned to the

rse for Plymouth. This done, he stepped out on to the bridge again and peered into the darkness. The Eddystone Lig

the port

ee nothing. He was about to hail the look-out man, when he saw a faint yellow gli

" he mu

signal-lamp, but different to the one he had been used to handling. Thoughtlessly, he picked it up and tried the shutter; a beam of ye

murmured

the signal-lamp, he had unwittingly answered it. Here, indeed, was a chance of recovering his reputati

l in a nasty fashion. Then, out of the darkness, a voice hailed her in German. The Lieutenant shouted back some meaningless gibberish, trusting to the wi

rail. The man flung out a rope with a hook at the end, caught one of the rungs of the rope ladder, and drew it towards him. Clutching it, he allowed himself to swing off the ha

vely, as the prisoner, with a sailor on eac

hing beneath his breath. Evidently he ha

ted Lawless a

Gelderland?" asked the pri

t

n wh

nant. The prisoner made an abrupt movement, which was checked at sight o

of the situation. He had no gun mounted wherewith to sink th

r!" he ejacu

d swung the vessel round so that she was bows-on to the submarine. At the same moment the latter's hatch opened and a man stepped out, evidently to try and find out what kept the other so long. But before he could real

earings, he left Plymouth far away to starboard and headed down Channel, while, in obedience to his inst

ecipient of a bri

torpedoed, that's what he's done," said

had turned on the mysterious disappearance of the Gelderland with her prize crew. A full week had elapsed s

saw she west of Lizard,"

ot knowing what she was, he had boarded her and seen her captain, a young man who could not speak a word of English; but, as her papers were in order, he had let her proceed without troubling to search her cargo. As day after day passed these stories were added to

instructions to the officers in command of the patrols to make a systematic search for the vess

hard stood in the wheelhouse of the O47 and swept the horizon with his glasses. S

he yelled through the voic

missing prize, calling down maledictions upon himself and all his kin if he failed to lay her by the heels. But the Gelderland was making off as fast as her engines would carry her, and t

prize; and then, as the Lieutenant, descending from the bridge, smiled in a sickly sort of

per, pursuing his investigations, was amazed to find some score of

deuce does this m

" answered the other apologetically, "or the

blazes did th

Gelderland. He had argued that, if one enemy submarine had been deceived by the supply vessel,

ines foundered with them, but we've managed to save about twenty. At first I wondered how they managed to identify the Gelderland in the dark, but I tumbled to it the first night. The m

ll be made a blessed admi

that, the Knat having arrived at Devonport, he was to return to her with rank of Lieutenant-Commander. And that evening Lawless, in the gladness of h