Commander Lawless V.C.

documents which lay before him on the cabin table. "I

sked Trent, glancing up fr

is settled immediately, we shall be reluctantly compelled'-and so on and so on. What I don't like about these chaps is their infernal

as dunned, you rem

o have a go of toothache it doesn't do me any good to

coffee, it'l

e suggestion, "that there's a thousand pound

n as you've brought down a Zeppelin you will settle

t," answered Lawless, as he rose from the tab

ng her way out of the Humber towards her alloted beat "somewhere" in the North Sea. Later, when off Spurm Head, instructions were received

couldn't see a liner a cable's length away in this fog,"

eching and bellowing, some close at hand, others far away in the distance. It was, in fact, just the sort of weather that the Germans love when contempl

rt of tonic," said Lawless as Trent joined him on the

d the junior off

ls-which did not tend to improve the Lieutenant's temper-the Knat d

e peace and quietness," s

that it was not thunder but the sound of heavy guns. Either there was an engagement taking place or else the Germans had crept up through the

for, should a warship be sighted, the difficulty of deciding whether she was a friend or an enemy would be enormously increased. War vessels, seen at a distance even on a clear day, look much alike, and in a thick atmosphere it is practically impossible even for an expert to distinguish friend from foe. A wireless message of inq

eered in that direction. As the Knat slowly felt her way through the fog the sound of the guns grew louder and more distinct, thereby confirming the Lieutenant

t over'ead, sir

-lying mist, the dim outline of an enormous o

. "If only I had an Archie aboard

-guns, mounted as they were, be made to fire in a vertical direction. So Lawless had to gnash his teeth and watch the

hat I could almost touch her," he said b

ur Q.F's vertically," remarked the Sub-L

idea had not previously occurred to him. It was too late now, for it would take at least half a day to accomplish

rd of the destroyer, and a column of water arose so

imed Lawless, at the same time ringing

ll continued, though with decreasing vigour, as if fewer ships were engaged. This suggested to Lawless that some of the enemy v

tand-by for trouble," said the Lieutenant as

who was straining his eyes in an

Knat was one of infinite peril, for they did not know from one moment to another when, from out of the enveloping fog, a great towering mass might hurl itself upon their frail craft and s

ainst the impalpable curtain of mist. For a moment it looked as if the destro

tinctively gripped the bridge-rail as i

d the quartermaster, and sent

ould have been cut in twain like a rotten log. But, as it was, the destroyer swerved to star

hat," murmured Tre

fog once more closed in on them and hid the other ves

er; "she might be British, Germ

for a bit," said the Lieutenant. "Some

e the scene of action now, Lawless did the best thing possible in following the ship which had so nearly run him down. If she w

y her by sight, but a chance occurrence, such as a bugle call, a loud order given on deck, or a call on the pipe, might afford a clue. Meanwhile it was necessary to prevent those on board from suspecting the

o pound along in a south-easterly direction, e

s certainly laying a course towards Heligoland, and if we're not mighty careful we'll find

ess in Englis

ant. "If he's a German he'd sav

n the sea. There was every prospect of its soon disappearing altogether, and then, perhaps,

Others followed in quick succession, some of the bombs falling so close to the destroyer that the men standing by the torpedo tubes were drenched by the water they threw up. There

"We're in company with a German

twig. Obviously the Zeppelin, having sighted the Knat and notified the fact in the usual way with bombs, had warned her sea consort of the destroyer's proximity by wireless, and the cruiser had

until he could launch a torpedo with a fair chance of its getting "home." This man?uvre, however, was not by any means easy, for it necessitated exposing the Knat to the enemy's fire, and if only one shot made good

ad been wrecked by the only air-bomb which, up to the present, had struck the vessel. With such odds against him, Lawless would have been quite justified in drawing off; but to retire before a superior

off this time or go to

good-bye all," com

terrific fire. The two for'a'd funnels were reduced to the condition of sieves, the wireless room was smashed to splinters, and Lawless himself narrowly escaped dea

s, and then as the Knat, reeling under the blast of

ion; from the engine-room gratings there issued clouds of smoke and scalding steam; the shrieks of wounded and scalded men arose above the

the Lieutenant, and somewhere amid the drifting

r lurch and the water cam

p! Every man

plosion in the engine-room and, before the steam from the shattered boilers had cleared away, nothing remained of the gal

of impending suffocation and an almost intolerable pressure on his lungs oppressed him as he struck upwards. At last, when his chest felt as if it were about to burst, he reached the surface and trod water while he sucked in deep breaths of air. Then, through the thin veil of mist, he cau

then realised that the vessel had a heavy list to port. Too dazed to draw any significant deductions from this, he worked his way along the spar till

ndoned by her crew. Obviously, therefore, his last torpedo had found its billet, and the

e above his head made him look up. A Zeppelin, no doubt the same one which had been piloting the crui

hing down," reflected Lawless, forg

stood were a couple of anti-aircraft guns, and, without stopping to weigh the consequences, he crossed to one of

losion, but before the smoke had cleared away Lawless had trained the second gun on the airship and fired again. Then, without waiting to ascertain the result of his shots, he took a header i

and sparks-all that remained of the great airship. Only for a second or two was Lawless able to gaze at this fearful spectacle of calamity heaped upon calamity to which sea and air

be able to stand me a d

eaker and looking quite abnormally cheerful. But the Lieutenant was still oppressed

p," he

but I should have thought that the prospect of handlin

thousand pounds. But now, strange to say, he did not feel elated in the least degree; the triple tragedy in which the Knat, the German crui

have gone under do

between twenty and thirty. But that's n

were survivors of the Knat, some of the German cruiser, and in several cases men who less than a quarter of an hour ago

utenant, "the chances are that

oking round, saw a couple of destroyers approachin

" he ej

mong the last to be rescued were Lawless and his junior officer, and when the boats had returned to the destroyers the latter m

as he and Trent sat at breakfast in a certain old-fashion

over the boodle?" aske

the major yesterday, who's

y pig

" went on Lawless. "

t y

en, look

"Naval Appointments." Trent leaned forward and read: "Lieutena

ll be an admiral some day i

ofession and cultivate habits of cleanliness a

ds," said Trent, "don't you think you might pay that

nswered Lawless. "However," he went on condescendingly, "I'll see what I can do for you. What

patrol boat which had just come fussily into harbour. When Trent j

s just come into money--

"how gallantly she behaved in that scrap wi

ared for

he old Knat," he said, a

storm off the coast

he, too, was

o you think I can exult over a paltry thousand pounds when she's

inished and Lawless stare

E

ain by W. H. Smith &

Street, L