With Beatty off Jutland: A Romance of the Great Sea Fight

s of numerous particles of soot and dust that had drifted in through the sighting apertures of the fire-control station. He could scarcely speak, his throat was parched and gripped by a terrib

e had not felt the wound. Now it

s the crippled foremast gave a sickening jerk with the roll of the s

aged with hoses in quelling the numerous small outbreaks of fire amidships--could be attracted,

n's chum, indicating the solitary

shook

the strength of a steerage rat for a swarm-down

he range-finding officer tentatively, "we might---- B

and surveyed the scene 100 feet below. Viewed from that dizzy height

d. "There's a blueja

were bare. His bronzed face, neck, and hands stood out in vivid contrast to the whiteness of the rest of the skin. His muscles, like whipcord, rippled as he ascended with a steady, even m

th. As he threw back his head to gauge the remaining distanc

on's chum. "It's the man you

s after the Warrior had ceased fire were for the sub who had risked his life on his behalf. Enquiries

off," muttered the man, as he eyed

empt his perilous ascent, A.B. Brown was now well o

by the frayed strands of the wire, the seaman at length gained one of the angle-girders upon which the p

nning-gear had long since "rendered through". The man examined

"paid out" until the line touched the deck. Fortunately there was enough to spare. Three or four of the War

A.B. encouragingly. "We'll have

he metal "bracket", until a sudden thought flashed across his mind

said. "I'll show

ough to bear his weight--he could give Sefton nearly a couple of stones--the sub would run very litt

o lower. Handsomely the men paid out the comparatively frail rope

in the fire-control station were lowered into safety, in spite of the fact th

e of seniority, until the lieutenant settled his subordinate's dispute by declaring that Sefto

lowered in safety. Barely had the lieutenant gained the deck w

d. "I clean forgot all abo

ll they were worth, and, spinning round at the end of the rope,

of the enclosed space, presently to reappear wi

ng officer as he regained the fore-bridge. "I've knock

ring the action?"

idn't! Clean forg

osed an assistant paymaster, vainly attempting t

hell had penetrated the case, reducing t

clear!" shouted

rippled mast buckled up an

um. The imperturbable su

ich, old man," he remarked. "Bu

of action, and the excitement of the titanic struggle was over, the grim realization of what

The Warrior was making water freely. Already her stokeholds and engine-rooms were flooded. Deprived of the aid of her powerful steam bilge-pumps it seem

ver cost the Warrior had to be saved from foundering if human efforts were capable of such a herc

had been brought up from below and laid in rows upon the upper deck. It was a necessary precaution, and clearly indi

ith the flooding of the after magazine all danger of an explosion was now at an end, but, unless the flames were speedily quelled, the possibility of found

ommunication with the rest of the squadron. As helpless as a log, the battered vessel was floating in the vast expanse of the North Sea without a single vessel in sight. The roar of the battle had roll

by a steady breeze that threatened before long to develop into a ha

tes of strenuous exertion on the part of all hands--when a vessel w

her the strange craft were friend or foe no

s chum as the two young officers stood unde

her. But in these times, with a new vessel being added to the navy every

s got out of her bearings and is just sniffing round to se

opposed to an active and mobile foe. Gamely her war-worn men doubled off to the light quick-firers, three rousing cheers

light-cruiser, her speed being about 15 knots. She flew three ensigns on various parts of

rior's men, for now the colours were discernible. They were not the Black Cross of Germany--a

d men could read the letters, but the jumble conveyed nothing to them. Not

ea-plane carrier, that's what she is," he confided in an

for other methods of communication on the part of the Warrior w

r in tow. Already the cruiser's stern was well down, and, badly waterlogged, she would pr

ose to establish communication between his ship and the drifting Warrior, Twice the flexible wire hawser parted like pack-thread. At the third attempt the hawsers held,

hard-pressed squadrons, the German High Seas Fleet was in flight, and betwixt them and their North Sea bases was the invincible Grand F