"
As he rang the engine room to shut off power, the American commander
added, with flashing eyes:
"If we don't bring down one of these prowlers before this night is over
I'll go back home and ship as deckhand on a Jersey City ferry-boat."
Suspended fifty feet below the surface of the sea, the _Dewey_ floated
like a cork in a huge basin while her officers took further observations
on the movements of the German warships above them. Now that their
presence was known the American officers realized they would be
accorded a stiff reception when they next went "up top.".
"I'm going to try it," announced McClure shortly. "We'll take a chance
and pay our respects to one of their tubs."
The _Dewey_ forthwith began to rise. At the direction of the navigating
officer two hundred pounds of ballast were expelled. Tilting fore and
aft like a rocking horse, the submersible responded gradually to the
lightening process until at last the depth dial showed only a margin
of several feet needed to lift the eyes of the periscopes above the
waves.
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