Nearly two minutes were necessary to get the little undersea craft
down far enough to evade the prow of the oncoming destroyer, and even
then the conning tower furnished a target that might be crushed by the
nose of the enemy ship and precipitate an avalanche of water into the
hold---with disaster for the men assembled at their posts of duty.
"They are right on top of us now," screamed Sammy Smith as he hugged
the microphone receivers to his ears.
If the destroyer was going to get the submarine, now was the fatal
moment!
The _Dewey_ suddenly lunged like a great tiger leaping from the limb
of a tree upon its prey. Responding to a signal from his commander,
Chief Engineer Blaine had suddenly shot into the submarine's engines
the full power of the electric storage batteries and hurled the
_Dewey_ forward with a great burst of speed. There was a slim chance
that the swift-moving German warship might be sidestepped by a quick
maneuver, and the crafty McClure was leaving no deep-sea trick unturned.
Pages:
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70