He determined to chance a shot at the destroyer, submerge and go out
to sea again. Sighting on the dimly outlined destroyer he released
a torpedo and then, without waiting to observe the result of the
random shot, gave the signal to dive.
Down went the _Dewey_. And in another moment, as the gallant sub
slipped away into the depths, she lurched suddenly with a staggering
motion and brought up sharp with an impact that shook the vessel from
stem to stern. Officer Cleary was catapulted off his feet and crashed
into the steel conning tower wall, with an exclamation of pain.
The _Dewey_ seemed to have run hard against an undersea wall.
"Reverse the engine!" shouted McClure. "We must have run upon a
sandy shoal."
Frantically he rang the engine room to back away. But the order came
too late. With a slow ringing noise that plainly bespoke the grating
of the ship's keel on the bed of the ocean the submarine slid forward
and then came to a dead stop, quivering in every steel plate from the
tremendous throbbing of her engines.
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