"A destroyer driving directly at us at full tilt with all her guns in
action!" roared McClure.
At the same moment he touched off another torpedo; but, in his eagerness
for another "bull's eye" the American commander had fired too soon,
and the torpedo shot past the destroyer, missing the mark by ten yards.
In retaliation, the forward guns of the German craft belched forth a
salvo of leaden hail that followed the path of the searchlight's rays
directly upon the eyes of the _Monitor_. With unerring aim the
German gunners had found their mark. A sharp crash; a roar as the
water above the _Monitor's_ conning tower was converted into a boiling
maelstrom, and the impact of steel against steel betokened the fact
that a shot had struck home in the superstructure of the attacking sub.
"Our periscope's cutoff clean as a whistle," exclaimed McClure as he
backed away from the tube through which he had been observing the
approach of the enemy craft.
"Quick, lower away!" he commanded.
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