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before had I been so proud of my nationality as I was that moment. In all the

chaos which followed the torpedoing of the liner no officer or member of the crew

lost his head or showed in the slightest any degree of panic or fear.

While we were attempting to lower boats, the submarine emerged and trained

guns on us. The officer in command ordered us to lower our flag, but this the

captain of the liner refused to do. The ship was listing frightfully to starboard,

rendering the port boats useless, while half the starboard boats had been

demolished by the explosion. Even while the passengers were crowding the

starboard rail and scrambling into the few boats left to us, the submarine

commenced shelling the ship. I saw one shell burst in a group of women and

children, and then I turned my head and covered my eyes.

When I looked again to horror was added chagrin, for with the emerging of the U-

boat I had recognized her as a product of our own shipyard. I knew her to a rivet.

I had superintended her construction. I had sat in that very conning-tower and

directed the efforts of the sweating crew below when first her prow clove the

sunny summer waters of the Pacific; and now this creature of my brain and hand

had turned Frankenstein, bent upon pursuing me to my death.

A second shell exploded upon the deck. One of the lifeboats, frightfully

overcrowded, swung at a dangerous angle from its davits. A fragment of the shell

shattered the bow tackle, and I saw the women and children and the men

vomited into the sea beneath, while the boat dangled stern up for a moment from

its single davit, and at last with increasing momentum dived into the midst of the

struggling victims screaming upon the face of the waters.

Now I saw men spring to the rail and leap into the ocean. The deck was tilting to

an impossible angle. Nobs braced himself with all four feet to keep from slipping

into the scuppers and looked up into my face with a questioning whine. I stooped

and stroked his head.

Come on, boy!" I cried, and running to the side of the ship, dived headforemost

over the rail. When I came up, the first thing I saw was Nobs swimming about in

a bewildered sort of way a few yards from me. At sight of me his ears went flat,

and his lips parted in a characteristic grin.

The submarine was withdrawing toward the north, but all the time it was shelling

the open boats, three of them, loaded to the gunwales with survivors.

Fortunately the small boats presented a rather poor target, which, combined with

the bad marksmanship of the Germans preserved their occupants from harm;

and after a few minutes a blotch of smoke appeared upon the eastern horizon and

the U-boat submerged and disappeared.

The Land That Time Forgot