Passengers were being called to take the places previously assigned to
them in the lifeboats. Captain Merceau and his officers, after a hasty
consultation, were gathered on the bridge, looking for the first sight
of the submarine, or, what was more vital, for the ripples that would
disclose the presence of the torpedo.
But perhaps the most eager of all, and certainly among the most active,
were the members of the gun crews. On both sides of the vessel, and at
bow and stern, the call to quarters had been answered promptly, and with
strained but eager eyes the young men, under their lieutenants, were
watching for the first fair sight of something at which to loose the
missiles of the quick-firing guns.
"Give it to her, lads! Give it to her! All you can pump in!" yelled the
commander of the squad on the port side, for it was off that bow that
the lookout had sighted the periscope.
And while the hurried preparations went on for getting the passengers
into the lifeboats, at the falls of which the members of the crew stood
ready to lower away, there came from the port gun a rattle and barking
of fire.
The periscope had disappeared for a moment after the lookout had sighted
it, but a slight disturbance in the water, a ripple that was different
from the line of foam caused by the breaking waves, showed where it had
been.
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