Whether the submarine had expended her last torpedo, or whether having
missed what she intended for a vital shot she deemed there was not time
to launch another and had sunk out of sight, or whether she were
disabled, were questions perhaps never to be answered.
At any rate, the approach of the destroyer, which came on with amazing
speed, served to make the _Jeanne_ comparatively safe. The lifeboats
were emptied of their passengers, and once more there was a feeling of
comparative safety as the passengers again thronged the decks.
On came the destroyer. She proved to be one of Uncle Sam's boats, and
the joy with which she was greeted was vociferous and perhaps a little
hysterical. She had learned by wireless of the appearance of the French
craft in the danger zone, and had come to fulfill her mission. She had
been delayed by a slight accident, or she would have been on hand when
the submarine first approached.
The wireless message that had come just as the German craft appeared had
been from the destroyer, to bid those aboard the _Jeanne_ have no fear,
for help was on the way. And soon after the grim and swift craft from
the United States had begun to slide along beside the _Jeanne_ two more
destroyers, one of them British, made their appearance, coming up with
the speed of ocean greyhounds.
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