It was no easy task to get a rope
around first one dummy torpedo, and then the other. Yet at last this
was done, and the heavy objects were hoisted aboard and stored below.
"Now, we'll get off and sink the scow, before dark," muttered Lieutenant
Danvers.
"Are you going to let me fire the torpedo at her, sir?" demanded Skipper
Jack Benson, eagerly.
"If you feel sure you can do it," replied the naval officer. "For that
matter, if you fail, there'll be one loaded torpedo left, and I can
take the second shot."
At a sign from the young skipper Eph hurried below, to relieve Hal
Hastings, who wished to see some of the fun. Hal came up into the
conning tower to take the wheel while Jack Benson slipped below to
direct the loading of the torpedo into the tube. Then Biffens, the
sailor, took his post by the firing lever, while Ewald stood back to
pass the word from the conning tower.
This loaded torpedo, like the dummies, had been set to run four hundred
yards. Captain Jack, therefore, determined to release the torpedo at
a range of three hundred yards.
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