Make up the boarding party as usual.
Mr. Somers, you will go in command of the launch. And I will accompany
you this time. Mr. Fullerton, when I leave the bridge, you will assume
command."
Both officers, as they received their orders, saluted.
Bang! The signal gun barked out, the flash from the muzzle sending a
long tongue of red through the darkness.
But the stranger continued on her way through the night. Ensign
Fullerton regarded the young commanding officer of the gunboat
expectantly.
"Put a solid shot across her bows, Mr. Fullerton."
Again the order was transmitted, with little noise. The gun-crew then
awaited the signal from the executive officer.
Bang! This time the solid shot struck the water a bare fifty feet ahead
of the strange craft's bows as she forged on through the waves, her bow
stirring up a gleaming white foam.
"That ought to stop her!" muttered Lieutenant Jack Benson, impatiently.
"I don't believe it is going to, though, sir," reported Ensign Fullerton,
studying the other vessel through his night-glass. "I don't see a sign
of motion on the stranger's decks."
"Load again with solid shot, then," directed the gunboat's young
commander.
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