Abandon Ship!

There were only seconds left, yet in that time Captain Bentley's mind encompassed several possibilities.

The torpedo might be a dud. There might not have been time for the vanes of the firing pistol to screw right back against the detonator. The torpedo could have been dropped at too acute an angle, it might not regain the correct depth in time. The target ship might slip its doom.

The possibilities were abruptly and irrevocably negatived in a gigantic

WHAM of sound. Wind Rode reeled as if she had been clubbed ...