On the other hand, sleep did not come to Jack so soon.  For an hour or more he lay in his bunk, reviewing the events of the past and his responsibilities of the present.

“It’s a big job I have now,” he told himself.  “I hope I can carry it through successfully.”

But he didn’t have the slightest doubt that he could.  Jack’s one best characteristic was absolute confidence in himself.

CHAPTER V

A RESCUE

H.M.S.  Brigadier was steaming steadily along at a speed of twenty knots.  Jack himself held the bridge.  Frank and Lieutenant Hetherton, who stood nearby, were discussing the sinking several days before of a large allied transport by a German submarine in the Irish sea.

“She was sunk without warning, the same as usual,” said Hetherton.

“The Germans never give warning any more,” replied Frank, “Of course, the reason is obvious enough.  To give warning it would be necessary for the submarine to come to the surface, in which case the merchant ship might be able to place a shell aboard the U-Boat before she could submerge again.  So to take time to give warning would be a disadvantage to the submarine.”

“At the same time,” said Hetherton, “it’s an act of barbarism to sink a big ship without giving passengers and crew a word of warning.”

“Oh, I’m not defending the German system,” declared Frank.  “I am just giving you what I believe is the German viewpoint.”

“Nevertheless,” said Hetherton, “it’s about time such activities were stopped.”

“It certainly is.  But it seems that the U-Boats are growing bolder each day.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me,” declared Lieutenant Hetherton, “to hear almost any day that U-Boats had crossed the Atlantic to prey on shipping in American waters.”

Frank looked at the second officer sharply.  He was sure that Jack had not divulged the real reason for their present voyage, and he had said nothing about the matter himself.

“Just a chance remark, I guess,” Frank told himself.  Aloud he said:  “I hardly think it will come to that.”

“I hope not,” replied Hetherton, “but you never can tell, you know.”

“That’s true enough, too,” Frank agreed, “but at the same—­”

He broke off suddenly as he caught the sharp hail of the forward lookout.

“Ship in distress off the port bow, sir,” came the cry.

Jack was at once called to the deck.

Instantly Frank and Lieutenant Hetherton sprang to Jack’s side.  At almost the same moment the radio operator emerged from below on the run.

“Message, sir,” he exclaimed, and thrust a piece of paper in Jack’s hand.  Jack read it quickly.  It ran like this: 

“Merchant steamer Hazelton, eight thousand tons, New York to Liverpool with munitions and supplies, torpedoed by submarine.  Sinking.  Help.”