chop it off. It was something of a job; there wasn't much to hang on
to, and the waves were still breaking over us. But we freed her of the
danger, and she went on--

"We used to wonder where the other boys were, in the midst of all the
racket. One ship was drifting toward the New England coast, her compass
smashed to flinders; others had run for Bermuda, others were still at
sea.

[Sidenote: Good weather at last.]

"Then we had three days of good easterly wind. By jingo, but the good
weather was great! Were we glad to have it?--oh, boy! We had just got
things shipshape again when we had another blow, but this second one was
by no means as bad as the first. And after that we had another spell of
decent weather. The crew used to start the phonograph and keep it going
all day.

[Sidenote: Reaching a friendly coast.]

"The weather was so good that I decided to keep right on to the harbor
which was to be our base over here. I had enough oil, plenty of water;
the only possible danger was a shortage of provisions. So I put us all
on a ration, arranging to have the last grand meal on Christmas day. Can
you imagine Christmas on a little storm-bumped submarine some hundred
miles off the coast? A day or two more and we ran calmly into--shall we
say, 'deleted' harbor?

[Sidenote: The men rejoice at food and baths.]