noon
Through the periscope he saw one after the other of the torpedo-craft give up the fight they were not designed for , and ship after ship hoist that silent prayer for help . They yawed badly , but in some manner or other managed to follow the flag-ship , which , alone of that armada , steered fairly well . She kept on the course for the Golden Gate . Even submerged Metcalf outran the fleet before noon , and at night had dropped it , entering the Golden Gate before daylight , still submerged , not only on account of the troublesome turmoil on the surface , but to avoid the equally troublesome scrutiny of the forts , whose searchlights might have caught him had he presented more to their view than a slim tube painted white . Avoiding the mines , he picked his way carefully up to the man-of-war anchorage , and arose to the surface , alongside the _ Delaware _ , now the flag-ship , as the light of day crept upward in the eastern sky . `` We knew they were on the coast , '' said the admiral , a little later , when Metcalf had made his report on the quarter-deck of the _ Delaware _ . `` But about this light ?