The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1874-05-14
From Victor Hugo's Ninety thrc
Tho Story of the Gun.


carronade in the 9un-deck interrupts conver-
Sation between these three men, and the de-
scription of the scene Of destruction that fol
lowed forms one OF the most powerful episodes
OF the novel.
One of the carronades OF the battery, a
twenty-tour FOUNDER, had got loose.
This is perhaps the most Formidable OF
ocean accidents. Nothing more terrible
can happen to a vessel in open sea and
under full sail
A gun that breaks its moorings becomes
suddenly some indescibable supernatural
beast. 1t is machine which transforms
itself into 4 monster. This mass turns up
on its wheels, has the rapid movements of
a billiard ball; rolls with the rolling,
pitches with the pitching; goes, comes,
pauses seems to mediate; resumes its
course, rushes along the ship from end to
end like an arrow, circles about, springs
aside, evadcs rears, breaks, kills, cNter-
inmates 1t is battering-ram which as
saults a wall at its own caprice. More
oyer the battering-ram is metal, the wall
wood. 1t is the entrance of matter into
liberty. One might say that this eternal
slave avcDgcs itself. 1T seems us if the
power Of evil hidden in what we cali in
animate objects finds Il Vent and bursts
suddenly out. 1t has an air of having lost
patience, of seeking some fierce, obscure
retribution: nothing more memorable than
this rage of the inanimate The mad mass
has the bounds of a panther, and the
weight of an elephant. the agility of a
mouse, the obstinacy of the OK, the uneN-
pectedness of the surge. the rapidity of
lightning the deafness of the tomb 1t
weighs 10, GOO pounds, and it trebounds like
:; childs ball Its flight is Il wild whirl
abruptly cut at right angles. What is to
be done? How to end this ? A tempest
ceases. 4 cyclone passes. Il wind falls u
broken mast is replaced, q leak is stopped,
q fire dies out; but how to control this
enormous brute of bronze? In what way
can one attack it?
You can make mastitf hear reason, as
tound 4 bull, tascinate a boa, trightcn :,
tiger, soften 4 lion; but there is no re-
source with that monster, 4 cannon let
loose You cannot kin tit Is dead; al
the same time it lives. 1t lives with SIN
i-ter life bestowed on it by ln1inity.
The planks beneath it give it play 1t is
moved by the ship, which is moved by the
sea. which is moved by the wind This
destroyer is 4 plaything The ship, the
waves, the blasts, all aid it hence its
trighttul vitality How to assail this fury
of complication How to tettcr this mon
strous mechanism for wrecking a ship ?
Flow foresee its comings and @oings, its
returns, its stops, its shocks? Any one OF
these blows upon the side may stave ont
the vessel. How divine its awful gyrations'
One has to deal with a proiectile which
thinks, seems to possess ideas, and which
changes its direction at each instant. How
stop the course of something which must
be avoided? The horrible cannon filings
itself about, advances, recoils, strikes to
the left, fees, passes, ,disconcerts ambushes,
breaks down obstacles, crushcs men like
flies. The great danger of the situation
is in the mobility Of It's base. How com
bat an inclined plane which has capriccs
The ship. so to speak, has lightning i'm
prisoned in its womb which seeks to es-
cape; it is like thunder rolling above an
earthquake.
In an instant, the whole crew were on
foot The fault was the chief gunners
he had neglected to fix home the screw
nut OF the mooring- chain and had so bad
ly shackled the four wheels of the carron-
ade that the play given to the sole and
frame had separated the platform, and
ended by breaking the breeching. The
cordage had broken, SO that the gun was
no longer secure on the carriage. The
stationary breec4ling which prevents re-
coil, was not in use at that period. As a
heavy wave struck the port, the carronade,
weakly attached, recoiled, burst its cham,
and began to rush wildly about Conceive,
in order to have an idea of this strange
sliding, a drop Of water running down a
pane of glass.
AT the moment when the lashing gave
way, the gunners We're in the battery
some in groups, others standing alone
occupied with such duties as sailors per
form i'll expectation Of the command to
clear for action The carronade, hurled
forward by the pitching, dashed into this
knot Of men, and crushed four at the first
blow; then flung back and shot out anew
by the rolling, it cut in two fifth pool
fellow, glanced off to the larboard side,
and struck a piece of the battery with
such force as to unship it. Then rose the
cry of distress which had been heard The
men rushed toward the ladder-the gun
deck emptied in the twinkling of an eye
The enormous cannon was left alone. She
was given up to herself She was her own
mistress, and mistress of the vessel She
could do what she willcd with both. The
whole crew, accustomed to laugh in battle
trembled now. To describe the universal
terror would be impossible.
Capt. Boisberthelot and Lieut. Vieuville
although both intrepid men, stopped al
the head of the stairs, and remained mute
pale, hesitating, looking down on the
deck. Some one pushed them aside with
his elbow and descended
1t was their passenger. the peasant, the
man Of whom they had been speaking q
moment before
When he reached the foot Of the ladder
he stood still
Inc cannon came and went along the
deck. One might have fancied it the liy-
lng chariot Of the Apocalypse The marine
lantern osclllating from the ceiling added
dizzying whirl of lights and shadow,
to this vision. The shape of the cannon
was undistinguishablc from the rapidity
of its course; now it looked black in tho
light, now it cast weird reflections through
the gloom.
1t kept on its work of destruction. 1t ha(
'tiie'tuy shattered loiI olner pieces, ant
dug two creyiccs in the side, fortunately
above the water-line, though they woulo
leak in case squall should come on. Il
dashed itself frantically against the frame
work; the solid tie-beams resisted, theil
curved form giving them great strength
but they creaked ominously under the as
saults OF this terrible club, which seemed
endowed with sort of appalling ubiquity
striking on every side at once. The strokes
of a bullet shaken in bottle would not bt
madder or more rapid The four wheels
passed and repassed above the dead men
cut, carved, slashed them, till the five
corpses were score Of stumps rolling
about the deck the heads seemed to cry
out; streams Of blood twisted in and ou
ofthe planks with every pitch OF the vessel