Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1880-07-14

playing lawn-tennis, in u modified forms
known as STICKY" in courts constructed
out of the boards Of old targets past work,
the time had passed very pleasantly. 1t
was now August, and very hot one;
the sun burned in the heavens like red
coal, and scorched up the scanty water
that the sandbeds contained, till we had
to send miles away to fetch what was re-
quIred for the use of the barracks. Work
of any kind was an effort. One felt In
clined to spend the day swimming lazily
about, or sitting on warm rock, after
the fashion of Tennyson's norman. 1t
was one of these aquatic excursions
which got me into the greatest scrape |
have ever been in, or thatI ever shall be
Ii, hope, as the sensation was anything
but pleasant.
must premise that | was very fair
swimmer, having learned that art,
amongst many other useful things, at the
academy, and progressed favorably in it
during q course of seaside fort residences.
NV great ambition had always been to
swim round the 1000 target some day
when the tide was in, and at length
I determined to make the attempt. The
feat seems easy enough, no doubt, but |
was no Captain Webb and amongst my
felow-officers there were few who would
have attempted it, SO | felt rather in
clined to be able to say that had been
there Confiding my intention to no
one, started one day from the gun-pier
just before slack water, counting on get
ting back before the tide turned again.
1t was a hot day, as have before said,
and [ swan very slowly; however, ar
rived at my destination without much
difficulty. The framework on which the
target hoated offered pleasant resting
place, and | lay down on it lazily, in
tending to take some five minutes breath
ing time, and then strike out for home.
But, alas for the feebleness of human
resolutions! Between the warm sun
and the long swim and the recumbent
posture, [ had not been there two min
utes before [ was fast asleep. | had
curious dream. / had been reading
rather wild book of speculative astrono-
my that morning, and had been some
what struck by the writer's theory that
the end of the world would come through
the fiery vapors and lava of tho interior
of the earth breaking through the thin
crust thereof / dreamed now that such
catastrophe was imminent, and that
L was calmly inspecting a pressure gauge
to ascertain how long the globe would
yet endure. Fearlessly, as happens in
dreams, | felt the increasing heat be-
meath me. Tremors and indistinct dis
tant rumblings came rising up from in
finite depths, until the ground shook
and quivered under my feet. Higher
ran the warning dial hand upon the dial,
and at length, with a mighty crash, the
world exploded, and was hurled not
into chaos, but splash into the waters of
the estuary of the river Thamesl
Thoroughly awakened, as the reader
may suppose, | rose to. the surface, gulp-
ing down mouthful of water. swallowed
in the surprise. As I clutched the frame
work beside me, twas conscious of a
dazzling red flash like sheet-lightning,
followed by a tremendous report and
rafting all about me, as though a shower
of hail were falling. I had seen too much
OF artillery not to know what this aston,
| lshing meteor was-a shrapnel she'll.
Perhaps there may be some of my
readers ignorant of what such missile
is; for, indeed, it is of somewhat late
invention. Let them imagine, then,
cylindrical shell of iron, ogival-headed,
and containing as many bullets as it
will conveniently hold, comfortably set
| is a small charge of powder, ignited by
!
/ time. On this delightful machine ex-
ploding, out fly bullets, and by the mex
orable laws of dynamics, partaking of
the original motion of the shell, cover
the ground before them for hundreds of
yards with a .feu denter, as of a whole
regiment firing volleys.
Such an implement Of destruction is
well enough to talk about: but when it's
violence is directed against oneself,
there is less pleasure in the contempla-
ton. Clearly [ had slept so long that
the ordinary afternoon practice had be-
! gun, and from two guns evidently, or the
! one shot could not have followed the
other so rapidly. Only few seconds
| had I for these thoughts ere I saw red
flash leap out from the flag crowned bat
| terry on shore. Instantly dived as deep
as could, and heard, deadened by the
water above me, the sharp report of the
! shell. AS [ rose to The surface again, [
| saw white splinters on the woodwork
of the target, that showed how true the
! aim had been. Scarcely had [ time to
| take breath when the red flash leaped
again, and again I dived. They were
good gun observation-disclosures better any
where; and the guns were light ones
| 16-pounders. Often had [ competed my
| self IN race with time running the gun
up again almost before the recoil had
ceased, and ramming home shot and car
fridge ere it had regained it's former
position again. Now, no doubt my COM
rades were hard at work, wondering,
perhaps, what had become Of me.
! Eight separate times had dived, and
my strength was failing fast. Even now
there was ringing noise in my head
which almost stupefed me, and was
/ gr wing more painful every Instant. Ii
stood up on the framework and tried
to signal to the shore, must stand at
least one shot, and that was almost GER
tain death.
Even in that desperate moment an ab-
surd idea came into my head, as such
! things will come sometimes. [ had read
somewhere of an ingenious recipe for
finding safe place on board a ship in
action by putting ones head out at hole
where shot had come in, relying on
| the improbabilitv of another coming in