The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1889-03-28

in the history Of the world.
1t is no wonder that many people Ct
sober judgment in America looked upon |
the affair Of the crabs and the repciless
as but an incident in The beginning OF { |
great and disastrous war.
On the morning Of the destruction Of
Fort Pitcher the syndicatc's vessels /
moved toward the port. and the steel net
was taken up by the two crabs. and
moved nearer the mouth of the harbor, !
at point from which the fort, now in
process of evacuation, was in full view.
When this had been done, sepellcr No.
2 took up her position at a moderate dis
tance behind the net. and the other YES
sells stationed themselves near by.
The protection Of the net was consid-
cred necessary, for although there could
be no reasonable doubt that all the tor
pedoes in the harbor and river had been
exploded, others might be sent out
against the syndicate's vessels, and
torpedo under crab or a rcpeler. was
the enemy most feared by The syndicate.
About o'clock the signals between
the rcpellers became very frequent, and
soon afterwards a truce boat went out
from Repel!er No. l. This was rowed
with great rapidity, but it was obliged to
go much farther up the harbor than Oh
previous occasions, in order to deliver its
message to an officer of the garrison.
This was to the effect that the evacua-
ton Of the fort had been Observed from
the syn,licate's vessels, and although it
had been apparently complete, one OF
the scientific corps, with a powerful
glass, had discovered man in one Of the
outer redCubts, whose presence there
was probably unknown to the officers Of
the garrison. 1t was. therefore, earn
estly urged that this man might be in
stantly removed. and in order that this
Nigh. be done, the discharge Of the mo-
tor bomb would be postponed half an
hour.
The officer received this message and
was disposed to look ui,on it as new
trick, Lut as no time was to he lost he
sent corporals guard to the fort, and
there discovered an Irish sergeant by the
name Of kilscy, who had sworn an oath
that if every other man in tl;e fort ran
away like lot of addle pated sheep lie
would not run with them; he would
stand to his post TO the last. and when
the couple Of ships outside had got
through EoinbarGing the stout walls Of
the fort, the world would SEQ that there
was al least one British soldier who Was
not afraid Of a bomb, be it little or big.
Therefore he had managed to eluGe oo-
scrvation, and to remain behind.
The sergeant was SO kCt headed in his
determination to stand by the fort that
it required violence to relno-c hi:.i; and
it w;;s not until twenty minutes past 4
that the syndicate observers perceived
that lie had been taken to the hill behind
which the garrison was clcumpcd.
AS it had been decided that Repeller
No. 9 should discharge the next irstan-
taneous motor bomb, there was en-
anxious desire on the part of The opera
tors on that vessel that in this, their first
experience, they might Go their duty as
we'll as their comrades Oh board the other
rcpelcr had done theirs. The Eost ac-
curatc observations, tie most careful cal
culations, were made and renlatle, the
point to be aimed at being about tie
center of the fort.
The motor bomb had been in the can
non for nearly al hour, and everything
had long been ready, when at precisely
thirty minutes past 4 O'Clock the signal
to discharge came from the diractor-in-
chief, and in four seconds aiterward the
index Oh the scale indicated that the
gun was in the proper position, ana tic
, button was touched.
~ !, 70 4 ~.
stant it should touch any portion Of the
fort, and the effect was different from
that Of the other bombs. There was a
quick, lard shock, but it was all in the
air. Thousands of panes of glass in the
city and in houses for miles around were
cracked or broken; birds fell dead OF
stunned upon the ground, and people on
. elevations at considerable distances felt
. as if they had received q blow; but there
/ was no trembling of the ground. ;
AS to the fort, it had entirely disap-
peared, its particles having been instan-
tanccusly removed to great distance in
every direction, falling over such vast
expanse Of land and water that their dc
scent was undesirable.
In the place where the fortress had
stood there was q wide tract Of bare
earth, which looked IS If it had been
scraped into staring dead level Q!
gravel and clay. The instan:ancou:
motor bomb had been arranged to act
almost horizontally.
Few persons, except those who from {
distance had been watching the fort witt
glasses, understood what had happened
bat every one in the city and surround
ing country was conscious that some
thing had happened Of most startling
kind and that it was over in the same
instant in which they had perceived it
Everywhere there was the noise of fall
ing window glass. There were those
who asserted that for an instant they haC
heard in the distance a grinding crash
and there were others who were
quite sure that they had noticed wha'
might be called flash of darkness, IS i
something had, with almost unapprcci
able Guickness, passed between them ane
the sun.
When the officers of the garrison
mounted the hill before them and s"r
veyed the place where their fort has
been. there was not one Of them who flat
sufficient command of himself to write ;
report Of What had happened. The,
eazed ct the bare, staring flatness OF tn
shorn bluff. and they looked at each other
This was no. war. It was something
supernatural, awful! They were no
frightened; they were oppressed ana ap