The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-01-27
The Flying Squadron.

pushing the DoX across the oaoie eo"aiN
him.
mo, thank you,'' he replied; but, with
your permission. I'll fill my pipe from your
bowl. Indeed, when / came up TO your
room II was only for a little tcbacco-ran
out myself-cigars all gone And here II Is
already IL o'clock. My! my, how time hies
when one gets notwithstanding. But. to
continue"
Now. when my good friend Lieutenant
Swash takes possession Of me and my room
at IL D. m, / do not always consider IL my
duty to listen TO him. He has been sucn
frequent visitor of mine since he has been
staying at our boarding house; and, then.
ne is one of those individuals who SO lose
themselves in their own variations that
they even forget they have an audience.
So, when the Lieutenant said: Now 10
continue" / sank deeper into my big caar
and gazed absently into the fire.
He was talking warfare of the future
What cared / for that, who possessed
neither stocks that would go down nor food
products that would go up. My eyeiids
closed YEARLY; how / wished he would CO.
Then he made statement SO absurd that
laughed
1T took place on July 16, 1885, 1 heard
him say.
Eighteen forty-six.'' ] corrected.
Now, see here said the naval man,
testify. How old co you think / am
eighty? Pshaw! I was thirty then. 1t was
1945, and Please don't contradict me. 1t
was fifty years hence it all happened"
IF you will have il so, all well'' / said.
Now the date is settled and you thor
Oughly understand the cause of the war
(rrG he or vln- rba ri GOV
ering of the earth to a height of 1900 feet,
basing the claim on the fact that as far
back as 1899 an English bal,oonist had dis
appeared from view at that height-he was
never seen again. Such clam as this,
had II been recognized by other nations,
would have given her too great control
claimed up to an altitude of LOCO over the
United States. but she would not recognize
this, and refused to arbitrate. The result
was War-terrible war"
L took my pipe from between my teeth
and fixed a cold eye on the speaker
Lieutenant Swash," said, in low but,
cause Of the war five times. / have swa:-
lowed your dates and may be able 10 gulp
down your facts, but / ask that you de-
sist from repetition
Well, wei, if you'll have ii SO, I'll go
ahead. Having the cause straight in your
nina, you VIII remember That 1t was July
10. l9i6, that the fight occurred. There
We're three battle ships in our fleet: Admiral
Wad's flagship, the Swallow, carrying hf-
teen tons of dynamite and two machine
guns; the Lightning, Captain Blower, ten
Ions or dynamite and two six-.nch rifles
the Hawk, Captain Wind, eleven tons of
dynamite and one pneumatic gun, used for
throwing explosives at the enemy an case
she got above US. We were accompanied
by two small torpedo boats and the swift
unarmored cruiser, Kalamazoo, which we
expected to be of little service. since a
bullet could nave punctured her and sent
her to earth forever We lay about five
hundred miles east Of New York for four
days, awaiting the approach of the enemy .
flying squadron 1t was 10 O'Clock on the
morning of July 10 when we sighted them.
about two hundred miles away, running to-
ward us at a rapid rate. They must have
seen US at about the same time, for they
sneered off little toward the north and
began to rise.
Admiral Wad, at whose side was stand
ing on the quarter deck of the Swallow,
modern warfare it's the fellow who gets
above the other and drops dynamite on
at an altitude of about 5000 feet. and did
not lose any time getting higher. / can
see the grand old admiral now as he stood
at the switch board. coolly putting his cigar
as If he was at his club down in New York
There was not tremor observable i'm his
long thin finger as he pushed the button
marked up Then We began to ascend.
1.-The two other battle ships followed,
and as we arose We cleared for action. The
Kalamazoo and the torpedo boats were left
behind, it was not deemed advisable TO
expose their frail structures to the enemy S
fire.
Il confess. as stood beside my brave
leader and felt our ship mounting higher
and higher and shooting on toward the
enemy at speed of ninety miles an hour;
watched the crew of ten men coolly placing
dynamite bombs in the most convenient
places; saw the three great steel balloons
Of our enemy's squadron glistening in the
strange inward sensation that heretofore
l believed could only be caused by Welsh
rabbit at a. m,
your Welsh rabbits, Lieutenant" / ven
tured, mildly.
I'm total abstainer, SIR" he replied,
quietly. And never did I have more cause
to be thankful for it than on that day. l
was in full possession of my mental facul-
ties, otherwise ] would never have been
two hours. And the crew. tool never saw
Drawer set of fellows in my life; not a
moist eye or a trembling lip among them.
The enemy had two firet-class battle
ships and two second-cass. They advanced
in line parallel TO ours. Admiral Wad
signalled Commodore Blower to engage the
two second-class ships on the left, TO Wind TO
take the right. leaving us the flagship In
the center This vessel, I saw through my
glasses, was a little larger, but of almost
the same construction as the Swallow.
of steel, fully $50 feet in length. with the car
swung beneath it: an armored turret fore
the great propeller fan and two huge rud-
ders for steering. / saw her crew running
to and fro getting in readiness for the con-
flict: her commander, with little knot of
~ scanning our fleet. Higher and higher
we arose, the air rapidly getting more and
more ra re and our eatfing becoming more
and more rapid. / looked down at the SEA,
which was glimmerirg 1900 feet below us
in the sunlight / turned my eyes at the
great cylinder overhead; shot holes in two
of it's air-tignt compartments-and what a
fall. But there were other things to
think of.
Admiral / gasped If we go much
higher, we shall die for want of air.
90 Mr.. Swash.' replied the grand old salt,
duty before breath always-remember that,
sir. I'm afraid the ship will not carry much
higher. Well get over them, don't you
think, Captain Howitzer"
'Howitzer gazed anxiously at the enemy.
who were now within fifteen miles, and re-
piled:
Close call. sir
Then to the men:
" Stand ready to drop ton of dynamite
on them If we go Ger them"
LAS he spoke thee was puff on the
enemy's flagship. and solid shot came
singing half a mile below US. Old Wad
laughed, and ordered the bow gun to return
the fire wnen were within five miles
Our shells passed over them. We had ther
reached as high an altituce as Il was pos.
sioe for the ships to float, and then we
reduced speed. They approached TO within
| two miles and stopped and began TO circle
| about us. evidently intending TO subjec'
| our balloons TO q cross fire. Higher thar
we they could not go, and the discovery OF
| this fact brought jeers and cheers from
| our crew.
| For some fifteen minutes there was ter
rible suspense. Each vessel circled war
| lily around it's chosen opponent, banging
away with its machine guns in vain en-
| deavor 10 puncture the enemys balloon
MT