The Van Buren press., 1898-11-05
such that we had her masts and smoke

rose so that I thought it must have
rung through the strange ship. But
the crew of the strange ship were
rushing to their guns.
"Stop those blowers!" Fremont said.
He was calm, even deliberate. His
eyes swept forward and then aft.
"Are the guns trained on her?" he
asked.
"Aye, aye, SIR" came from both one
Founders. The torpedo, too, was
ready. 1t had been tested for pressure
but few hours earlier. At each gun
jackie stood like statue, his shoul-
der bent against the rest, his eye on
| the enemy. In such moments the eye
notices queer details. | remember
wondering that the jackie at the bow
gun could stand there so quietly, ready
to fight that great ship which lowered
above us with that absurd one
FOUNDER.
As Jackie answered.: aye, aye, sir "
his commanders voice rang out again.
This time he was hailing and the inflec-
tion rising:
NHdu-snlp- INA
No answer.
"Fire across her bowl"
| Bang! went our bow gun, and the
metal ratified as the men showed an
other shell home and trained the piece
again.
"Show the night fleet signal" Ere
mont said, and it flashed again-two
| white lights above a red one. We
were under the strangers quarter
now, close aboard. For one of us there
was no escape. At that range a tor
pedo must destroy the big ship in
evitably.
A second after our signal burned the
strangers signal mast blazed and
there hung an answering signal, but
not the right one. Instead of two
white lights and a red one there
burned two red ones and a white one.
For a moment it flashed through Ere
mont's mind that an enemy might be
attempting to use the American sig
mails. There was no time to think
| about it.
There was flash from the stran-
gers forward fighting top and shell
whistled over us. Some man In the
top had fired without orders, it seems,
but of that we knew nothing. We saw
only the flash of the gun and believed
that rifles and machine guns would be
riddling us a second later. The big
guns could not be depressed enough to
bear on us, so close were we.
Fremont had been hailing at the
moment and his face had been turned
away from that top from which the
gun was fired.
"Did that shot come from herr" he
shouted.
"Yes, SIR" said jackie and in the
same breath.
For a second perhaps Lieut.. Ere
mont stood still and silent and his men
and those on the decks high above us
held their aim and their breath, and
waited for word which would turn
loose a torpedo from the Porter and a
hail of fire from the flagship.
In that long second Fremont, hold
lUR lnC Rltdb VI uiSNi ot iiiS - '
even more than the cruiser held us at
hers, weighed the chances and gave
| them one more chance. 1t was to be
| their last. I read 1t in the sudden
strengthening of his form and the
menacing hail which l hear yet:
"What--ship-is-that?"
On the heels of that hail came an an
swer from the cruiser, and at the first
| English word our men let go the
breath they had been holding in one
great sigh of relief, for the answer
rang clear and loud:
"This is the New York"
On the cruisers deck there was a
sound as of men shifting their feet,
and a confused murmur as they fell
away from their guns.
The Porter's commander spoke
again and this time there was no
menace in his voice, but wonder only:
as that Capt. Chadwick"
"Yes," answered the New York's
captain. as that the Porter?"
"Yes, sir"
"Why didn't you show the night feet
signal?"
eve did, sir, twice. There was no
answer the first time. The second
time-just now-the New York dis
played the wrong signal"
Capt. Chadwick thought that could
not be so, but everyone on the torpedo
| boat knew 1t was, and after some more
| explanation The Porter swung away
from the flagship and glded off into
the night.
| As was customary, several captains
met the admiral's cabin OH the flag
ship in the morning, and l was told
| afterward that the night encounter
was the subject of considerable talk.
1t appears that Admiral Sampson him
self had been awake, and | was in
formed that when some one said to
| Lieut.. Fremont that the Porter should
have been more careful about the
night feet signal the admiral said,
gravely;
81 saw the Porter's signal displayed
and there WIS no answer from this
vessel"
There was an end to that argument,
at least, but torpedo man from the
Porter and an officer of the flagship
asked each other what would have
happened If the Porter's hail had not
been answered just when it was.
"Do you know what our next order
would have beeng' asked the flagship
man.
mo" said his friend from the Por-
ter; "what would il have been?"
Full speed ahead and ram!" was