The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1898-11-03

| The spectators on the shore had long ceased
to shout. Many were kneeling on the ground
praying aloud. The women were screaming
with terror ut the fate of those exposed to
such terrible danger, and frenzied horses were
plunging through the crowd.
The roar abated little, and Col. Ellet saw
| futter from the Benton, above the heavy
smoke that wrapped the feet, the long-expect-
ed signal. Instantly the Monarch and the
Queen of the West sprang forward like
hounds released from the leash On they
sped as swift as double pressure steam could
drive them; they were 80 hot that their
decks were blistering. their seams cracked,
their firm timbers shook like the aspen under
the throb of their mighty engines and the
beating of the great wheels, and the water
curled up before their bows in great sheet
of spray
'Something'll bust or git busted mighty
soon," said one pilot to another, as he
drenched the floor with another shower of
| tobacco He did not appear as if he would
have spoken had it not been necessary to
open his mouth to spit. The gray eyes of
both were now lighted mp with the fire that
shines in a desperate lions eyes.
Col. Ellet reached back and rang the signal
for the engineer to crowd on more steam Bron-
son and Karl cooked their rifles and raised
them to their faces. Into the cloud OF battle
smoke the two rams plunged, and as they
emerged from the other side of it the Queen
OF the West singled out the Beauregard and
drove strait at her. The rebels hastily trained
q gun and fired. 1t went wide Of the mark.
A second and third was fired with the same
result, and though fourth was fired when the
Queen was so near that her crew felt the hot
blast upon their faces, it also went wide.
The next instant the Queens terrible PROV
was within so feet of the Beauregard's side,
and the vessels destruction seemed inevi-
table.
Bronson and Karl fired at the same moment
at the Beauregard's pilot, but their bullets
fiattened on the iron plating, and just at the
supreme moment the pilot gave the Beaure-
CARDS wheel turn that took her out of the
Queens path, and the guards of the two
boats rubbed harmlessiy past each other; but
the Beaurcgard's crew was punished fear
fully by the musketry and the deluge of
scalding water
The baflied Queen, enraged at her failure.
| dashed like hungry wolf at the huge Sterl-
ing Price. That great mass could not be
handled like the agile Beauregard and: be-
sides, Bronson and Karl's shots at the pilot.
house seemed to be effectual, the wheel was
abandoned, and the Queens terrible ram
struck the rebels side, tore through the
guards as if they were pasteboard, and
crushed her side with q deafening crash.
AT the same moment the musketry and the
hot water did their fearful work upon the
demoralized crew.
| AT this moment the Beauregard, turning
on her nimble heel, came straight for the
Queen. Her purpose was not detected until
she was within few yards of her prey.
Then, like thing induced with life, and
conscious Of her mortal danger, the Queen
seemed to literally spring out of the way,
and the Beauregard's beak broke through the
side Of the vessel she was trying to rescue.
Before she could disengage herself from the
Sterling Prices side, the Monarch rushed ND
and drove her prov through the Beaure-
CARDS hull. Still, the latter was not dis
abled, but turning viciously on the Queen
she struck her, unawares, with such force as
to start her to sinking. The Monarch in
stantly avenged this assault upon her con-
sort by another blow on the rebels side.
which sent her to the bottom, even while she
was trying to hoist the white flag. The
Sterling Price was sinking, and the
Monarch took the wounded Queen in tow,
and drew her out of the midst of the fight.
Then the gunboats, whose fire had almost
| ceased during the savage struggle of the
rams, reOpened with increased fury. A so
pound shell from the Benton's guns tore
through the Gen. Lovell's sides, and she