The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-06-18

of the ships mat are 10 be passed by, as
If at anchor, and incidentally the while
curling wave at either cow. the leads
man in the chains with his chinstay
down. trying to heave his lead against
The nd and the /, ok ut try ing to find a
lee behind the S-pounder gun shield.
OF a sudden comes a deep toned roar.
as of the loudest note Ct a giant organ
played fort sslmo, md which indicates
q at one boiler, at leas. has reached It's
SAFE working load and cries with its huge
lul gs Enough From the tunnels no
bls ok smoke eme ges from the Welsh coal
hut transparent va or, which, minglng
wi h the feathery Va ste steam. strangely
warps the mainmast and sreaming psn-
rant seen through it; their gay canary
color is peeling off from the heat, leaving
krrat u ~, lack patches thai will soon
spread ali over them The foremost one
i rocking TO and fro from the vibration.
The otiic, r Of the watch ,urns again and
takes another look at tramp which
l. icing ra idly overhauled, and his
thoughts. oirec ed by noise and shaking
and speed turn 20 thinking of the real
thing or how often enc could hit the
opponent, RAISING with an equal speed,
at wha range he would open fire. OF
what a terribly short time would elapse
between the s.ghting and the nghting of
the enemy, of what he would do in that
short s. ace with his own guns In the
/ classmates down below But ne dismiSses
such blood and thunder thoughts for
lighter ones as he sees his relief coming
forward Three hours of the four have
passed; the roar of the safety vavees has
c. ased There is no more waste steam:
the stokers are beginning to struggle
with "Girty" fires In order 10 keep the
required steam: the smoke comes a little
. less trans parent, both tunnels are now
black all over. Still the vibration, the
Intoxicating sense IF extreme possible
speed. The officer of the wa CHI looks at
The log on the charthouse table, signs IL.
al says to his reli tina, 1t is as near
TWEEN as may be, saving the odd shill-
irgs aad psnce. the drop OF oil wanting
in the cherub og, and perhaps the per-
sonal error of he small rnidshi man. The
relief oueI his mou to exclaim. "Ah.
good when a wicket little wave top
of s ray catches BIN in the face and
n axes him s lutter ms cad and SEE shell
+ b ind the screen Tn small mid hip
man is again standing aft on the sound
Ing machine platform, now clothed and
in his right mind. he no longer wonders
at the doings Of the galleys crew A
I seething, white mass Of water, reaching
half way to the upper deck, clings to
and boils round the stern, so that he is
thinking that If he fell overheard into
it he would stay close 60 he ship, and be
able to pull himself up again by the
sternwalk stanchions; aud lest he may
get giddy and do it, he glances over the
quarter to one size. ard sees the water.
rudey heapcd into breaking waves tear
ing past at twenty Knots He thinks bet
tar of IT, knowing hat he would be good
mil astern before boat could be lowered
and goes bel w. find his overhe ad 10 X
or shaken down and all his household
goods and the photographs of all the only
girls he ever loved strewn about the gun
room and on the deck wet from a leaking
| scuttle. He picks them up and, looking
| round to sea that none of his merci,esS
messmates have seen the dance pro-
| gramme with the little BIT of golden hair
sticking out. puts them away, more safe
/ ly. in the lpriva!e till Of his chest
Just open one OF the doors leading down
| to the engine room. and look down upon
| the mighty beaungs of the vessels heart;
| take the proffered bit of cotton waste and
| go down backward, holding on to both
| rails. and keep your elbows to yourself
| and as you descend realize more and more
| fully that here. here indeed, is the full
-. speed trial itself in all its glory. The
noise of twenty different engines strikes
| the ear. banging and clanking, separately
and collectively each one at its own par
| ticular task the dynamo. the circulating
pump, the air fan and so on, all damned
| and crammed into the engine room below
| the water, the sure armor that makes shot
| and shell to ricochet, the stopping OF any
| one of which by some small rod break
| ing or smaller pin coming out would, di-
|
| the ship to slacken more or less, accord
| ing to the relative Importance of thai
| particular engine. Above all these small.
er noises is the labored pulsation of the
main engine, with the massive crank heads
| swishng around at rate seemingly quite
| disproporionate TO their size. looking like
| a gigantic prize-hghter hitting out UNI
ceasingly. The engineer above on the CYL
| inder taking diagrams with nimble fin
| gers. hears like trained bandmaster, out
of the thousand and one different noises,
| great and small, that "A certain small en-
| CINE is knocking out of tune, and goes
| down to see about 1t accordingly. Be
! tween the throbbng Cylinders crouching
| on the platform. are stokers, In their
| fearnought trousers and flannel shirts,
| fairly reveling in grease and oil, squirt.
| ing the latter here and there with long
| brass squirts, feeling a crosshead for its
heat, squirting oil again on the piston rod
| then TO work with spanner where
| leaky joint Is announced by a Kissing Of
| steam at every stroke. and so round again
| And they seem to like II.
A great thinker once said, with no lit.
! tie truth
| The blooming lot would go to pot.
| IL the boilers wouldn't boil.
| Go and see them boiling. open one Of
| the air-locked doors, and close 1t before
attempting TO open the other, II you don't
want to get blown away by the half-inch
| forced draught you will let loose. Now
| open the other and enter a regular pocket
inferno. Oh, the awful heat of I'll See
I those black devils, each a pair of white
eyes and dim outline, moving about in
: the uncertain light of htful slush lamp
! One of them is providing himself with two
I long iron bars, surely furnished at the
, end with pincers and instruments of tor.
| ture, as seen at the Campo-Santo of Pisa
| opens a small door and thrusts them, In
| turn. into the mouth of burning fiery
furnace to rake and pull about; surely
! the unrighteous are having a bad time OF
IT, Another pair Of eyes provides, with
! black arms. bucketful Of more Goals OF
! fire 10 be heaped on. Could the Great
Chief Stoker himself improve much on
this fearful place, even for his own pur-
poses?
From the other side of the stokehoid q
cry goes up. How long?" to which reply
comes "Only ten minutes more" and Sc
you need not clean your fire till after.
ward. A few minutes later the engineer
comes in and gives orders for workina
down. Everything has been tried in the
balance and nothing has been found want.
ing. The main engines pulse slower. The
seagulls ip the wake of the ship ease
down. The powers are informed. Three
hags futter 10 the masthead THE tria,
is satisfactory"
Sometimes the Case.-Stranger: What
-.