The Savannah morning news., 1904-03-20

| He was STOPPING, his eye even with
the gun sights, his whole attitude one
of intense mental concentration.
The First shot.
For the first time 1 heard a word
spoken. The lieutenant gave the word.
A brilliant yellow bar of fire shot out
from the muzzle of the gun. The at
mosphere cracked like new sheet tin.
| A ball of white smoke flew upwards.
A few seconds passed-all eyes were on
| the White triangle, a mile abeam. 1t
| seemed as though the projectile must
1 have gone beyond the horizon line.
Suddenly a white squirt of foam shot
UP from the indigo water within fifty
yards of the tarlSet a long, thin thread
of water, that opened at the top like
an umbrella and came down in show
ers.
! A clang of the breech block brought
my attention to the gun again. The
| gunner was once more sighting. This
time he fired at will-he was trying to
| make time. Another cracking report,
another breathless interval, and the ex-
| ploding shell sent up its fountain closer
10 the target. This was repeated five
; times. At the last shot the target was
hidden in the squirt of foam.
Inc lieutenant rushed aft along the
bridge. A gun in one of the after tur-
rets began firing. almost as regularly
| and as quickly as a pulse beat Be
tween each shot came the clang of the
breech lock. Evidently the second
gun made better time; her shells cer-
tanly came nearer the mark. A
smothered cheer came from her crew.
Getting Down to Business.
The officer skipped midships, the
ensign with him. There was no mis-
taking the repressed excitement of the
gun crew. The men had thrown open
their thick jackets-the gunner had
| thrown his off. His arms were bare;
| the muscles swelled and shrunk as
though the brown skin held imprison-
ed snakes. His lips were parted, ex-
| posing his teeth as though he were
snarling.
His first shot struck the target full,
putting a whole though one of the
canvas wings, the shell exploding
slightly beyond. Again came an inn
| pulsive cheer, or murmur of admira-
tion, rather The small, black mus
tache of the lieutenant went upward
as he jotted down some figures on his
pad
The first shot evidently made the
gunner over confident. The four sue
ceeding shots were comparatively
+! poor. Not a word was spoken, but
the gun crew scowled.
J There came an interval in the firing.
| The target swung ahead. Then a
small gun up In the fore top began
! sputtering nervously, the reports roll
ing above us like thunder All the Off
| GERS on the bridge were gazing intent
| ly at the target through binoculars.
A circle of angry white foam appear
! ed about it..
In n Figure Eight.
The ships course was describing
huge figure eight. AS the target
swung around on the other beam, an
! other six-inch gun on that side opened
fire. After each firing the men slip
| ped back the breech block, pulled out
the empty brass shell, and slipped in
a loaded one with the regularity of au-
tomatons. There was not trace of
their repressed excitement in their
movements. Only their faces show
ed the keen rivalry between the men
who manned the different guns. Some
times they gave that muff1ed cheer, or
! again, their oblique eyebrows became
more oblique still. and the corners
| of their mouths went down.
Again the target swung ahead, and
again came the thunderous roar of the
| smaller quick-firing guns. The white
| wings of the target almost disappear
| I'd in a boiling circle of milky foam.
Instinctively my hand went up and
| covered my ears-the atmosphere
seemed to crystalize and break up into
| powdered bits. A big gun in some
ford turret interpolated it's gigantic