The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-01-15

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port bridge rails against which he hat
been hurled with the sudden toDplin,
Of the thrashed hull. The acting lieu
tenant lay in bloody heap beside the
wheel and from aft came shrill cries
and hoarse yaps Of tortured bodies.
For the moment he WINGED, and fell
hopeless feeling possess him, but tl,c
next he was bending over his insensi.
BILE junior A second projectile rico
chetted over the seas wide to starboara
sending up great showers of snowy
brine visible in the night third
plunged short by 10 feet off the port
quarter. The enemy could play a good
game at long bowls.
Bear a hand, here, some of YOU
forecastle men," Durey ordered. aft
there, report the wreck" as, with the
poor grooming lump of humanity in his
arms he tried to stanch the flow of
blood from the mangled arm and ribs.
Jagged segments and splinters OF steel
make ugly wounds.
Warm, sticky blood smeared his
hands and wrists; it made him feel
very sick. Disgust swept through him
at his own weakness, and with tender
and shaky hands he bound up the
CHASTITY decorations. Only little more
and the acting lieutenant would have
been eviscerated
AS Durey turned from assisting the
seamen to lift him down the ladder the
tight feeling in his throat became more
choking when he realized that the enc
my were now visible to the naked eye.
The flashing from the foremost YES
sells bow chaser struck his senses like
a blow, though not another shot hit
his vessel. Between $500 and 5000
yards distant he was from the leading
cruiser. -Four points off the bow Great
Anagua began to loom low and indis-
tinct in the darkness for the squally
wind chopping about had cleared the
starry heavens Of cloud and the thin
drizZle of rain.
Onward rushed the Speedy, throwing
herself up the great swells and slap
ping down into the hollows as if
dashed on by the great guns thunder
ing out behind her. Had the enemy
surmised her errand?
Lieutenant Durey had returned to
the bridge from attending the wound
ed. Though pain gnawed at him he
gave no heed to it. Sense of the re-
sponsibilities now lying on his Shout
ders had revived his self-respect and
induced an obliviousness to suffering
hitherto foreign to him. He was
with salt water, and his
eyes and nostrils were stIng with brine
and the salty northeast wind that
roared and eddied about, smelling of
the deep, gray Atlantic surges and
storm-filled weather. It's sharp tang
permeated his brain. 1t revivified the
dominant instinct of his stock
Durey was TRANSPORTED by its magi-
cal influence. His face settled in stub
born lines; grim joy lightened it;
his weak. sensuous lips became hard
as iron bars. He had the omnipotent
look of the man who goes forth to
death knowing it is the best fight of
all.
Crash went a heavy projectile
through the cap of the port smokestack
and smoke and flame poured in lurid
cloud to Windward
AS Durey threw defiant look at the
cruiser again spouting fire, the second
reported water rising fast in
hn Of ctn he
which had wrecked. the afterpart of the
boat must have started some plates.
Durey now had no hesitation. He
bent over the bridge rail.
"On deck there. The gunner to the
bridge" Calmly and incisively he is
sued his order. Then "up helm" cleo
trified the gun crews, yet their hoarse
cheer brought no change to their Off
GERS iron clad expression; his voice
but rang the harder and more despotic
as he gave the sighting ranges to tor
pedo and gun. For his line had claimed
him heart and soul.
Who can tell how many fierce-heart-
ed forebears' blood sang joyously in
his pulsing body as he thrust his weak
vessel against the enemy, now opening
q terrific cannonading? And what
thoughts thronged his cluttering
senses as the four great, laundering
cruisers doomed large upon his bows
Who of his forebears claimed him
hen?
1t was not till the war was over that
he Speedy's fate was known.-Waver-
ey Magazine.