Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-30

They look now for a rush Of the British
upon the guarded ship. ready to follow
But no rush comes. The British keep on
their way almost directly east
A rush win come But Hardy intends
it to come when the Japs are in a position
to intercept and cut him off. His thought.
his patience, is far beyond tteir divination
On he goes. leading them grandly
through the mazes of that tragic, coiiing
minuet; ana they follow. hasttng gladly
after him, triumphant, blind fated.
The Pied Piper and his retinue
His ships sink one by one. He is aware
of 1t with guilty disquiet, VIII enough be
left for his purpose? The falling out of
each one by the wayside is TO him like
the taste of the second death.
The japanese follow, not gaining ground
this time, purposely keeping their distance,
even increasing it, waiting for the next
curve to westward, and the disastrous
swift broadside
And round again goes Hardy. wheeling
outward, this time in broader curve; and
outward wheels his northern limb.
And once again ciatters the sudden. e1-
clamatory outrage of hell-fre, bursting
from both sides and Hardy comes out
of il leaving behind him four, and the
japanese seven ships.
But the numerical strength of Hardy's
remaining ships by means represents
his real strength. He is far weaker than
he seems twenty-five floating craft are
sim visible to his eye. but craft so broken
and undone that he knows them incapable
of further serious combat. Nearly ninety
japanese are as good for fight as ever.
Once more he is running westward, ana
the enemy, conscious now of easy victory
follow
Westward-tin his two foremost ships
reach the positions marked A and A in the
diagram: and then hard to starboard races
his helm. He goes driving sharp ana
90, ei-gn,T tiy,ivN tgytn
packed group of ships around the Yoshino.
This, then is the rushl' But the Jap
anese ships their foremost being the po-
sition marked i and b, are nearer TO the
Yoshno than the British-are in the eX-
act position in which Hardy, at the price
of so much has led them by the nose III
long twining dance in order 10 place them
What they win now do, he knows with
certainty: they will cut him off. And, In
fact they turn sharply inward toward the
precious, guarded ship, in order to inter
cept, and with one unanimous battery OF
their entire navy finish at once his small
And thus it has suddenly happened that
the whole yellow feet is packed INTO
mere bundle of ships whose crews can
speak to each other, whose steersmen need
be cautious to avoid collision
And when Hardy sees them so-herded
together by his harsh and baieful fore
thought-like sheep driven into the penfo.d-
he knows that the yellow wave is damned,
and the greatest of his works is accom-
.,lished.
He could shrek aloud Win cFucl Biee'
Abroad roams his eye over the sea at
his sinking and battered fleet And as ne
looks he sees the laundering of the Nile
And swift. with concentrated fury, the
massed japanese open fire upon his fee0!e
At that moment the two limbs of the
British are not more than three hundred
yards from the front Of the enemy.
And at that moment it is that an ap-
palling. horrid unparalleled thing is hap
pening to the yellow men.
Hardy has signaled to his ships TO launch
among the crowding- enemy every possible
torpedo in his feet.
His prohibition to use torpedoes in the
combat had led his captains to expect
ready.
deadly Of the then Instruments OF war itI II
it exploded beneath ship without
fail Ii destroyed her. But precisely
the most deadly was also in general
the most unreliable of weapons IN
explode not beneath an enemys ship, but
beneath a friend ). or, more likely still, be
meath nothing at all. No serious tacticlan
depended upon it.
of aim at a given target, for 1t usually
missed the target. Its course was more or
less detected by the waVeS-many thlngS
happened 70 it.
ceivc that it's proper function was not one
of aim at all toward a particular target.
but one of loose direction toward a general
mass Under such conditions it might he
counted upon to annihiIate an instant al
the assembled naEics OF he earth
Prompt upon his order the gestes Of his
fleet shattered as they wee, We're able to
launch a ripping navy of nine more torpe-
does than there were crowdin3 japanese
and Chinese ships. The HirosaSi sent five
one from bow-tuDe above the water Ire,
four submerged. All the other ships were
ships with varying, number OF tubes
Tirue exploded in mutual collision before
they reached the hostile feet
The rest arrived.
Men clapped and squeezed their hands
upon their ears In cXpeCtant horror. ] he
sea began to start and rush and quake. A
swift series of venomous, behemDth bangs
-quckening into ever in2ddeninS swiltness
and bawling at last into sic lily broC1ing
roar of passionate vo leycd thunder that
seemed TO proceed from the very throat of
JehoVah-rent the universal air. ana split
the hearing of all about that sea.
In London men, thr@e-eared lifted 4 list
ing hand; far over Europe the ruIcor IF I
was heard; it was heard IN Paris; 1t was
heard in Brussels
/ The British ships. shocked af each swift
recurrent de;on alton, jerksd aud started in
convulsiye throes like dying fowl upcn the
spasnic, kicking water-started, and leapt
and Owed and foundered, Ani as though
in response to some vast upheaval of ma
ture down upon the swept at once
passion of wind and a furious rain and a
black and total gloom.
Wide over the ocean the Iloat ting millions
OF yellow heard the staccato of that
dread tumut. And many one initiated
| and repeated the sound with his lips.
Pop, pop, pop, they went; and pop, pop,
pop, they went.