Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-19


ramned by the Hoche (m). and almost
Immediately afterward the Hoche herself
cracked in twain amidships. struck by a
torpedo Intended for the Massena which
mad been launched by a second-class tor
pedo BOAT lowered IN the dark by the
Mars; while the Mars herself having not
yet relighted her lamps was rammed at
her central armor belt by second class
British cruiser, the Charybdis the smaller
ship sheering away with broken bows to
&c down by the head three miles away
amid crowd of allied cruisers.
onder to westward Of the thickest region
OF battle, the Amiral Baudin fc), with a
single Stem. shell. had annihilated both
tunnels of the Brandenburg, while the
Brandenburg, before she could detect the
fuse by which she was made to destroy
her own flagship, had ratified the ribs of
the Amiral Baudin with rain of thou
sands of rounds of machine and quick-firing
lO!2 and Sem. shot, and had sent a bar
bette smell Shrieking into the bowels of
the French ship, where It ripped her ar
mored deck, and in a nightmare of fury
rent the whole central interior of the vessel
into debris.
1t was shortly after this that even the
din of that wide and various warfare re-
celVed as 1t We're, an added shock of hor-
ror, when broad sheet OF flame was seen
TO rise and ride in quivering glare toward
tfe SKY, ana the next moment a bang of
thunder where the Repulse had been shook
the universal sea. A fire had run through
her entire length between decks, and
lghlted at nearly the same moment every
atom of explosive within her into one
splendid detonation. She did not burst
she crumbied to fragments At the same
tiIne at the other end of that line of ships
me me MAGNIFICENT was quietly going down by
the poop, where a French submarine boat
mad affixed a Whitehead
IN d very few minutes after the actual
announcement of hOstilities, four of the
seven BRUSH battleships had disappeared
ana nine of the allied fourteen.
vi the intricate and inralpuLa nIa rva 70 "a
Inat was darting in furious wrath in every
direction IN the shape of the less massive
dI ma lures little was salient where all was
vast The enemy was preponderaat in MINI
Der, but deficient in weight of irst-clas IS
cruisers The mutual havoc went on rapidlv
win complex disaster and success Sims
d a., Ito 10 disappear rose again, blown high
Dy toIpedoeSi men on the point of going
down IN the wheeling suction of some great
NesSel Were arrested in their descent to be
h&hsIed by distracted shrIpnel or scaIded
pV some flight of singing steam: crafts
We're destroyed and DESTROYED again ana
ten times destroyed again, before they
sank in scattered shreds 1t was an anarchy
anu phidheSS OF rage, which rent the al
dered. ' '"'
The Jupiter, by some favor of her posi-
non, was still seaworthy, when Capt Mae
Leod, a minute after the blowing M Of tba
Repulse, said aloud to himeslf:
ship III an 'iiS''
That ship" meant the French battleship
k, which now that the Repulse was
gone, was turning, together with her sister
snip J, her whole attention upon the Ju-
plter Part of the Jupiter's fore deck had
gun unshipped
At once she went wheeling In A sixteen
point curve to starboard. pouring at the
same tine a broadside upon the enemy
But II was at once seen that the most del
lcate seamanship would now be required,
Tor not only was the Jupiter's intention de-
tected, but * began to manauver to an
tcipate the attack by herself delivering the
ram, WINE the chase was promptly Joined
by j." which had just lodged a finishing
shell in the Victorious CB)
The three vessels, though one of them was
sinking slowly and all were more or less
ruined, We're intact In engines and steering
gear, and went careering in swift dipht
in evolutionary curves whose outcome onlv
the incest commanding skill could deter
NINE. 10 destroy a funnel Of one or both
inns was capt. MacLeod's hope. He start
ca d fdttle OF qufck-fiTing shot as the three
vessels wheeled nearer But there was q
racket on board the Jupiter-a bursting
shell-a clatter of broken plata stream Of
6 9lood poured down John Hardys face
capt Macleod fell limp at his feet
At that moment from the coming towers
OF both the French ships there went fort
the command: Prepare to RAM The Ju-
was laid low.
Blu. a born sailor now commanded her
Hardy gave the order to sIacken speed.
Wlth his eyes on both the hurrying i'm
perdtng ships he waited thirty thirty-ive
seconds, and at the right fraction of a sec
ond he ordered: Full steam aheadr'
Blood covered his face ald the breeze in
his hair gave him an aspect of wIdness and
d!sarray; but his brain was cool
AS the poop Of the Jupiter slipped elu-
siVely from between the two advancing
rams there arose an cutlery on both the
French ships. But It was too late. No ce-
hand IN
avert the awful catastrophe. The two bows
met and crashed.
one of the French ships leaned TO nor. as
If fainting in despair then langudIv sank
Was he really in command? Capt Mac
Leod lay at his feet. Who knew? Would
not his, John Hardy's commands be
obeyed tacitly if he tacitly assumed the
command? And he, at least was rnder
no orders from the rear admiral. He ordered
three points to starboard and fun speed
ahead. The Jupiter went hasting at once
directly northward.
Hardy was running from the fight
Tie first clear necessity seemed to him
now to get out OF the battle while the
Jupiter's engines were still intact.
He suspected indeed, that she was al
ready sinking But there was hope. she
went blowing northward. Her position en-
the outskirts of the battle favored him.
OF what particular crime was it that he
was guilty? He knew well that it was a
crime. Was it treason, or piracy. or rnu-
tiny, or felony? The place which he occu-
pied should have been filed by the COM
mander Of the Jupiter, now that her can
tain was senseless Hardy knew that: hut
her commander was under fiag-orders, lie
was not.
Three miles to the north he turned the
ships bow from north to northeast: three
more miles and he turned it from northeast
to east. Now he breathed freely; the Ju-
piter was well beyond effective range OF
the bathing ships.
Her lights had long since been again put
out. On she went through the darkness
east by south now, battered and broken in
her upper works, but tolerabIy sound be-
low-and with tunnels still whole! and with
a ram blowing through the water at eigh-
teen miles an hour ana absolutely safe
now from shot!
John Hardy stood in her battered CON
ming tower with the wind in his light hair
and the blood on his face, and q Slight
frown on his brow. And on through the
darkness drove the silent battleship.
In little more than half hour she was
upon that hollow square of troopers and
liners, which were here just forging
through the water till the conclusion of the
fight. There We're thirty-eight of them,
and they contained over 12O,O00 men.
Suddenly, out of the darkness the Jupi-
ter pounced upon them.
Has the reader seen a thoroughbred, long
shouted fox-terrier, the prize-wnner per-
haps at some show let loose in a small
Gad TO