Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-20

certain his coming weakness When picked up
by the Esperanto he was thought to be dead;
but being taken aboard he showed some signs
of life and after hours of work recovered suf-
fiCiently to give some slight hope of survival.
So terribly, however, had been his sutter1ngs
from privation that his mind seemed un-
hinged, and they had been unable to gather
any information from him save that of some
overwhelming disaster He was now in the
throes of brain fever and talked only the
speech of the del1rlous. His fragmentary
mumbngs were beyond all understanding;
his mind seemed to be a confused tumble of
Authorizations, in which he cried for water and
made absurd comments on what was passing
in his dreams. There were strangely inter-
woven babblings of submarine boats, sea
serpents, and unheard of monsters which har-
RED the ship and sent her to her doom Pltiful
EXPLANATIONS of helplessneSs and fear, inter
jections of overwhelming dread, and brief
snatches of prayer came from his lips through
out all the days in which they had attended
him. The strangest part in all the incident OF
picking up the castaways was that the Captain
of the Esperanto, seeking other survivors, had
cruised for hours in the vicinity; but had
found no other sign of wreckage or Of human
ity. He had coursed to the nortnward think
ing it possible that the trend of the wind had
driven this lone mariner away from the scene
of catastrophe; but the ocean itself was
blank The crest of no wave carried even
piece of fotsam, nor was there anywhere a
clue to the mystery.
could have created no more suspense or terror
than did the fear of this unknown agent OF
destruction which threatened the downfall OF
Governments and the eradication of boundary
lines England suffered the woes OF the be-
reaved in the certainty that thousands of
men who were fathers, brothers, husbands, or
friends had been annihilated by this terrible
Republic across the sea. From every throat
came a despairing cry for retaliation; but
England, rich mighty, and powerful, te!t her
self without means of appeas1ng 1t. 1t was
we'll enough to talk OF revenge when the means
were at hand but the country IN the face OF
this dread enemy was helpless, and so 1t was
that the bitterness of defeat gave way to the
hopelessness of terror when calrner and more
judicial spirit prevailed. 1t was beginning to
be conprehended to the full that not only
Great Britain in all her strength, but the com
bined forces of the world, would stand no
chance of conducting even a defensive war
against the United States-now become
sWordfsh ravaging and depopulating the seas.
In the meantime, while all TINS consterna-
ton prevailed and the heads Of nations, fear
full and trembling, speculated as to the out
come, the sailor from the Dreadnought was
being watched and cared for by the most dis
tinguished savants and specialists of the Old
World There lowered over his bedside
through every minute of the day men de-
spatched by every European Power, who were
doing all that science might suggest to bring
this lone and stricken mariner back to sanity
and let him give tongue to what he knew of
this scourge of the waters. Hourly bulletins
of his condition were posted on street corners,
and round there stood men and women in
suspense His least word was recorded as of
monumental Importance, in the hope that from
some Granny of his wrecked mind might come
some calculating phrase however slight. The
most important thing that apparently could
be relied upon was that whatever the form of
attack had been, it was observed before the
blow was struck. This was shown by his re-
peatedly exclaiming, Its coming! It's COM
inpl It'll get u.s. sure, and we can t fight backl"
And so the nations watched by the bedside
of a common sailor. From Japan came long
messages of coincidence to her ally, which were
received in a spirit of fellow suffering.
The peculiaritieS of the situation were in
nowise lessened by reports from Canada,
where the troops still massed along the border
maintained a friendly spirit, committed no
acts of encroachment, showed no apprehension
of war, and seemed as ignorant of their own
Governments plans or what it had done as
were the Canadians themselves. Indeed,
their mystifcation over the disappearance of
the Japanese and British fleets was as COM
plete as that of the most humble farmer on
the Canadian frontier. Their officers shocked
bv the terrific news, fastened to give state
ments to the effect that their instructions were
to avoid giving otfense, as the United States
had no intention of engaging in with
Great Britain. Coupled with the loss of the
fleet, these interviews seemed singularly in
consistent, it being impossible to reconcile
49, 4 e.