The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1907-05-13


the state Of this. that and the other /
after firing, and luckily / was able to +
answer TO a dot every query put TO /
me AT the finish one Of the judges +
asked me TO give in my own words my /
opinion of the gun. Admiral Sir John /
glared at him as he put this question, /
for Of course to any expert the answers I
I had furnished, all taken together, /
gave an accurate verdict on the gun, |
assuming my statements TO have been
correct, which l maintained they were.
However, as Sir John made no verbal
comment l offered my opinion as terSe-
~ as l could.
THANK you, Lieutenant Drummond,'
rumbled Sir John in his deep voice
as if he were pronouncing sentence,
and, my testimony completed, the COM
mittee rose.
81 was out in the street before Billy
Richardson overlook me, and then he
called himself to my attention by
resounding slap on the shoulder.
ALAN. my boy he cried, you have
done yourself proud. Your fortunes
made
"'As how? I asked, shaking him by
the hand
why, we've been for weeks hold
| ing an inquiry on this blessed gun, and
| the question is whether or not q lot
more of them are to be made. You
know what an opinionated beast Old
Crouch is. Well, my boy, you have cor
roborated his opinion Of the gun In
every detail. He is such brow beat
ing, tyrannical brute that the rest OF
the committee would rather like to go
against him If they dared, but you have
put a spoke in their wheel. Why, Sir
John never said thank you to hu
man being since he was born until
twenty-seven minutes and fifteen sec
onds after II this morning, as you
would put it. and at the time of writ
ing this letter this surmise of Billy's
appears to be justified. for the tape in
the club just now announced that the
committee has unanimously decided in
favor of the gun, and adds that this is
regarded as a triumph for the chair
man, Admiral Sir John Pendergest,
with various letters after his name.
Dear Miss Amhurst, this letter, as l
feared, has turned out intolerably long.
and, like our first conversation, it is all
about myself But then, you see, you
are the only one on the other side of
the water to whom have confided my
selfish worries, and / believe you to be
so kind hearted that l am sure you
will not censure me for this once ex-
ceedlng the limits of friendly CORE
spondence. Having been deeply de-
pressed during all the previous long
days, the sudden reaction urges me to
go out into Pail Mall, fling my cap in
the air and whoop, which action Is
quite evidently a remnant of my for
mer cowboy aspirations. Truth to tell,
the Russian business seems already
forgotten except by my stout old cap
tain on the CONSERVATION or my I'M
cle The strenuous Sir John has had
me hailed across the ocean merely to
give testimony, lasting about thirty
five minutes, when, with little pa
tience, he might have waited till the
CONSERVATION herself arrived or else
have cabled for US to try the gun al
Bar Harbor. 1 suppose, however, that
; after my unfortunate contretemps with
Russia our government was afraid I'd
chip a corner off the United States and
that they'd have to pay for it. So per
haps, after all, it was greater economy
to bring me across on the liner Enthu-
siana.
by the way, I learned yesterday
that the CONSERVATION has been or
: dered home, and so l expect to see
Jack Lamont before many days are
past The ship will be paid off al
Portsmouth, and then I suppose he and
/ will have our freedom for six months
1 am rather looking forward to Jacks
cooking me some weird but tasteful
Russian dishes when we reach bis
, blacksmith's shop in st. Petersburg
If l get on in Russia, as l hope anC
: expect, 1 shall spend the rest of my
, leave over in the States. l saw very
. little indeed of that great country and
: am extremely anxious to see more
T When one Is on duty aboard ship one
: can only take very short excursion:
= ashore. I should like to visit Niagara
: 1t seems ridiculous that one should
!, have been all along the American coas
from Canada to New York and neve
. have got far enough inland to view thu
:, great falls.
! Russia is rather dilatory In he
r methods, but l surely should know
q within two or three weeks whether
am going to succeed or not. If not
n then there is no use in waiting there
p shall try to persuade the prince to &C
! company me to America. During tn
!. weeks l am waiting in St Petersburg
i shall continually impress upon hin
a the utter futility of life which ha
e not investigated the great electrical
: power plant at Niagara Falls. An
i then he is interested in the educationa
9 system Of the United States. Will
r we were going to the station early tina
4 morning he told me that the Unite
al, oI Io -,