The San Francisco call., 1908-05-10
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ne race with the Lame Duck" whose
lain feed pumps are irreparably bad.
We beat the Charley" says one eX-
tied individual. We want TO heat the
sSloper. Resembles the Milwaukee on
he outside, he quotes the San Fran
;isco paper, but was badly battered
IN her trip around. Let's show them
We can shoot, yes, and we can go some.
90"
The idea still prevails that the st.
louis is not trimmed deep enough aft.
md the crew go in body. and squat
IN the quarterback several hundred
trong- This adds 10 to u tons weight
the stern of the ship.
The crew on the Milwaukee see the
aaneuver and. not to be outgeneraled.
duplicate it. You can see them plainly
oming down the ladder from the
uperstructure deck in a thin black
tream and gathering on the quarter
eek. They look like sand lowing
through an hourglass.
The minutes becoming empty fly by
lore rapidly. The two ships are rae
ng each others head off. Try as she
ill the st. Louis cannot gain on her
ival, but together they draw rapidly
way from the Charleston. which will
hull down in another half hour
= OMETIMES by taking bearing on
Va stanchion or a boat davit you can
see the ST. Louis gaining little;
en- she drops behind again. The MIL
aukee, however. is having a hard
ne getting away from the Lame
Ick," who insists on hanging on to
last knot.
Unexpectedly the head of the chief
gineer pops up from the wardroom
tch. His face and hair are shiny
tn oil and water and his eyes are
,odshot He remains where he Is,
ring to soil the quarterback with
grease and water that are dripping
m him. Are we gaining any?' he
IS. louder than necessary away from
din of his engine room
Not much on the whole" says the
ign. planning the rough truth for
of the depressing effect. How are
engineS?'
Fine; the pressure is too low. We
I get enough steam.
team, steam, always steam. His
d disappears as precipitately as 1t
bed into view. Back to the en-
room he goes to shout for more
I'm. Another thing, however, re-
res his attention. During his alb
he a main bearing has heated and
throwing off sparks. In an in
t two hoses are playing streams on
loHds of steam I'LL the air and the
king ceases. Everybody heaves a
of relief; hot bearing would
n the loss of the race. It will
a long time to cool the bearing
GENTLY 10 remove all danger.
the meanwhile the steam has
ped another five pounds. The chief
across the oily deck in angry
.. \ messenger from the deck
him and hands him a message.
from the navigator. and reads:
are making a half knot less per
than the Milwaukee"
passes from the engine room
Ugh the double doored airlock for
into tho f1rerooms.
hats the matter with the steam?''
ellis at the water tender. dig
it. dig into it. Ten pounds more
weT walk away from her. The
1eston's hull down" He passes
,..NClgh into the other frerooms, four
in all. and repeats the same words In
each one. He also glances at the
pressure gauges and sees two OF the
rooms are doing fine work In them
he adds some words of encoura cement.
Inc minute lie disappears the water
tenders urge on their men. Furnace
doors fly open, men half naked, black
with coal dust. dripping with sweat
that leaves little white streaks on
their skins where it runs down, plunge
their shove1s fiercely into the heaps of
coal on the deck and throw it far back
into the furnaces. With a slam the
doors fly shut again and the fireman
runs his slice bar back over the graf
ing. works the incandescent mass and
pulls out the bar heated in that half
minute to a white heat. That's the
way it goes in every one Of the fire.
roo1ns-eight fireTnenFto each room. all
savagely tossing into the hungry fur
naces the coal a crew of coal passers
busily hauls in big iron buckets -out
of the bunkerS. The heat is terrific,
and when a furnace opens the fires
roar. blown to q fury by the forced
draught- The fireman has to protect
his hands by 4 cloth and sometimes his
eyes by glasses and occasionally he