The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1908-07-17

Once more the dynamos Of the radio.
planes increased their speed. Slowly
they drew apart, the n clasping the
cruiser alone remaining motionless.
The searchlights, like steady eyes of
the night, still stared at the cruiser
whose every gun and every bolt was
brought out clear and distinct in the
radiance. During the day her crew
had cast OF her broken top hamper,
which in any event would have been
useless, and now, swept clean by the
death. With the parting rub of her
armored sides against the Ito and the
Kashima she had babe a last good-by
to her sister ships, and now seemed
the center of a tragedy of the night,
waiting for her execution. From the
deck of every surrendered ship silent
and sorrowing men looked upon her
as If fascinated, and something of pity
crept into the eyes which watched her
from the ports of that ~conquering
fleet of the air. They, too, were sail
ors.
She was held thus for a moment,
and the softened hearts of the con-
querors gave to her a last honor. The
port of Seventeen opened, a rope lad
der fell from its metal doorstep, and
down it passed a gray-haired man, who
had once commanded and loved such a
cruiser as was she. 1t was BrocktOn.
The captives on the decks of the captive
ships strained forward, wondering what
it could mean. The blue-clad figure
reached out a hand to a short halyard,
and pulled down the flag of surrender.
He rolled it into a bundle and tossed
it out into the wall Of darkness, and
from beneath his coat withdrew a bum
die which he unfolded and affixed to
the loops. Suddenly, as if b%estowing a
last honor upon the dying, he gave a
tug, and the flag of Japan was flung
to the breeze. The Yakumo should
not pass to death unhonored, and was
destined to be the only warrior to go
down with colors flying. A wild cheer
of short duration burst from the van
pushed as the officer remounted his
ladder and closed his port.
Then, released and liberated, she
fell, the brilliant rays following her
to the end. Down, down, down, falling
at first on an even keel, she plunged,
her flag futtering wildly in the de-
scent. Gradually she turned bow on
as if preparing for the dive to death.
With terrific force she returned to
Tho nuo ne tho Dooifo ond onfnroH
them, throwing up in that mighty i'm
pact a tremendous cascade of foaming
waters, which dashed themselves into
the air in mad wraiths of ghostly
white, surged back in angry pillows,
and resumed their ouietude. The va
kumo had gone to the graveyard of the
valiant. and the searchIights showed
nothing more than the crests of the
depths which had furnished her a
shroud.
The men Of Japan who had wit
messed her parting had been wrapped
in GREATNESS silence. Now it was
broken by one great sob as the man
who had commanded her turned away
from the bridge of the Ito, blinded
with tears. Above them the port re-
opened, and the fighting admiral
again addressed them; but in a voice
which told that he, too, was not With
out sympathy.
admiral" he said, ''order all your
men to go below decks. We have
been loafng all day, and will have
to speed up now. It will be death to
stay exposed"
Aroused from their last look at the
Yakumo, they were amazed at this in
formation, but complied; and before
the last mar had crowded down the
companionways the wind began shrill-
ing about their ears. Away through
the night with sudden velocity shot
the radioplanes at a speed which
would bring them to the coast long be-
fo:a darkness had ceased. In all the
American fleet there was not a man
who did not know that Lake WASH
ington at Seattle was their destina-
ton. Its landlocked sides, guarded by
towering hills and giant forests, and
overlooked by a splendid city, wal to
be the prison Of the enemy's craft.
Its length, its breadth, and its depsa
were sufficient to float the combined
navies Of the world.
Their fight was we'll timed; for 1t
was still dark when they swan down
through the air over the waters which
were to reclasp the ships of Japan !
their usual environment. The Norma
swooped lower and lower, decreased
the speed of her descent, passed over
West Seattle on its little peninsula,
the quiet Puget sound with its long
wharves, and then gently settled
above the placid lake. Slowly, like .
water fowl wearied of flight and seek
ing its ease, it approached the sur
face, and with infinite care rested Its
burden, until the Ito was again afioat.
Norma, at her chosen post OF duty,
put out a tired hand to a controller,
gently moved it a notch, turned on
the current which made the radio
plane a lodestone of. terrific power,
threw another switch as the admiral
beckoned, and then, with q great sigh
of relief, felt the machine lift itself
into the air. It came to a stop, and
through a port, by the admirals side,