Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1912-01-19

light passage. You stay where you
are, Smallways. You keep there and
do nothing. We're going into action"
he explained and vanished.
Bert's heart began to beat rapidly.
He felt himself poised over the fight
ing vessels far below. In moment
We're they to drop like a hawk strik-
ing bird? "Gaww he whispered at
last in awe stricken tones.
Thud. Thud! He discovered far
away a second ruddy fare flashing
guns back at the first. He perceived
some difference on the Vaterland for
which he could not account and then
he realized that the engines had slow
ed to an almost inaudibe beat. He
stuck his head out of the window-it
was tight fit-and saw in the bleak
air the other airships slowed down to
scarcely perceptible motion.
A second bugle sounded, was taken
up family from ship to ship. Out
went the lights. The feet became
dim, dark bulks against an intense
blue sky that still retained an occa-
sional star. For long time they hung
for an interminable time. it seemed
to him-and then began the sound of
air being pumped into the balloonette,
and slowly, slowly the Vaterland sank
down toward the clouds
He craned his neck, but he could not
see If the rest of the fleet was follow
ing them. The overhang of the gas
chambers .ntervened. There was some
thing that stirred his imagination
deeply in that stealthy, noiseless de
scent.
The obscurity deepened for a time,
the last fading star on the horizon
vanished and he felt the cold pres
ence of cloud. Then suddenly the
glow beneath assumed distinct out
lines. became flames. and the Water
land ceased to descend and hung OBJ
servant and it would seem unobserved
just beneath n drifting stratum of
cloud. thousand feet perhaps over
the battle below.
In the night the struggling naval
battle and retreat had entered upon a
new phase. The Americans had drawn
together the ends of the flying line
skillfully and dexterously until AT last
It was column and well to the south
Of the lax sweeping pursuit Of the
Germans. Then in the darkness be-
fore the dawn they had come about
and steamed northward In close order
with the idea of passing through the
German battle line and falling upon
the flotilla that was making for New
York in support of the German air
feet. Much had altered since the first
American admiral, O'Connor. was fully
informed Of the existence of the air
ships, and he was no longer vitality
concerned for Panama, since the sub
marine f1otila was reported arrived
there from Key West. and the Della
ware and Abraham Lincoln, two pow
erful and entirely modern ships. were
already at Rio Grande, on the Pacific
side Of the canal.
His maneuver was, however, de-
layed by boiler explosion on board
the Susquehanna, and dawn found this
ship in sight of and, indeed, so close
to the Bremen and the Weimar that
they instantly engaged. There was no
alternative to her abandonment but a
fleet engagement O'Connor chose the
latter course It was by no means a
hopeless fight. The Germans. though |
much more numerous and powerful |
than the Americans, were In dis
persed line measuring nearly forty five
miles from end to end, and there We're
many chances that before they could |
gather in for the fight the column of
seven Americans would have ripped |
them from end to end
The day broke dim and overcast and |
neither the Bremen nor the Weimar |
realized they had to deal with more
than the Susquehanna until the whole |
column drew out from behind her at |
a distance of mile or less and bore !
down on them. This was the position
of affairs when the Vaterland appear
ed in the sky. The red glow Bert had |
seen through the column of clouds
came from the luckless Susquehanna:
she lay almost Immediately below.
burning fore and aft, but still fighting
two of her guns and steaming slowly
The Bremen and the Wei
mar, both hit in several places, were
going west by south and away from
her The American fleet, headed by
the Theodore Roosevelt, was crossing
behind them, pounding them in sue
cession, steaming in between them and
the big modern Furst Bismarck, which
was coming up from the west. To
Bert, however, the names of all these
ships were unknown, and for consid-
erable time indeed. misled by the di-
rection in which the combatants were
moving, he imagined the Germans to
be Americans and the Americans Ger
mans.