The Washington herald., 1914-10-18


feet splashed into wave.
From his mat in the lee scupper Da-
vid groaned miserably. He was far
removed from any Of the greater emo
tons.
It's no useF he protested. They
can't dol It's not connectedP
Whats not connected% yelled Carr
He fell upon David. He half-lifted, half
dragged him to his feet.
IF you know what's wrong with that
gun, you hx it! Fix it." he shouted,
cor III"
i David was not concerned with the
vengeance Carr threatened. For, on
the instant a miracle had taken place.
With the swift insidiousness of NOR
phine. peace ran through his veins,i
soothed his wracked BODY, his jangled
nerves. The Three Friends had made
the harbor, and was gliding through wa
ter fat as a pond. But David did not
know why the change had come He
knew only that his soul and body were
at rest, that the sun was shining, that.
he had passed through the valley Of
the shadow, and once more was d sane,
sound young man.
With a savage thrust of the shoulderl
he sent Lighthouse Harry sprawling,
! from the gun With swift, practised
fingers he fell upon its mechanism. He
wrenched it apart He lifted it, reset
readjusted it.
Ignorant themselves, those about him
saw that he understood, saw that his!
work was good.
They raised a joyous, defiant cheer.
| But a shower of bullets drove them to.
cover. bullets that ripped the deck, splin-'
tered the superstructure. smashed the
I glass in the air ports, like angry wasps.
sang in a continuous whining chorus:i
} Intent only on the gun, David worked
l feverishly. He swung to the breech,!
locked it, and dragged it open, pulled,
on the trigger and found it gave beforei
his forehnger.
: He shouted with delight
I've got it working" he yelled
To David It came suddenly, convinc-;
ingly, that in a dream he had lived IL
all before. and something like raw poi:
son stirred in David. something leapedl
to his throat and choked him, some.
/ thing rose in his brain and made him
see scarlet He felt rather than saw
young Carr kneeling at the box of am.
munition, and holding a shell toward
him He heard the click as the breec1l
shut, felt the rubber tire OF the brace
give against the weight of his shoulder,
down a long shining tube saw the pur-
suing gunboat, saw her again and many
times disappear behind fash OF fame.
A bullet, gashed his forehead, a bullet
passed deftly through his forearm, but
he did not heed them. Confused with
the thrashing OF the engines, with the
roar of the gun he heard a strange
voice shrieking increasingly:
Cuba hbreP it yelled. TO he'll with
Spain!" and he found that the voice was
his own.
The story lost nothing in the way
Carr wrote il
"And the best of it is" he exclaimed
joyfully, its truel'
For a Spanish gunboat had been crip-
pied and forced to run herself aground
by tugboat manned BY Cuban PATRIOTS
and BY single gun served by one man;
and that man an American. 1t was the.
first seahght Of the war Overnight a.
Cuban navy had been born, and intoi
the limelight a cub reporter had pro-.
jected new hero ready-made, war.
rsnted-not-to-run, popular idol
They were seated in the pilothouse,
Jimmy" Doyle, Carr, and David. the
patriots and their arms had been safely
dumped upon the coast OF Cuba, and
The Three Friends was gliding swiftly.
and. having caught the Florida straits
mapping, smoothly. toward Key West.
Carr had just finished reading aloud his
account of the engagement
"You will tell the story Just as have
written it, commanded the proud au-
thor. Your being South as a travelling
salesman was only blind. You came
to volunteer for this expedition Be-
fore you could explain your wish you
were mistaken for a secret-service man,
and hustled on board. That was just
where you wanted to be. and when the
moment arrived you took command of
the ship and single-handed won the na-
val battle of Nipe Bay"
Jimmy Doyle nodded his head ap-
provingly "YPu certainly did. Dave"
protested the great man, Il seen you
when YOU done itl'
At Key West Carr filed his story and
while the hospital surgeons kept David
there over one steamer, to dress his
wounds, his fame and features spread
across the map Of the United States.
Burdett and Sons basked in reflected
glory. Reporters besieged their Office.
At the Merchants Down. Town Club the
business men of Lower Broadway ten
dered congratulations.
"Of course, it's a great surprise to,
u.s." Burdett and Sons would protest.
and wink heavily. "Of course. when
the boy asked to be sent South we'd nos
idea he was planning to fight for Cuba Z
Or we wouldn't have let him go, would
we?" Then again they would wink
heavily. Il suppose you know they
would say. that he's a direct descend-i
ant of General Hiram Greene, who won.
the battle of Trenton. What l say is,l
Blood will telIr" And then in body
every one in the club would move
against the bar and exclaim: Here's
to Cuba libre"
When the Olivette from Key Vest
reached Tampa Bay every Cuban in the
Tampa cigar factories was at the dock!
There were thousands of them and all
of the Junta, in high hats, to read
David an address of welcome.
And, when they saw him at the topI
of the gangplank with his head in al
bandage and his arm in a sling, like al
mob of maniacs they howled and surgedi
toward him. But before they could1
reach their hero the courteous Juntaj
forced them back, and cleared a path-1
way for a young girl She was travel
worn and pale, her shirt waist was dist
gracefully wrinkled, her best hat wasj
4 wreck No one on Broadway woulds