Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1914-12-24

When he awoke me at 10 o'clock we
were running on the surface and had
reached the Essex coast of the Maplin
sands. With that charming frankness
which Is one of their characteristics our
friends of England had informed rs
by their press that they had put a cor
don of torpedo boats across the strait
of Dover to prevent the passage OF
subma rines, which Is about as sensible
as to lay n wooden plank across Il
stream to keep the cells from passing
| knew that Stephan. whose station
lay at the western end Of the Solent.
would have no difficulty In reaching 1t
Ny w cruising ground was to be the
mouth of the Thames. and here ! was
at the very spot with my tiny lota.
my eighteen torpedoes. my quick firing
gun and. above all, a brain that knew
what should be done and bow to do it.
When | resumed my place In the
coming tower | saw In the periscope
(for we had dived, that a nghtshiD
was within q few hundred yards Of US
upon the port bow. Two men were
sitting On her buIwarks. but neither OF
them cast an eye upon the little rod
that Glove the water so close TO them.
It was an ideal day for submarine &C.
ton, with enough ripple upon the sur
face to make us difficult to detect and
yet smooth enough to give me a clear
view. Each of my three periscopes
had an angle of 60 degrees. so that
between them | commanded a com,
pIete semicircle Of the horizon. Two
British cruisers were steaming north
from the Thames within half a mile OF
me. ! could easily have cut them OF
and attacked them had l allowed my
self to be diverted from my great plan
Farther south n destroyer was passing
westward to S~heerness. A dozen small
steamers were moving about. None OF
these was worthy of my notice. Great
countries are not provisioned by small
steamers CHAPTER u.
A Career of Destruction.
v KEPT the engines running at
the lowest pace which would
hold our position under water,
~--S and. moving slowly across the
estuary, | waited for what must AS
suredly come. | had not long to wait
Shortly after / O'Clock | perceived
In the periscope a cloud Of smoke tu
the south. Half an hour later IA large
steamer raised her hull. making for
NJ ,a,th ~ thn nNbo Nu .rEHl n,S{npnfj
vornal to stand by the %starboard tor
pedo tube, having the other also load
ed In case OF u miss Then | advanced
slowly, for though the steamer was
going very swiftly we could easily cut
her off. Presently ] laid the Iota in a
position near which she must pass and
would very gladly have lain Ito. but
could not for fear Of rising to the sur,
face. therefore steered out In the
direction from which she was coming.
she was a very large ship, $1,000 tons
at the least, painted blnck above aud
red below. with two cream cuiored
funnels. She lay SO low in the water
that 1t was clear she had a full cargo
AT her bows weresa cluster Of men.
some Of them looking. ! dare say for
the first time at the mother country.
How little could they have guessed the
welcome that was awaiting theml
On she came with the great plumes
OF smoke floating from her tunnels and
two white waves foaming from her
cutwater. She was within q quarter
OF a mile. My moment had arrived ]
signaled full speed ahead and steered
straight for her course. My timing