The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-10-13
(Continued.o

ants above the sleeping hosts. Every one about me was still unconscious There was no sign as yet of any agita- Hon among the shipping on the main canal, whose whole course, dotted with unsuspicious lights and fringed with fires, must have been clearly per- ceptibIe from above. Then long way off toward AIkmaar I heard bugies, and after that shots. and then wild clamor of bells. I determined to let my men sleep on for as long as they could
 'sThe battle was joined with the swiftness of dreaming. I do not think it can have been five minutes from the moment when first became aware Of the central European air fleet to the contact of the two forces. saw 1t quite plainly in silhouette against the luminous blue of the northern sky. The allied aeroplanes- they were most v French-came pouring down like a fierce shower upon the middle of the central European fleet They looked exactly like coarser sort of rain. There was cracking sound-the first sound I heard It reminded one of the aurora borealis, and suppose it was an interchange of rife shots. There were flashes like summer lightning, and then all the sky became wIirl- ing confusion of battle that was still largely noiseless- Some of the central European aeroplanes were certainly charged and overset; others seemed to collapse and fall and then flare out with so bright light that it took the edge off ones vision and made the rest of the battle disappear as though it had been snatched back out of sight.
 Ss 4I,, r tried to shade these flames from my eyes with my hand and while the men about me were beginning to stir the atomic bombs were thrown st the dikes. They made a mighty thunder in the air and fell like Lucifer in the picture, leaving a darIng trail in the sky. The night, which had been pei lucid and detailed and eventfu1, seemed to vanish, to be replaced abruptly by black Background to these tremendous pillars of fire.
 Hard upon the sound of them came a roaring wind, and the sky was filled with hfekering lightnings and rushing clouds
 There was something discontinuous in this impact At one moment was lonely watcher in sleeping world; the next saw every one about me afoot, the whole world awake and amazed
 4tAnd then the wind had struck me 6 buffet, taken my helmet and swept aside the summer house of Vreugde bij vrede as a scythe sweeps away grass. saw the bombs fall and then watch ed great crimson flare leap respon- sive to each impact and mountainous masses of red lit steam and flying fragments chamber up toward the ze- nith Against the glare I saw the countryside for miles standing black and clear, churches, trees, chimneys. And suddenly I understood. The cen traI Europeans had burst the dikes. Those flares meant the bursting of the dikes and in q little while the sea water would be upon us-',
 He goes on to tell with certain prolixity of the steps he took-and, all things considered they were very in te1Iigent stepAto meet this amazing crisis. He got his men aboard and hailed the adjacent barges; he got the man who acted as barge engineer at his post and the engines working; he cast loose from his moorings. Then he bethought himself of food and con trived to land five men, get in a few dozen cheeses and ship his men again before the inundation reached them
 He is reasonably proud of this piece of coolness His idea was to take the wave head-on and with his engines full speed ahead. And all the while he was thanking heaven he was not in the jam of traffic in the main canal. He rather, I think, overestimated the probable rush of waters; he dreaded being swept away. he explains, and smashed against houses and trees
 He does not give any estimate of the time 1t took between the bursting of the dike and the arrival of the wa ters, but it was probably an interval of about twenty minutes or half an hour. He was working now in dark nessAsave for the light of his lantern and. in a great wind He hung out head and stern lights.
 Whirlfng torrents of steam were pour ing up from the advancing waters, which had rushed, 1t must be remem- bered, through nearly ineandescent gaps in the sea defenses, and this vast up rush of vapor soon yelled the faring centers of explosion altogether
 s'The waters came at last, an ad- vancing cascade. It was like a broad roller sweeping across the country They came with deep roaring sound. had expected a Niagara, but the total fall of the front could not have been much more than twelve feet. Our barge hesitated for moment, took dose over her bows and then lifted. I signaled for full speed ahead and brought her head upstream and held on like grim death to keep her there.
 eThere was wind about as strong as the flood, and found we were pounding against every conceivable buoyant object that had been between us and the sea. The only light in the world now came from our lamps, the steam became impenetrable at a score of yards from the boat, and the roar pf the wind and water cut us of from