Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1915-03-26


But from the crests of the rollers I
had look backward at Blankenberg
and saw the black tunnels and upper
works of the enemy's fleet with the
lighthouse and the castle behind them,
all flushed with the pink glow of the
setting sun. Even as | looked there
was the boom of a great gun and then
another | glanced at my watch 1t
was o'clock. The time of the nltf
matum had expired. We were at war
There was no craft near US, and our
surface speed is nearly twice that of
our submerged, so blew out the tanks
and our whaleback came over the sur
face. All night we were steering south
west. making an average of eighteen
knots. At about 5 in the morning, as
| stood alone upon my tiny bridge,
saw low down in the west the scatter
ed lights OF the Norfolk coast. "Ah.
Johnny, Johnny Bull,' said as l look
ed at them, You are going to have your
lesson. and | am to be your master. It
is l who have been chosen to teach you
that one cannot live under artificial
conditions and yet act as if they were
natural ones. More foresight, Johnny,
and less party poIitics-that is my les
son to you" And then L had a wave
of pity. too. when l thought of those
vast drOves of helpless people, York
shire miners, Lancashire spinners, Biz
mingham metal workers, the lockers
and workers of London, over whose
little homes l would bring the shadow
of starvation. L seemed to see all those
wasted, eager hands held out for food
and |. John Sirius, dashing it aside.
An, well, war is war, and il one Is fool
ish one must pay the price. Just before
daybreak 1 saw the lights of consid-
cradle town, which must have been
Yarmouth, bearing about ten miles
West-SOuthWest on our Starboard bow.
| took her farther out, for it is a sandy.
dangerous coast. with many shoals.
At $50 we were abreast Of the Loves
loft lightShip. A coast guard was send
ing up fash signals which faded into
a pale twinkle as the white dawn crept
over the water. There was a good
deal OF shipping about, mostly fishing
boats and small cOasting craft, with
one large steamer hull down to the
west and a torpedo destroyer between
us and the land. 1t could not harm
US, and yet / thought it as we'll that
there should be no word of our pres
ence, so filled my tanks again and
went down to ten feet / was pleased
find hn+ In
onds. The, life of ones boat may de-
pend upon this when a swift craft
comes suddenly upon you.
We were now within a few hours of
cur cruising ground. SO determined to
snatch a rest, leaving Vornal in charge.
When he awoke me at 10 o'clock we
were running on the surface and had
reached the Essex coast off the Maplin
sands. With that charming frankness
which is one of their characteristics our
by their press that they had put cor
don of torpedo boats across the strait
of Dover to prevent the passage OF
submarines. which is about as sensible
as to lay a wooden plank across a
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 it.
Ny own 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 how to do it.
When | resumed my place in the
coming tower / saw in the periscope
0or we had dived) that a hghtship
was within few hundred yards of us
upon the port bow. Two men were
sitting on her bulwarks. but neither Of
them cast an eye upon the little rod
that Glove the water so close to them.
1t 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
plete Semicircle of the horizon. Two
British cruisers were steaming north
from the Thames within half a mile of
me. could easily have cut them off
and attacked them had | allowed my
self to be diverted from my great plan.
Farther south destroyer was passing
westward to Sheerness. A dozen small
steamers were moving abont. None of
these was worthy of my notice. Great
countries are not provisioned by small
steamers.
CHAPTER H.