The Washington herald., 1915-07-25

! showed the depth OF submergence anC
a spirit level which showed any in
clination.
Submerged" he remarked. lis like
running on the surface under dense
fog conditions"
! Kennedy smiled as I moved about
! Never mind, Walter" he said. 81
know how you feel on a first trip. One
minute you are choking from lack OF
oxygen, then in another part OF the
boat you are exhilarated by too much
of it. STILL" he winked. don't forget
that it is regulated"
| WELL" / returned, "all I can say is
that If war is hell, a submarine is
war"
! l had. however, been much interest
ed in the things about me. Forward
the torpedo-discharge tubes and
other apparatus about the little doors
! in the vessels nose made il look
somewhat like the shield used in bor-
! ing a tunnel under compressed air.
Ordinary torpedo boats use the reg
ular automobile torpedo remarked
! Captain Shirley. coming ubiquitously
up behind me. Il improve on that. l
can discharge the telautomobile tor
| pedo, and guide it either from the
boat. as we are now. or from the land
station where we were last night at
will"
A call from one of the crew took
him into the stern to watch the opera
ton of something. leaving me to my
self. for Kennedy was roaming about
on still hunt for anything that
might suggest itself
The fast was that there was so much of
interest that, the first discomfort over
was, like Kennedy, beginning really to
enjoy the trip.
I was startled suddenly to hear the
motors stop. There was no more of that
interminable buzzing. The Za9 responded
promptly to the air pressure that was
forcing the water out of the tanks. The
gage showed that we were gradually
rising on an even keel. man sprans
up the narrow hatchway and opened the
cover through which we could see a lit
tie patch of blue sky again. The saso-
line motor was started. and We ran leis-
urely back to the dock. The trip was
over-safely. As We landed felt a sense
of gladncss to get away from that feel
ing of being cut off from the world. 1t
was not fear of death or OF the water. as
nearly as I could analyze It, but merely
that terrible sense of isolation from man
and nature as We know it.
A message from Burke was waiting for
Kennedy at the wharf. He read it quick
ly. then handed it to Captain Shirley and
myself.
Have Just received a telegram from
Washington. Great excitement at the
embassy. Cipher telegram has been dis
patched to the Titan Iron Works. One
of my men in Washington reports
queer experience. He has been following
one of the members of the embassy staff.
who saw he was being Swallowed. turned
suddenly on the man. and exclaimed,
Why are you bounding US still?' What
do m lie NJ No of NOrd-
helm. BURKE"
The lines in Craigs face deepened in
thought as he folded the message and re-
marked abstractedly, She works all
right when you are aboard Then he
without crew"
Five minutes later We had assembled to
the aerial coming tower, and all was in
readiness to repeat the trial of the night
before. Vicious and sly the I99 looked
in the daytime as she slipped off. under
the unseen guidance of the wiress. with
death hidden under her nose. Just as
during the first trial We had witnessed.
she began by fulfilling the highest eX-
pectations. Straight as an arrow she
shot out of the harbor's mouth. half SUBJ
merged. with her periscopc sticking up
and bearing the flag proudly Tapping.
leaving behind a wake of white foam.
She turned and re-entered the harbor,
obeying Captain Shirley's every within.
twisting Id and out of the shipping much
to the amazement of the old salts, who
had never become used to the weird
sight. She cut a figure eight, stopped. |
started again.
Suddenly I could see BY the look on
Captain Shirley's face that something !
was wrong. Before either of us could |
speak, there was squirt of water out
in the harbor, cloud of spray. and the |
Z99 sank in a mass of bubbles. She had |
heeled over and was resting on the mud
and eoze of the harbor bottom. The |
water had closed over her, and she was |
gone.
Thank God for telautomatics." I muir
INJURED. as the thought swept over me of
what We had escaped. NO one was
aboard her. at least"
Chlorine was escaping rapidly from the /
overturned storage batteries for grave
danger turks in the presence of sea wat
er. in a submarine, in combination with |
any of the sulphuric acid. Salt water
and sulphuric acid produce chlorine gas
and a pint of it inside a good-sized SUBJ
marine would be sufficient to render I'M
conscious the crew of a boat. I began to
realize the risks We had rum which my
confidence in Captain Shirley had min
imiZed I wondered whether hydrogen
in dangerous quantities might not be
given off, and with the short-circuiting
of the batteries perhaps explode. Moth
in moro happened. however. All kinds
of theories suggested themselves. Per-
haps in some wa the gasoline motor
had been started while the boat was de-
pressed, the gas" had escared, com
bined with mir. and spark had caused
an explosion. There were so many pos
sibilities that 1t staggered me. Captain
Shirley sat stunned
Yet here was the one great oTestion.
had come the impulse that had
sent the famous Z99 to her fate?
Gould II have been through something
internal?" | asked. Gould a current
from one of the batteries have influenced
the receiving apparatus
NC" replied the captain mechanically.
II have a secret method of protecting
my receiving instruments from such i'm
pulses within the hull
Kennedy was sitting silently In the cor
ner. oblivious to US up to this point
But not to impulses from outside the
hull he broke in.
Unobserved. he had been bending over
one of the little instruments which had
kept us up all night and had cost a
tedious trip to New York and back.
What's tnat?' 1 asked.
This? This is a little instrument
known as the audion. a wireless electric
wave detector.
Outside the hull?" repeated Shirley.
still dazed
YES" cried Kennedy excitedlv. I'll
1of INV fret cla,,- from, hat