The Climax-Madisonian. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1914-1917, 1915-08-18

his eyes countered the forbidding
stare of the lurid seal.
Then he split the wrapper length
wise, and as he bent over the closely
typed contents. Rolf instinctively
edged nearer Suddenly Barton's
arms began to tremble upon their
resting elbows; his hands gripped at
the paper spasmodically, and it fell
in crumpled heap when the lieuten-
ant pushed backward, staggering to
his feet gaspingly. as If the air al
ready had failed.
Rolf snatched up the sheet, smooth
ing it upon the table top. Marsh
crowded behind him while he read,
and Corrigan stretched at arm-length
away from his post. Shorn of salu-
tation, impertinent detail, and sub
scription, the message ran as follows:
Certain interests at Constantinople
demand protection, and it is impera-
tive that the Victory and Dauntless
reach that port. They will be ordered
through Marmora on the both. The
Dardanelles are known to be heavily
mined. Secret advices from the in
telligence bureau are that mines will
be fired under pretense of accident If
attempt is made to pass. Inadvisable
at present to recognize this informa-
ton officially. B-23 will act under
your orders. Instruct Lieutenant Bar
ton to explore immediate waters care
fully, charting a course through the
strait which will avoid all difficult
ties
He concluded the missive aloud,
half Historically, and looked at the
others.
For an appreciate interval no one
moved.
MAY the saints save thin whin
they're going through murmured Cor
rigan at length, and awaking to his
neglected duty, he reused the others.
from the spell by a prolonged twist of
the valve-lever.
1t was nearing the close of the first
benighted day of confinement when
Rolf succeeded in relighting the cleo
trio beacon in the forepeak of the con-
ning-tower by wiring up several stor-
age batteries in series. The feeble
current did not produce a light of
very great penetration, but the en-
the little circular room in the hope
that it might help him to discover just
why the submarine would not move.
AS he peered through the forward
port, the glance of the ensign fell
unexpectedly upon a cylindrical object
barely piercing the lighted area be-
low on the starboard side.
Pausing only to confirm his impress
sion, he descended the ladder in haste.
Marsh and Corrigan, where they sat,
had sunk to their first troubled slum-
Der Barton stood at the air-valve.
Exchanging places with the lieuten-
ant, Rolf motioned him above. And
when the later presently returned, his
added solemnity of visage did not
need his corroborating words:
Its a mine, unquestionably but
not a contact affair, for I made out
wires coiled around the top" he said.
They've dropped them pretty far
out, or we made more westing than I
thought. There's nothing can be done
about it, though, from our position;
so you'd better turn to and try for a
bit of sleep. Don't fret the others by
mentioning it."
The four men were awake together
as the second day came to an end.
Marsh huddled IN chair beside the
table, feverlshly scratching at pad
with the stub of a pencil. Already
his skin, stretched tightly over his
thing of the dulling gloss of time
stained parchment. AS he wrote, he
kept speaking his own dictation in
half-audible whisper.
Better save your strength" Bar
ton cautioned, after observing him
silently for some moments.
Marsh slumped in his chair, his
sparse arms tight at his sides, touch
ing the floor with his finger tips which
still outstretched rigid1y as when they
had dropped the pad and pencil at
Barton's implied command. The lieu
tenant, at the table, tapped with a
paper-knife; then laid it aside with an
annoyed look of self-reproof.
Rolf sat on the edge of a bunk
his normally full lips drawn to a gray
blue line, his starting eyes fixed in
stare that seemed plumbing infnity.
Corrigan was at the valve. He
stood with back to the others, his
head so far bowed forward upon his
breast that the rolls of fat at the nape
of his neck pressed fiat, and the
cords showed ivory-white beneath
the skin. Now and again his body
heaved and a ponderous sigh welled
from within to blend generously with
the seethe of the liberated air.
Presently he began to hum softly
under his breath:
There's sunny spot in Ireland"
This is awful" he said. awful,
My God, isn't there anything we can
do? Can't we send up a bottle-or
something's"
Nothing" Barton replied with ap-
parent effort.
1.-THE torpedoesl" Marsh leaped to
his excitement. They'll tear up the
surface when they explode" he
walled.
Barton glanced at Rolf Neither
had spoken of that other instrument
of destruction outside almost brush
ing the hull. The ensign still looked
away. He could not speak to dash the
old mans hopes.
I'm afraid it wouldn't do" the
lieutenant shook his head reluctantly.
The hulk is close aboard, and that's
where they'd go OFF. We might chance
them splitting her in pieces before
they did us, if she were all Pdthought
of it. But we lay within five feet of
mine-plant. The concussion-no,
we can't do that"
AS those in the last death-watch,
tolling off with quickened heart-beats
the seconds before the black-capped
march to eternity, the men passed the