The Washington herald., 1915-12-01

ing a beam tube. Meier mind. Up! "a
last string of orders) six hundred. He
doesn't see us! Fire.
Hard Job for a Dummy.
The dummy left: the second in COM
mand cooked one ear and looked re-
lieved. Up we rose: the wet air and
spray spattered through the hatch. The
destroyer swung OF to retrieve the
dummy.
i Careless brutes destroyers are" said
one Officer. That fellow nearly walked
over us just now. Did you noticeT'
The commander was playing his
game out over again-stroke by stroke.
with q beam tube I'D ha' strafed him
amidships." he concluded.
why didn't you Them 1 asked.
There were several excellent rea-
cons which reminded me that we were
| at war and cleared for action. and
that the interlude has been merely
play. A companion rose alongside
and wanted to know whether we had
seen anything of her dummy.
NO. But we heard It," was the
| short answer.
l vas rather annoyed because l had
| seen that particular daughter of de-
struction in the stocks only a. short
time ago and here she was grown up
s sas sslstas fe0ut her missing chi,
In the harbor again, one found more
Of them. all patterns and makes and
sizes, with rumors of yet more and
larger to follow. Naturally their men
say that we are only at the beginning
of the submarine. We shall have
them presently for all purposes.
Now here is the mystery of the
service.
The Supreme Test.
A man gets a boat which for two
years becomes his very self
With him is a second in command,
a cox, an engineer and some others.
They prove each others souls habit
ually, every few days. by the direct
test OF peril. till they act. think and
endure as a unit, in and with the boat.
That commander is transferred to an
other boat. He tries to take with him
II he can, which he can't, as many of
his other selves as possible. He
pitches into a new type twice the size
of the old one with three times as
many gadgets, an unexplored temper
ament end unknown leanings. After
his first trip. he comes back clamor-
ing for the head of her constructor.
OF his own second in command, his
engineer. his cox, and few other
ratings. They for their part wish
him dead on the beach. because last
commission with SO and So, nothing
ever went wrong anywhere. A fort
night later you can remind the com
mander of what he said and he will
smile large, wide. navy smiles. She's
not, he says, so very Dad-things con-
sidered. barring her five-tou torpedo
derricks, the denominations Of her
wireless. and the tropical temperature
of her beer lockers. All of which sig
nifies that the new boat has found
her scul, and her commander would
not change her for battle cruisers.
Therefore. that he may remember he
is the service and not a branch of II,
he is after certain years shifted to a
battle cruiser, where he lives in a
blaze of admirals and aiguilettes, re-
sponsible for vast decks and cathe-
dral-like flats, q student OF extended
above-water tactics, thinking in tens
of thousands of yards instead Of ais
modest but deadly three to twelve
hundred.
The Bridge of Heavenf
And the man who takes his place
straightway forgets that he ever look
ed down on great rollers from a sixty
foot bridge under the whole breadth of
Heaven. but crawls and climbs and dives
down coming towers with those same
waves wet on his heels, and when the
cruisers pass him tearing the deep open
In half a gale, thanks God he Is not as
they are and goes to bed beneath their |
distracted keels. For 1t Is written:
How Ia all time Il our distres.
And in ou triumph. too.
TIE game Is more than the player Of the game
And the ship more than the oew.
But submarine work Is cold-blooded |
business" CThis was at a little confer |
ence in a green curtained "wardroom' |
cum owners cabin.
Then there's no truth, in the yarn |
that you can feel when the torpedo's |
going TO get homer" / asked
Not word. You see II gets home or |
misses as the case may be. OF course, |
It's never your fault II IL misses. It's
all your second In command"
That's true, too" said the second. IT |
catch It all round. That's what am
here for"
And what about the third man"
There was one aboard at the time.
He generally comes from q smaller |
boat-to pick up real work II he can
suppress his intellect and doesn't talk
last commission"
The third hand promptly denied the
possession Of any intellect. and was
quite dumb about his last boat.
And the menf
They train on too. They train each /
other. Yes, one gets to know 'em about |
as well as they get to know us. Up
topside man can take you intake him.
self in-fof months, for half the COM
mission perhaps. Down below he can't |
It's al In cold blood-not like at the
'front.' where they have something ex-
citing IN The tina. g.t.s. -
- c II -