Evening star., 1915-04-11

the invader. The setting sun shone on
the flag of the enemy. It's wireless
was being operated by uniformed men.
Its telephone and telegraph communi-
cations with the mainland were torn
out. Its little harbors were being used
by destroyers and small craft as IL
they had been foreign naval bases for
ever.
So. too. had fallen the islands Of Nan
tucket and Marthas Vineyard. with
their stout-hearted, passionateiy Amer.
to ignohle fear, but to the irresistible
mechanics of war.
The people of Block Island. watch
ing destroyers steaming slowly toward
the New England coast with strings of
their fishing boats in tow. noted curl
GUS thing. Every boat was laden with
fish nets. The enemy had gathered
every seine, every pound net. He had
lifted long fyke nets from the sea and
had dragged the enormous hauling
seines from their drying reels.
Block Island wondered what fight
Ing navy meant to do with nsh nets.
dered, too: for they also had been
stripped of their gear.
Following the long tows with their
heaped brown freight. six cruisers
moved toward the coast. each guarded
by destroyers. whose men watched the
sea for a periscope. or for the whitened.
broken water that would indicate the
presence of a submarine
They moved fast. until they were
within three miles of land. Then they
opened fire.
Steaming rapidly up and down. ship
behind ship. they loosed all their broad
side batteries. starboard and port in
turn. simulta aueously. So fierce was the
blast that the water shook. All the
surface of the sea between the ships
and the land quivered- Fantastic Vibra-
tion ripples shot all around. like
hat cfA lot
X
The blast killed the wind and made
an internal little gale Of its own
around each ship. that spun in hot as
cending columns. Surface swimming
fish were struck dead and f1oated in
schools on the water, miles away. Even
the ebottom-haunting creatures felt the
shock and scurried into the sand and
mud.
This was only the blast from the lips
of the gun. It was only pressure. 1t
was only the released energy that
drove conical steel masses forward.
They sped with a violence that would
leave the swiftest locomotive behind in
the wink of an eye. Like locomotives
smashing into an obstacle. the projec-
tiles hit the land.
That impact alone was annihilation-
Having struck, the protectiles e1-
ploded
The chart under the shaded light in
the admirafs cabin had a semi-cfrcle
marked on it-a semi-circle that made
a great segment into the land. AS If 1t
were in the electric arc, the country In
that zone of fire melted. Houses van
ished into stone dust and plaster dust.
even as the screaming thing that had
done 1t struck houses a mile beyond
and threw them on one another Streets
became pits with sloping sides that
burned. Trees rocked, roaring as in
gale, and were tossed high. and fell,
and twisted in fame. The land shriv-
eled.
AS the shells fell on New England's
coast. so the news fell on the United
States. 1t sped as a vast confusion OF
facts and rumors; bewiidered tales OF
terror, inventions born of crazed brains,
dispatches that told only half story
and messages that told none at all.
and yet. in their very incoherence, told
more than intelligible words could have
done.
The newspapers were tested that night
and the steady, Intangible discipline of
the great organization held true. Never
a linotype in all the cities had to wait
for it's copy. The word went to the
presses to let her 60" Extras follow
ed extras.
But the news sped ahead OF the ex-
tras. 1t sped and spread and grew and
became monstrous.
The enemy had forced the harbor de-
fenses of Boston! So ran the rushing
rumor in New York and Philadelphia.
Long before trains could carry papers
there, people in far-off country dis
tricts heard 1t.
The state house was In ruins! Ports
mouth and Boston navy yards had
fallen!
New York, ran the stories through
Boston and all New England. was In
vested at both approaches! Fort Tot
ten had been blown up! The enemy
ready the skyscrapers were toppling
into Broadway!
The government was fleeing from
Washington! An army had landed on
the Delaware COAST
Even those who had the newspapers
before them. and knew that none of
these things was true. were shaken
when the tales that had sped ahead
came back like the back.wash Of a wild
sea. Many hundreds that night ran
with the newspapers in their hands
and helped to spread, and make more
fantastic the fantastic falsehoods that
had been born miles away.
But the newspaper organization
worked steadily. Bit by bit the med
ley took tangible form From the
watchful. self-controlled chain of light
mouse and l1fe-SaVfng stations, revenue
marine and other coast guard services:
from the steady, unimaginativei army
and navy; from the alert. unshaken
harbor defenses. bit by bit the story
of the night began to como in orderly
sequence
The enemy fleet was biting into the
sea vitals of the commercial United
States-the southern coast Of New Eng
land. between Cape Cod and Long Is
land sound, whose possession Is the
key to the manufacturing and indus
trial life of the east.
Battleships lying off tho mouth of
Buzzards bay were dropping shells
into the harbor and into the shores.
One ship had ventured close in to the
land. approaching within the zone of
fire from Fort Rodman. and had drop
ped shells near New Bedford. Hidden
by intervening hills. 1t had escaped re-
turn fire. and was now lying Just out
teen-inch projectile toward the de-
fensess
Other ships were firing into Maria
gansett bay. They, too. were firing at
immensely long range. to avoid return
fire from the defenses.
Montauk Points wireless transmitted
dispatch that three vessels were
standing in there and lowering boats.
Then the apparatus fell silent.
Point Judfths wireless had ceased
speaking soon after dusk. Its last dis
patch was that shells were falling near
1t. An hour later its operators report
ed from Narragansett Pier that the