The Irish standard., 1916-10-14

AAoJ0A oAu luo AeC4eS were OOC0
pounding her. But how the Idaho was
fighting back!
CHAPTER XIV.
Tho End Of the Battle.
T~HN Idaho must be turning again,
Bob knew, to prevent being
i headed by the Trajan. Yes;
the flagship was turning and
had signaled the others to follow. for
the Arizona was steering off, it was
made plain, by the degree which the
turret had to turn to keep the guns on
the Varon. That meant that the Amer.
lean column was being crumpled back
into a semicircle, with the enemy's
feet circling outside and able to con-
centrate the fire Of two dreadnaughts
upon one, but that was better than let
ting the Trajan and the rest cross
ahead. They had the speed and sim.
ply were taking advantage Of it.
Again 1t was only subconsciously and
without bitterness that Bob recorded
this. He had too much which was ter
rtbly immediate for his attention. He
had become aware that the telephone
circuit, which brought the corrections
from the chief fire control station, had
been silent for several salvos. The
sight settlers were taking off their bel.
NETS, which fastened the telephone re-
ceivers to their ears. They were NOV
ing In obedience to the visual signals
which still were working Now, after
those shells had struck again some.
where without the visuals remained
unchanged, while the voice tube CON-
manded correction Of the range. So
connections to the visuals also were
cut. Only the voice tube remained.
"Down 100; one lefty' the voice In
the tube was commanding clearly,
loudly. 'Down 100; one left!"
Bub saw to it, mechanically, that the
corrections were made.
1t was becoming more and more
strange and uncanny to be shut up
there in the turret, dispatching salvo
after salvo Of monstrous shells at a
ship eight miles away and witnessing
your fire destroy foremost and funnel
and now mainmast on the enemy's
ship. 1t was strange to recognize that
only two turrets Of the Var0n now
were firing and not know of your own
ship even how many guns were In ac-
ton other than those you saw loaded.
If the Arizona's foremast-the mast
in the top Of which Garry had his bat
tie station-had fallen in a different
direction Bob might not have known
for some time that it was gone. 1t
would have been impossible for him
to distinguish the crash Of it's fall from
the disruption which had become al
most constant as the Varon's shells
struck and struck again.
AS it happened, the foremost fell
forward, and the steel supports of its
"cage" interfered with the guns. The
turret could not turn to keep trained
upon the varon. Bob reported to the
voice in the speaking tube why his
turret did not fire, and he received or
ders to keep his crew behind the ar
mor-other men would be sent to clear
the wreckage away.
The fall Of the mast meant that Gar
ry was gone, Of course. Bob's brain
recorded that certainty without feeling
and wondered at the lack Of emotion
at the same time. Bob guessed it was
one of the natural things about fight
ing turret. You killed thousand
men-a dreadnaughts crew, If you
had luck-and on your own ship men
were being killed by hundreds, but
you never saw them. Only a main
battery shell could possibly enter your
turret, and then only If it struck very
straight. If it got in it would kill all
your men and you, too, probably, so 1t
would be all over at once. So you did
not see any one dying. You did not
see the men who were blown to pieces
at this instant only eighteen inches
away from you, just the other side Of
the turret armor. You knew they were
blown to bits, for shell had just
burst outside there, and the funny lit
tie tinkering and hammering with a
sledge which you heard the minute
before was quiet. So you knew the
men were dead, but you could not pos
sibly have any feeling about it. The
voice in the speaking tube knew the
men were dead. 1t was saying that
another gang was being sent to clear
away the wreckage.
That was the wreckage Of the fore
mast they were still speaking about.
Garry undoubtedly was killed when 1t
became wreck. but no one was say
ing anything about that. Bob Won
dered whether if he had seen Garry
fan he would have felt anything or
whether now he was ever going to
feel anything again. Had Garry's
wife seen Garry safe in a dream, too?
Had she, too, been sure that God
would keep Garry safe? What had
God to do with guns and shells and
ships which could stand what the Ari-
iona now was getting?
AS Bob had nothing to do, now that
his guns were loaded again, he was
listening to try to decide whether one
turret or two were firing astern. 1t
was only one, he decided. A shell
must have wrecked the other as well
as have killed the gun crews, and the
forward turret, No. must be wreck.
ed also, otherwise Bob and his men
would be sent to it to fight.
How much more, he wondered, could
the Arizona onduroc II 1rpo MT onIr