The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-09-22

In Europe TOT several OayS. Omc1ally the ships are somewhere in the Allan tic at maneuvers, which means that they've mobilized, ready for attack on us at signal"
 And the withdrawal Of f-the cruisers from the Car4hbeanT' Means that the cruisers have gone to join the high'seas feet, of course to aid in the. attacksin force.''
 "Yon.feeIthat assure, sirr'
 The older ofacsr referred to the oth- ers. "Who QueDtion0 1t now7'
 No one questioned 80 after putting to sea Barrett had steered his course to the east. The-f1rst, day showed him nothing to stir him further, but at sunrise of the second day he had sight ed great biplane in the clouds. In stantly he flashed the news back to the shore by wireless. The official reply to him said that the-presence of air craft could now be of no significance. What was ths Salem doing in the position from which 1t signaled9 The admins tration particularly desired the pres ence of Messrs. Banland and Gordon at Port au Prince as soon as possible. Barrett, with the code communtca- tion in his hand, turned quietly to the auarkermaster.
 Follow the plane as long as 1t is in sight, and when it disappears continue in it's direction" He went himself to the telephone to the engine room. "CAn you give us any more, MT. Han lonY' hs questioned, the chief engineer. "I'Il try, sir" Within the hour the biplane had dis. appeared, but it had remained in sicht long enough to guide the Salem. Dur ing the remainder of the day the scout ship rushed east at full speed, and at night, with all ports covered and with the switches of the lighting circuits thrown out, Barrett had driven his l ship on through the darkness. No light from another ship. no sound of anothers engine, no smeN of another's smoke had reached him or his lookouts during the night. Dawn had discovered to him only an empty sea, gray and I rugged, obscured little by mist. The day brought no other ship within the circle of the horizon, but now it was l another dawn and now, as Barrett scanned the water, he saw . crate floating.
 He passed itsand came upon another crate with bright yellow bits-peeling of orange, they overlooking beside 1t. He looked to the other side-pota- to parings floating there. He was by them and now was passing bits of bread, vegetable tops, more potato par ings and scraps of all sorts the leav- ines from the plates of 10000 men who had eaten their ratiOns at the same hour, the flotsam from fleet.
 Lieutenant Commander Barrett set his helm hard to the right When the Salem had circled he ordered again formally to Hanlon to give full speed ahead" He must have passed the ap- preaching fleet few miles oft in the morning mist Their course, as well as he could reckon from the scraps on the sea, was more to the south than he had expected. He had overrun them and now was in their pursuit.
 lieutenant Marston, the second in command, came quietly to the fbridge, his revolver belt buckled about him..
 "Mr. Banland and MT. Gordon both seem to be asleep, sir. Shall have them walked or-shall I leave them as they arer
 T was thinking about Gbem," Bar rett replied as evenly. "I'n see to them"
 "Smoke ahead, sir," a lookout in the foretop hailed. More to the left. Destroyers to the right and turning about"
 "Aeroplanes approaching us, sirr' The hail came this time from the bow and the sailor there was pointing iur and ahead. Barrett shifted his glasses from the four vessels rushing toward
 him to the dim, soaring specks higf
 above in the sky. They descended a.
 they approached.
 "They went up high at first to make
 sure we were alone" Barrett comment
 ed to Marsten.
 "Yes, sir. Looks like now they ma,
 try bomb attack"
 "I think so." Barrett took pad ant
 pencil from a pocket and wrote slowl,
 and carefully: |, Large fleet sighted about 5S.37 west
 S842 north, steaming west apparent.
 at about sixteen knots. We make ou l definitely thirty vessels, destroyers ant l . cruiser, accompanied by air craft g coming toward us."
 He reread 1t and handed 1t to Mar : ston. Code that and have it sent a
 once" He gazed again at the aero > planes and the destroyers and looked ? back at the engine room dial It sho-S F ed revolutions of the turbines whfcl t told that the Salem was still makinl about twenty-sfx knots. The engin 7 room crew could not be asked to d . better, but for what they would be re 3 quired to do Barrett believed they de , served word of explanation. H t stepped to the engine room telephon end spoke to the chief below: - Three destroyers and cruiser-aI c parently the Falcon or one of her clas ;- are coming for us, MT. Hanlon.