The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1916-09-11

the night before he sailed.
Its no use talking any more about
what the government ought to order
us to do" one of the oldest and most
revered of the officers said. Nov is
the time for us to do something"
"What?" Barrett had asked.
what you can do should be perfect
ly plain We all know that the cir
cumstance which seems most to reas-
sure our government Of the leagues
mLenttons-LnaU Is, the Simultaneous
withdrawal of their powerful ships
from the Caribbean-is not in compli-
ance with our demands; it's simply in
accord with their plan.''
"Of an attack against usP'
Precisely. Their high seas battle
fleet has been gone from it's home posts
in Europe for several days. Officially
the ships are somewhere In the Allan
tic at maneuvers, which means that
they've modified, ready for attack on
us at signal
'tAnd the withdrawal of the cruisers
from the Caribbean
Means that the cruisers have gone
to join the high seas fleet, of course to
aid in the attack in force
you feel that is sure, STRIP
The older officer referred to the 9TH
ers. "Who questions il now?''
No one questioned, so after putting
to sea Barrett had steered his course
to the east. The first 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
stant1y 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 the Salem doing in the position
from which it signaled? 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 communica-
ton in his hand. turned quietly to the
quartermaster.
Follow the plane as long as it is In
sight, and when it disappears continue
in its direction He went himself to
"Can you give US any more, Mr.. Han
lonY' he questioned the chief engineer.
"I'll try, sir"
Within the hour the biplane had dis
appeared, but it had remained in sight
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
{hxax De-. 4 Iii H.
/ ship ON through the darkness. No
| light from another ship no sound of
| another's engine, no smell of another's
| smoke had reached him or his lookouts
during the night Dawn had discovered
! to him only an empty sea, gray and
] rugged, obscured a little by mist. The
! day brought no other ship within the
/ circle of the horizon, but now it was
another dawn and now, as Barrett
scanned the water, he saw a crate
floating.
! He passed it and came upon another
crate with bright yellow bits-peeling
/ of orange, they were-fioating beside
| it. 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-
ings from the plates of 10000 men
who had eaten their rations at the
/ same hour the fotsam from feet.
Lieutenant Commander Barrett set
/ bis helm hard to the right. When the
/ Salem had circIed he ordered again
formally to ETanion to give full speed
! ahead" He must have passed the ap-
preaching fleet q few miles off in the
morning mist Their course. as well
i as he could reckon from the scraps on
/ the sea. was more TO the south than
+ he had expected. He had o7errun them
/ and now was i'll their pursuit.
Lieutenant MaTston. the second in
/ command, came quietly TO the bridge
his revolver belt buckled about him
''AIr Banland and Mr.. Gordon both
/ seem to be asleep, sir. Shall l have
I them walked or-shall leave them as
/ they are?''
/ 'I was thinking about Them" Bar
/ rett replied as evenly. I'll see to
I them
/ Smoke ahead. SIR a lookout in the
I foretop hailed More to the left
/ Destroyers to the right and turning
4 about
+ 'Aeroplanes approaching US, sirT'
/ The hail came this time from the bow
! and the sailor there was pointing vi
and ahead. Barrett shifted his glasses
from the four vessels rushing toward
/ him to the dim, soaring specks higt
above III the sky. They descended as
they approached
They went up high at first to make
sure we We're Alone" Barrett comment
I ed TO Marston.
"Yes, sir Looks like now they may
/ try bomb attack"
Il think So" Barrett took pad and
pencil from pocket and wrote SLOWLY
and carefully:
+ Large feet sighted about 5S.37 west
/ 3S.42 north. steaming west apparently
at about sixteen knots. We make out
definitely thirty vessels. destroyers and
cruiser. accompanied by air craft
coming toward us
He reread it and handed it to Mar
! sion. Code that and have it seut al