The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1916-12-16

II HAD been sent down TO Nassau for the
purpose Of removing an omlnous mstI-.
- tuition Of destruction, consisting OF
wood, sIsaS or hemp, canvas and paint,
which happened to be so arranged that it
resembled q submarine ] was commits
stoned TO make her as sea worthy as possI-
ble and then place her In charge Of a
powerful boat capable OF towing her TO
Miami and from thence to New York
CITY where she was to be put on exhibit
ton, as one Of the principal actors IN a
pictunEation Of Jules Verne's immortal
masterpiece. Twenty Thousand Leagues
Under the Sea
Nov then ] did not deem IT necessary
20 have three-sheet posters thrown up all
over the town for the purpose of informing
the inhabitants Of something which didn't
concern them at all The submarine"
was the property OF an American firm it
was built under the supervision of an
Amerlcah, with American gold and was
going to be taken 70 America. There
fore. couldn't see where the British came
N op the deal anywhere
HeI name was the Nautilus" and
found her buried In four feet OF sand be-
hind the Police Station. on Bay Street
which was the first thoroughtare this side
Of the harboi She had rested there a
yeaI, AND the tides had carefully placed
sand the whole length Of her The "Nau-
tllus' was nothing more or less than
three big pontoons enclosed In o big
shell o. wood hemp and canvas The
pontoons were made OF wood and were
about slI feet deep. They were dlstri-
buted one aft. one amldships and one
asteTn; and were absolutely water-tght
The shell was built SO as TO represent q
submarine and was covered with canvas,
painted steel grey ana made fast with
wire nails, the heads OF which were en-
larged with lead SO that they looked like
rlvets The canvas was stretched 80
tight that when the nails were put IN she
looked like the real destroyer she was sup
posed 20 be with huge steel plates On
her deck she carried a perscope, coming
tower wireless equipment and rail.
which was nothing but ordinary rope
painted. grey
For three weeks employed ten negroes
getting her prepared for her long journey.
1t took several days 10 dig her out OF the
sand several more to float her-foT she
was one hundred and twenty feet in length
and drew SD feet Of water-and several
more to patch up the holes, repaint her
and test the pontoons
When the huskies began painting her |
started out to charter the boat TO tow her
j found there was only one real fast boat
IN the harbor She was called the
Ranger and was owned by the man who
was proprietor OF my clearinghouse.
lie informed me the yacht had a thirty
six horsepower engine in her and could
beat anything. that had propeller, south
Oi HatteraS ] explained that didn't
want her to beat anything except the
record between Nassau and Miami
Then ! told hun the whole story and,
after he had listened he agreed to tackle
the Job
AID the rest Of that day the Ranger
was busy taking on stores for her ad-
venturous trip Over four hundred gal
ions OF gasoline were taken aboard.
then decided to get my clearance
papers Gong 10 the place where. the
Granger" was moored dragged the skip
per out Of the cabin and marched him to
the port Office, where we made out the
papers We cleared the Ranger" for
Miami. towing the film boat, Nautilus"
and then slapped on five shilling stamp.
Late that night the Ranger" with full
steam ahead, left her moorings and sailed
quietly up the harbor to the place where
the Nautilus looking as pretty as an
orchid and as dangerous a> beautiful
woman rested gracefully. with q tow-lIne
IN her nose. waiting tor her One end Of
the hne was fastened to the stern Of the
Ranger" and then she started slowly on
her way towards Salt Cay one OF the
islands IN the Bahama group.
We had been told that fifty VICIOUS look
RrifIGb uarShtns af that
doing patrol duty in these waters, guarding
the islands against possible attack by the
Germans For there art no Notifications
son any OF the islands ID this group. and,
al would bt SIMPLE matter for German
warshlp tO SLIP In when the British were
mapping and grab one OF these towns be-
lore the inhabitants had then breakfast
We were running into danger and we
knew II
AS ] sat on the deck OF the Ranger
the skipper who had been looking through
the glasses ever since sunrise. came I'D TO
me, with somewhat worrled look
There's a stranger comm up back
there. and he Ierked his thumb over hIs
shoulder Shes trailp along Id our
course 100 he added as he handed me
ibe glasses
] raised the glasses and covered an OBJ
lecti about FIVE miles behind US Az
studied the craft saw II was large motor
boat, Yacht size equipped With sails
She was cutting through the water al full
speed as though she was enraged from her
bowsprlt TO her ruddef SURVEYED her
carefully and the more dId so. the more
] realized she was some distance fnom
home and was not out on b pleasure Iaunt
While ] was thus engaged taI figure,
dressed IN white. came up from the cabin
and stepped CD deck ] knew hrm AT
once II was the Commandant. and he
stumbled as usual. when be reached the
top The FIRST thing he did was rarse his
glasses and turn them on our feet II
seemed very interesting to me, for doubt
ii anyone had ever troubled to look at me
through the glasses before ! must con-
feSs felt somewhat honored
i handed the glasses to the skipper and
tuTned To the engineer
How much are you getting out OF her
now inquired Of that individual
Sis knots he replied as he thrust his
frozzled head from helow'
-'ls that the best she clp doS' ] cuD-
tinued
Its all she csn do with that thing
pulling against her he answered
What btai rs thstp' J asked of the
skipper who was still gazing NJ "m prir-
SueI
Iinless m hadl, mistaken IT'S the
pll9i hsst irsm Nassau h. returned
MI bout hN,kIng arouIH