The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1916-10-02

III OL1 any Alf Vi OO1E LAlG.h
wanted and stopped Us from ever
getting a feet together"
1.-THE Oklahoma and Nevada, with
some more destroyers, are coming out,
suppose you know. They left the
roads just at dark and will join Us
about midnight"
Garry nodded: 'To try a little sur
prise party on the prince IN the morn
Ing. Going up again nowf'
mo; I've next watch. I'm to sleep
now"
som l."
They went to their rooms together.
Good luckp'
Good luckr'
Wendell went to his room and closed
the door. 1t was the first time since
he had been In battle that he had been
away from the observation of his fel-
lows, alone. He stood for a moment
dazed at the relax within himself, and
for an instant he opposed it, then he
sank down upon his bed and lay on
his back staring up at the painted
steel Of his ceiling. He had fought
In battle!
1t could not have been the peril Of
1t which had excited and exhausted
him so; it could not have been, during
the long hour, the imminence of OBJ
liberation. Except for the trying
waiting minutes Of tnaction after the
submarines attacked. he had scarcely
been conscious of reckoning his chan
ces for life or death; something far
mightier, more masterful and over
whelming, had absorbed him.
Besides, so far as danger went, he
had been In terrible peril before-there
was time, on the side of the Matter
horn, when a snowstorm came and
he and companion and a guide had
| chung to an icy crack helpless for more
| than an hour, when a slip by any one
Of the three would have dragged all
to death. Personal peril there had
been as great and had lasted as long
as this battle today the danger of his
ride with Jim after Ingouf. when the
spy had turned to throw his bombs
had been even greater; when Bob first
OOol uCd Lhc 1AIAoAd LII IhC
and the aeroplane dropped its ex-
| plosives, he personally had been nearer
| obliteration than he had since.
But the battle! How was it so diff
ferent from other dangers? Because
while another was trying to kill him
he also was trying to kill? That was
not it; for. when Ingouf tried to kill
him, he had killed Ingouf, and it was
not like this. When the aeroplane had
destroyed men beside him the guns
from the ships were firing up at the
plane, but neither was that like this.
Those things were all petty-personal;
Lnat was 1t; everything DeIore Inls
had been personal and battle-battle
was not personal at all. Or it had not
been personal till now-this moment
when he was alone at last, shut in his
room away from the rest. with Nellie'S
| picture in the drawer of his desk.
He sat up and leaned over and open
| ed the drawer and took out the picture
and gazed down at it. The sight of
her face-her lips which he had kissed
so many times, her dear, soft eyes gaz
ing straight into his, steadied him for
the first seconds and then unnerved
him. Women and children, some one
had said, had been kilIed-torn to
| pieces, probably, and dismembered-
when the Carthage and the Peras had
she1led Ocean City and Virginia Beach
| to draw the American ships OUT
| Well. the American ships had come
out, and he had fought his turret and
| given them shells for the shells they
had sent at Virginia Beach. mast
was down on the Peras; other shells
must have hit; he must have killed
! some of the murderers aboard. But
| while he was squaring that score the
regents submarines were striking too
The Balch had gone down with all
hands while the Arizona had had to
steam by at full speed.
Little "Stubby" Derr, Bob had learn
ed, had commanded the Balch. He
was not in Bob's class. but Bob had
got to know him pretty well when they
both were on Chinese station together.
Stubby was ga game little chap; Bob
remembered the Army-Navy football
game In Stubs last year, when-well,
Bob knew Just how Stubby spoke to
his men and smiled at them when
everything was done and there was
nothing left to do but cheer the ship
you saved. as 1t went by, and then go
down with your own.
And Stub, too. had been married; In
his little steel walled cabin. now deep
down under the water, he had his
| picture of his widow. Did she know
| IT? Destroyer Balch lost with all
hands," That was a sentence of the
message which had gone to the shore.
When and how would it reach-herf
Was there now a baby? Bob wondered.
What had little Stubby Derr seen
| when, at the last moment, he was
alone and need no longer smile at his
| men?
Bob got up and opened the door; it
was choking close in there with the
port closed and covered. He started as
| he saw some one standing without; 1t
was Garry Starnes at the door of his
room. Garry. too. had found it close
and sitting: his collar was loose. and
he had taken off his coat. but. like Bob
he had not further undressed
"It's hot" Bob said to him simply
| Awful
The friends faced each other an in
slant fairly. The same thought was
| In the hearts of both. and they both
knew it. Neither would say it to the