The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1916-10-02
1917
Continued from Second Page

SOU Itsem WEI! was us appearance
a forerunner Of a greater torpedo at
tack; or before the vessel blew up.
had it wirelessed information which
should bring upon the American squad
ron a superior force of the enemy in
the morning?
The four dreadnaughts were steam
Ing to surprise the regents ships which
were known TO be detailed to cut off
the American ships coming from the
gulf. Would surprise now meet counter
surprise?
For little longer. at least. God rode
In the hurricane. \ war vessel-sha
was q great ship with one mast gone
was ashore and pounding to pieces
off Cape Hattcras. Life savers were
trying to get To the wreck, but she
had foundered deep and far out. The
AriZOna's radio picked up the news
first at O'Clock. An hour later more
news came The life savers had res
cued some of the men from the wreck
ed ship. and wreckage was coming
ashore. The vessel was the armored
cruiser Gerel of the Pera class
damaged in the fight with the Arizona
so that when the storm came she did
not steer. Fifty officers and men had
been killed by gunfire. OF the re
naming GOO thirty-four had been saved
When the news was brought him Bob
saw to it that word was passed at once
to Louden.
How strage was war! The news
that the Gerel was lost with almost
all her crew had brought to Bob exulta-
ton. triumph; yet in the wild mael-
strOm of the sea off Cape Hatteras,
his countrymen were risking their lives
in little boats to save score Of that
crew-that crew who in the morning
had shelled Virginia Beach. And.
likely enough. inside the Hatteras keys.
or in protected waters elsewhere the
enemy submarines were waiting out
the storm, or along the coast they were
lurking on shelves Of sand a hundred
| feet below the surface. Well. at least
tonight they could not strike. and the
regents air craft also must be useless.
But was not the gale beginning to les
sen? There was no doubt of it; and
through the clouds to the east there
was showing the gray of dawn.
Nellie Wendell. on her knees by the
window Of her room in her fathers
house at Elgin. saw the dawn. The
| news had come in the evening that the
| slips from Hampton Roads had been
engaged. They had driven off and
| damaged several of the enemy's ships
| Nellie did not know certainly upon
| which of the American ships Bob was
| She was not certain indeed, that he
| was upon any of them, but she be
| lieved he had been in the battle. The
| bulletin which came to Elgin gave nc
| account of American casualties; so. as
she waited for more definite word. she
prayed-as those who wait must Otter
| pray-in perfectly irrational petition
She prayed that her husband had not
been killed. OF course if he was
| killed. he was killed. and prayer could
| not alter that but thus that night Mel
| lie had prayed as girls and women
like her were praying in ten thousand
homes.
| With the dawn strangely there came
to her faith that her husband still was
| safe. So convinced was she of it, some
| how, that she bent her head in an ut
terance of thanksgiving to God fol
| having brought her husband through
the battle; then. humbly. fervently, she
petitioned that he still might be spared
/ How empty and strange the big
house was! Bob was away. of course
Jim also was gone The door of hi:
room stood open. He was with hi:
regiment in Chicago, where there wer,
terrible mobs and rioting, the bulletin:
said. Troops had fired and had beer
fired upon: bombs had been thrown
and many militiamen killed. Was i
| possible that Jim might have been IL
greater danger that night than Bob?
Continued Tomorrow