Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1916-10-27

at the same time. Bob guessed 1t was
one of the natural things about tight
ing a turret. You killed a thousand
men-a dreadnaughts crew, II you
had luck-and on your own ship men
were being killed by hundreds, but
you never saw them. Only a main
battery shell could possibly enter your
turret. and then only IL it struck very
straight. If it got in 1t would kill all
your men and you, too, probably, 50 II
would be all over at once So you did
not see any one dying. You did not
see the men who were blown to pieces
at this instant only eighteen inches
away from you, just the other l d OF
the turret armor You knew they were
blown to bits, for a shell had just
burst outside there, and the funny lit
tie tinkering and hammering with a
sledge which you heard the minute
before was quiet. So you knew the
men were dead, but you could not pos.
sibly have any feeling about 1t. The
voice in the speaking tube knew the
men were dead. 1t was saying that
another gang was being sent to clear
away the wreckage.
That was the wreckage of the fore
mast they were still speaking about
Garry undoubtedly was killed when II
became a wreck, but no one was say.
ing anything about that. Bob won.
dered whether If he had e e Garry
fall he would have felt anything OF
whether nov he was yer going to
feel anything again. Had Garry's
wife seen Garry safe in a dream, tool
Had she, too, been sure that God
would keep Garry safe? What had
God to do with guns and shells and
ships which could stand what the Ari-
zona now was getting?
As Bob had nothing to do, now that
his guns were loaded again, he was
listening to try to decide whether one
turret or two were firing astern. II
was only one, he decided. A shell
must have wrecked the other as well
as have killed the gun crews, and the
forward turret, No. / must be wreck.
ed also, otherwise Bob and his men
would be sent to 1t to fight
How much more, he wondered, could
the Arizona endure? 1t was not only
the Varon which was sending shells
through the sides and ricocheting
them up from the sea, the F1oron was
firing also at the Arizona. 1t was
time that the prince would be concen.
trating all his dreadnaughts OF the
newer American ships, but he had only
twenty-five first line ships against thir.
teen-that wasn't quite two to one
The Idaho was fighting two ships; now
the Arizona was fighting two, and that
was hard with only one turret and
that commanded by Ross, probably,
who hadn't ever been in such a turret
before. What was the matter with
the Pennsylvania? Wasn't she stand
ing up to her work? Standing up to
it! Good God! She had three against
her, two Trajans they must be, and
one of the Pharaohs. And the Penn
~sylvania hadn't had her battle prac-
tice this year, for she had been de
tached to Mexico. But If three ships
were against her, what was gone from
our line? The Oklahoma? That must
be it-there was a gap in the circle
back there. And was the New York
on fire? No; that must be the smoke
Of destroyers trying to screen q ship,
but that meant the ship was beaten
1t was no longer able to fight.
Some more shells disrupted On the
other side of the armor They killed
all the men who were out there; but,
at the same stroke. they did the mems
work.
Holt, the turret captain, was speak
ing. "We can train the turret now,
sir
The voice tube which hopefully had
been telling the range and corrections
to No. 2 turret every time the after
turret fired spoke again. The sight
settlers, who had changed the sights at
each correction, once more made the
adjustments. No. 2 turret fired. Cor
rections came, and then again, the
sort Of corrections which confessed
that the guns were missing. Who was
spotting the shots and missing the cor
rections and from what point Of OBJ
%servation? The foremost was gone, Of
course; the mainmast now also was
down. They must be spotting the fall
Of the shells and correcting the range
from the coming tower. only a few
feet higher than the turret. That was
why the guns were missing.
But the shells from the Varon and
the Floron were not flying over or
short! oh, they were hitting the Ari-
IONA very hard! And the Varon had
had no masts for fifteen minutes, and
several salvos ago the Floron had lost
hers. But fire control officers were
spotting their shells from somewhere
where they could see.
Flashing specks fitted in the sky
between the ships. Bob caught sight
N~ a