Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-07-06

sea. lay at full length along the deck
| with the lever and buttons of control before
me.
Xodar and the boy were stretched dl-
| rectly behind me- prone also. that we might
offer as little resistance to the air as pos
| sible
Rise, high" whispered Xodar. They
| dare not fire their heavy guns toward the
dome-the fragments of the shells would
| drop back among their own craft. IL we
are high our keel-plates will protect us
from rifle fire"
did as he bade Below us we could see
the men leaping into the water by hundreds
and striking out for the small cruisers and
one-man 1iers that lay moored about the
big ships. The larger craft were getting
under way, following us rapidly, but not
rising from the water.
"a little to your right :" cried Xodar, for
there are no points of compass upon Omean,
where every direction is due north.
The pandemonium that had broken out
below us was deafenng. Rifles cracked,
officers shouted orders men yelled direc-
tions to one another from the water and
from the decks of myriad boats, while
through all ran the purr of countless pro-
pellers cutting water and air
l had not dared pull my speed lever to
the highest for fear of overrunning the
mouth of the shaft that passed from
Oniean's dome to the world above, but even
so we were hitting a clip that doubt has
ever been equaled on the windless sea.
The smaller fiers were commencing to
rise toward us when Xodar shouted:
THE shaft The shaft! Dead ahead"
saw the opening, black and yawnlng In
the glowing dome Of this underworld
"A lO-man cruiser was rising directly In
front TO cut Off our escape. 1t was the only
vessel that stood in our way, but at the
rate that 1t was travelling It would come
between us and the shaft in plenty of time
to thwart our plans.
1t was rising at an angle of about As
degrees dead ahead of us, with the evident
Intention Of combing us with graphing
hooks from above as it skinned low over
our deck.
There was but one forlorn hope for u.s.
and took 1t. 1t was useless to try to pass
over her, for that would have allowed her
to force us against the rocky dome above.
and we were Riready too near that as It
was.
To have attempted to dive below her
would have put us entirely at her mercy
ana precisely where she wanted us. on
either side n hundred other menacng craft
were Fastening toward us. The alternative
was filled with rsk-ln fact, it was all risk,
with but slender chance of success
As we neared the cruiser rose as though
to pass above her, so that she would do
Just what she did do rise at a sleeper angle
to force me still higher
Then we were almost upon her yelled
to my companions to hold tight, and throw
Ing the little vessel into her highest speed
/ DETECTED her bows at the same instant
until we were running horizontally and at
terrific velocity straight for the cruisers
keel
Her commander may have seen my inten-
tions then, but it was too late. Almost at
the instant of impact, l turned my bows
upward, and then with a shatterlng jolt we
were in collision.
What 1 had hoped for happened The
cruiser, already tilted at perilous angle
was carried completely over backward by
the impact of my smaller vessel.
Her crew fell twisting and screaming
through the air to the water far below
while the ship her propellers still madly
churning, dived swiftly headforemost after
them to the bottom of the Sea of Omean.
The collision crushed our steel bows, and
Notwithstanding every effort on our part
came near to hurting us from the deck. AS
1t was we landed in wildly clutching heap
at the very extremity of the flier where