Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1917-10-26

these. at least Jones huu figured thu
1t would.
There Is no moon. We dash alonl
full speed ahead, for we must run in
accomplish our task and run out agaiI
before that tide Gibbs enough to make
1t next to impossible for even OH
light draft craft to escape because OF
the anchored mines coming to the sur
face.
The men In each crew have been
carefully selseted. They are all In the
best physical condition, good swim
mers, and the Brass Hats Officers,
have even made certain that none OF
them has cold. sneeze or n cough
might bctray us. Despite this, the
damp, chilly night mir makes one OF
the men In our boat sneeze suddenly
1t sounds to us like the crash OF u
mine. 1 don't see why it didn't tuke
the top OF the fellows head Off. Our
finely made motors Of course, were
mufiled until YOU could not distinguish
their purr ten feet away.
"a thousand yards or SO and we'll be
across the fields" says the Brass Hat
In our boat. lie has it figured down
pretty fine. Now we are Swimming
over bar, where heavier boat could
not 60
Discover Enemy Destroyers.
We strain our eyes ahead to catch
the white CLEAN of the wake Of our
leading craft and stare behind to make
out the white bow wave of the one
following us. 1t is the only way we
can keep ourselves in line.
Presently 1 pick up out Of the black.
ness Of the night patch of something
that Is even Dlacker. A ripple runs
down my spine, The great moment
has arrived. This Is not like chasing
submarine which is trying to hide
and which you can almost run circles
around. 1t is more like six mosquitoes
tackling q band Of giants. If ever
they can hit us n slap we will be
crushed to jelly.
/ point out the black patch to the
Brass Hat. He strains through Ills
night glasses, then hands them to me.
Destroyer" lie says.
The term is well applied, and real.
ize for the first time what destructive
power one of these slick sea fighters
has. She is running without lights.
We wonder in whispers whether the
other craft have sighted her. There is
no way for us TO signal them. The
man standing ut the wheel throws her
: over little to starboard, following
the white wake of tile boat ahead
Of u.s.
"They see her." says the Brass Fiat
next. They're circling in"
a glance astern shows us that our
followers have observed the change in
our course. 1 do not know how far
We are from that destroyer. In the
dark she looms so big that it seems VIC
must be going to Craze her.
There is lurid stab OF rcd I'm the
darkness ahead-a deafcning roar-the
smell of battle is In our nostrils. Tho
leaders, three incher has barked. Ours
barks mt almost the same time. Ours
has bitten, for we can see the flash OF
the explosion rs the shell falls Oh
board the destroyer. That is better
luck than we had looked for.
The Searchlights Soour the Sea.
The flashes have shown us Other
craft-destroyers, patrol boats and
gunboats. No hope Of concealment
now. We wait just long enough be
tween shots to make it hard for the
Germans to locate us from the flash OF
the guns. Our engines, with the muf
flers open to give lis all possible speed
are roaring almost as loudly as the
cannon 1t seems.
The Boches must be confused. They
haven't fired on us yet. Scarchlights
are darting. everywhere across the wa
ter and III the sky. Their one Object
is to find and destroy us, but they can
not figure out what to look for. They
of course think we have come il
through the channel, and their power
full rays sweep the entrance to the
harbor and the waters just inside
while others play over the surface
from whence we fired our first shots
They don't expect craft of our size tt
attempt such q daring raid.
How much damage we have done
we do not know, hut we cease 1rinl