The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1917-06-08

the plugman swings his lever aga.n
and closes the breech of the gun.
That is what the plugman does.
| While he is doing it five other
men are doing other things of equal
Importance. The moment the gun is
open the trayman slaps into the form
box a metal c%ontrivance which pro-
tects its fine gears and edges from
being injured by the sharp point OF
the heavy wheel, and which guides
the shell itself into the bore of Il
gun.
The brush being open and h tray
in place. the first shellman with all
his might hurls into the opening the
she'll that he has been holding, the
first %powlerman hurls after it a bag
of powder, and then even as the
tray comes out and the breech closes,
the first shellman has turned. without
using his feet, and received from the
second shellman Il fresh shell, anu
the first powdcrman has turned and
received from the second powderman
Il fresh bag of powder.
That is how the gun is loaded. 1t
is Il matter of seconds. In practice
the shell and the powder bag (omis-
sion By censor?) to keys the junction
Of two lines that cross each other at
Il right angle on the exact center of
the bull's-eye. A third pointer does
the same thing With another pair of
crossed lines. but the wheel eleyates
the muZZle of the gun ~ or de-
presses it. And of all the men In
the compartment of that particular
gun he is the luckiest, for he is the
only one who knows the exact mo-
ment when the bang is coming. He
causes it by pressing a button. At
any moment While a certain buzzer is
buzzing, and the crossed lines are on
the bull's-eye, he is at liberty to fire
the gun.
Blast Of the Guns.
We steamed slowly down the range
q number of times, and all the COM
partment guns on our side of the
ship swung slowly from left to right,
as the pointers kept the crossed lines
on the bull's-eye. And we all got Il
line because we knew that each prac-
tice run brought us nearer to that
real run when the awful blasts that
We anticipated would have to be en-
dured somehow.
We turned and steamed slowly to-
ward the range. We We're in the
compartment. the u crew and the
officer in charge, myself and twenty
or thirty fledgling seamen, who were
there to pick up what they could by
eye and ear.
l have never in one time or place
seen so many forced smiles. One OF
them was mine. We had been served
with absorbent cotton and had plugged
our ears. The cotton made mems
voices sound numb and far-off. 1t had
no effect whatever upon the voice of
the cannon.
The steel doors of the compartment
had been closed and licked. There
was no escape.
The range came over the speaking
tube. The first pointer repeated it
and made an adjustment. There
come 4 voice. even through cotton, a
believing voice: Coming Oh the
range. Coming on the range" There
was d dead silence. Then low, clear
and insistent, like the deadly rattle
of our most infamous native snake,
the buzzer.
l had forgotten about the gun in
the q compartment. l shall never
fnrvat II nrain IT went off
Lifted by the Conclusion.
l was sitting at the moment and
my feet were swinging clear of the
deck. l had nothing to- jump into.
But / rose in the air and came down.
Then our gun went. The flash was
brighter than sunlight. 1t was of al
intolerable brightness, ~ all but in
tolerable was the bang that went with
it. The assault was less upon the
body than upon the soul. My ears
did not suffer at all.
l went out to see how many shots
were fired. l did not get used to it.
l know that, for not once did l see
the gun recoil and go back into place.
Try as l would, that white, hot, deaf
enlng flash shut my eye tight Tor me.
/ watched a second run from the
bridge. 1t vas p~leasanter. The bang
sticks were even farther off and You
could see the tall, white splashes Of
the ricochetting shells. / got SO that
l could keep my eyes open.
/ have said that a battleship is a
man. | have said hat it is Il city.
1t is neither. 1t is a romance. | re-
call s%earchlights that searched the
heavens and the face Of the waters,
that crossed and crisscrossed; the
starry calls of the bugles and the
sea-salt names of things. Have you
lived Ia Arcadia? Well, l have lived
In the "Junior Officers Country"
I remember a night Of firing of
shells that gave off fire SO that you